Investigation of natural disasters in primary school life sciences, social studies and science curriculum and textbooks

The aim of this study is to reveal how natural disasters are handled in terms of content, visual elements, preparation, reinforcement and evaluation questions in primary school Life Sciences, Science and Social Studies curriculum and textbooks. The sample of the study consists of Life Sciences, Science and Social Studies textbooks distributed free of charge to public and private schools in the 2023-2024 academic year. In line with the purpose of the study, the curricula and textbooks of the relevant courses were examined, the data were collected by documentary scanning (document analysis), which is one of the qualitative research methods, and the data obtained were analyzed by content analysis technique. According to the findings obtained as a result of the analysis, it was determined that there were direct achievements related to natural disasters in the second grade Life Science and fourth grade Social Studies curriculum, and the achievements at the first and third grade levels of Life Sciences were related to disasters and emergencies, but the gains related to natural disasters were not included in the Science curriculum. Apart from the fourth grade book of Science, natural disasters were included in the texts in the primary school textbooks that were the subject of the research, while errors were detected in the content and visual elements related to disasters. According to the findings obtained in terms of disaster education, what needs to be done before and during the disaster was mentioned, but it was determined that practical studies such as drills were not included. It has been determined that preparation, reinforcement and evaluation questions for natural disasters are limited and alternative measurement and evaluation questions are not included. In order to increase the awareness and knowledge levels of the students and to make the disaster education included in the books more effective, it has been concluded that natural disasters should be included more in the curriculum and textbooks gradually and by paying attention to the holistic structure from the first grade.