e-International Journal of Educational Research

Abstract

The continuous development of curriculums to meet the changing needs of the time is one of the fundamental factors of education systems to remain up-to-date. Therefore, countries, especially developed ones, have made every effort to increase the quality of their educational curriculums. In our country, Ministry of National Education has been carrying out studies to innovate and improve primary school curriculums to keep pace with these needs since 2004. With renewed primary school curriculum based on constructivist learning approach, an approach which is student-centered, activity-based, and gives importance to the integration of inside and outside classroom activities of the students is adopted.

As a result of constructivist approach, students' involvement in learning process and their learning by doing and thinking have been aimed, and creating an environment in which students can improve their high-level thinking abilities such as critical and creative thinking, analyzing and evaluation have attempted to be provided. With constructivist approach, important changes have been made on goals/objectives, content, learning-teaching process and evaluation which are comprising the dimensions of the education program. Activities in learning and teaching process of previous curriculum were implemented with a teacher-centered approach which was mostly based on memorization in which high-level skills were not taken into consideration and asking question method was mostly used. In learning and teaching process of new curriculum, elements such as stimulating natural curiosity for learning to take place, student-centered activities, using what is learned in different environments and encouraging co-operation between students have been given importance.

In Turkey, many studies regarding the new primary school curriculum were conducted. When these studies are analyzed, different conclusions were reached about the learning and teaching process. This study aims to evaluate the conclusions of these studies and understand the functionality of new primary school curriculum. It is considered that this study will provide a general overview of the learning and teaching process of new primary school curriculum. To this end, studies conducted on the learning and teaching process of new curriculum since 2004 were collected and analyzed.

Method: Data were collected through "descriptive scan model”. Scan models are defined as describing an existing or a past situation as it is or it was. 54 studies were collected, and meta and content analysis were used to evaluate them.

Results: Depending on the analysis, it has been revealed that most of the studies were conducted with respect to teachers' views and studies with respect to students, parents, directors and inspectors' views are insufficient. It has been also revealed that most of the studies were conducted between 2006 and 2008; qualitative and descriptive research models were employed as the research model; questionnaires and interviews were preferred as the data gathering tool; teachers were determined as target groups and studies were mostly conducted in central and west districts. According to the teachers, the positive side of the new curriculum is that it directs students to research and think. However, they also indicated that time insufficiency, crowdedness of classrooms, lack of communication with families, and financial costs of the activities to parents and teachers were the negative sides of the new curriculum. Another finding from these studies was that teachers have a positive view on new approaches used in learning and teaching process, however, they do not have enough knowledge on them. Besides, in order to actively implement new curriculum, physical conditions should be appropriate and there should be enough equipment to employ the activities. However, there have been problems in learning and teaching process since these conditions have not been fulfilled. Some of the findings of these studies include that activities in the new curriculum lead students to think and research, there is an increase in the students' interests towards lessons and activities are effective in teaching the subject matter and contribute to the socialization of the students. In the conclusion section of this study, some suggestions are offered depending on the evaluation of the studies in the literature.