A social project model: Our epic veterans

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the opinions of pre-service social sciences teachers on the project they applied- “Our Epic Veterans”. Activities were held by pre-service teachers for 10 weeks in an association related to the veterans in the city center where the university is located. With the aim of the study, the action research method from qualitative research methods was used. The study was conducted on five pre-service teachers in the third class of the Department of Social Studies Education of the Faculty of Education of a state university affiliated to the Republic of Turkey in the fall semester of 2017- 2018 academic year. Selection of teacher candidates was determined according to criterion sampling from purposive sampling methods. The data were gathered through document reviews (posters, reports) and interviews (semi-structured and focus group interview) in the study. The data obtained from the interviews were analyzed by content analysis method. The result of the study revealed that the project was viewed as a problem and this is why it was selected, the primary problem of the veterans was awareness and that it was concentrated on the activities aiming at this problem, that the project had many contributions, in particular awareness, that there were many problems mainly regarding finding activities, that pre-service teachers generally made suggestions for raising awareness, and that they thought that the project was associated with community service practices. Based on these results, it was suggested to carry out activities related to the awareness of the veterans themselves and their problems and to carry out studies related to the relationship of this project and the content and outcomes of Community Service Practices course. © The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology.