The Effect of Responsibility-Based Activities in Social Studies Course on Gaining the Value of Responsibility to Students

This research aims to reveal the effect of responsibility-based activities applied in the 5th grade Social Studies course on students' value of responsibility. For this reason, a mixed-method consisting of quantitative and qualitative data was used in the study. Explanatory sequential design, one of the mixed-method research types, was used. In this context, the quantitative data tools used in the research are the individual and social responsibility scale and the achievement test. Also, the qualitative data tool is a semi-structured interview form. The sample group of this research is 5thgrade students in two secondary schools located in the center of Yalova, under the Ministry of National Education in the 2019-2020 academic year. The application part of the research was carried out according to the experimental design with pre-test and post-test control groups. The SPSS program was used to analyze the quantitative data. In addition, t-tests for independent and dependent groups, Anova, Split-Plot Anova for one-way and repeated measurements, and Wilxocan Signed Ranks test for non-parametric tests were used to analyze quantitative data. Content analysis and descriptive analysis were performed for qualitative data. According to the research results, there was a significant difference between post-test achievement scores of the experimental and control groups. This difference shows that the responsibility value applied in the experimental group positively affects the activity-based teaching process. There was also a significant difference between the post-test attitude scores of the experimental and control groups. According to the results obtained from the qualitative data, teaching the value of responsibility through activities increased the students' success. It supported them to exhibit positive attitudes and behaviors. Moreover, in the Social Studies course, the responsibility value activities created according to various teaching methods and techniques contributed to creating an interesting, entertaining, enjoyable, and positive learning environment.