The Study of Primary School Visual Arts and Science Curricula in Turkey in the Context of Interdisciplinary Approaches: 1923-2020

Abstract

This study aims to identify any associated subjects in the primary school Visual Arts and Science courses in Turkey from 1923 when the Republic was declared to 2020, and reveal the historical dimension of such associations between the two courses. Primary school curricula of 1924, 1926, 1936, 1948, 1968, and 1992; 2005 Science and Technology and 2006 Visual Arts course curricula; 2013 and 2018 primary school curricula have been reviewed. The data were evaluated by content analysis in the research carried out by the document review method. At the end of the research, it is recognized that the association between the two courses has been made since the 1924 Curriculum, the first program of the Republic although it was disrupted in certain periods. In addition, it has been found that in the interdisciplinary approach adopted between 1926 and 1992, the Art-Craft course was primarily seen as the field of application of the Science courses and assumed a role of an auxiliary course in teaching the Science courses and that despite the increase in the number of learning outcomes in the current programs, the learning outcomes to be associated with the two courses are still quite limited.