Research Information System
Thesis Type: Postgraduate
Institution Of The Thesis: Gazi University, Eğitim Bilimleri Enstitüsü, EĞİTİM BİLİMLERİ ANABİLİM DALI, Turkey
Approval Date: 2021
Thesis Language: Turkish
Student: Feyza Zeytinli
Supervisor: Gülay Ekici
Abstract:
The aim of this study is to examine the cognitive structures of 5th grade students regarding the concept of social media, which they learned in the Social Studies courses, through metaphors. For this purpose, the metaphors, drawings, and compositions of 5th grade students related to the term social media have been examined. Data variation and methodological variation techniques such as phenomenology (within the scope of qualitative research model) and case study methods have been used in order to increase the quality, validity and reliability of this study. The study group was determined by criterion sampling of the purposeful sampling techniques. The study group consists of 403 5th grade students who were in their fall semester in the 2018-2019 educational year and were studying at ‘Sami Sipahi’, ‘Murat Atilgan’, ‘Sehit Ali Gaffar Okkan’, and ‘Orgeneral Halil Sozer’ secondary schools in Odunpazari region of Eskisehir. A questionnaire consisting of three parts has been used as a means of data collection. In the first part, the participants were asked to fill in the blanks as follows: “Social media is like…, because …”. In the second part, they were asked to explain the connotations of the social media term by drawing and illustrating. In the third part, they were asked to express their opinions on the social media term through writing a short essay. For the purpose of determining the validity and reliability of the measurement tool, a pilot study was conducted with 105 5th grade students. The content analysis method has been used to analyze and interpret the data gathered from the study group. The coefficient of agreement among experts regarding the reliability of the study has been calculated as
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95.00% for the first part, 97.18% for the second part, and 100.00% for the third part. The gathered data have been tabulated by giving them frequency and percentage values. The metaphors created by the students in the first part have been collected under 12 conceptual categories by taking their commonalities into consideration. As a result, it has been found that the metaphors of students concentrated mostly in the categories “have utilization features” and “providing information”. The drawings about the term “social media” made by students for the second part of the questionnaire has been collected under 5 conceptual categories in terms of similarities. Consequently, it has been determined that the drawings of students fall mostly in the categories “conscious use” and “use of social media tools”. In the cases where the metaphors and drawings created by 5th grade students regarding the concept of social media were examined together by identifying their commonalities, it has been observed that 78 students made drawings in a way that supports the metaphor they had created before. Besides, it has been determined that the metaphors and drawings of 5th grade students concerning the concept of social media are mostly concentrated in the categories "addiction conducing”, “illness conducing” and “conscious use" in terms of commonalities. The essays written by the 5th grade students regarding the social media for the third part of the questionnaire have been grouped under 6 conceptual categories regarding their commonalities. As a result, it has been detected that the writings of students fall mostly into the categories “use of social media tools”, “conscious use”, and “dangerous situations caused by social media”. In addition, it has been found that, even though the term social media – together with the “technology”, “internet”, and “virtual environment” notions – has been comprehensively covered in the Social Studies course, the students have a misconception of the term ‘social media’ due to the fact that the description and applications of social media were not included in the coursebook. It has been observed that the students could express their cognitive structures very easily, successfully and in detail in all three data collection tools used in the study. In short, it has been determined that 5th grade students have a rich cognitive structure regarding the term social media. It can be said that Social Studies lesson have a significant role in this.
Key Words :Social Media, Metaphor, Drawing Technique, Writing Technique, Social Studies Course, Cognitive Structure