An investigation of the sixth grade social studies curriculum and practices on gaining high-level thinking skills to students according to teachers' views

The purpose of this research is to determine the teachers' views on the development of students' critical thinking, creative thinking, problem solving and decision-making skills in the sixth grade acquisitions in the 2018 Social Studies Curriculum and what kind of practices teachers use to gain these skills. The study group of this research, in which case study, one of the qualitative research methods, was used, consists of social studies teachers working in secondary schools in Meram, Karatay and Selçuklu districts in Konya in the 2021-2022 academic year. The study group of the research was determined by using the maximum variation sampling method. Twenty-four social studies teachers working in 11 secondary schools and attending the sixth grade social studies course participated in the research. A semi-structured interview form developed by the researcher was used as a data collection tool within the scope of the research. The interviews with the teachers were recorded in writing by the researcher, and the obtained data were analyzed by applying the descriptive analysis technique. As a result of the research, the majority of the teachers who participated in the research stated that the acquisitions in the Sixth Grade Social Studies Curriculum improved their critical thinking, creative thinking, problem solving and decision making skills. Teachers stated that the program provided students with critical thinking skills by questioning the causes of events and providing the opportunity to make comparisons between events. It has been concluded that it is a program that teaches students how to behave in the face of the problems they encounter, leaves the students in a situation to make decisions, creates the infrastructure for them to make the right decisions in the future, develops the creative thinking skills of the students and allows them to produce original ideas. Teachers stated that they had problems arising from non-program physical reasons at the point of making applications that would develop students' higher-order thinking skills. It has been determined that teachers use methods and techniques such as question-answer, brainstorming, case studies and problem solving in order to provide students with all high-level thinking skills. Keywords: High level thinking, critical thinking, creative thinking, problem solving and decision making