The effect of use of resfebe on natural disasters in social studies course on students' academic success, cognitive structures and attitudes

The study determined the effects of using rebus on natural disasters in social studies course on students' academic success, cognitive structures, and attitudes. A mixed method was used in the study to obtain qualitative and quantitative data. The research used the Word Association Test developed by the researcher, Rebuses on Natural Disasters, the Opinion Form on Teaching Natural Disasters in Social Studies Course with Rebus. The "Attitude Scale Towards Social Studies Course" and the Natural Disasters Achievement Test developed by Çetinkaya and Hatay Uçar (2019) were used as data collection tools. The study group consists of 4th grade students in a public school located in Söğüt district of Bilecik province in the 2023-2024 academic year. As a result of the study, it was seen that the use of Rebus in the social studies course had a positive effect on the students' liking of the course. In the word association test results, it was seen that there were significant changes in the students' cognitive structures. In the Natural Disasters achievement test results, there was an increase in the scores of 13 students, the scores of 2 students remained constant and the scores of 3 students decreased. A significant difference was seen in favor of the post-test in the knowledge use sub-dimension of the attitude scale. It is seen that the teaching of the subject of natural disasters in the primary school 4th grade social studies course by enriching it with Rebus significantly affects the students' attitudes towards the social studies course in the overall dimension of the scale. This study was conducted with 4th grade students and can also be conducted with 2nd and 3rd grade primary school students. Necessary in-service trainings can be provided to teachers regarding the subject of rebus and the application of these to the courses can be increased. Academic success and attitude towards the course can be increased by teaching the course with rebus.