The effect of oral history activities in the social studies teaching to the success,ability and attitudes of the students

This research is one of the first studies in the field of education on oral history in Turkey; because of this fact, at the very beginning of the study, the theory and practice of oral history will be clearlydefined. In the following part, the assertion will be proved that social sciences and history courses will be more exiciting and easy to learn when oral history methods are applied in these courses. In addition this, a research is planned in which both qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis are performed and in quantitative data analysis; mean, standart deviation and ?t? test are used. Also, qualitative data is examined according to descriptive analysis. The research is performed with a sample of n= 46 7th grade students from two different elementary school classes. During the reseaech while one group of the students were thought by using oral history method, the other group of the students were thought with traditional methods. In the end, a multiple-choice exam which includes 25 questions was appilied and the scores of the exam were analyzed by performing mean, standart deviation and ?t? test. Moreover, in the other part of the research in which qualitative methods were used; the compositions, which were written just after the lesson by the students who had attended the lesson in which oral history method was tried, were evaluated. When the exam result are analyzed, it is observed that the students in the experiment group are more succesful than the students in the control group. The compositions which are evaluated by considering the effect of oral history method on students show that while the applied method develops the students? ability to differentiate between fact and opinion, to find the irrelevant data and relevant data and to understand the lives of the people lived in the past the past and appreciate what they did, it develops the studnts ability to comprehend change and continuity a little. x In the lights of these findings; consequently, it is found that by the help of the oral history method, the students? success is increased in history courses and this method improves the students? ability to order information, to relaize the difference between fact and opinion and to find the relevant data among irrelevant data and to comprehend and appreciate the people lived in the past and to comprehend change and countinuity.