The qualitative analysis of third-grade elementary school students' opinions on the concept of time in terms of the theme yesterday, today, tomorrow

The purpose of this qualitative study is to analyze third-grade grade elementary school students? perception of the time concepts in terms of the theme ?Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow?, given in the Social Studies Course Book.In this study, data acquisition was carried out with semi-structured interview forms. The research was carried out at three elementary schools in Altıntaş, Kütahya. The academic achievement levels of the third-grade students studying at these schools are graded as good, fair and poor according to their teachers? opinions. Total of eighteen students from those three schools including two students from each level are selected. The data acquired in the scope of the study were analyzed with the content analysis method.The analysis of the findings of this study shows that third-grade students focus on actions to classify the concepts of time. The students found easier to identify antonymous concepts than homonymous and synonymous concepts. In the classification of the given time concepts, the students defined the left side of the time line as the past, the middle as the present time, and the right as the future.Keywords: Time; Social Studies; Time Line; Concept; Cognitive Enhancement