The development and implementation of activities about historical places and museum education in the context of social studies education: An action research in case of Manisa province

This study aims to conduct educational activities aimed to effectively benefit from the museums and historical places within the context of social studies education at the 7th grade of primary school, and to determine how beneficial these activities are with regards to increasing the productivity of teaching-learning processes. The study, designed via the action research model based on the qualitative research method, covers a total of 34 separate events, which include pre-museum at school, at the museum, and post-museum dimensions oriented at nine different venues chosen among the museums and historical places of Manisa, were developed and implemented together with a class of 36 students (25 girls and 11 boys) of a public middle school located in Manisa's Yunusemre district. Activities were organized in 2017, between the second half of March and the first half of May. Observations (researcher's diary, field notes, video recordings), interviews (focus group and individual interviews), and document analysis (student diaries and product file, events, parental survey) were used as data-generating tools so as to reveal how and in what aspects the activities affect the perceptions and awareness of the students towards the social studies class, museums, and historical places, their consciousness and awareness towards the historical and cultural features of Manisa, and their skills in the social studies curriculum (perceiving change and continuity, historical empathy, observation, perceiving the space, perceiving the time and chronology, social participation). Content analysis was performed on the data obtained by means of observation and interviews, and document analysis was conducted on the data obtained through parental surveys. Research results revealed that the activities developed and practices had positive outputs for the students in many aspects. Emotionally, it was observed that the students felt happy, enjoyed themselves, loved the social studies class more, felt free and relaxed, felt proud of their history, and felt themselves more valuable after the activities. Cognitively, they stated that they were able to learn what they previously did not know, became more curious about the past, and felt that the class was more productive and they were more successful. In terms of historical consciousness, the students were able to gain historical information, developed local awareness, and consciousness about Manisa, comprehended the importance and value of historical and cultural values. As a result, they gained consciousness on protecting the historical and cultural artifacts, as well as transferring them to the next generations. In terms of social life, their skills of building friendship relations, conducting group works, and adopting respect and empathy towards each other developed thanks to the activities. In terms of social studies perceptions, the students were able to identify the social studies with museums and historical places within the framework of historical discipline after the activities. After the activities, all students ranked social studies the first and second among their favorite classes. Subjects within the framework of the discipline of history ranked high among the favorite subjects. When compared to the pre-activities period, students' perception of museums and historical places changed in line with the subjects handled at the activities, and they started to perceive the museums and historical places as venues where the lessons are taught. After the implementations, the students' knowledge and awareness about Manisa's historical, cultural, and touristic places increased. As a result, their local consciousness and awareness levels towards Manisa changed positively, and they were able to obtain more information on Manisa's history. Students felt more committed to Manisa, and comprehended better the importance of the city that they live in. By means of the developed activities, it was observed that the students' skills of observation, perception of change and continuity, social participation, historical empathy, perception of space, and perception of time and chronology improved. Within the framework of the general results of the research, various suggestions were presented to the partners that are to conduct effective tours to museums and historical places. Key Words: social studies, museum education, education in historical places, place-based education, action research, local history, historical empathy, museum activities