Inclusion of newspapers in social studies for gifted students: A phenomenological study

Abstract

This study examines pre-service teachers' views and experiences using newspapers in Social Studies lesson plans for gifted students. The research was conducted in the college of education at a large Western university in Turkey. The participants in the study were pre-service teachers from the Department of Gifted Education, who will become classroom teachers and expected to be teaching both life studies and Social Studies. The study is a phenomenological qualitative investigation based on pre-service teachers' views and experiences with the use of newspapers in Social Studies lesson plans. Pre-service teachers developed lesson plans that included the use of newspapers as a teaching tool in accordance with the course topic and content in the undergraduate course called Life Study and Social Studies for Gifted Students. Then, they presented their lesson plans as a way to practice receiving feedback from their classmates and shaping their lesson plans into a final form. Thirtyeight pre-service teachers (30 female and 8 male) participated in the study voluntarily. Written open-ended interviews were used to elicit data. Data were analyzed inductively, and emergent themes were shaped. The findings revealed that pre-service teachers indicated positive experiences and changed their views on the use of newspapers in their Social Studies lesson plans for gifted students.

Newspapers in Science Education: A Study Involving Sixth Grade Students

“…In addition, Zhang (2005) pointed out that Japan is also actively promoting the use of newspapers in education, and that Japan expects Japanese children to be actively involved in learning from newspapers. Moreover, the results for using newspapers in education can enhance learning outcomes of students (Jarman & McClune, 2005;Kahveci, 2015;Kirikkaya & Bozkurt, 2011;Oliveras, Márquez, & Sanmartí, 2013;Tuten & Temesvari, 2013).…”