Should We Flip the Social Studies Classrooms? The Opinions of Social Studies Teacher Candidates on Flipped Classroom

Abstract

The technology revolution continues to profoundly influence the educational process. Thus, the traditional teaching process is changing and education which is individualized with technology supported teaching processes comes to the forefront. One of the concrete indicators is the flipped classroom model. The purpose of this study is to determine the opinions of the teacher candidates who continue the undergraduate program of social studies education towards the flipped classroom model and its usability in social studies course. Phenomenology which is one of patterns of the qualitative research approach was used as the individual perceptions of the students were examined in the study. Purposeful sampling method was used in the determining the study group of the research and nine teacher candidates were included in the study with criteria sampling. The data were collected with a semi-structured interview form. Content analysis method was used in the analysis of research data. As a result, teacher candidates have a positive attitude towards technology-supported teaching processes and stated that the use of flipped classroom model in social studies course would solve many problems like time management and absence of in-class practices. Moreover, it has been stated that prospective teachers are not equipped enough to implement this model, and problems may arise due to supervision during the application phase. Finally, teacher candidates stated they wanted to use the flipped classroom model in the teaching process, but that a certain experience has to be provided first.