The effect of orienteering practices on social studies teacher candidates map reading skills

This research aims to determine the effect of orienteering practices on the map reading skills of Social Studies teacher candidates. The research was prepared according to the mixed design and the Posttest Control and Experimental Group Design model was preferred among the semi-experimental design models in the quantitative dimension of the mixed design. In the qualitative dimension of the mixed design, the case design was used. The participants included in the study consist of 49 Social Studies teacher candidates who are studying in the second grade in the Department of Social Studies Education in the 2021-2022 academic year. The rubric called "A Scoring Key for Orienteering Map Reading Skills" and "Semi Structured Interview Form" were used as data collection tools in the research. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to determine whether there was a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in the scores obtained from the scale called "A Rubric for Orienteering Map Reading Skills". As a result of the analysis, it was concluded that there was a significant difference between the mean rank of the experimental and control groups. The analysis process was carried out using the "stats" package of the R program. According to the results of the research, it was concluded that there were significant differences in favor of the experimental group in the dimensions of holding map, recognizing direction, triangulation, location, signs and symbols, calculating the distance with scales and compass, using landforms and managing time It was observed that the mean rank of the experimental group was higher than the mean rank of the control group in mapping skills (holding map, direction, triangulation and location information) in orienteering practices of social studies teacher candidates. It was concluded that the mean rank of the experimental group was higher than the mean rank of the control group in terms of skill levels (recognizing signs and symbols, calculating distance using scales and compass) during the orienteering practices of social studies teacher candidates. It was concluded that the mean rank of the experimental group was higher than the mean rank of the control group in order to reach the goals by recognizing the landforms during the orienteering practices of the social studies teacher candidates. It was concluded that the mean rank of the experimental group was higher than the mean rank of the control group when the social studies teacher candidates completed the orienteering practices within the given time. In addition, according to the results obtained from the semi-structured interview form, it was seen that the students stated that the orienteering practices were effective in making the information permanent and enjoyable on the skills. As a matter of fact, according to these results, it is seen within the scope of the study that the practical use of orienteering activity in the education process has a significant effect compared to traditional education.