Examining Primary School Curriculum from the Perspective of Classroom Education: The Case of 2015-2018

Abstract

The purpose of the study was determined as the comparison of the 2015 and 2018 primary school programs in terms of program elements. In this study, the subject area, number of functions, content and evaluation dimensions of the Primary School Science, Life Science, Turkish and Mathematics programmes were published by the Ministry of National Education in 2015 and 2018, and the differences between both programs were tried to be determined. Document analysis method, one of the eligible research methods, was utilised in the research, and descriptive statistics and content analysis approach were used. The research’s data source was the Science, Life Sciences and Mathematics course teaching and 2019 Turkish teaching programs implemented in 2015 and 2018 from Ministry of National Education’s sources. In the research, the program was examined in order to create descriptive statistics, and percentage calculations and acquisition and course rates were compared. Along with these comparisons, the ratios of acquisition, subject areas and number of units in subject areas and units were analyzed. The unit order of the science program has been changed, the subject area of engineering and entrepreneurship applications have been added to the 4th grade science program, the number of skills in the life studies program has been increased, the 3 learning areas in the Turkish program have been increased to 4 learning areas and the number of themes has been increased. Besides, it was seen that there was not any change in the learning areas of the program, but changes were made in the naming. Moreover, it was discovered that the number of acquisitions in science, life studies and mathematics programs were reduced, while the number of acquisitions in Turkish program was increased. As a result, it was deduced that the content of the curricula was lightened, the general objectives in the new curricula were made simpler and more understandable, and they were integrated with the content of the curricula.