Teaching women's history through literary products in social studies lessons: Material design examples

The aim of this study is to develop teaching materials that aim to integrate literary products, one of the functional tools of social studies teaching, into women's history teaching. Especially in the relevant age group (romantic stage between 9-15 years according to Kieran Egan), it was suggested that the stories can also offer important opportunities for teaching women's history due to their positive effects on historical thinking skills. Accordingly, stories and activities were designed within the framework of the achievement of 6.6.6 "Realizes the value given to women in social life based on Turkish history and current examples", which is at the 6th grade level within the scope of "Active Citizenship" learning area in the social studies course curriculum. Since the writing of the story texts primarily requires the examination of historical sources within the scope of children's literature, the "document analysis" method has been used in this study. This method was used to create the background of stories, analogues, worksheets and activities. In line with the data and themes obtained from the examined documents, the subjects and themes to be covered in the story texts were determined. After this process, eight story texts focusing on the lives and experiences of the leading women of history and each containing the determined themes and themes were written by the researcher. How the themes of the stories written are included in the fiction of the story texts / how the story texts are constructed in line with these themes are presented by creating thematic expansion tables for each story. Then, descriptive explanations of the tables and stories were made, supported by the literature, in a way to reveal how the aims/sub-objectives of the research were achieved. Finally, activity examples (educational games) and worksheets were designed in the context of the stories written and/or the topics they are related to. In line with the developed materials and activities, the results and various suggestions were presented. Within the scope of the study, story texts/books, analytical stories, activity examples and worksheets were created in which the female actors of history were made visible at the sixth grade level and referring to the leading women. In these material development studies, it is aimed that students develop awareness of the lives and experiences of women actors of history in the relevant historical contexts, the roles they play in the history of the country, and their struggles to exist in the public sphere. Thus, it is expected that this study will contribute positively to the perception of women's experiences through literary products in the context of social studies/history lessons, to the development of historical sensitivity, historical empathy skills and to the process of creating historical awareness.