A Virtual Museum Workshop for Preservice Social Studies Teachers: A Peer Learning Experience: A Peer Learning Experience

The aim of this study is to examine the virtual museum workshop experiences of preservice social studies teachers conducted through peer learning. For this purpose, a mixed-methods research design was used in the study. The participants consisted of three preservice teachers who served as workshop facilitators, together with 20 preservice social studies teachers studying in the second, third, and fourth years during the 2022-2023 academic year, selected through criterion sampling. The workshop lasted four weeks and was held once a week for one hour. Data were collected through the attitude scale toward virtual museums at the beginning and end of the workshop, and through debate recordings and lesson plans during the workshop process. While the qualitative data obtained were analyzed using content analysis, the quantitative data were analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. At the end of the four weeks, it was determined that there was no significant difference in attitude scores. The debate recordings showed that the students were aware of both the advantages and disadvantages of virtual museums, and the examination of the lesson plans prepared by the student groups revealed that they were able to adequately integrate virtual museums into their lesson plans. Based on the findings, it was recommended that other virtual museum teaching and learning processes of longer duration and interdisciplinary structure should also be investigated.