Preservice Elementary School Teachers’ Opinions Related to Oral History as a Teaching Method in Social Studies

Abstract

In this study, preservice elementary school teachers’ opinions regarding oral history studies as a teaching method in social studies were examined. The data were collected from 93 preservice elementary school teachers in a faculty of education at one public university. The study was carried out using a basic qualitative research strategy. The data were collected from participants by means of a questionnaire which included closed-ended (with yes and no options) and open-ended questions. In the study, it was found that none of the preservice elementary school teachers conducted any oral history study previously and most of the preservice elementary school teachers (N=89, 95.7%) felt efficacious in having their future students conduct oral history studies in their social studies classes. Most of the preservice elementary school teachers (N=90, 96.8%) indicated that they wanted to use oral history as a teaching method in their social studies classes because of abundant benefits to the students. Moreover, they thought that elementary school students might encounter some difficulties/obstacles in conducting oral history studies