International Online Journal of Educational Sciences, 2018, 10 (3), 162-182 © 2018 International Online Journal of Educational Sciences (IOJES) www.iojes.net International Online Journal of Educational Sciences ISSN: 1309-2707 The Challenging Subjects to Learn/Teach in Social Studies, The Reasons Behind Them and Solution Suggestions 1 Zafer IBRAHIMOGLU 1 1 Marmara University, Atatürk Faculty of Education, Istanbul, Turkey To cite this article: Ibrahimoğlu, Z. (2018) The Challenging Subjects to Learn/Teach in Social Studies, The Reasons Behind Them and Solution Suggestions, International Online Journal of Educational Sciences, 10(3), 162- 182. ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article History: Received 09.12.2017 Received in revised form 12.05.2018 Accepted 04.06.2018 Available online 09.06.2018 The aim of this study is to reveal what the difficult-to-teach and difficult-to-learn subjects in Social Studies are and to suggest solutions that can be developed based on the reasons for these challenges. Therefore, this study is a case and development study for the search for a quality and effective Social Studies education. In this study, which was constructed and applied according to the descriptive survey model, difficult subject information form was used as a data collection tool and the obtained data were analyzed with descriptive analysis technique. Based on the data obtained from the research, it can be stated that the most important dimension that emerged as a difficult subject within the scope of social studies course is knowledge and skills related to the discipline of history. The solution of this problem with the common view of the participating teachers and students is pointing to the teaching of social studies with a reduced student-centered curriculum. © 2018 IOJES. All rights reserved Keywords: 2 Social studies, difficult subjects, teaching, learning, learning experience 1 A part of this work was presented as an oral declaration in the "USBES 6" congress held in Eskişehir between 4-6 May 2017. 2 Corresponding author’s address: Marmara University, Atatürk Faculty of Education, Istanbul, Turkey Telephone: 05552343654 e-mail: zafer.ibrahimoglu@marmara.edu.tr DOI: https://doi.org/10.15345/iojes.2018.03.011