Examining secondary school students' perceptions of climate change in social studies education with the example of disaster movies in digital environment

The purpose of this research is to examine 7th grade Social Studies students' perceptions of global climate change through animations, films and documentaries about climate change. For the purpose, a single group pretest-posttest experimental design without a control group, one of the weak experimental designs, was used. The study group of the research was formed by 22 students who continue their education at Mustafa Kemal Secondary School affiliated with Elazığ Provincial Directorate of National Education, according to the convenient sampling method, which is one of the purposeful sampling methods. A semi-structured interview form, one of the interview techniques, was used during the data collection process. At this point, the Global Climate Change Perception Student Interview Form prepared by the researcher was used. Before the application, the prepared interview form was applied to the students as a pre-test. During the implementation phase, movie watching activities and other methods-techniques planned for a 4-week period were carried out by the researcher. In order to determine the effect of the disaster movies shown after the application on the students' perception of climate change, the Global Climate Change Perception Student Interview Form was re-applied to the students as a posttest. Content analysis, one of the qualitative data analysis methods, was used to analyze the data. In addition, six disaster movies shown to students were analyzed according to semiotic and discourse analysis methods, and the results of the analysis are included under a separate heading. In the light of the findings obtained as a result of the data collected from the students, in the pre-test application, it was determined that the students had incomplete and/or incorrect information about the concept of global climate change, its causes, consequences and the measures that can be taken individually and publicly; In the post-test administered after the activities, it was observed that there was an increase in the number of correct information about the mentioned topics. Thus, it is concluded that films about climate change are effective in increasing students' perception of climate change. Key Words: Social Studies, Global Climate Change, Secondary School Students, Disaster Movies