Proverbs and Idioms That Can Be Used Values Education During the Social Studies Teaching Process

Social Studies is an interdisciplinary field that integrates various disciplines -such as history, geography, economics, and sociology- into a unified framework, examining the individual’s social existence and interaction with their environment in a multidimensional context. This field serves to synthesize the values that shape human behavior and the dynamics that sustain social structures, integrating them into a unified framework. The systematic organization of social phenomena and events spanning from ancient times to the present within a scientific framework has heightened the strategic importance of Social Studies within educational activities. Proverbs and idioms, which are the most tangible markers of cultural continuity, are recognized as indispensable educational tools both in the intergenerational transmission of cultural heritage and in instilling social values in individuals. The rich semantic structure of proverbs and idioms makes them an integral part of Social Studies instruction. This study aims to determine the presence and representation levels of the “core values” included in the 2024 Social Studies Curriculum -as reflected in the lexicon of Turkish proverbs and idioms- in accordance with the updated educational vision of the curriculum. In this study, designed in accordance with a qualitative research design, the document analysis technique was employed during the data collection process. In the analysis of the collected data, the content analysis method was used to provide an in-depth description of the data and to interpret and make sense of it. The study’s key findings indicate that a significant portion of the values targeted within the Social Studies Curriculum have strong counterparts in the world of proverbs and idioms. Consequently, it is assessed that the use of these cultural elements as concrete and reinforcing materials in the values education process will play a critical role in achieving the curriculum’s objectives.