Bu araştırmanın amacı, Millî Eğitim Bakanlığı’nın hazırladığı 2014-2015 eğitim-öğretim yılında işlenen/okutulan 6. sınıf Sosyal Bilgiler ders kitaplarında yer alan kavramların Sosyal Bilgiler öğretmenleri/uzmanlarının görüşleri doğrultusunda, Sosyal Bilgiler ders kitaplarının eleştirel bir bakış açısıyla incelenmesidir. Ayrıca Sosyal Bilgiler öğretimi ile ilgili bazı kavramlar hakkında öğrencilerin fikir, duygu ve düşüncelerini tespit ederek onların bu kavramları anlama düzeylerini tespit etmektir. Araştırma betimsel nitelikte bir alan çalışması olarak yürütülmüştür. Araştırmanın örneklemini Erzurum Yakutiye Şair Nef’i Ortaokulu 6/A ve 6/B sınıflarında okuyan 48 öğrenci oluşturmuştur. Araştırma, MEB tarafından hazırlanmış olan ortaokul 6.sınıf Sosyal Bilgiler ders kitabının “Yeryüzünde Yaşam” ünitesi üzerinde yoğunlaştırılmıştır. Ortaokul 6. sınıf ders kitabı ve ortaokul Sosyal Bilgiler müfredat programı incelenerek ünitelerde geçen 34 adet kavram tespit edilmiştir. Daha sonra bu kavramlar, öğrencilerin kısa yazılı cevaplar verebilecekleri şekilde anket form halinde düzenlenerek, ünite konuları sınıfta işlendikten iki hafta sonra uygulanmıştır. Ünitede geçen kavramların tespit edilmesinde Sosyal Bilgiler öğretmenleri ve Sosyal Bilgiler eğitim uzmanlarının da görüşleri alınmıştır. Uygulanan anket formundan elde edilen veriler, kavramı doğru anlama, kavram yanılgısı, kavram kargaşası ve cevapsız şeklinde sınıflandırılarak öğrencilerin bu kavramlarla ilgili anlama düzeyleri tablolar haline getirilip yorumlanmıştır. Öğretim süreci içerisinde öğrenilen kavramların özellikle duyu organlarına hitap etme derecesi arttıkça öğrenmenin daha kolay olduğu, ayrıca görme duyusuna hitap eden bir bilginin rahatça anlaşıldığı, hafızada daha kalıcı olduğu, öğretmenlerin Sosyal Bilgiler derslerinde, öğrencilerin ilk kez karşılaştıkları kavramları somut bir şekilde görsel materyallerle anlatarak örneklerle açıklamasının başarıyı arttırdığı tespit edilmiştir.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the terms, existing in Social Sciences for 6th graders textbooks prepared by The Republic of Turkey Ministry of National Education and instructed/studied in 2014-2015 academic year, in line with views of Social Sciences teachers/specialists in a critical approach, and also to ascertain their levels of comprehension of these terms by determining students' opinions, feelings and thoughts about certain terms related to Social Sciences teaching. The research has been conducted as a field survey based on a descriptive method. The participants of the research consist of 48 students studying at Erzurum Yakutiye Şair Nef'i Middle School in 6/A and 6/B classes. The research is centered upon the unit "The Life on the Earth" of the Social Sciences for 6th graders textbook prepared by the Ministry of National Education. 34 terms mentioned in the units have been determined by investigating the textbook for 6th graders and Social Sciences curriculum for middle school. A questionnaire form, which students could fill by giving short written answers, was prepared and applied in two weeks after the subjects in the units were treated in the class. The opinions of Social Sciences teachers and Social Sciences teaching specialists have been taken considering the determination of the terms, as well. The data obtained from the questionnaire has been classified as understanding the term correctly, misconception, contradiction in terms, and unanswered and, then, students' comprehension levels of these terms have been tabularized and interpreted. It has been concluded that in education process, the more the terms studied appeal to sense organs, the easier learning procedure gets, that information appealing to the sense of sight is understood easily and is more lasting in memory, and that in Social Sciences lessons, teachers' concrete instruction and their giving examples considering the newly-introduced terms increased the success rate. In secondary schools, teaching concepts and terms in Social Sciences lessons plays an important role in students' acquiring new information. Examples and sample materials to use in teaching concepts and terms should be in accordance with children's development and learnability levels. Instead of making students memorize, teachers should support learning and make the acquired information lasting in memory by encouraging active participation of the students. As it is clear from the current studies; students' understanding scientific terms and determining the reasons for students' misconceptions and overcoming these misconceptions are among the subjects researchers attach importance to. To detect the reasons for misconceptions and to attempt to overcome the mistakes are much more time consuming and difficult processes than defining misconceptions. Especially, to make students overcome their mistakes is rather difficult. As these misconceptions are developed by students themselves as a result of internalizing information and experiences they acquired, students are reluctant to abandon these misconceptions that seem meaningful and familiar to them. For this reason, to overcome misconceptions, new information, which includes better explanations and which is opposite of students' existing limited information, should be built. This explanation indicates: New and better theories should be presented in order to abandon the old ones for the sake of the development in science. In this case, students enter into a reasonable discussion with people and themselves, so they decide which theory to preserve. Based on the data obtained from the research, the following proposals can be suggested as to teaching conceptions associated with Social Sciences lessons and as for future studies to conduct about these issues. Social Sciences teacher should examine "Social Sciences Teacher's Book" given by The Ministry of National Education in the beginning of every academic year, and by looking