Teachers' opinions on the use of virtual museums in social studies teaching

Museums are frequently used as an educational environment in Social Studies courses. Despite all their benefits and the fact that they are included in curricula, it is very difficult to realise museum visits due to permission, time and economic problems. Today, technological developments have brought changes in every field. Virtual museums have emerged with the meeting of developing technology with museums. Virtual museums contribute to education by bringing museology to educational environments. In this study, the knowledge and opinions of Social Studies teachers about virtual museums and their use in their lessons were investigated. Qualitative research method was used in the study. The data of the study were collected through a semi-structured interview form. The data obtained in the interview were evaluated according to content analysis. The findings of the study show that teachers have knowledge about the virtual museum and use it in their lessons. When the teachers' use of virtual museums was analysed, it was found that there were differences between their opinions and that the teachers who used virtual museums generally used them in line with the relevant subject and achievement. It was determined that there were differences between their views on the need for special knowledge and skills for the use of virtual museums. Based on the teachers' statements, it was concluded that they were aware of many features related to virtual museums and questioned their effects. In addition, it was seen that most of the teachers preferred virtual museum visits to real museum visits due to reasons such as not reflecting the museum atmosphere, not being able to touch the artefacts, and not being able to see the artefacts live. However, they stated that the virtual museum application eliminates many obstacles in accessing the museum and facilitates teaching, so it is more common to use it in lessons. Based on the findings of the study, some suggestions were presented.