Examination of the relationship between preservice social studies teachers’ democratic values and attitudes towards today’s world problems*

Abstract

This study was carried out to examine the relationship between preservice social studies teachers’ democratic values and their attitudes towards today’s world problems. In this study, a survey design was used based on quantitative research methodology. The research sample consisted of 174 preservice teachers who were studying at the Social Studies Education Program of Anadolu University in the 2017–2018 academic year. During the study, the “Democratic Values Scale” developed by Selvi (2006) was administered to determine the preservice social studies teachers’ levels of democratic values. The “Attitude Scale for Today’s World Problems,” developed by Kılıçoğlu, Karakuş and Öztürk (2012), was employed to determine the preservice social studies teachers’ attitudes towards today’s world problems. In conclusion, it was found that there was a significantly moderate positive correlation between the preservice social studies teachers’ levels of democratic values and their attitudes towards today’s world problems.