SOSYAL BİLGİLER ÖĞRETMEN NİTELİKLERİNİN İŞBİRLİĞİNE DAYALI ÖĞRENME YÖNTEMİNE UYGUNLUĞU AÇISINDAN DEĞERLENDİRİLMESİ

This study aims to investigate the social studies teachers’ qualifications in terms of their accordance with the cooperative learning method. In the study, survey model was applied. To obtain the data for the study, a personal information form that states the qualities of teachers participated in the study, including gender, seniority and graduated faculty information and a 5- point likert scale for defining teacher qualities, namely the “Scale of Opinion on the Suitability of the Candidate Teacher Qualities to Cooperative Learning Method” (Topal, Kırbaş, 2014) were used. Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study is to identify the teachers’ qualifications in terms of their accordance with the cooperative learning method by taking the opinions of 70 Social Sciences teachers working in 15 different secondary schools in Yakutiye district of Erzurum. With this general purpose, answers to the following three questions were sought. Is there a significant difference between the teachers’ views on the teachers’ qualifications in terms of their accordance with the cooperative learning method, according to the variables of gender, seniority and graduated faculty. Method of the Study The sample of the study consists of 70 Social Studies teachers working in the Yakutiye district of Erzurum in 2014-2015 academic year, who were specified by random sampling. The study is limited to the social studies teachers’ answers to the 16 questions included in the research scale. To obtain the data for the study, a personal information form that states the qualities of teachers participated in the study, including gender, seniority and graduated faculty information and a 5- point Likert scale for defining teacher qualities, namely the “Scale of Opinion on the Suitability of the Candidate Teacher Qualities to Cooperative Learning Method” (Topal, Kırbaş, 2014) were used. For the scale reliability, a pilot study consisting of 70 Social Studies teachers working in the Yakutiye district of Erzurum was conducted. As a result of the pilot study, reliability coefficient of the scale was found as Cronbach Alfa= 0.942, Bartlett = 1070.889 (p=0.000) and validity coefficient of the scale was found as KMO=0.896. That the result of KMO was higher than 0.50 and that the Barlett Test was found significant (Büyüköztürk, 2007), show the suitability of the data set for the factor analysis. The obtained data was analyzed using SPSS 20.0 software package program (percentage, frequency, and chi-square test).Findings and Discussion In this section, the demographic information about the participants, the results found in accordance with the purpose of the study, and the discussion are included. Table 4. (p. 1100) The social studies teachers’ qualifications in terms of their accordance with the cooperative learning method, according to the variable of gender 1. In terms of gender, highly significant difference was found between the answers given to the questions, “I give my friends a feel of trust. (Q-3., p=0.009)”, “I value my friends with different personalities. (Q-4., p=0.002)”, “In cooperative works, I treat fairly to my friends. (Q-6., p=0,002)”, “I fulfill my responsibilities. (Q-13, p=0.007).” 2. In terms of gender, significant difference was found between the answers given to the questions, “I am open-minded. (Q-5., p=0.011)”, “I pay attention to the opinions of all my friends. (Q-8.p=0.039)”, “I prefer my friends’ interests to my own interests. (Q-11., p=0.037).” 3. In terms of gender, no significant difference was found between the answers given to the questions, “In cooperative works, I pay attention to my friends. (Q-1., p=0.540)”, “I establish an open communication with my friends. (Q-2. p=0.704)”,“I feel hatred for nobody. (Q-7.p=0.199)”, “I act democratically in relations with my friends. (Q-9. p=0.062)”, “I foster my friends’ motivations in order that they could be successful. (Q-10., p=0.073)”,“I like cooperative works. (Q-12., p=0.273)”, “I pay attention to co-decision in cooperative works. (Q-14., p=0.785)”,“I give importance to co-operation. (Q-15., p=0.447)”,“In cooperative works, I prefer group-success to personal-success. (Q-16., p=0.241).” Table 5. (p.1101) The social studies teachers’ qualifications in terms of their accordance with the cooperative learning method, according to the variable of seniority 1. In terms of seniority, no significant difference was found between the answers given to the questions, “In group works, I pay attention to my friends. (Q-1., p=0.000)”, “I establish an open communication with my friends. (Q-2., p=0.000)”, “I give my friends a feel of trust. (Q-3., p=0,001)”, “I value my friends with different personalities. (Q-4., p=0.000)”, “I am open-minded. (Q-5., p=0.000)”, “In group works, I treat fairly to my friends. (Q-6., p=0.000)”, “I feel hatred for nobody. (Q-7.,p=0.000)”, “I pay attention to the opinions of all my friends. (S-8., p=0.000)”, “I act democratically in relations with my friends. (Q-9., p=0.001)”, “I foster my friends’ motivations in order that they could be successful. (Q-10., p=0.000)”,“I like cooperative works. (Q-12., p=0.00)”, “I pay attention to co-decision in group works. (Q-14., p=0.000)”, “I give importance to co-operation. (Q-15., p=0.000)”,“In cooperative works, I prefer group-success to personal-success. (Q-16., p=0.000).” 2. In terms of seniority, significant difference was found between the answers given to the question, “I prefer my friends’ interests to my own interests. (Q-11., p=0.011).”3. In terms of seniority, no significant difference was found between the answers given to the question, “I fulfill my responsibilities. (Q-13., p=0.118).” Table 6. (p. 1102) The social studies teachers’ qualifications in terms of their accordance with the cooperative learning method, according to the variable of graduated faculty 1. In terms of graduated faculty, highly significant difference was found between the answers given to the questions, “In cooperative works, I pay attention to my friends. (Q-1., p=0.000)”, “I establish an open communication with my friends. (Q-2., p=0.006)”, “I value my friends with different personalities. (Q-4., p=0,004)”, “I am open-minded. (Q-5., p=0.006)”, “I pay attention to the opinions of all my friends. (Q-8., p=0.000)”, “I like cooperative works. (Q-12., p=0.000)”, “I pay attention to co-decision in group works. (Q-14., p=0.000)”, “I give importance to co-operation. (Q-15., p=0.000)”, “In cooperative works, I prefer group-success to personal-success. (Q-16., p=0.000).” 2. In terms of graduated faculty, significant difference was found between the answers given to the questions, “In cooperative works, I treat fairly to my friends. (Q-6., p=0.043)”, “I feel hatred for nobody. (Q-7., p=0.027)”, “I foster my friends’ motivations in order that they could be successful. (Q-10., p=0.035).” 3. In terms of graduated faculty, no significant difference was found between the answers given to the questions, “I give my friends a feel of trust. (Q-3., p=0.190)”, “I act democratically in relations with my friends. (Q-9., p=0.150)”, “I prefer my friends’ interests to my own interests. (Q-11., p=0.278)”, “I fulfill my responsibilities. (Q-13., p=0.503).” Conclusion and Implications As a result of this study, it has been observed that male teachers are much more sensitive in terms of giving value to their friends with different personalities, treating fairly to their friends in cooperative works; whereas female teachers are more sensitive in terms of fulfilling responsibilities. According to the obtained results related to the seniority, it has been found that teachers with 1-15 years of experience are much more sensitive than the teachers with 16 or more years of experience, in terms of paying attention to the friends, establishing an open communication with friends, giving a sense of trust to the friends, giving value to the friends with different personalities, being open-minded, treating fairly to the friends in cooperative works, feeling hatred for nobody, paying attention to the opinions of all friends, acting democratically in the relations with colleagues, giving the motivation of the friends prominence for success, cooperating, coming to an agreement in cooperative works, preferring the success in cooperative work or group work to personal success. In regard to the graduated faculty, it has been found that teachers graduated from educational faculties pay more attention to their friends and establish open communication with them, value their friends with different personalities, are open-minded, pay attention to the opinions of all their friends, prefer cooperative works more, are in agreement with others in the cooperative works, and prefer the success of the group to the personal success. As a result of this study, it has been found that in general, social sciences teachers who were graduated from educational faculties and who are with 1-15 years of experience are ideal for cooperative learning method and they are qualified enough to use this method. Therefore, it would be a right decision to employ cooperative learning method for social sciences teaching in our schools.