Social studies teachers' ability to perceive space and their views on spatial technologies

The subject of the social studies course is an interdisciplinary course consisting of human social sciences. One of the skills aimed to be acquired by the students in this course is the ability to perceive the space. The use of spatial technologies should be increased in line with technological developments in the social studies course, which aims to raise individuals who have the ability to perceive the space and who can explain the interaction between the human and the environment, who know the general geographical characteristics of the environment and the world we live in. In this study, a phenomenological design, one of the qualitative research methods, was used to determine the social studies teachers' ability to perceive space and their views on spatial technologies. The study group is Social Studies Teachers, who are determined by criterion sampling from purposive sampling. The 8-question interview form, prepared with the semi-structured interview technique, was applied electronically to the Social Studies Teachers, who were on duty in the 2022-2023 academic year in Mersin province Mezitli district and participated in the interview on a voluntary basis. Descriptive analysis technique was applied to the obtained data. According to the results obtained, it has been concluded that Social Studies Teachers have knowledge about space and the ability to perceive space. However, it has been concluded that they do not have enough knowledge about other skills and spatial technologies that the skill is related to, that they do not use spatial technologies sufficiently in the teaching of the skill of perceiving the space, that they want training on spatial technologies both at the university and as in-service courses, and that they want schools to have the necessary equipment. Keywords: Social Studies 1, Perception of Space 2, Spatial Technology 3