The place and importance of local history in social studies from the example of Bolu in war of Turkish Independence

Local history education has become a subject the importance of which has been understood especially in recent years in Turkey and a subject wished to be applied in programmes of instruction. Local history education is a significant building block for the way leading to general history education. Just as individuals constitute the nations, local history constitutes the general history as well. Local history education, which is often dwelled on in our country in recent years, is an effective method both to increase the students' attention to the lesson and to help students keep the topics in their minds permanently. On the journey through history which is set off by starting with the immediate history around the individuals, as their perspective widens, they will start to see the world from a different point of view and notice where they are on the adventure of history. Thus, the students will realize a lot of details around them which they see every day but don't pay attention to. There are 100 students and 20 social studies teachers who were selected from schools with different socio-economic situations in this study. The teachers and the students, who participated in the study voluntarily, were asked open-ended questions, and the data obtained were analyzed. In this study, local history of Bolu province was studied. Qualitative research and case study methods were used as the research method. Such a study was conducted because there is not enough research about local history of Bolu and the province has a rich history. In this study, social studies teachers ' use of local history teaching situations and problems encountered in the use of local history teaching were studied. Social studies and literature review conducted with the objectives of history teaching, local history, local history, development of resources, benefits, out-of-school local history teaching local history in the teaching of photography, painting, etc. the use of resources, principles to be followed in the teaching of local history have been stated and it has been concluded that local history is important and should be applied in Social Studies courses. In the light of the results of the study, it is understood that the teachers and the students don't have enough knowledge about local elements. That the students have learned about local history of Bolu from the places and the names in their immediate environment is among our study findings. The teachers' limited knowledge about local history education and local history of Bolu confines the use of local elements during the lessons. However, it was found that the students are curious about local history of Bolu and that their attention to the lessons can be increased through the use of local elements in the lessons. It was understood that the teachers' perspective about local history education is place-oriented. It is crucial that teachers be willing so that this place-oriented perspective can be broken and effective local history education can be done. It is aimed to give students different perspectives and skills in social studies courses with local history teaching which has gained importance in our country in recent years as in the world. With the teaching of local history, students will be able to make sense of their places more easily and look at the world differently from their own window.