The effect of teaching current events in the social students course on the level of ecological citizenship

Social studies is a course that integrates the social science disciplines that individuals will need to regulate their relationships as members of society and aims to raise individuals as active citizens. One of the roles of individuals towards the environment is to be a good ecological citizen. Current events teaching, which is one of the methods that can be used in ecological citizenship education in social studies classes, enables students to get to know the world they live in. In this context, the aim of the research is to determine the effect of using current events teaching in the 6th grade social studies course on students' ecological citizenship success level. An embedded design, one of the mixed methods research designs, was used in the research. The research was conducted in the fall semester of the 2022-2023 academic year with the participation of 37 students studying in the 6th grade of a public school and a social studies teacher working in the same school. The data of the research were collected through Ecological Citizenship Achievement Test, semi-structured interviews, and researcher and student reflective diary. In the analysis of the obtained quantitative data, independent groups t-test was used for comparisons between groups, as well as descriptive statistical techniques. Qualitative data were analyzed with inductive analysis. As a result of the research, it was found that the social studies course conducted with current events teaching increased the students' ecological citizenship success levels. In addition, according to the opinions of the experimental group students and the social studies teacher, it was determined that current events teaching was effective in improving the success level of ecological citizenship. At the end of the research, suggestions for practice and future research were presented based on the results.