Education in political science: A critical review

In this study, it is aimed to determine the meaning of active learning approach and which active learning methods and techniques are preferred in Political Science Education and to examine the findings obtained from the studies on these methods and techniques with a critical perspective. Within the framework of this purpose, what active learning is, what kind of components the active learning approaches used in Political Science Education have, which active learning techniques are frequently mentioned in journals that conduct teaching-learning research on Political Science and International Relations, what kind of information is available on the effects of active learning environments in the political science literature, what findings have been reached in the literature regarding the effects of active learning methods and techniques used in Political Science education on students' learning, and what suggestions are made in the literature for the development of information literacy competencies and critical thinking skills of Political Science students have been examined in the research process. The research focused on data sources examining the effectiveness of teaching methods and techniques that encourage active learning of students in Political Science courses. In this context, mostly "PS: Political Science & Politics", "International Studies Perspectives", "American Political Science Association" and "Journal of Political Science Education" journals were searched and related publications were used as data sources. Content analysis technique was used to make valid and repeatable inferences from the documents regarding the content of the documents. The documents in the data sources were analyzed with the content analysis technique and reported during the process. As a result of the research, it was determined that active learning methods and techniques were not used at a sufficient level in Political Science education. In addition, it was found out that the publications examined within the scope of the research did not systematically contain active learning methods and techniques. Besides these, it was concluded that the findings of scientific studies on active learning methods and techniques used in political science education, which were examined within the scope of the research, were insufficient to establish a general standard. Keywords: Political Science Education, Active Learning, Information Literacy, Critical Thinking