Using web 2.0 tools in teaching social studies: A mixed method research

Developments and changes in technology contribute to individuals and institutions in many ways such as speed, utility, and time managing. Educational activities are also affected by this change, and scientific researches are carried out for the implementation of technology to the learning-teaching process. The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of the use of web 2.0 tools in Social Studies teaching on students' digital literacy skills and environmental awareness, as well as to reveal the views of students and researchers on the use of web 2.0 tools in Social Studies teaching. For this purpose, the qualitative data obtained from this research, which was designed as a mixed method research, is aimed to explain the quantitative data in more depth. The research was conducted with 5th grade students in a public secondary school in Köşk - Aydın in the academic year of 2021-2022. The experimental group consists of 24 students and the control group consists of 22 students. The research and implementation process covers a total of 30 course hours in 10 weeks; The Social Studies course is structured to include 10 acquisitions selected from the learning areas of "People, Places and Environments" and "Science, Technology and Society" in the curriculum. While some web 2.0 tools (Edmodo, Google Earth, ThingLink, Voki, Renderforest, Canva, WordArt, Powtoon, StoryJumper, Padlet, Pixton, Skype, YouTube, LearningApps, Socrative) were used in the experimental group to teach social studies lessons; in the control group, Social Studies courses were taught with the current curriculum and textbook. The "Environmental Awareness Scale" for secondary school students, created by Çetin and Yalçınkaya (2018), was employed in the research's experimental component. The "Digital Literacy Scale" was used in the study; which was developed by Ng (2012); translated into Turkish by Hamutoğlu, Güngören, Kaya-Uyanık, and Gür-Erdoğan (2017); and conducted a measurement invariance study for secondary school students by Eroğlu, Güngören, Kaya- Uyanık, and Gür-Erdoğan (2019). In the qualitative aspect of the research, the Social Studies diaries, in which the views and observations of the students were recorded during the research, and the researcher's diary, in which the researcher recorded his observations throughout the implementation process, formed the qualitative data set. Face-to-face interviews with the nine identified focus students were conducted at the conclusion of the study, and content analysis was used to examine the collected data. As a result of the research, it was determined that the Social Studies course taught with web 2.0 tools made a statistically significant difference in favor of the experimental group on the environmental awareness and digital literacy skills of secondary school students. It was examined whether there was a difference in students' digital literacy skills and attitudes towards the environment in terms of gender, mother's education, and father's educational status. There was no statistically significant difference according to gender in both scales. However, in the context of the mother's education status and father's educational status variable, it was concluded that there was a significant difference in favor of the parents whose educational background was "university graduate", in the context of students' digital literacy skills and environmental awareness; in terms of other variables, no significant difference was observed in environmental awareness or digital literacy skills. As a result of the interviews with secondary school students and the analysis of the Social Studies diaries in which the students recorded their views and observations throughout the process; academic contribution, affective contribution, contribution to skill acquisition, contribution to individual development, sharing and interaction, enriching the teaching process, digital competence, assessment themes and the sub-themes and categories related to these themes were reached. The themes of social studies, environmental literacy, and web 2.0 tools, as well as their sub-themes and categories, were covered in the student interviews. Results about the problems encountered when using web 2.0 tools in the Social Studies course were also obtained from the diaries and interviews. The examination of the researcher's diary led to the identification of social studies and web 2.0 tool themes, as well as sub-themes and categories associated with these themes. Because of the mixed method's characteristics, it was also investigated to see whether the qualitative data supports the findings of the quantitative data. The focus students and the researcher's interviews led to the conclusion that the students were engaged in the Social Studies course, which used web 2.0 tools to teach it, and that they learnt and enjoyed the course by having fun. With statements like "I am excited, it will be good, if we increase the time, I like the implementation" coming from the attitude sub- dimension of the digital literacy scale used in the experimental process, it was determined that statements like "I got it done, I learned right away, I solved the problem, I got it to work" explained and supported the significant difference in favor of the experimental group in the scores obtained from the technical sub-dimension. From the qualitative data collected for the cognitive sub-dimension of the digital literacy scale used in the experimental process, it was determined that claims like "we did it together, everyone had a job, we did it jointly" explain and support the scores obtained for the social sub- dimension and the significant difference in favor of the experimental group. In the student diaries and interviews, statements such as "I must save the world, we must protect the trees" are from the "environmental sensitivity" sub-dimension of the environmental awareness scale applied in the experimental process; it was concluded that statements such as "our school should inform everywhere, we should send posters everywhere" explained the statistically significant difference in favor of the experimental group in the "role of school and publications in environmental education" sub-dimension. According to the statements such as "We learned about the problems and disasters, we must save the world" were from the "role of teachers and lessons in environmental education" sub- dimension of the environmental awareness scale, and the statements such as "I recycle the garbage, now I take other people's garbage" are in the "environment outside of school" sub-dimension, it was concluded that it explained and supported the statistically significant difference in favor of the experimental group. This research, which covers two learning areas of the 5th grade Social Studies course and uses different web 2.0 tools, can be conducted in different learning areas and at different grade levels of Social Studies, and its outcomes can be evaluated. Keywords: Web 2.0, digital literacy, environmental literacy, educational technology, social studies.