An action research for the effect of in-class learning archeology subjects through experience upon developing the historical thinking skills of 6th grade students

The lesson of Social Studies aims to teach method and content of several disciplines in social sciences field to the children. The subjects related to archeology are mostly trained to 6th grade children. However, many factors those are obstacles to be taught in place of archeology. The main purpose of this research was to reveal the effect of in-class learning archeology through experience upon developing the historical thinking skills of 6th grade students. In order to actualize this aim, action research which is one of the qualitative research methods was used. During the action research process, pre-screening questionnaire was performed to reveal the experience, pre-knowledge and affective potential related to archeology of 218 students in 6 middle schools in Adıyaman and an action plan was created as result of interpreting the data obtained from this screening. A 6th grade class of 1 Aralık Middle School was selected for application to conduct this action research. In according to the action plan the application was conducted to use Archeological Excavation simulations, station tecnic and mound analysis.After the practice, semi-structured interviews were performed with 26 students, and some of the findings obtained related to the solution of problem were interpreted depending upon these interviews. After deciphering the questions asked in semi-structured interviews, and transferring into Word file, the content analysis was performed and the categories were created. In a classroom environment, archeological excavation studies were enjoyed by the students and their historical thinking skills was developed by this action research. Keywords: SocialStudies, TeachingHistory, TeachingArcheology, Historical Thinking Skills, Action Research