The impact of peer mediation education on tolerance dispositions of 5th grade students

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of peer mediation education on tolerance dispositions of 5th grade students. The study was performed using explanatory sequential mixed design. In quantitative stage, solomon experimental design was employed while fundemental qualitative research was adopted. The study group consisted of 5t grade students studying at a public school in Banaz town, Uşak province. "The Tolerance Disposition Scale" by Çalışkan and Sağlam (2012) was utilized during the experimental process. After the intervention, the data was obtained qualitatively via focus group interview. In quantitative analysis, percentile, and frequencies for descriptive statistics; dependent and independent sample t test, one way variance analysis, the Dunnet C test of multiple comparison tests were performed. In qualitative analysis, the data obtained by focus group interview was analyzed using content analysis. The findings of this study show that the effect of peer mediation education on tolerance dispositions of 5th grade students. As for comparison tests, experimental group both with and without pretest has significantly tolerance disposition more than other ones. They indicate that there is no significantly difference among students in experimental group by parental education status, the hours that the they watch TV on daily, the times that they use the Internet on daily, family income, family structures, and the number of sibling. Furthermore, they revaled that the the effect of peer mediation education on tolerance dispositions of female student is greater than those of male The results in qualitative stage of the study explain that six themes obtained from 'the Focus Group Interview A'; seven themes were derived from 'the Focus Group Interview'. A and B interviews shared common themes: "Values teaching, Skills teaching, Internal motivation, problem solving, and Otonomy". They also revealed the evidence that 'concept teaching' theme is separeately derived from A group while 'Principles and Anger control' theme is obtained especially from B group. Since the study is original by both the research design employed and the dependent varible included, it has been thought that this study will contribute to do more research and the literature. Key words. Peer mediation, Tolerance disposition, Social studies, Values education.