Gulbahar, Y., & Guven, I. (2008). A Survey on ICT Usage and the Perceptions of Social Studies Teachers in Turkey. Educational Technology & Society, 11 (3), 37-51. 37 ISSN 1436-4522 (online) and 1176-3647 (print). © International Forum of Educational Technology & Society (IFETS). The authors and the forum jointly retain the copyright of the articles. Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than IFETS must be honoured. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers, or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from the editors at kinshuk@ieee.org. A Survey on ICT Usage and the Perceptions of Social Studies Teachers in Turkey Yasemin Gulbahar Faculty of Education, Baskent University, Turkey // Tel: +90 312 2341010/1076 // Fax: +90 312 2341174 // gulbahar@baskent.edu.tr Ismail Guven Faculty of Educational Sciences, Ankara University, Turkey // Tel: +90 312 3633350/5203 // Fax: +90 312 3636145 // iguven@mailcity.com ABSTRACT Turkey has been undertaking many projects to integrate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sources into practice in the teaching-learning process in educational institutions. This research study sheds light on the use of ICT tools in primary schools in the social studies subject area, by considering various variables which affect the success of the implementation of the use of these tools. A survey was completed by 326 teachers who teach fourth and fifth grade at primary level. The results showed that although teachers are willing to use ICT resources and are aware of the existing potential, they are facing problems in relation to accessibility to ICT resources and lack of in-service training opportunities. Keywords Information and communication technology, Social studies teachers Introduction Throughout the world, many countries have introduced Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) into schools via different courses of action. Their use is also underlined by OECD (2001) as a necessity for improving quality in teaching and learning. The Ministry of National Education (MNE) in Turkey has also made huge investments in the hope of attaining the goal of improving the quality of education through enriching the learning environment with the help of educational software and technologies. Integrating ICT training into all levels of primary education and providing each student with access to ICT equipment and information sources were also among the objectives of the MNE. In 2001, 2837 ICT classrooms were established. The distribution of educational software purchased for these schools was also completed in the same year. ICT classrooms are equipped with computers, printers, instructional software, electronic references, video players, overhead projectors and TV. The policy makers in Turkey expected that the introduction of ICT into formal education settings would improve the academic performance of teachers by encouraging them to improve their ability to use and apply technology and software in their jobs. Programs have been organized for teachers to access to ICT in every circumstance (MNE, 2003). Furthermore, in-service training opportunities for many teachers in different subject areas have been provided. It was hoped that teachers’ use of technology in education would improve educational outcomes, increase technological skills and reduce anxiety when preparing lessons. Technology usage is an important indicator of their preparedness to carry out the obligations of daily lessons. In fact, Woodrow (1992) asserts that any successful transformation in educational practice requires the development of positive user attitude toward new technology. The development of teachers’ positive attitudes toward ICT is very significant factor not only for increasing computer integration but also for avoiding teachers’ resistance to ICT use (Watson, 1998). The Need for ICT Integration in Schools ICT integration in schools is needed in order to accomplish many objectives and improve the quality of lessons in all subject areas as well as social studies. ICT increasingly pervades various aspects of our daily lives like work, business, teaching, learning, leisure and health. Since ICT leads all processes based on information, every individual in a society should become technology competent. Thus, all schools have to be equipped with the necessary ICT in order to provide the next generations with the needed tools and resources for access and use and to attain the expected skills. Norris, Sullivan and Poirot (2003) point out the importance of accessibility as: “…teachers’ use of technology for curricular purposes is almost exclusively a function of their access to that technology” (p. 25). Merely