In this study the comparison of the vertical scales, which are obtained through the combination of separate and concurrent calibration based on item response theory and Expected A Posteriori,, Maximum A Posteriori and Maximum Likelihood proficiency estimation methods, take place. For this comparison firstly, math tests for the 6th, 7th and 8th grades were composed from the questions asked in SBS (high school entrance exam) between 2008-2010 years. Then, the vertical scales were developed by using the scores obtained from the answers of 503 6th grade, 502 7th grade and 500 8th grade students to the math tests in different difficulty levels. By using the scale scores which were obtained from these scores placed in the same scale with the vertical scaling process, means and the difference between the means, effect sizes and horizontal distances were calculated so it was tried to be determined how the choices in scaling process affected the vertical scaling

Keywords: Vertical scaling, Item response theory (IRT), Mathematic achievements
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In this study preservice physics teachers’ understanding and misconceptions about heat, temperature and internal energy were investigated. A total of 89 preservice physics teachers who were first, second, third, fourth and fifth year students at Physics Education program, were participated in this study. The three-tier “Heat, Temperature and Internal Energy Concept Test" (HTIECT) which was developed by Gülbaş (2013) was used to determine preservice physics teachers’ understandings and misconceptions about the concepts of heat, temperature and internal energy. In the study, the average percentage of the preservice physics teachers who gave correct answers to the three-tier questions in HTIECT was 32% for temperature questions, 20% for internal energy questions and 5% for heat questions. The average percentage of preservice physics teachers who gave misconception answers to the three-tier questions in HTIECT was 12% for temperature questions, 12% for internal energy questions and 47% for heat questions. The results of the study revealed that that preservice physics teachers’ understandings about the concept of heat was very low. Moreover, it was determined that preservice teachers had the misconception that “internal energy is the amount of heat an object has”.

Keywords: Heat, temperature, internal energy, understanding, misconception.
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The aim of the present study was to analyze the presence levels of participants who use three-dimensional multi-user virtual environments, which present new opportunities for learning. In addition, the participants’ presence levels were compared in terms of gender. Participants’ presence levels were examined qualitatively through online interviews, field notes, and interviews with the participants. The sample comprised 24 students, who attended Programming Languages II course in a Computer Education and Instructional Technology Department at a large state university in Central Anatolia Region of Turkey in 2011 Spring semester. Social Presence Scale and Virtual Environment Presence Questionnaire were used as data collection instruments. Field notes and interviews were used in order to obtain qualitative data. The results revealed that participants had a medium presence level and these levels did not differ in terms of gender. Also, the environmental factors leading to the formation of presence were identified in line with participants’ opinions.

Keywords: three-dimensional multi-user virtual environments, presence, social presence
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Improving the quality of life of university students is important to make education more efficient. To improve the quality of life of the university and college students and to provide better living conditions for the students, it is primarily necessary to determine the level of quality of life. In this study it is aimed to investigate the quality of university life of the students in terms of some variables. There are a total of 529 active students of Duzce University, 254 women and 275 men, in the study group of the investigation. The level of student’s university life quality is examined on the aspects of sex, faculty type, year, monthly income, place where their family lives, status of being joined to a student club. T-test was used for sex and joining a student club which are two categorized variables, one way ANOVA test was used for three or more categorized variables. It is found that the level of student’s university life quality exhibits a meaningful difference with respect to sex, faculty type, and status of being joined to a student club. However, no meaningful difference is found for year, monthly income, place where the family lives.

Keywords: quality of university life, quality of universty life scale, university students
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The present study was conducted to investigate the relationships between human values, absenteeism attitudes, and absenteeism reasons. A correlation study was carried out with 180 students who were enrolled in different programs in a private university located in Ankara. Value orientations of the participants was measured by using Portrait Values Questionnaire (Schwartz et al., 2012) and absenteeism attitudes were measured by using semantic differential scales. In addition, students reported the frequencies of not going to the campus in class-days, and not attending the classes despite being in the campus with various reasons on the scales developed by referring to the relevant literature to be used in the present study. Correlation analyses revealed that the importance of hedonism and stimulation values was positively, whereas the importance of self-direction and conformity values was negatively correlated with absenteeism attitudes and reasons. It was proposed that absenteeism attitudes and reasons might have the function of expressing different values. The results were discussed by taking into account the measurement- and sample-related limitations of the study, and corresponding suggestions for future research were presented.

Keywords: human values, absenteeism, absenteeism attitudes, absenteeism reasons, college students
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The aims of this study were to determine the primary education (grades 6, 7 and 8) students’ demographical profile, information and communication tools usage tendencies, and cyber-bullying and a cyber-victimization experiences. This study was conducted using “Survey Method”. The participants of this descriptive study selected using stratified sampling method from primary schools in Bolu (Turkey) among 6, 7 and 8th grade students (n=2082). A demographic survey developed by the researchers, and the “Cyber-Bully and Victim Scale” developed by Ayas and Horzum (2010) were used to collect data. Frequencies (f), percentages (%), t-test, and one-way ANOVA for independent samples and Ki-Square tests were utilized during the analyses of data. Based on the findings; gender, the duration of internet usage and the aim of internet usage were found to be related to cyber-bullying and a cyber-victimization experiences.

Keywords: primary education, bully, bullying, cyber-bullying, cyber-victim.
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The aim of this study is to examine attitudes towards distance education of distance education’ students and their epistemological beliefs in terms of the variables of gender, department and investigate the relationship between the variables of attitude and epistemological belief. The current study, used the correlational survey model, was conducted with 330 students enrolled in distance education’ some departments in a university located west of the Black Sea region in Turkey. “The Scale of Attitude Towards Distance Education” and “Epistemological Beliefs Scale” were used for data collection in this study. Multivariate Variance Analysis (MANOVA), Correlation and Multiple Regression Analysis were also used for data analysis. At the end of the study, significant difference was found between the attitudes towards distance education between students’ and both the variables of gender and departments. Although statistically significant was found difference between epistemological beliefs and the variable of departmant, there were no differences between epistemological beliefs and the variable of gender. Moreover, it was determined that statistically significant a relationship was found between the attitudes towards distance education of students’and both their beliefs on that learning was based on efforts and that teaching was based on skills.

Keywords: distance education, epistemological belief, attitude towards distance education
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This research aims to investigate whether there is a meaningful relationship between “Teacher Self-efficacy Perceptions” and “Metacognitive Learning Strategies” of pre-service Mathematics teachers and whether “Teacher Self-efficacy Perceptions” and “Metacognitive Learning Strategies” of pre-service Mathematics teachers differentiate depending on gender and grade levels. The study was carried out on a total of 191 students, 111 of which were females and 80 of which were male, studying at the Department of Mathematics Teaching at Kazım Karabekir Faculty of Education in Ataturk University. The findings were obtained by means of “Teacher Self Efficacy Perceptions Scale” developed by Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk (2001) and adopted into Turkish by Çapa, Çakıroğlu and Sarıkaya (2005) and “Metacognitive Learning Strategies Scale” developed by Namlu (2004). According to the research findings, pre-service mathematics teachers’ levels of teacher self-efficacy and their knowledge on the structure and processing of their own cognitive system are at “good” levels. It is understood that while pre-service mathematics teachers’ perceptions of teacher self-efficacy do not vary by gender, they vary according to the levels of grade and the significant variance is between the 4th grade and others, in favour the 4th grade students. When the sub-dimensions of the metacognitive learning strategies scale was analyzed, a significant variance was found in “organization strategies” and “managing strategies” sub-dimensions by gender in favour of female participants. And also pre-service mathematics teachers’ scores of metacognitive learning strategies by grade was found to be significant. In the study, a significant wasn’t found between pre-service mathematics teachers’ perceptions of teacher self-efficacy and their metacognitive learning strategies.

Keywords: Teacher efficacy perceptions, metacognitive learning strategies, pre-service mathematics teachers
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While technology is a race against time, the effects of the race have changed teaching methods, presentation and content. In recent years technology gains solid ground in history classes and finds a chance to be applied in history classes in the context of new designs. The purpose of the study is to emphasize the versatile teaching features of the computer-aided course materials that attract the attention of the students to the history courses. This research fills a significant academic and educational gap in terms of using the animation applications in a scientific study. The research has both quantitative and qualitative aspects and empirical applications that constitute the quantitative side of the research have been realized in a high school located in Ankara in 2011-2012 academic years. In the research an experimental design with pre test-final test control group has been used. In this experiment there were 59 and 60 participants in the experiment and control group, respectively. In this study, conventional methods were compared with the technology based methods. In the experiment a significant difference has been found in favor of experiment group related with academic achievement and perception of space. According to the students in the experiment group, it has been evaluated that the applied education process is enjoyable, challenging, lasting, and fast teaching and increases academic achievement.

Keywords: History teaching, technology, animation, academic achievement, perception of space
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Despite the recent, increasing interest in the research of formulaic language which constitutes a significant part of languages, there is little research on formulaic language use in registers such as classroom teaching and textbooks. Therefore, this article aims to investigate a) formulaic language use of EFL learners in multi-task oral proficiency exams consisting of an individual and a paired task, b) the task type in which these learners use more formulaic language, and c) whether the use of formulaic expressions is related to their fluency and overall proficiency scores. The data were gathered from the content analyses of video recordings of oral proficiency exam belonging to 190 EFL learners with different proficiency levels according to the description of CEFR and the course book used at School of Foreign Languages at a state university in Turkey. The findings indicate that EFL learners used formulaic language which they were exposed to through their course books in oral proficiency exams with different tasks; they used more formulaic language in the paired tasks in which they interact with another exam taker and their use was significantly related to their scores of fluency and language proficiency.

Keywords: Formulaic language, oral proficiency exams, textbook, fluency, overall proficiency.
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In this research, it is aimed to explore the beliefs and the views of preschool teachers about discipline, classroom management, and dealing with disruptive behaviors in their classrooms. The study was done through case study methods as one of qualitative research methods. It was conducted in 2012-2013 educational years and with 3 preschool education teachers who were selected from a preschool dependent on the Ministry of National Education. The data was gathered through unstructured in-class observations, semi-structured interviews with the teachers, and document analysis of teachers’ plans related to daily routines. After transcription, the data were transferred to NVIVO 8 program, which is a qualitative data analysis tool, and its analysis was made through content analysis. As a result of study, it was found out that there are clear distinctions with teachers’ classroom practices and their classroom management discourses although there were some similarities between their beliefs and practices. In contrast to their beliefs, the teachers were observed to use more traditional classroom management strategies for the disruptive behaviors.

Keywords: Preschool, disruptive behaviors, classroom management, teaching strategies, discipline
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The purpose of this research is to examine the factors that affects students' academic achievement in Turkey. 62 studies carried out between the years 2000 and 2015, in Turkey, were analyzed using the method of meta-analysis. The correlation coefficient was used as an index of effect size of the study. Correlation coefficients based on random effects model were combined with Fisher's z method. The average effect size of the study was identified. In this context, the correlation transformations, effect size, significance, and heterogeneity tests for the "Comprehensive Meta-Analysis" statistical package was used. The result of this study was found that the value of effect size on students' academic achievement of school-related factors was 0.231. It was found that the value of effect size on students' academic achievement of student-related factors was 0.324. It was found that the value of effect size on students' academic achievement of family-related factors was 0.271. These values show that a significant correlation between variables. As a result, the most important factors affecting the achievement of the students' academic, socio-economic status, self-efficacy and motivation.

Keywords: Students' achievement, academic achievement, meta-analysis, educational administration
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