DEPARTMENT OF TURKISH AND SOCIAL SCIENCES EDUCATION

Prof.Dr. Mehmet ÜNLÜ

Head of Department of Geography Education

Department aims, objectives, history

Marmara University was opened in Istanbul with 10 faculties, two Schools and three Institutes with the Decree Law No. 41 dated July 20, 1982 and Law No. 2809 enacting this Decree.

Atatürk Higher Teacher Training School, affiliated to the Ministry of National Education, was transformed into a faculty with the establishment of Marmara University. This institution, named Atatürk Faculty of Education, renews itself every year and continues its education and research activities within the framework of various disciplines. One of these disciplines is Geography.

While Geography was intertwined with History and Citizenship within the Department of Social Sciences at Atatürk Higher School of Education, Geography has been transformed into a Department of Social Sciences Education at Atatürk Faculty of Education.

In the Department of Geography Education, until the academic year 1988-1989, education and training was carried out only at the undergraduate level, and in 1989-1990, a Master's Program was opened under the Marmara University Institute of Social Sciences. Following this important development, in accordance with the decision taken by the Presidency of the Council of Higher Education at its meeting dated August 28, 1991, the Doctorate Program was also started. Students were admitted to this program in the 1991-1992 academic year; thus, the Department of Geography has become a comprehensive discipline that trains staff at undergraduate and graduate level.

The establishment of the Department of Geography of the Turkish World at the Institute of Turkiat Studies in accordance with the decision of the Higher Education Council dated August 9, 1994 and numbered 18737, and the decision to open Master's and Doctorate programs related to Geography at the Institute of Middle East and Islamic Countries are indicators of this. The Department of Geography and Demography of the Middle East and Islamic Countries, which was opened under the Institute of Middle East and Islamic Countries, started to be implemented in the 1995-1996 academic year by admitting students.

In order to train Geography Teachers for secondary education institutions of the Ministry of National Education, the Department of Geography Teaching within the Atatürk Faculty of Education, Department of Secondary Social Fields Education continued its activities with a 5-year curriculum between 1998 and 2014. With the 2016-2017 academic year, the Department of Geography Education continues its educational activities within the Department of Social Sciences and Turkish Education. Since 2014, it has been offering 4-year undergraduate graduates, as well as master's and doctoral programs.

Within the framework of the restructuring of the Faculties of Education, in 2002, Prof. Dr. Ali Selçuk Biricik, Assoc. Dr. Nurten Günal, Assoc. Dr. Nuriye Garipağaoğlu, Assoc. Dr. Nuran Taşlıgil, Dr. Cemalettin Şahin, Dr. Mehmet Akif Ceylan and Dr. Halil Kurt, who were among the academic staff of Atatürk Faculty of Education, Department of Secondary Social Fields Education, Department of Geography Education, were appointed to the newly opened Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Geography by the Presidency of the Council of Higher Education and the academic staff of the department decreased.

Undergraduate, graduate and doctoral education programs are carried out in the Department of Geography Education. In our department, research trips to at least one region of the country are organized regularly every year, and all the theoretical knowledge that our students receive is applied in the field.