USE OF SMARTPHONES IN SOCIAL STUDIES EDUCATION: PRESERVICE TEACHERS’ OPINIONS AND EXPERIENCES

Smartphones are the most used mobile devices today. using smartphones in teaching and learning environments could make important contributions to bringing school and life closer. the multidisciplinary structure of the social studies course offers a rich environment and diversity in terms of the use of smartphones. reports of the societies leading the social studies field, such as the national council for the social studies (ncss), and academic studies in this field indicate that technology will be used more effectively in the field of education and social studies in the future. the current study seeks to answer the question “what are the social studies teacher candidates' views and experience on benefiting from the applications used in social studies course on smartphones? the current study adopts the qualitative phenomenological research design. the participants of the study were selected according to the criterion sampling technique. data were collected by semi-structured interviews. induction analysis technique was used to analyze the data. results showed that teacher candidates used smartphone applications to follow the agenda in their daily lives, to access information and to store information, to listen to music, to take photos and videos. in conclusion, teacher candidates emphasized that social studies teachers could benefit from smartphone applications effectively in the social studies course. suggestions based on the research findings were presented.