Secondary school 6. grade social studies in problem based learning approach the effect of higher-order thinking skills and creativity level

This study was applied with the aim of examining effect of the problem based learning approach on students' high level thinking skills and creativity levels in primary education 's social education. Research was applied on sixth grade students of Atatürk Secondary School in Erzurum, Aşkale in the first term of 2017-2018 academic year. Two classes equal to each other were selected by taking into account the social success test done before appliccation. In a class, problem based learning approach and in the other class, traditional teaching methods were applied. Research was organized according to pre-test and post-test control group of actual trial models. Achievement test prepared according to target behaviours of "Life on Earth" unit in social studies course, creativity scale were used as a measuring instrument. These assessment instruments were given for the experiment and control group as pre-test and post-test. After a total of practice's 6 week, obtained data were analyzed. T test was used to analyze the data obtained from the research. At the end of the research, the following information was obtained: As a result of experimental application, experimental group with problem based learning approach was significantly found to be more successful than control group with the traditional learning method in terms of target levels. Moreover, the experimental group was found to be significantly more successful than the control group in terms of problem solving and scientific method process skill levels. When the results related to creativity levels were examined, it was seen that the students in the experiment group had higher and more successful scores. It was concluded that problem based learning approach increased the students' achievements and improved their creativity.