Analziyng of the successful countries' in the internations examinations and Turkey's social studies textbooks in terms of design dimension

In this study, successful countries and Turkey's social studies textbooks were examined through the design dimension in international exams. This study is considered to remove the schematic deficiencies of Social Studies course books and to make contribution to the studies in this field. The opinions of teachers, prospective teachers or students are asked for data collection in researches conducted in our country aimed at course books' design dimension. However, this research is significant because visual design dimension which requires field engineering is in need of expert appraisal. The research is analysed through a descriptive scan by a document review. Based on the reports of organizations such as PISA and TIMSS, which conduct research on international scale, a working group has been established in terms of maximum quality from the countries in the upper education and Turkey and the Social Studies course books addressing the 12 – 14 age group of these countries are dealt with in the dimension of design. These countries are formed of the USA, Canada, Sweden, Germany, Japan, Singapore, Finland, France, Denmark, Poland and Turkey. The data obtained from the Social Studies course books of the sample countries is analysed by using Rating Scale (Rather suitable, Suitable, Inadequate) and Visual Design Principles which is developed by Alpan (2004) and is consisted of 48 items (Typographic items, Text organizers, Design of visual items, Page design, Book cover design, Exterior structure properties for production) When the results of the research are examined, it has been seen that the top countries in the PISA and TIMSS differ in Social Studies course books according to the visual design principles and Turkey, which scored below the average in the examinations of these international organizations got a better result when the Social Studies course book was examined according to the visual design documents. According to the visual design principles, the Social Studies course book of Canada, which is just above the PISA average, has the highest score in the specified countries. According to the results of the research, Singapore and Turkey, in the sample countries, getting a good result in five of the visual design items and the poor result from 'Exterior structure properties for production' show avoiding cost – enhancing factors. Finland, Japan and Singapore have also been found to be able to score high points on the international educational research institutes and not receive a high point on the 'Visual design items'. In the light of these results, the course books' design dimension, one of the factors that affects the success of a country in the education, differs among the countries which are examined. From the results of the research, suggestions can be made for effective use of attention-focused words, preparation of a suitable title list for each section, effective use of the source player, appropriate use for the purpose of the colour, use of the page number as a separate design item, effective use of the cover, durableness of the volume. Keywords: Social Studies Textbooks, Visual Design, Typography