Disasters in life science and social studies curricula

Disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and landslides can cause loss of life and property, turning into catastrophic events. To prevent disasters and raise disaster awareness, education at an early age is essential. Due to their content structure, Social Studies and Life Science courses include disaster-related topics, enabling children to become familiar with disasters at a young age. This study aims to determine the disaster-related topics included in the Life Science and Social Studies curricula at the primary school level, their changes over time, and the relationship between these changes and experienced disasters. This study, conducted within the framework of document analysis design, employs a qualitative research method. For this purpose, the Life Science curricula from 1926 to 2024 and the Social Studies curricula from 1968 to 2024 were selected as the study group at the primary school level. Disaster-related topics included in the curricula were identified and tabulated according to grade levels. The obtained data were analyzed and interpreted within the framework of the sub-problems of the research. Findings indicate that the disasters included in the curricula align with the types of disasters observed in the country. However, it was found that curricula developed after experienced disasters were only partially related to those events. In some curricula, a single type of disaster was heavily focused on, while other disaster types were overlooked. Additionally, disaster-related topics were included in some grade levels but not in others, leading to a lack of consistency and stability. In recent curricula, the importance of covering disaster management processes before, during, and after disasters has increased. It was concluded that a comprehensive and systematic approach should be adopted in Life Science and Social Studies courses to foster disaster awareness from an early age. Accordingly, it is recommended that curricula cover various types of disasters instead of focusing on only one, align with international disaster education standards, and incorporate more practical and applied activities alongside theoretical knowledge. Keywords: Curriculum, disaster, life science, primary school, social studies