An Overview of Social Studies in Primary Education: A Meta Synthesis Study

Abstract

The aim of this review is to conduct a meta-synthesis of primary school social studies education. This meta-synthesis review interprets and evaluates qualitative data, analyzes the results of the studies in question and presents similarities and differences. Data collection started on 10 October 2017 and continued until the completion of the article (June 30, 2018). The most recent studies were included in the sample. The result shows that studies focus mostly on curriculum evaluation, subject/unit analysis and values education. Curriculum evaluation studies mostly analyze the social studies curricula of first to fifth grade while they tackle the subjects of critical thinking standards, family, democracy, children’s literature and social studies in basic education very little. Qualitative studies on primary school social studies education are mostly action, case study or phenomenological studies whereas there are very few ethnographic studies or studies based on grounded theory addressing the same topic. Moreover, most of those studies use content analysis and descriptive analysis or do not specify analysis methods that they employ. The results suggest that efforts should be directed towards the implementation of the program in primary school social studies education. Therefore, primary school social studies research focuses mostly on curriculum evaluation but fails to provide insight into how curricula are put into practice. It is, therefore, recommended that further research be conducted on the practical aspect of primary school social studies curricula. These studies should select appropriate methods and techniques and focus on concept teaching and misconceptions in primary school social studies education. Values education should be integrated with literary works that contain cultural elements and society values.