An investigation of 7th grade students' perceptions of social studies

The aim of this research is to revealgrade seven students' perceptions of social studies. In consideration with this aim, it has beencontended to findout what social studies, as a basicconcept and a course, means for students. Anothergoal of the current study is to uncover how students associate the content of social studies courses with the real life stuations as well as their owndaily lives. A furtheraim is to see the extent to which teachers' attitudes and uses of teaching materials, techniques and methods influence the shaping of students' perceptions of social studies. Designed as a qualitativephenomenological research, this study employs 15 grade seven students attending to four different schools located in the center of Uşak provinceand Eşmesub-province in 2015-2016 academic year. A semi-structured interview scheduleprepared and piloted by the researcher was used as a datacollectiontool. The collected data was then descriptivelyanalysed, interpreted and visualised. The findings revealthat students perceive and comprehend the concept of social studies mainly as a school subject. Their conception of social studies generallyinfluenced by the content of the course they attend. Besides, it was foundoutthat while the personality, attitudes and teaching styles of teachers' haveimpact on the shaping of students' interests of social studies, students' interests on the topics and themes of social studies leadthem to relate what they had learnt in their lessons to the real life situations as well as their owndaily lives. Moreover, it was seenthat students' experiences in social studies lessonshave also influenced on the formation of their viewpoints in relation with the content of social studies curriculum. Keywords: Social studies lesson, Social studies perception, Middle school students, Phenomenology