Examination of Foreign Students' Experiences in Social Studies Education from the Teacher's Perspective

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the experiences of foreign students towards social studies education from the perspective of teachers. Within the scope of this research, in which a case study was used, the involvement of foreign students in in-school and out-of-school learning activities was determined. The researcher's observation notes and opinions of teachers and students are the basic data collection tools. The data were interpreted by content analysis. It has been observed that foreign students have adaptation problems in the social studies course. In many topics, especially in the themes of language and culture and citizenship, it was determined that foreign students could not adapt to the class and remained below the general average in cognitive and affective terms. Foreign students who considered themselves weak in language skills stated that they could not socialize and emphasized that this situation negatively affected their participation in the Social Studies course. The elements of Turkish history, democratic government, national holidays, Turkish family structure, Turkish cultural heritage in the Social Studies course are among the topics that foreign students have difficulty in making sense of. Foreign students who came from various countries such as Syria, Iraq and Libya and took refuge in Turkey stated that they experienced conflict in their inner worlds because they tried to evaluate these themes in the Social Studies course from their own social and cultural perspectives. It may be possible to diversify projects such as PİCTES and to include teachers in these projects and to carry out the process of integrating foreign students into the society in a healthier way.