Investigation of Fourth-Grade Social Studies Curriculum Outcomes in terms of Cultural Literacy

Abstract

Cultural literacy is the ability to understand and interact with different cultures, including awareness, sensitivity, and flexibility to recognize one’s own culture, evaluate different cultures, reduce prejudices, and strengthen social cohesion.   Social studies is a course that facilitates this interaction between individuals and cultures.  The social studies course aims to provide students with an understanding of the interaction between societies, cultural diversity, and historical connections.   This study examines the achievements of the fourth-grade social studies curriculum in terms of cultural literacy.  The study used a document analysis design, one of the qualitative research methods, and the cultural literacy document analysis form as a data collection tool. This study examines the achievements related to cultural literacy in the fourth-grade social studies curriculum.  The determined outcomes include all sub-dimensions of cultural literacy. Although cultural literacy was emphasized throughout the social studies course, the study found that these emphases varied depending on the learning areas.  In addition, it was found that the acquisitions related to cultural literacy were included in the cognitive and affective domains, but no acquisitions were included in the psychomotor domain. The study presented several suggestions based on its results.