Learning Strategies Used by Secondary School Students in the Course of History Studies

Abstract The present study examined what teaching strategies are used by junior high school students and the ways students make history classes meaningful. The sample of the study was randomly chosen 346 students from three secondary public schools affiliated with the Ministry of National Education and located in the district of Usku-dar, Istanbul. The study used both quantitative and qualitative research methods. In quantitative part, a pilot study was conducted and a questionnaire was prepared with the help of an expert group. In qualitative part, students' learning strategies were determined through personal interviews (n = 13). According to the findings, nearly half of the students stated that they liked history courses in every condition but they did not know how to study for this class. It was found that 19.7 % of the students got bored with the course because they did not know how to study for it and 73.13% of the students were trying to learn this class by themselves. When studying history courses, the most used learning strategy is repetition and the least used strategy is giving meaning. Key Words Society, Learning Culture, Learning Strategies, History Teaching Curricula, Bringing Up Teachers. In the modern world, international relations are treated in a historical perspective politically, economically, culturally, and strategi cally. For that reason, for the communities that want to build effective relations with the developed countries, the strategic importance given to the history and history education have been increasing History education, which was introduced in school curricula in England with the industrial revolution to inform new generations about their social past, has mostly national characteristics. The contemporary modern communities have faced a significant amount of information via the communication technologies both in global and local scales. That situation calls for viewpoints in diverse parameters to history and the education of history. However, there is a dominant perspective relevant to history and particularly history education. History and particularly history education is usually assessed through the parameter of memorization in many educational systems. How do we learn the subjects of a history class in fact? Which strategies do we use? It is obvious that scientific studies focusing on those questions are needed because how we learn and what we learn shape our perspectives and our ways of thinking. This study aims to determine in detail how secondary school students learn history classes and what learning strategies are used by them in this learning process. Method The study used both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Secondary School students' ideas about history classes and the learning strategies used were examined and assessed with personal interviews as a qualitative technique. A questionnaire was administered and evaluated as a quantitative technique. This study was structured upon the investigation/review model and situation analysis to determine what learning strategies are used by secondary school students in history classes and how they learn these classes. To get in to deepness of the subject matter, notice, and show learning habits and learning culture of students, a road map from qualitative research to situation analysis was employed. Population and Sample The sample of the study was randomly chosen 346 students from three secondary public schools affiliated with the Ministry of National Education and located in the district of Uskudar, Istanbul. Students of the sample came from three high school s, namely Cumhuriyet High School, Halide Edip Adivar High School, and Burhan Felek High School. Students who participated in this study were selected randomly from these three schools. In those schools, 346 students from different grades and different age groups were selected in the educational year between 2004 and 2005. …