OPINIONS OF GEOGRAPHY TEACHERS ON THE TEACHING OF SHAPE AND MOVEMENT OF EARTH IN THE 9TH GRADE GEOGRAPHY CURRICULUM

Abstract

This research aims to examine the views of geography teachers on the teaching of the shape and movement of Earth in the 9th grade geography curriculum. The opinions of 15 teachers on this subject, which is at the 9th grade level in the geography course curriculum, were discussed with the case study model of the qualitative research method. The teachers, working in different socio-cultural regions of Istanbul, were asked nine open-ended questions prepared by the researchers and which attempted to get their opinions in detail. The geography teachers stated that while teaching this subject, students had problems with understanding and using Turkish, the course hours and textbooks were inadequate, there was a high number of students in the classroom, the course content was incompatible with the secondary school program, and there were problems related to the curriculum. The study found similar results to other studies in the literature. In line with these results, it is suggested textbooks should be supported with up-to-date technology to make the subject more interesting, the variety of teaching methods should be increased, geography branch classrooms in schools should be established, teachers’ in-service training should be increased, and the number of EBA materials on this subject should be increased.