The effectts of using maps on lesson behaviors,achievement and memorization level in social studies to the seventh grade primary students

In contemporary education system that has a break out of knowledge and a great amount of augmentation of variations in programmes,teachers need appropriate sources,materials,way of life and ıt is impossible for teachers to know everything without any help.For that reason ,in order to create an effective and productive learning ,teaching atmosphere should be fertilized with the materials in primary schools.For this purpose,this thesis defends that using maps is more effective than using the traditional methods in lessons in spite of crowded and large classrooms in the seventh grade Social Studies lesson. In this experimental study ,firstly ,literature was scanned related to topic,then a personal information questionnaire for balancing the students,an achievement test for students to evaluate the levels of their memorizing and academical achievement,a behavioral test for evaluating their manners of conduct in the lesson and teacher plans for teachers were prepared based on literature and experts opinions to collect data.Study was realized to 188 students who were choosen as experimental and control groups at 7C,7D,7E,7F classrooms in 2006-2007 instruction year at Adapazarı Ahmet Akkoç Primary Education School in Sakarya.In this study ,one of the experimental models ?Groups of Four Solomon Model?was used for determining the effects of using maps on students academical achievement ,manners of conduct and memorization in the presentation of the unit called ?The Conquest of ?stanbul and Its effects?which is existed in the curriculum of 7th grade primary classroom .This study has five sections.The meanıng, importance and development of Social Studies,the development of social studies in Turkey and in the world, the main materials using in social studies, the benefits of materials for instruction, the functions of the instructional materials in teaching atmosphere and the principles of preparing the instructional materials take place in section one.In the second sections ,the importance of using maps in Social Studies and its principles,the benefits of using maps,the situations that we have to be careful while using and drawing maps and atlases take place..In the third section,related researches take place.In the fourth section,research method,model,sample ,universe,collecting data ,experimental operations and analyzing data are used.In the fifth section,the findings and comments of the research were mentioned.Finally ,thesis study is completed by mentioning the results which based on findings and reccomendations according to the results.The t test of SPSS(Statistical Package fort he Social Sciences)was used for comparing the groups as inside and among each other and .05 reliability level was accpted for mean level.After analyzing data, these results were reached: 1-In social study course,in favour of experimental group ,there is a meaningful difference about the academical achievement of the students between the experimental groups learning with maps and control groups learning without maps. 2-In socials study course ,in favour of experimental group,there is a meaningful difference about the manners of conduct of the students in lessons between the experimental groups learning with maps and control groups learning without maps. 3-In social study course,in favour of experimental group,there is a meaningful difference about the memorization of the information between the experimental groups learning with maps and control groups learning without maps. Key Words: Social Studies, Social Science,Map,Traditional Teaching,Education Technology