STUDENT OPINIONS ABOUT SIMULATION BASED EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING METHOD IN SOCIAL STUDIES EDUCATION

The aim of the study is to present students' views about simulation-based experiential learning practices which designed according to 7’th grade social studies curriculum. The research is based on the experiential learning and simulation-based method under the learning theme of “Living Democracy” in the programme. In 2016 spring term; there has been helded an experimental implementation with 42 7’th class pupil in Uşak City’s Karahallı District’s Cumhuriyet Secondary School. There were 21 students in experimental group and 21 students in control group. There was applied semi-structured interview form beside the experimental implementation. 7 open-ended questions were directed to 21 learners in the experimental group about experiential learning and simulation-based training methods and whole process. The data obtained in the section for this article were evaluated by content analysis method which is one of the qualitative analysis methods. The responses of the participants were analyzed according to the keywords in the text. According to the results of the research, the participants evaluated simulation-based experiential learning was funny and enjoyable method that they learned by doing, where everyone is equal and there was a democratic learning environment. Some students stated that the course became boring from time to time and that they could not learn some informations that they expected. In addition, some of the students have learned that they learned by role-play and acting as if they were historically in that period.

Keywords

experiential learning, simulation-based training, social studies education