Opinions of Social Studies Teachers and 7th-Grade Students Regarding Digital Literacy Skills

In today's rapidly evolving technological setting, having digital literacy skills is considered as a requirement to adapt to these developments. It is of great importance that secondary school students, often referred to as digital natives, acquire these skills. Similarly, the educators responsible for instructing them should have a sufficient level of knowledge. In this sense, this study aimed to examine the current state of digital literacy among social studies teachers and 7th-grade secondary school students with the goal of instructing digital literacy skills. In this study, in which the phenomenological method was employed, data was collected using two different interview forms, and was analyzed using content analysis. Both teacher and student participants generally described digital literacy as the ability to access, share, and create information in the digital environment. Since the study was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, the participants reported that they used the Educational Informatics Network (Eğitim Bilişim Ağı) platform and social media for educational purposes. They also expressed a shared belief in practices such as using propoer passwords, antivirus software usage, and not sharing personal or others' information to ensure security in digital environments. In addition, it was found that both teacher and student participants were aware of at least one ethical rule regarding digital literacy. Teacher participants emphasized the need for an expanded curriculum that supports digital literacy in social studies through practical education. They also mentioned that the training they received in digital literacy was insufficient and ineffective.