Aesthetics and aesthetic creativity in social studies

Abstract

This study's aim is to investigate the primary school teachers' views on the applications of aesthetic and aesthetic creativity in social studies class. It was designed as a phenomenological study as one of the qualitative research methods. The participants of the study consisted of 8 primary school teachers working in schools with different socio-economic substructure in Adana and Hatay in the 2017-2018 academic year. The data were collected through semi-structured interview form, and analysed following content analysis method. The findings of the study revealed that teachers conceptualize the concept of aesthetic in different ways; they consider that aesthetic creativity is as important as scientific creativity; that aesthetic education contributes to mental and emotional development of the students; that social studies class is effective in gaining creativity; and accordingly, they have included aesthetic education in their courses. The findings of the study revealed that teachers conceptualize the concept of aesthetic in different ways; that they consider that aesthetic creativity is as important as scientific creativity; they believe aesthetic education contributes to mental and emotional development of the students; that they think social studies class is effective in gaining creativity; and, therefore, they include aesthetic education in various ways in their courses.