Our Cultural Heritage from Past to Present: Investigating Cultural Elements of Turkish Islamic Architecture in Social Studies Course

Human beings are an important element of cultural heritage. Because human beings have both contributed to the development of art and architecture with the architectural structures they have built and reflected their aesthetic understanding on their own architectural structures. After the Turks accepted Islam, they built many architectural works in Anatolia, the Balkans and the Middle East and contributed to the development of art and construction activities in these regions. In the light of this rich cultural background, this study aims to reveal the impressions and reflections in the social studies textbooks taught in schools. In this study, document analysis, one of the qualitative research methods, was used. The data of the study consisted of 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th grade social studies textbooks taught in Secondary and Imam Hatip Secondary Schools affiliated to the Ministry of National Education in the 2022-2023 academic year. Descriptive analysis technique was used to analyze the research data. According to the results of this study, it is seen that the subjects belonging to Turkish Islamic architecture are included at least in the 4th grade social studies textbook and mostly in the 6th and 7th grades. It was determined that the most common type of architectural structure was historical houses. Then, it was determined that the names of architectural types such as historical fountains, historical mosques, tombs, palaces and hospitals were mentioned. As can be understood from these results, the fact that examples of Turkish Islamic architecture are presented in social studies textbooks and introductory information is evidence that the understanding of Turkish Islamic art is not ignored. In addition, textbooks can be enriched with activities to develop children's cultural awareness of Turkish Islamic architecture.