Investigation of the social studies curricula in turkey (1968-2018) with regards to the climate literacy principles

Abstract

In Turkey, Social Studies lesson in which the main climate issues are thought has come until today passing through several stages and processes. This study aims to reveal the role of Social Studies curriculum in terms of climate literacy principles. Accordingly, data resources of the study are the curricula that became prominent with their some specific features throughout the period of fifty years (1968-2018). The data were collected by the document analysis technique. The curricula obtained according to criteria determined before were analyzed in terms of climate literacy by the method of content analysis. As a result of the study, it was found that the Social Studies curricula in Turkey are different from each other in terms of climate literacy principles. The secondary school curriculum in 1973 was the one in which the climate literacy principles were mostly emphasized. 19 subtopics in this curriculum were related to the climate literacy principles. In 1998, the curriculum included only 2 subtopics dealing with the issue. With respect to the categories of climate literacy principles, the greatest contribution of the curricula was observed within the dimensions of “variability and change”. However, it was determined that the curricula didn’t provide any contribution to the category of “decision making”. © 2019 by authors, all rights reserved.