The use of newspapers in the course of reform history of history of Turkish Republic and Atatürkism at the 8th year level and teachers views of this practice

The purpose of this study is to reveal the use of newspapers and teachers? views of this practice in the course of Reform History of Turkish Republic and Ataturkism at 8th-year level.The study is a descriptive field study. Survey model has been used in the study. The sample of the study consists of 440 course teachers teaching at the primary schools in 8 central districts of the Metropolitan Municipality borders of Ankara in 2010-2011 training year. In doing the practice, simple random method has been used and primary schools have been chosen according to this method. The questionnaires have been applied with the face-to-face interview technique. SPSS 15.0 package program has been used to analyse the collected data and do the statistical analyses.The analysis of the data collected from the questionnaire and the conduct of the statistical analyses have been carried out by using Chi-square test with a significance level of ?=.0.5 by means of SPSS 15.0 package program. In the analysis, the data has been analysed by t-test for one-way variance analysis (ANOVA) and dependent groups (related samples).Interpreting the data of the research have revealed that teachers? views of the use of newspapers in the course of Reform History of Turkish Republic and Ataturkism at 8th-year level have shown a significant relationship in the sub-problem relating to the usefulness of newspapers. Male teachers? views of the usefulness of the newspapers have given more positive results than female ones. In considering the usefulness of newspapers, the teachers as graduates of Faculty of Education, Faculty of Arts and Letters and post-graduates have adopted more positive attitudes than the graduates of Education institutes. It could be seen here that the faculty and post-graduate training has become effective on teachers? views.In the study, there has appeared a significant relationship in the teachers? views according to the nature of the newspapers and the schools where the teachers work. The views of the teachers employed at private schools regarding the use of newspapers are more positive than those of the ones working at public schools. No significant difference has been found in fields of gender, seniority and graduation under this sub-problem.In the sub-problem concerning teachers? views of and attitudes to the use of newspapers, a significant difference has been found in the type of school where teachers are employed. The views of the teachers at private schools are more positive than those of the ones at public schools. It may be deduced from this case that the use of newspapers in private school conditions is more possible than in public schools. A significant difference has also been found in teachers? occupational seniorities in this sub-problem. Thus, the attitudes to the use of newspapers of teachers who have worked for 6-to-10 years has been found to be more positive than those of the teachers with more than 21 years of occupational experience.It can be concluded from the whole study that the teachers of the course of Reform History of Turkish Republic and Ataturkism usually have a positive attitude to the issue of using newspapers in the process of teaching-learning. However, they are aware that there are some deficiencies in the use of newspapers in this course. Teachers have reported that there is a need for training on the use of newspapers and for a guidebook.Key Words: Course of Reform History of Turkish Republic and Ataturkism, Newspaper, Teachers? Views