Study of prehistoric period in history/social studies textbooks during republic era

In this study the changes in the subject of Prehistoric Civilizations which has been taught through history and social studies books in fourth graders since the republic period until today and the reasons of this changes were analyzed. To do this, the subject of Prehistoric Civilizations in History IV belongs to 1938, 1943, 1954, and 1964; Social Studies 4 belongs to 1969,1978, 1987, 1996, 2000, and 2015; and Social Studies course book which was used for 6th and 7th graders in 2007 and 2015 were compared. The data was collected by using document analysis in this study. During the research existing sources that are appropriate for the aim of the study were scanned, they were examined, required information was noted and the evaluation process was made on the basis of those notes. The civilizations in examined fifteen books were evaluated with regard to the variations and content of textual items, subject's educational pattern, the variations and the levels of the questions in the subjects, reading text and the qualifications and quantity of the biographies. As it is seen at the findings part, there were both Prehistoric East and Prehistoric Civilizations in the books. It was determined that in the books belongs to 1938, 1954 and 1964 Hittite, Greek and the Roman Civilizations occupied more spaces. Its reason is to introduce the heritage of Anatolia which also involves Greek and Roman Civilizations by the effect of Turkish History Thesis and beacuse of humanist approach (UNESCO Peace Agreement) the idea of that other civilizations are also common past of Turkish History. Also its reason could be the effect of continuing 'tarihi umumi' (general History) tradition which is Murat Bey's work with six volumes that was written by the help of mostly French, Russian sources and a little Turkish sources. It was observed that in the books belongs to 1969, 1978, 1987, 1996, and 2000 Anatolian Civilizations are the most informative ones. Until 2000 Roman Civilization took place as much as the other Anatolian Civilizations. We thought its reason is that Roman Civilization has a position which was effected by the civilizations in Anatolia and also it effected them as well as history education approach of periods. Also it was detected that while in the books belongs to 1969 and after Ion Civilization discussed under the Anatolian Civilizations topic, in the books before that date it was discussed under the Greek or Aegean Civilizations topic. When it was 2000, only Prehistoric Anatolian Civilizations took place in the books. In 2005 fourth graders course book there wasn't Prehistoric Civilizations topic. It can be said it is because of structural approach and that the children in this age are in concrete thinking stage. Beginning from 2005 Prehistoric Civilizations topic took place in 6th graders course book. In 2007 while Sumerian, Babylon and Assyria from Mesopotamian Civilizations took place in the 6th graders course book, in 2015 the same path was followed. As distinct from the 6th graders course book in 2015, in 2007 the information about the civilizations was given by making story of it. In 2007 the 7th graders course book it was observed that the topic took place under the invention topic as the civilizations made inventions. Keywords: Prehistoric Period Education, Elementary School Text Books, Social Studies Text Books, History Education