EXAMINATION OF GRADUATE THESES ON CULTURAL HERITAGE TRANSMISSION TO CHILDREN

This study aims to examine master's and doctoral theses completed in Turkey between 2010-2024 in the field of education and teaching, which align with the keywords of children and cultural heritage transmission. In line with this purpose, full-text graduate theses registered in the YÖK National Thesis Center database that met the specified criteria were screened, and 53 master's and 12 doctoral theses were included in the research scope. The theses were analyzed using content analysis. During the examination of the theses, a "Thesis Review Form on Cultural Heritage Transmission to Children" developed by the researchers, containing 6 different themes such as thesis type, year, university, department, research method, and statistical techniques, was used. According to the research findings, it was determined that no graduate thesis studies within the scope of the research were conducted in 2013. It was concluded that doctoral theses were limited in number among the examined graduate theses. It was determined that graduate thesis studies on the subject have increased since 2018, with the highest number of thesis studies conducted in 2024. It was found that the theses were mostly conducted using qualitative research methods, and the most frequently used data analysis techniques were content and document analysis. It has been concluded that the highest number of thesis studies were conducted in the field of social studies education, while no thesis studies were carried out in the areas of child development. In light of these findings, it can be recommended to increase the number of postgraduate thesis studies on cultural heritage transmission to children and to conduct postgraduate thesis studies focusing on early childhood and preschool periods, which are critical years for the acquisition of values.