The percetions, attitudes and opinions of teacher candidates of social studies towards teaching controversial topics

The aim of the study is to examine the perceptions, attitudes and opinions of social studies teacher candidates towards teaching controversial subjects in terms of various variables. In the research, mixed methods, in which quantitative and qualitative methods are used together, were used. In the quantitative aspects of the study, purposive sampling method is easily accessible from state universities of Turkey's five regions with a designated sampling. The questionnaire titled "Perceptions, Attitudes and Opinions of Teacher Candidates Regarding the Teaching of Controversial Subjects" was applied to a total of 660 teacher candidates studying at 1-4 classroom levels. In the qualitative dimension of the study, a semi-structured interview form prepared by the researcher was applied to the teacher candidates studying at the 4th grade with the criterion sampling method. In order to determine whether the perceptions, attitudes and opinions of social studies teacher candidates towards teaching controversial subjects differ significantly in terms of various independent variables, "Chi-Square Test" analysis was conducted. While interpreting the results, .05 significance level was taken as the criterion. The analysis of the qualitative dimension of the research was done with the descriptive analysis technique. According to the results of the research, the most controversial subject by social studies teacher candidates is "Terror" and the least controversial subject is "KPSS". In addition, the most desired topic to be addressed in the classroom is "Human Rights", and the least to be addressed is "Fanaticism". The degree of controversy of the issues, the controversial issues; The analysis of the items related to the handling in the classroom, the method and techniques that can be used in teaching, and the obstacles to handling in the classroom were analyzed separately. It has been observed that there are perceptions, attitudes and opinions with and without significant differences regarding gender, university and class level. KEYWORDS: Controversial ıssues, Social studies teacher candidate, Perception, Attitude, Opinion