Values education in Ülker Köksal's children's plays

For a society to exist on the stage of civilization history and to continue its existence, the material and spiritual elements and cultural components that constitute that society must be embraced and perpetuated by its individuals. Values are what perpetuate material and spiritual elements and cultural components. The existence of values is important for the peace of society in a broad sense and for the happiness of the individual in a narrow sense. While it is emphasized that children's literature products are an effective tool for the transmission of values, studies examining children's theater in this context are limited. The aim of this research is to examine Ülker Köksal's children's plays according to the twenty values in the Virtue Value Action Framework included in the TYMM and to reveal whether these works can be used in values education. The research was conducted within the scope of a qualitative research approach, using the document review method. The data sources for the research are Ülker Köksal's eleven children's plays: "Guardians of the Forest," "Tomorrow Makes Sense," "Three Stars Fell from the Sky," "The Order of the Rose," "The Mountain Met the Sea," Our Love Club, Ayşegül, Mustafa Kemal's Soldiers, The Glass Palace, Planet of Peace, Who Will Save the Blue Planet?" by Ülker Köksal. The collected data were analyzed using a deductive analysis approach. Research findings show that Ülker Köksal's children's plays largely align with the values found in EDEÇ. In particular, it has been determined that values such as love, respect, kindness, friendship, justice, honesty, diligence, freedom, and responsibility are frequently and consistently addressed in the works. It was observed that values such as thrift, privacy, cleanliness, healthy living, and modesty were addressed to a more limited extent. The values were presented in a natural flow within the theme and plot of the plays. The study concluded that Ülker Köksal's children's plays are an important resource for values education; they are highly effective, educational, and artistic educational materials for conveying the values included in EDEÇ.