Designing, implementing and evaluating an adaptive learning environment for primary school social studies teaching

With the changing and transforming educational process in the digitized world, learning environments suitable for individual characteristics are needed. In this context, adaptive learning that personalizes the learning process based on the individual characteristics of the learners offers crucial opportunities. This study, which aimed to design, implement, and evaluate an adaptive learning environment with achievement criteria in primary school 4th grade Social Studies course, was designed as a multi-stage mixed method. In the first stage of the study, learner characteristics that affect academic achievement in the Social Studies course were examined by analyzing the data collected from 145 students. At this stage, it was determined that the learning styles, prior knowledge, and interests of the learners had an impact on their success, and in the end, an adaptive learning environment was designed. An experimental procedure was carried out with 36 participating students for the application and evaluation of the designed learning environment in the other stages. According to the analysis of the data obtained by scales, interviews, observations, and researcher's diary, the designed learning environment had positive effects on students' academic achievements, independent and collaborative learning skills, and was effective in closing the achievement gap caused by learning styles. It was also observed that students were entertained, engaged, and actively involved in the learning process in the designed learning environment. Suggestions for researchers and practitioners were offered based on the results of the study.