An action research study on developing social skills through culturally responsive activities in life science lessons
Abstract
This study investigates the development of social skills among culturally diverse first-grade students through culturally responsive activities integrated into Life Science Lessons. Employing a critical action research design, the study was conducted over twelve weeks -comprising a two-week preliminary observation phase, a nine-week intervention phase, and a one-week data consolidation phase- during the first semester of the 2023-2024 academic year. The participants consisted of 43 first-grade students, including 33 Turkish and 10 Syrian refugee students, enrolled in a public elementary school situated in a low-socioeconomic urban neighborhood in the central district of Gaziantep Province. Data were collected through semi-structured teacher and student interviews and researcher field diaries, and were subjected to content analysis guided by an iterative coding process involving an independent second coder to ensure reliability. The findings demonstrate that the culturally responsive intervention produced measurable improvements across multiple dimensions of social competence, including peer recognition, self-introduction, giving compliments, sharing, cooperation, help-seeking, emotional expression, expressing affection, and compliance with classroom instructions. Notably, students who had previously exhibited social withdrawal, resistance to cross-cultural peer interaction, and limited communication with Syrian refugee classmates showed progressive engagement and prosocial behavioral shifts across the intervention period. This study makes an original contribution to the field by proposing and field-testing a culturally responsive intervention model specifically designed for linguistically and ethnically mixed early elementary classrooms within the Turkish educational context — a setting that remains underrepresented in the international literature. The findings suggest that Life Science Lessons, when designed with explicit cultural responsiveness, can serve as a meaningful pedagogical space for fostering inclusive social skill development among students from diverse cultural backgrounds.