In the formation of the sense of school belonging examination of the relationship of socialization and physical environment through circulation areas

Considering the contribution of the concept of education to the cultural, social, and economic development of individuals and societies, the happiness of all students in school life and their commitment to these institutions are essential. Sense of school belonging, defined as students' acceptance of themselves as members of their school, has the power to affect academic motivation, social-emotional, physical health, behaviour, and even future life. When evaluated according to PISA data, the sense of school belonging is not high enough in Turkey, and this feeling should be increased and developed. From this point of view, the aim of the study is to investigate the relationship between socialization and the physical environment that is effective in the development of the sense of school belonging through circulation areas, to reconsider these areas in a way that supports the socialization behavior of students and to reveal their usage potential. The study carried out with 8th-grade students in 3 schools determined in Trabzon. In the study in which the exploratory sequential mixed method design was used, the "exploration" phase; literature information from observation and survey data; "design" phase; redesign of circulation areas by the researcher; the "testing" phase consists of the reevaluation of the redesigned circulation areas by the participants. As a result of the study in the current situation, traditionally designed circulation areas that are insufficient to support socialization can improve the sense of school belonging in positively, if they are designed depending on many parameters such as perception, function, location, access, meaning, form, size, transparency, flexibility, comfort, aesthetics and equipment in a way that will allow some learning and recreation activities to be carried out with students from the same/different age group, classroom and same/different classroom teachers attention has been drawn.