Transformation in Primary School Sciences Education in the Transition Process from the Empire to the Republic: Science Education in 1924 Primary School Curriculum

Abstract

Education and training in the first year of the Republic had been kept as it was in the period of Empire with its former structure and content. The educational system and programs could be designed after the “Canon for the Unity of Education and Training†in 1924. The first curriculums of the primary and secondary schools have formed by modification on the latest programs of primary and secondary schools of the Ottoman Empire. The object of the research is to determine what kind of transformation has become on the “science education for primary schools†For this purpose, both the last curriculum program for â€œMekatib-i Ä°btidaiyye†(The primary schools in Ottoman Empire)and the latest curriculum program for â€œÄ°lk Mektepler†(Primary Schools in the Republic of Turkey) are examined by comparison. It is proved that â€œscience education in primary education†had gone into a transformation after commenting on the findings obtained from the comparison of the programs and assessments in the publications on the history of education. The curriculum for “science education†in the first program which was approved by the Republic of Turkey is given by transliteration to the Latin alphabet The study has a feature that has important contribution for the future researches on â€œscience education†in the Era of the Empire and The Era of the Republic with this aspect. 

Keywords: Science Education in Primary Schools, Science Education in the Ottoman Empire, the First Science Curriculum of the Republic, History of the Turkish Education.