The effect of teaching people, places and environments learning area of the 5th grade social studies course through demonstration method on the success of the course and the attitude towards the course

This research was carried out in the first semester of the 2021-2022 academic year, to determine whether the Human and Environment unit of the 5th grade Social Studies course has an effect on the success of the students and their attitudes towards the course when taught by demonstration method. In this study, a mixed research approach, in which both quantitative and qualitative research methods are used together, was used. In this context, the research was modeled with an explanatory sequential design, which is included in the mixed research approach. The quantitative part of this research was designed as a quasi-experimental design with pretest-posttest control group. In the quasi-experimental design applied in this study, the dependent variables were determined as students' success in the course and their attitudes towards the course. The independent variable whose effect on these dependent variables is examined is the demonstration method. In the qualitative part of this research, the phenomenology design, which is one of the qualitative research designs, was used. In this context, a semi-structured interview was conducted with 20 students in the experimental group, in which the demonstration method was applied, in order to add depth, detail and meaning to the research process. As a result of this interview, students' opinions, attitudes and experiences regarding the demonstration method were determined. The target population of this research consists of 5th grade students who continue their education at secondary school level in the city center of Muş during the 2021-2022 Academic Year. The sample of this research consists of the students of four 5th grade level students from four classes who continue their education at the Vali Adil Yazar Secondary School located in the city center of Muş in the first semester of the 2021-2022 Academic Year. The sample of the study consists of 160 students, two experimental groups (N=78), and two control groups (N=82) of the 5th grade in which the demonstration method was used in the Human and Environment unit of the Social Sciences course. First of all, "Human and Environment Unit Achievement Test" and "Social Studies Lesson Attitude Scale" were applied to each of the four classes as a pre-test to check the equivalence of the groups, and it was determined that there was no significant difference between the groups. In addition, it was observed that the experimental and control groups had similar characteristics in terms of socio-economic structures. As a result, two of the four groups were selected as the experimental group and the other two as the control group by a lottery. Achievement test and attitude scale were applied to the experimental and control groups at the beginning and end of the study. Thus, in-group and between-group differences were tried to be determined. SPSS 22 package program was used in the analysis of the achievement test and attitude scale of the experimental group and the control group. Arithmetic mean, standard deviation, percentage, frequency and effect sizes (d and η2) were calculated in the interpretation of both the achievement test and the pretest and posttest of the attitude scale. In the analysis of the data, t-test and One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) from parametric tests were performed for the related groups. The qualitative data obtained after the semi-structured interview was subjected to content analysis. When the results of this research were examined, a significant difference was found between the pretest and posttest mean scores of the Human and Environment Unit Achievement Test of the experimental and control groups in favor of the posttest. When the post-test scores of the Human and Environment Unit Achievement Test were compared, a significant difference was found in favor of the experimental group. In addition, when the pretest and posttest mean scores of the Social Studies Course Attitude Scale were compared, a significant difference was found in favor of the posttest in all sub-dimensions of the scale. When the post-test mean scores of the Social Studies Course Attitude Scale were compared, a significant difference was found in favor of the experimental group in all sub-dimensions. In addition, the results obtained from the qualitative data obtained through semi-structured interviews from the students in the experimental group in which the demonstration method was applied are as follows: The demonstration method prevents the lesson from being boring, provides effective and permanent learning, facilitates understanding, makes students active and gives them a sense of responsibility. increases student-student and student-teacher interaction and improves cooperation.