Preservice Social Studies Teachers’ Views on Middle School Students’ Levels of Historical Literacy

Abstract

This research aimed to present reasons and solutions that soon-to-graduate preservice social studies teachers expressed in relation to middle school students’ low level of historical literacy as reported in the literature. To this end, we used a basic qualitative research design. The sample consisted of 30 soon-to-graduate preservice teachers (17 women and 13 men) who were studying social studies teaching at the faculty of education of a state university in the 2019-2020 academic year and already served their teaching internship. The data were collected using the semi-structured “Interview form” developed by Keçe (2013). The data were analysed using descriptive analysis. According to the analysis results, the preservice social studies teachers stated that middle school students’ low level of historical literacy was generally due to the methods and techniques used by teachers in teaching historical topics, students’ lack of interest in historical topics, and the lack of parental encouragement. The preservice teachers also highlighted that students should be encouraged to use social media tools properly and the content of historical series, films, documentaries, and television shows should be adjusted to students.