Social Studies in Improving Students' Map Skills: Teachers' Opinions.

Appearing frequently in almost every field of education recently is the concept of skills, which may be defined as "the ability to constantly sustain a certain level of achievement in any kind of activity" (Paykoc, 1991, p. 13). Since it is only via skills that information may be effectively transformed into high-level behaviors, that information may become a part of students' daily life, and that they may make right decisions concerning major issues in life, the skills most often found in the instructional programs of many countries, and the gradual application of these skills across different grades should also be seriously considered in Turkey.Skills are one of the building blocks of the Social Studies Instructional Program. The skills in this program are listed as abilities that should first be taught to students, who are then expected to develop and transfer them into their every-day lives during the learning process. Among these, map skills are included as part of "spatial perception skills" group. Being one of the basic geographical skills, spatial perception and map skills are understood to be tools that students can use not only to eliminate a wide range of problems in their daily lives, but that can also help students' lives to be easier (Gersmehl, 2005, p. 97; Geography Education Standards Project [GESP], 1994; Harte & Dunbar, 1994, p. 1). The reasons for this include first and foremost the fact that humans exist within space. Space bears an important role for humans to fulfill their activities and gain experience. Although the meaning of space may vary based on how humans perceive and evaluate their surroundings (Tumertekin & Ozguc, 2004, p. 49), no matter where on Earth, people are curious to know about the spaces in which they and others live. Since such is the case, maps serve as one of the best sources to satiate this curiosity. The better a student is able to read a map, the better he will be able to interpret the spatial information regarding both the globe itself and where he lives, and the globe. Since it will also be easier for such a student to make sense of the world, he may then adopt an attitude in which he sees himself as a world citizen (Catling, 2005; Harte & Dunbar, 1994, Kaya, 2012a; Ta§, 2006). As spatial perception skills improve, individuals may better understand the differences and similarities between distant places, explain how this affects human activities, learn that distant places are interdependent, and gain information about the relation that these subjects have with both physical and human processes (Akengin 2012, p. 203). Phenomena in social studies are explained in reference to the place in which they are observed (Unal, 2012, p. 63). Map skills help people adapt to their daily lives and the environment in which they live, while also contributing much to the socialization process. Furthermore, these skills are of considerable importance in solving various problems related with space, such as the misuse of nature (Demiralp, 2006a; Bahar, Sayar, & Baqbuyuk, 2010). According to Kizilcaoglu (2007), since all events take place in space and those with map skills are better at gathering information about space, individuals with strong map skills are able to undertake significant responsibilities both for themselves and their societies. For these reasons, spatial perception and map skills should be thoroughly taught to students.Primary education serves as a major opportunity to teach children spatial perception and map skills (Parker, 2001, p. 148). Basic map skills to be ingrained upon students in their Social Studies course bear significance for their development spatial perception and global positioning skills, which will then aid them in their future by facilitating their entrance into a globalizing world. During the 4th and 5th grades of primary education, students learn how to produce sketches and drafts, how to express objects and phenomena with symbols, how to use ready-made sketches, and how to read a globe, all of which are preliminary phases of spatial perception. …