The effect of diary use in middle school 7th grade social studies course on academic achievement of the course

The diary is a typical resource that individuals write daily or at regular intervals to record their observations, activities and important events, to plan their work. The purpose of this research is to examine the effect of daily use in social studies lessons on the academic achievement of seventh grade students in social studies. The research was designed on the basis of a quasi-experimental design with pretest-posttest control group within the scope of quantitative research. In addition, in the context of qualitative research, the diaries kept by the students participating in the research at regular intervals were also examined. The study group of the research consisted of 60 students studying in two different classes at the 7th grade level of Ersoy Middle School in the Kepez district of Antalya province in the 2017-2018 academic year. SPSS-23 package program was used for the analysis of quantitative data. In the analysis of the data, dependent t-test and independent t-test were preferred. There was no significant difference between the pretest achievement mean scores of the experimental and control groups. Again, no significant difference was found between the posttest scores of the experimental and control groups. When the experimental and control groups were examined within themselves, it was determined that there was a significant difference between the pretest-posttest achievement mean scores of both. It was concluded that the posttest achievement scores of the experimental group differed according to gender, whereas the posttest scores of the control group did not differ. Descriptive analysis technique was used in the analysis of qualitative data. Examining the course diaries of the students in the context of qualitative analysis, it was determined that keeping a diary and keeping a diary led them to develop positive perspectives towards the social studies course. As a result of the research, it was concluded that keeping a course diary in social studies lessons positively affects the academic achievement of students. Based on the results obtained from the research, some suggestions were made for researchers, program developers and practitioners.