The Role of Story Maps in Improving Primary School Students Skills in Determining the Main Idea in Narrative Texts

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of the story map method applied to fourth-grade primary school students on the students' ability to determine the main idea in narrative texts. The study was conducted within the scope of a quasi-experimental design, one of the quantitative research methods; a matched control group post-test model was used. The sample of the study consisted of a total of 80 students (experiment = 40, control = 40) studying at a public primary school in Antalya, Türkiye. The findings revealed that the students who received education with the story map method showed significantly higher success compared to the control group both at the sub-problem level and in total test scores. The high eta-squared values, in particular, ​​showed that the application has a strong educational effect. This study shows that structured strategies with visual support, such as story maps, are effective for developing the skill of determining the main idea at the primary school level.