Investigation of the effect of differentiated instruction on development of learning responsibility in social studies course

In accordance with the constructivist approach, the Social Studies course should be taught in a student-centered and activity-based manner. One of the ways to teach the Social Studies course in accordance with the characteristics of the constructivist approach is differentiated instruction, which diversifies teaching in accordance with individual differences. In this direction, the aim of this study, which aims to reveal the effect of using differentiated instruction in Social Studies course, on students' learning responsibilities. Embedded pattern from rigging method research was used. The study group consists of the fifth grade students of a secondary school in the Kâhta district of Adıyaman province and the Social Studies teacher of the experimental group. The data were obtained from the 'Responsibility Scale for Learning' developed by Yakar and Saracaloğlu (2017) and the unstructured researcher observation form with a semi-structured interview with a Social Studies teacher and fifth grade students. In the analysis of quantitative data, related samples t-test and one-way ANOVA were used for mixed measurements, and inductive analysis was used in the analysis of qualitative data. In the analysis of the quantitative data of the study, the result was significant. In addition, there are opinions in qualitative data that differentiated instruction is effective in increasing responsibility for learning. Therefore, qualitative data support quantitative data. In this context, it can be suggested that lesson plans for Social Studies and other courses should be developed in accordance with differentiated instruction and presented to the service of teachers.