The Social Sciences Teachers' Opinions About Developing Map Literacy of Students

Abstract

The aim of this study is to find out Social Science teachers' views on development of map literacy skills of students and the problems and using methods that teachers observe at classes. Qualitative research method is used in the research. In this context, 15 Social Science teachers teaching in 12 secondary schools in Arnavutkoy, Istanbul during 2014-2015 Academic year are met. Participants are defined by simple random sampling in probility samples. In research semi-structured interview forms are used as a data collection tool. After the data's collected through the interview, they are interpreted by descriptive analysis method. At the end of the research, it is observed that map literacy skills of social science teachers are not sufficient. Due to inadequate number of lectures in the social sciences curriculum and intensive acquirements, teachers cannot make enough class practices for the development of map literacy skill. Additionally, it is found out that lack in map equipment is another reason for insufficiency. Ways of improvements are proposed according to these results.