The effects of children?s literature works on 7th and 8th grades students? character development

In this thesis, the effects of children?s literature works on 7th and 8th grades students? character development has been examined.To determine the effectiveness of studies, experimental method (Pre-test and Post-test) has been used.The universe of this Research has been formed by all 7th and 8th grades students studying in Duzce province. The sample of this research is 7th and 8th grades students studying in Cumhuriyet and Ataturk Primary schools in Duzce province, Kaynasli district. Research was executed(conducted) on a group of total 89 (45 students for experimental group- 44 students for control group) students composed of 7th and 8th grades.In this research, 7th and 8th grades students of Düzce province, Kaynasli district Ataturk primary school, who were chosen as sample, were taken as experimental group at the same time. A character education was applied on 7th and 8th grades students of experimental group through literature works for 12 weeks. Furthermore, studies were made for hidden curriculum, according to it, the school environment was designed. In this research, to what extent children?s literature works affect the levels of moral maturity of children was searched.To obtain data `? Moral Maturity Scale? designed by Kulaksızoglu and Dilmaç (1999) was used. Then the data achieved by data collection tools was analyzed by SPSS 15.0 (Statistic Package For Social Science) software, t-test and Cronbach Alfa technique in accordance with the hypothesis of the research.At the end of the research:1.In the research, it was determined that literature based character education which was made to increase the level of moral maturity of students in experimental group, is effective.2.It was stated that there is no significant difference between pre-test and post-test average points of the moral maturity level of control group?s students that literature based character education was not given.3.It was monitored that the experimental group?s arithmetic means of low moral development grades before the research rised to the level of control group students? grades and there is a meaninful difference between pre-test and post-test of experimental group students.Key Words: Character, Character education, value, children literature, and literature based character education