The Effect of Orienteering Applications on Students' Spatial Thinking Skills in Social Studies: The Case of Turkey

Abstract

Spatial thinking skills are competencies individuals will need in their lives in order to know and
understand the world and to perceive the space correctly. In order for individuals to have these
competencies, effective traning in the development of spatial thinking skills should occur. Spatial
thinking skills can be acquired through student-centered, active learning and orienteering activities, all
of which can be applied in lessons as a type of game instead of through traditional teaching methods and
techniques. In this study, it is aimed to investigate the effect of spatial thinking skills on the orienteering
practices of students' in primary school Grade 4 Social Studies course. The study group consists of a
total of 104 students: 51 students are in the experimental group and 53 students are in the control group.
All participants are in Grade 4 at a primary school in Merkez district of Kastamonu province in Turkey
during the 2019-2020 academic year. Lessons were taught with activities based on orienteering practices
in the experimental group, and curriculum-based instruction was conducted in the control group. In the
research, one of the quantitative research methods was used as a quasi-experimental model with a
pretest-posttest control group. The Spatial Thinking Skill Test (STSS) developed by the researcher was
used as the data collection tool. As a result of the research, it was concluded that orienteering practices
are effective in developing students' spatial thinking skills. Orienteering is recommended to be used as a
teaching technique in Social Studies lessons because it is an entertaining activity that enables learning
by doing, the development of multi-faceted thinking, and the transference of spatial thinking skills to
daily life.