Assessment of social sciences learning environments in terms of student-centered education

Objective of this research is to assess the social sciences learning environments in terms of student-centered education. It is a descriptive study conducted by the model of survey. Likert-type ?Student-Centered Learning Environments Scale? developed by Acat (2005b) was used in the research in order to determine the opinions of teachers and students. Frequency, percentage, arithmetic average, standard deviation were used in the solution of subproblems of the study as well as t-test and one-way analysis of variance (Anova) for the independent groups and scheffe test in comparisons.The study was performed with 1715 6th and 7th graders receiving education at totally 17 schools having a senior, medium and low socio-economic level and 29 social sciences teachers rendering service at these schools, during the school year of 2010-2011.As a result of the study; it was concluded that teachers and students generally find the psycho-social environment/properties regarding dimensions of social climate, infrastructure and equipment, space (physical) and time, which constitute the four dimensions of the scale of student-centered learning environments, convenient for the learning environments of social sciences, in terms of student-centered education and a positive relation was determined between the four lower dimensions.A significant difference was determined for each dimension, in respect of the convenience of social sciences learning environments of the 6th and 7th graders for the student-centered education according to the classroom size. It was observed that among those with a classroom size below 15 and above 31, the significant difference is in favour of the ones with smaller classroom size. While a significant difference was observed in favour of the 6th graders, in terms of the convenience of social sciences learning environments of the 6th and 7th graders for the student-centered education according to the classroom size in the dimensions of time, space, infrastructure and equipment; no significant difference was observed, regarding the psycho-social environment/social climate dimension of school.Among the female and male students, a significant difference was observed in favour of male students, in terms of the convenience of social sciences learning environments of the 6th and 7th graders for the student-centered education according to the gender in the size of space; however, no significant difference was encountered in the dimensions of psycho-social infrastructure and time. Among the schools having a low socio-economic level and senior socio-economic level, a significant difference was determined in favour of schools having a low socio-economic level, in terms of the convenience of social sciences learning environments of the 6th and 7th graders for the student-centered education according to the socio-economic level of schools; and among the schools having a medium socio-economic level and senior socio-economic level, a significant difference was determined in favour of schools having a medium socio-economic level.Besides, no significant difference was encountered regarding the opinions of social sciences teachers, in terms of the convenience of social sciences learning environments for the learning environments of social sciences, according to their gender and occupational seniority.According to the findings obtained in the study, it is suggested to minimize the classroom sizes, enhance the properties regarding the dimensions of infrastructure and equipment, enable areas at schools where students can constitute their own information during the lesson of social sciences, make such flexible programs that students can achieve their goals and ideals, minimize the curriculum intensity and organize the in-service educational courses regarding the learning environments required for the social sciences teachers to implement the student-centered education in order to optimize the learning environments aimed at using the student-centered educational model in social sciences.Key Words: Social Studies Education, Student-Centered Education, Learning Environment, Student-Centered Learning Environments Scale.