The effect of using worksheets in social studies education on students? academic achievement and attitudes toward the course

Instructional materials play an important role in ensuring the effectiveness of teaching and learning activities. Worksheet is a kind of printed instructional material that is prepared and frequently used by teachers in order to help students gain knowledge, skills and values by providing helpful comments about the course objectives and enabling students to engage in active learning and learning-by-doing in and out of the school.Worksheet can be effectively used in social studies education to increase students? achievement and provide permanent learning. However, a literature review showed that there is not enough research on the effectiveness of worksheets in social studies education. In this context, the aim of this study is to examine the effect of using worksheets in the seventh-grade-social-studies course on students? academic achievement and attitudes toward the course.In this study, a two-phase mixed method including both quantitative and qualitative methods was used. The quantitative dimension of the study included an experimental study with a 2 x 3 pre-test-post-test randomized control-group design and a 3-month follow-up. Participants were 57 seventh graders (29 in experimental and 28 in control group) from İl Genel Meclisi Primary School located in the school district of Çankaya in Ankara. The study was carried out during the spring semester of 2007-2008 and the fall semester of 2008-2009 academic years.The qualitative dimension of the study consisted of interviews and document analyses. The qualitative procedures were implemented in primary schools located in the school district of Çankaya in Ankara in the spring semester of the 2007-2008 academic year. The interviews were held with the 29 students of the experimental group participating in the experimental part of the study. Document analysis was conducted on data from 364 seventh graders in İl Genel Meclisi, Sokullu Mehmet Paşa, Gökçe Karataş, Talat Paşa ve Türk-İş Blokları Primary Schools.Data sources were different for various methods. Academic achievement test and social studies attitude scale were used as part of the quantitative procedures. Interview protocol including 9 questions and 14 worksheets prepared by the researcher were used as part of the qualitative procedures.SPSS 10.0 statistical package and content analysis were used to analyze the data. Quantitative data were submitted to one-way ANOVA, two-way ANOVA for repeated measurements and paired-sample t tests. Content analysis approach was used for analyzing interviews, and answer keys prepared for each worksheet were used for analyzing documents.Results based on the comparison of experimental and the control group students showed that using worksheets in social studies courses increases students? academic achievement. The comparison results from the follow-up assessment further explained that using worksheets in social studies courses sustains students? achievement through time. Furthermore, the incorporation of worksheets into the coursework in the experimental group affected students? attitudes toward the course in a positive direction. The follow-up assessment more revealed that using worksheets in social studies courses keeps up students? positive attitudes towards the course through time as well. Meanwhile, post-test versus 3-month follow-up comparison showed that both the experimental and the control group students changed their attitudes toward the social studies course to the same extent.The interview data revealed that students could be more active and learn by enjoying in worksheets based social studies courses. Furthermore, the content analysis indicated that students had difficulties in history subjects of social studies. Majority of students wanted authorities to prepare worksheets about history subjects as well as other subjects such as geography, citizenship and human rights. Document analysis showed that students got the highest points from ?Writing a Letter? worksheet and the lowest points from the ?Reading a Cartoon? worksheet. These results suggested that students could be more successful by using worksheets that are visual, have fewer pages, enable students to freely express themselves and can be used with other instructional technologies.Key Words: Social Studies Education, Worksheet, Academic Achievement, Attitude, Gallipoli Wars.