8th class Revolution History and Ataturkism course, the effect of the documentary film use on the student success in a National Saga: Or Station or Death

This study aims to determine the effect of using documentary films on students' academic success in the History of Revolution and Kemalism courses, to reflect students' views on the process. In this study, experimental research method was used. In order to test the effect of using documentary films in the History of Revolution and Kemalism course on the academic success of 8th grade students, the research was designed according to the experimental model with "pre-test-post-test and control group". In the research, the achievement test and open-ended question form developed by the researcher were used as data collection tools. Eighth grade students from a secondary school affiliated to Kayseri Develi District National Education Directorate participated in the study for the 2019-2020 academic year. Totally 56 students attended this study, 30 students in the experimental group and 26 students in the control groups. The documentaries prepared by the researcher in accordance with the topics of the course and in accordance with the predicted outcomes were applied to the experimental group for four weeks. The "National Epic: Either Independence or Death Unit Academic Test" was used to determine the academic success level of the students in the History of Revolution and Kemalism Course. Groups were determined randomly. From these classes, the experimental group was pre-tested, then documentary films have been watched, questions about the film were asked, and a post-test was applied. The experimental group was pre-tested, then documentary films were watched, questions about the film were asked, and a post-test was applied. While there was no significant difference in the pre-test results in both groups, it was observed statistically that academic success increased in the experimental group in which documentary films were used in the post-test results. Generally, a course on modern technologies (documentary film), according to teaching with traditional teaching methods, was concluded, that learning is more permanent and academic success is higher. Keywords: The History of Revolution, Kemalism, Academic Success, Documentary Movie, Pretest Posttest Control Group Model