Out of school learning environments in social sciences teaching programs and course books from 2005 to the present

This study aims to determine the use of out-of-school learning environments in social studies curricula and textbooks since 2005. In this research, which was conducted using the document analysis method, the 2005 Primary Social Studies 4-5. Grade Programme, 2018 Social Studies Curriculum and Social Studies textbooks published in 2005, 2014, 2019 and 2021 were examined. In order to determine the grade level at which out-of-school learning environments will be examined in the programmes and textbooks, the 5th grade level was preferred with the extreme or outlier sampling method from the purposeful sampling methods. Since accessing and analysing all 5th grade Social Studies textbooks in Turkey requires a more comprehensive research and a longer period of time, the textbooks to be examined were determined from the existing data set using convenience sampling. The documents of the study were analysed based on a descriptive analysis framework. According to the results of the research, it was observed that the number of out-of-school learning environments and activities for these environments in social studies textbooks decreased significantly from 2005 to the present. In the 2005 Social Studies curriculum for 5th grade, various learning environments such as media, historical sites, museums, local historical environments, natural and human-made environments, economic environments, socio-cultural environments, non-governmental organizations, commercial enterprises, online learning environments, family, and home were included. However, over time, it has been observed that the diversity in Social Studies textbooks has decreased and homework assignments focused on the home environment have increased. The main reason for this is that the 2005 Elementary Social Studies 4-5th Grade Curriculum provided more guidance to textbook authors regarding out-of-school learning environments, whereas the 2018 Social Studies curriculum fell short in this regard. Additionally, the number of achievements directly associated with out-of-school learning environments has decreased, reinforcing this situation. Therefore, Social Studies curricula need to guide teachers and provide detailed explanations on which achievements can be realized in which environments and how. It is also important for textbook authors to include more and varied activities that can be carried out in out-of-school learning environments in their books to provide more comprehensive guidance to students.