The effect of using concept maps in 6th grade social studies course on course success

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of the concept maps technique on the achievement of 6th grade secondary school students in the social studies course. The study was designed in a quasi-experimental design model with a pre-test – post-test control group. 6th grade students attending Kamile Çömlekçioğlu Secondary School in Antalya city center participated in the study during the spring semester of the 2022-2023 academic. The study was implemented during the teaching of the "Life on Earth" unit of the "People, Places and Environments" learning area in the 6th grade social studies course. The students in the experimental group were taught with the concept maps technique, while the students in the control group were taught in a manner consistent with the program. The study was conducted in 8 weeks. The students in the experimental and control groups were administered achievement tests in the form of a pre-test and post-test before and after the application. The data obtained from the study was analyzed with the Jamovi program. The results obtained from the analysis were as follows: It was seen that both teaching based on the concept maps technique and traditional teaching increased the levels of achievement in the 6th grade "Life on Earth" unit. However, it was found that the increase in achievement in the teaching based on the concept maps technique applied to the experimental group (experimental group post-test and pre-test mean difference t(24)=8.66, p<0.001, d=1.73) was higher than the teaching based only on the program (control group post-test-pretest mean difference t(23)=1.25, p=0.224). According to the post-test results applied to both the experimental group and the control group at the end of the instruction, the students in the experimental group were more successful than the students in the control group. This result shows that teaching based on the concept maps technique contributes more to achievement than teaching based on the traditional methods or the program only. According to these results, it can be said that the application areas of the concept maps technique in the teaching of social studies should be expanded and the concept maps method should be included in different learning areas and unit subjects.