The investigation of the social studies teaching supported by a virtual reality application

The main purpose of this study is to examine the process, student and teacher experiences in the social studies course, which is supported by virtual reality application and discovery-based activities are used. Within the scope of this purpose, the course process in which the VR Yurt SG application, in which the Central Asian Turkish History is covered, is used, has been planned. In the research carried out in the case study design, which is one of the qualitative research methods, quantitative and qualitative data collection tools were used. The study group of the research consists of four children aged 10-12 and a social studies teacher who is involved in the learning environment and is involved in the process. As data collection tools, Central Asian Turkish History Information Form, Central Asian Turkish History Workbook, Student Interview Form, Teacher Interview Form, Class Observation Form, Student Observation Form and Researcher's Diary were used. The use of data collection tools is as follows: Information form to determine the knowledge of the students on the subject before and after the lessons; workbook with SG application in the course process; learning environment observation form to observe the dynamics in the lesson process; student observation form and researcher diary were used. Finally, before and after the application, one-on-one interviews were conducted with the students and the teacher using a semi-structured interview form. Descriptive and content analysis techniques were used in the analysis of the data. According to the results of the research, after the social studies course supported by the virtual reality application, the wrong answers given by the students to the questions in the information form decreased; The level of knowing the knowledge and concepts related to the subject has increased. Students left less number of activities mostly blank or made mistakes. In addition, students stated that teaching with SG provides the opportunity to learn with real life experiences, contributes to learning and makes the lesson fun. In line with the results obtained from the research, it is recommended to do more activities related to the skills, not to leave the student alone in the virtual reality environment, and to support the use of the application with instructions. Keywords: Virtual reality application, social studies teaching, technology integration.