The examination of middle school social studies teachers' views on the effectiveness of field trip (A sample of Antalya)

This research is intended to examine the views of the teachers on the effectiveness of field trips related to the Social Studies. The research was carried out with 64 teachers, consist of 20 female and 44 male, who serve in the centre and central provinces of Antalya. In this research in which survey model is used, the scale which is developed by the researcher was used after getting the opinions of the experts for collecting the datas. For the analysis of the datas obtained in this research SPSS Package Programme was used and percentage frequencies of replies were obtained. According to the results obtained from the researh findings, most of the teachers, who participated in the research, are graduated from the Social Studies Teaching Department, and they use field trip at the end of the educational year or simultaneously with the subject at school while taking into consideration of the region. Before the field trip, teachers belive in the necessity of planing of the places which are going to be visited. Teachers are aware of the great difficulties of crowded classes, intense course programmes and the possibility of the accidents during the trip. Social Studies teachers are all express the common view that, during the educational process, students learn by the way of live and learn, they participate in lesson actively and transfer their learnings to the other areas. Within the effectiveness of field trip on students, social studies teachers express the common view that, the learnts are more permanent, students practise their leanings in their real life, their responsibilities to the environment increase and their patriotism develop. Social Studies teachers also express the common view that, after the field trip it should be argued whether the purposes of the trip are reached or not, the observations during the trip should be used within the daily life and guidance of jobs should be done after the trip. Keywords: Social Studies, Field Trip, Teacher Opinions, Antalya.