Social Studies Teacher Candidates’ Perceptions of Historical Concepts

Abstract

Concepts, which are the basic building blocks of knowledge, play an important role in history education. This study was conducted to reveal the perceptions and misconceptions of social studies teacher candidates about historical concepts. The study was carried out using qualitative research method. Purposeful sampling method was used for selecting the research participants. Equal numbers of female and male Social Studies teacher candidates studying at a state university were selected as research participants in the study. A semi-structured interview form was used to reveal the participants’ perceptions about the concepts under scrutiny. Descriptive data analysis technique was used to analyze the collected research data. As a result of the data analysis, it was found that the pre-service teachers had difficulty in giving scientific definitions of the historical concepts examined in the study, and they defined the concepts on the basis of the connotations and analogies in their minds. It was also found that most of the pre-service teachers could not fully define the concepts, and they experienced confusion and misconceptions about some historical concepts. The reasons for their misconceptions are attributable to their incomplete and incorrect knowledge about concepts or their inability to associate the concepts with each other within the context of the relevant subject learned.