Analysis on inclusion of social studies economy concepts in coursebooks

Abstract

Having an efficient and satisfactory economy education may enable an individual to actively participate in decision making process about economy-related issues. This is very important for democratic societies. This research aims to search methods and levels of teaching "economy" concepts prepared for Turkey 2005 Social Studies Program in 6th and 7th grades. In this study, 6th and 7th grade social studies coursebooks taught at schools within 2013-2014 academic year were investigated. Document review method was used in this research within the scope of qualitative research method. In this research, primary school 6th and 7th grade social studies coursebooks were used. Content analysis method was preferred. Economy concepts used in this study were formed according to the research question; clarified via literature review and pre-reading on books and finalized following expert opinion. Approximately the same number of concepts takes place in all social studies coursebooks of 6th and 7th grades. It was seen that the repetition frequency of concepts in IMYAY Publishing is more than MoNE (Ministry of National Education) Publishing. Approximately the same number of concepts takes place in 7th grade coursebooks. As for the inclusion "economy" concepts, we can say that repetition is about two times more in coursebooks of MoNE publishing than Anıttepe Publishing. Analyzing 6th and 7th grade social studies coursebooks, it was found that concepts on 6th grade level are more advanced in terms of the repetition frequency of concepts. According to the results of the research, results among countries considered to be in economically developing countries such as Croatia, Taiwan and Turkey are significant. Studies prove the presence of a positive correlation between economy education and development. It is believed that this study will bring a remarkable contribution to the literature.