احتياجات معلمي الدراسات الاجتماعية إلى مهارات استخدام المصادر الأصلية في تدريس التاريخ في المرحلة الأساسية العليا في مدارس وكالة الغوث في الأردن

Abstract EN

The study aimed at exploring needs of social studies teachers for skills of using primary sources in teaching history in upper elementary stage at UNRWA schools in Jordan.

To achieve the objectives of the study, a survey questionnaire, comprising (44) items rated on a five-point Likert scale, and covering seven domains, was designed.

The study sampled (103) male and female social studies teachers in upper elementary stage at UNRWA schools in Jordan.

Results of the study showed that social studies teachers' needs for skills of using primary sources in teaching history were generally rated as moderate on all items of the questionnaire with a percentage of (68.%).

The domains "historical facts discovery", "exploring cause and effect", "skills of classifying historical events chronologically and spatially", "evaluation and decision making skills" all constituted high needs for teachers.

Whereas, the domains of "using the historical research method", "the skill of selecting and reading a historical document", "skills of historical research in documents for a historical evidence " rated as moderate needs.

Results also showed that there were no statistically significant differences attributable to teacher's gender, teaching experience, and training courses taken.

However, results showed that there were statistically significant differences attributed to teacher’s academic qualifications in favor of teachers holding Bachelor degree in addition to higher diploma in curriculum and instruction (social studies) over teachers holding only Bachelor degree in social studies without higher diploma in education.

Finally, results showed that there were statistically significant differences attributed to the teacher's field of specialization in favor of teachers whose university specialization was history over teachers whose specialization was methods of teaching social studies.

The study put forward some recommendations; (a) teachers having no university degree in history should not teach history at schools; (b) social studies teachers holding Bachelor degree should obtain a professional higher diploma in education, and attend workshops on skills of unraveling historical facts, discovering relationship between cause and effect, and skills of classifying historical events chronologically and spatially.