The Evalution of fourth grade elementary school teachers competences about teaching thinking skills in social studies course

ABSTRACT THE EVALUTION OF FOURTH GRADE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS' COMPETENCES ABOUT TEACHING THINKING SKILLS IN SOCIAL STUDIES COURSE Ismail GELEN Master Thesis, Department of Educational Sciences SupervisorAsst. Prof. Dr. Ahmet DO?ANAY June 1999, 160 pages In this study, fourth grade elementary school social studies course has been evaluated in terms of teaching thinking skills which were chosen as problem solving, decision making, questioning, creative and critical thinking skills. The main purpose was to describe whether or not problem solving, decision making, questioning, creative and critical thinking skills had been developed. In addition, tofind out if there was a significant differences on teaching thinking skills scores in terms of sex, teaching experience, subject matter and school which was graduated was also the main focus of the study. The subjects of the study consistent of 97 fourth grade elementary school teachers who were chosen randomly from 30 elementary schools in Antakya. To collect data about research variables from the subjects questionnaire which was developed by the researher and classroom observation techniques were used. Although questionnaire had been administered to all the 97 subject, only 24 of them which were selected randomly had been observed in the classroom. The findings of the study indicated that fourth grade elementary school teachers found themselves quite adequate in teaching thinking skills in social studies course. IXHovewer, the results of the observation which were made by the researcher indicated that adequacy level of the teachers in teaching thinking skills was not high. One way ANO VA statisticak technique was used to find out if there were a significant differences on teaching thinking skills scores in term of school which was graduated, sex, teaching experience and subject matter of the teachers. The results of the analyces score that no significant differences had been found on problem solving, decision making, questioning, and critical thinking scores in terms of school which was graduated, sex, teaching experience and subject matter. Hovewer a significant difference had been found on teaching creative thinking score in terms of teaching experience. This difference was in favor of teachers who have 16-20 years experience. Key Words: Social studies, Thinking Skills, Problem Solving, Decision Making, Questioning, Critical Thinking, Critical Thinking X