Teaching social studies with authentic learning approach in fourth grade primary school: An action research

With the rapid development of technology in the 21st century, it has become quite easy to access information. Today, individuals are expected to have characteristics such as researching, questioning, having high-level thinking skills, producing creative solutions to the problems they encounter, working in cooperation, having high social skills, taking responsibility, and structuring the information they have acquired, rather than memorizing information. Acquiring all these skills and values can only be achieved by presenting real-world problem situations to students and providing them with activities that are not detached from their real context. For this, it is necessary to benefit from innovative approaches in which the student is at the center in schools. The authentic learning approach, which is one of the innovative approaches, has attracted a lot of attention in recent years. In this research, it was aimed to determine how the authentic learning approach process used in the learning areas of "People, Places and Environments" and "Science, Technology and Society" in the fourth grade social studies course of primary school is realized and how to solve the problems that arise in the process. The research was carried out with the action research method, which is one of the qualitative research methods. The implementation of the research was carried out in a public primary school in Pazarcık district of Kahramanmaraş province in the 2021-2022 academic year. The study group consisting of 10 female and 10 male students was formed by using the purposeful sampling method, which is one of the non-random sampling methods. In accordance with the objectives of the research, "typical case sampling", one of the purposeful sampling methods, was used to ensure that it reflects the general characteristics of the universe and the limits of the study group were determined. The researcher is also the teacher of the class where the application is made. The application lasted 11 weeks. The data collection tools of the research consisted of descriptive observation forms, individual self-evaluation forms, group-oriented evaluation forms, researcher reflective diary, student reflective diary, observation, expert interview evaluation forms, rubric, and semi-structured interview forms. In this study, the data obtained from qualitative data tools were analyzed by content analysis. As a result of the research, the students who participated in the authentic learning activities found the process interesting and instructive, they worked collaboratively while doing authentic tasks, their social skills and communication skills improved, they worked with high motivation and enthusiasm, the process contributed positively to the students' high-level thinking skills, and contributed to their daily lives, It has been revealed that it contributes positively to the increase of students' basic skills and values such as helping, patience, empathy, and respect. As a result, the students made positive opinions about the social studies course being taught according to the authentic learning approach. In addition, it is recommended to study the authentic learning approach with other learning areas of the social studies course, to study authentic learning by patterning it with other methods, to conduct studies in which all nine components of authentic learning are examined in depth, and to focus on the contribution of students to their high-level skills.