Sustainable consumption in social studies education: A mixed methods research

The purpose of this research is to examine sustainable consumption concept education in social studies education as a whole within the framework of textbooks, curriculum and teachers. In this context, the content of the 2018 Social Studies Curriculum and textbooks were examined within the scope of the concept of sustainable consumption. In addition, social studies teachers' levels of sustainable consumption behavior and their activities in the education process of this concept were determined. Thus, the main elements of the social studies course were examined as a whole in the context of the concept of sustainable consumption. This research was conducted using an explanatory design, one of the mixed methods research designs. The research generally consists of two complementary sub-stages. In the first stage, it was examined how much and how the concept of sustainable consumption was included in the Social Studies Curriculum and textbooks using the document analysis method. The data obtained from the documents were analyzed by content analysis. In the second stage, the extent to which social studies teachers live their lives in accordance with the concept of sustainable consumption and their activities in the education process of this concept were examined. At this stage, quantitative data was collected from 266 social studies teachers reached using the simple random sampling method. In addition, 21 social studies teachers, who were reached by using the maximum diversity sampling method, one of the purposeful sampling methods, formed the study group in which qualitative data were collected. "Sustainable Consumption Behavior Scale for Social Studies Teachers" developed by Kiracı (2009) was used as the data collection tool. The data obtained from the scale were subjected to descriptive statistics through the SPSS 22 program. In addition, after reviewing the literature, the researcher prepared a semi-structured interview form for social studies teachers' opinions on teaching the concept of sustainable consumption by taking the opinions of experts. The data collected from the participating teachers through the prepared form was grouped into relevant themes and analyzed using the descriptive analysis method. As a result of the research, it was determined that there was no direct content related to the concept of sustainable consumption in the 2018 Social Studies Curriculum and textbooks, but there were indirectly related concepts. The sustainable consumption behavior scores that the participants received from the sustainable consumption behavior scale for social studies teachers were at a medium level in the categories of water, electricity, recycling, ecology, second-hand and paper use, and at a high level in the fuel use category. Participating teachers try to cover issues related to sustainable consumption in detail in their lessons, and they think that the subject of sustainable consumption should be included in the curriculum as a separate unit or taught as a separate course. According to the results of the research; It has been suggested that the concept of sustainable consumption should be added to the curriculum as a separate unit and that administrators, teachers and parents should act together so that students can develop sustainable consumption behavior.