مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - An “Election” Focused Media Literacy Application with Social Studies Teacher Candidates

Abstract :

The aim of this study was to test the effectiveness of media on Social Studies teacher candidates’ election decisions. In this study, Social Studies teacher candidates who were actively media literate before November 2015 elections evaluated the news with various perspectives which shaped their political decisions. The study was conducted with thirteen Social Studies teacher candidates from a state university’s Faculty of Education in the fall semester of 2015-2016 academic year. The study was configured with qualitative methods. Before actively media literate Social Studies teacher candidates began using the media their opinions were formed by focus group discussion. The results of this study were that the teacher candidates preferred television, internet and newspaper communication; they kept on top of political discourses ; they mostly absorbed news from news agencies ; they approached news critically and analytically and they were able to comment about news. Social Studies teacher candidates who will one day educate their students as active media literates in a democratic society should be exposed to different types of training programs in media literacy.