Developing empathy skills by using film sections in social studies lesson

In this research, it was aimed to improve the empathy skills of the students by using movie sections in the Social Studies course. The study group consists of 22 participants who are 7th grade students at Yukarıbey Secondary School in Bergama/İzmir, in the 2021-2022 academic year. The research is based on the action research design, one of the qualitative research designs. Quantitative and qualitative data collection tools consisting of scale, student diaries, observation and opinion forms were used to collect the research data. "KA-SI Empathic Tendency Scale Adolescent Form" was applied to the participants before the application. During the research, activities created with movie sections and associated with Social Studies course achievements were carried out, and then the participants were asked to answer the questions in the form called My Empathy Diary for each activity. At the end of the study, "KA-SI Empathic Tendency Scale Adolescent Form" was applied again as a post-test. During the application process, observations were made by the researcher, and at the end of the application, students' opinions on the activities carried out through the Opinion Form. Statistical analysis methods were used in the analysis of the collected quantitative data, and descriptive analysis and content analysis methods were used in the analysis of the qualitative data. As a result of the analysis of the research data, it was revealed that the activities structured with film sections in the Social Studies course positively affected the development of the empathy skills of the participants, and the students mostly expressed positive opinions about the activities.