This study discusses the development of historical time concept and the skills depending on such concept in the elementary schools students attending to grades 4 to 8 (aged between 10-14). The study is a descriptive field study, where quantitative and qualitative methods are used. The investigation was carried out in the Elementary Schools of Cacabey, Vali Mithat Saylam and Ahi Evran located in the inner city of Kırşehir, which represent, respectively, the socio-economically upper, middle and lower settings. In the quantitative part of the study, the achievement test regarding the subject were applied to each branch of students from grades 4-8 of the three schools, each being randomly selected (421 in total), and the collected data were analyzed statistically, using the t-test, ANOVA and Correlation techniques in the SPSS program. In the qualitative part, ten students from each of these branches (149 in total) were interviewed and data were collected employing the semi-structured interview technique. Interpreting the data obtained from the investigation, one can conclude that a number of variables such as socio-economic environment, gender, grade level (age), mathematics and language (Turkish) success have an effect on the acquirement of historical time concept by the student. Regarding the quantitative findings, it was found remarkable that there was such a significant difference between grades 4, 5, 6, and grades 7 and 8 that they could constitute two distinct groups.
Key words: history teaching, historical time concept, social studies teaching, chronological skills, time perception.
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