- (41), 2011
REFEREES/REVIEWERS
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF VOCATIONAL MATURITY AND DECISION MAKING STRATEGIES OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
Yeliz AKINTUĞ & Prof. Dr. Cem BİROL The purpose of this study is to determine the vocational maturity levels and decision making strategies of high school students and to display whether there is a significant difference between the vocational maturity levels and decision making strategies of high school students. Data were collected as appropriate for a quantitative study and screening model was used which is a descriptive research method. A total 167 students who were enrolled at 9th grade of Near East High School participated at the study. “Vocational Maturity Scale” developed by Kuzgun and Bacanlı (1996) and “Decision Making Strategies Scale” developed by Kuzgun (1992) were employed. The data were evaluated with average and multi-
variate analysis of variance (MANOVA). According to the findings, it has been determined that vocational maturity levels of high school students is low but that they employ the rational decision making strategy, which is a sub-scale of decision- making strategies, more frequently than other strategies. Significant difference has been identified in the scores received from decision making strategies according to the vocational maturity levels of the students. Research findings revealed a necessity for planning and conducting studies for more implementation related to vocational counseling which will be provided at schools.
Keywords: Vocational maturity, decision making strategies, high school students
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CALCULATING ECTS CREDITS: CASE OF YAŞAR UNIVERSITY
Yrd. Doç. Dr. Raif Serkan ALBAYRAK & Prof. Dr. Behzat GÜRKANECTS credit of a course signifies the workload of an average student in terms of hoursin order to complete the course successfully. Initially, the credits are determined by the instructor with respect to his/her experience and then monitored through regularly conducted questionnaires answered by students. However, application of these questionnaires embraces a plethora of issues. Should the questionnaires be conducted to the population of students or to a sample of that population? Does the disagreement between the respondents of the questionnaires and the group that are affected from its results compromise the reliability of the data? Who is the “average student”? How should the data be filtered and analyzed? In this article, these issues are discussed by proposing eight statistical models the performances of which are compared.
Keywords: ECTS credit, average student, location model, trimmed mean, Huber m-estimator
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COMPARISON OF IRT LIKELIHOOD RATIO TEST AND LOGISTIC REGRESSION DIF DETECTION PROCEDURES
Dr. Burcu ATAR & Prof. Dr. Akihito KAMATAThe Type I error rates and the power of IRT likelihood ratio test and cumulative logit ordinal logistic regression procedures in detecting differential item functioning (DIF) for polytomously scored items were investigated in this Monte Carlo simulation study. For this purpose, 54 simulation conditions (combinations of 3 sample sizes, 2 sample size ratios, 3 DIF magnitudes, and 3 DIF conditions) were generated and each simulation condition was replicated 200 times. In general, the Type I error rates of IRT likelihood ratio test and ordinal logistic regression procedures were in good control across all simulation conditions. The power of likelihood-ratio test was high for medium or large sample sizes and moderate or large DIF magnitude conditions. The power of this procedure increased as the sample size or DIF magnitude increased. On the other hand, the power of ordinal logistic regression procedure was unacceptably low for all DIF conditions except for the large sample size and large DIF magnitude condition.
Keywords: differential item functioning, IRT likelihood ratio test, ordinal logistic regression
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ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS' USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN AND OUT OF SCHOOL
Arş. Gör. Deniz ATAL & Doç. Dr. Yasemin KOÇAK USLUELThe aim of this study is to determine the expectations and opinions of elementary school students about the technologies which they used in and out of school. The study is based on informal learning approach. Data triangulation method was used to ensure the validity of the study. In the process of collecting data, the methods used were; surveys, semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. For the reliability of the content analysis, second coder was used. All coefficients of concordance were higher than .85, which was statistically significant. As conclusion, it was found that the participants’ use of Facebook, MSN and YouTube are most frequently in their daily life. Wiki and blogs are the least frequent applications they use and nobody even mention about podcasts. . It is worth to mention that, participants do not use many applications other than search engines and Office software for their educational purposes. The applications they were willing to use for their educational purposes were basically in coincidence with the ones they were already using in their daily life. The differences between students’ use of technologies, in and out of school are accepted as an indicator of students’ digital experience differences .
Keywords: informal learning, Web 2.0, elementary school students, digital dissonance
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THE PERCEPTIONS OF PRE-SERVICE PHYSICS TEACHERS ABOUT USING ANALOGIES AND THEIR ANALOGIES RELATED TO ELECTRIC CURRENT
Öğr. Gör. Işıl AYKUTLU & Prof. Dr. Ahmet İlhan ŞENThis study aims to take the views of pre-service teachers on analogies, and to determine the analogies they would prefer to use in their future teaching. The study, where qualitative research techniques were made use of, was administered to the final year students at the Physics Education Department of a government university in Ankara within 2007-2008 spring and 2008-2009 fall semesters. The study consists of two sections. The first section involves the studying of 39 pre-service teachers’ views on using analogies in teaching physics. In the second section, where 45 people participated, pre-service teachers were asked about the analogies they would use in teaching “electric current”, “resistance”, “potential difference” and “generator. Descriptive analysis was used in order to analyze the data collected from the research questions. In order to support the data obtained, semi-structured interviews were made with the 15% of the pre-service teachers. The study concluded that pre-service teachers perceived analogies as tools to be used in teaching physics and thought that they would have positive impacts on increasing students’ achievement levels as well as their attitudes towards the subject. It was also determined that they preferred the “water flowing through the pipe” model in teaching electric current. Analogies, which are mainly used as teaching techniques in classes, could also be utilized as supplementary evaluation tools in order to determine students’ previously learnt knowledge.
Keywords: Analogy, pre-service teachers, electric current, physics education, science education
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THE IMPACT OF TASK TYPE ON ORAL PERFORMANCE OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE PREPARATORY SCHOOL STUDENTS
Yrd.Doç.Dr.Meltem Huri BATURAY, Dr.Hatice SANCAR TOKMAK, Arş.Gör.Berrin DOGUSOY & Doç.Dr.Aysegul DALOGLU In this study, the effects of narrative, descriptive and prediction-personal reaction task types with visuals on the oral performance of intermediate level English language learners were compared. The study was carried out at Gazi University Preparatory School, Research and Application Center for the Instruction of Foreign Languages with the participation of eighty five students. The students’ oral exam marks based on the assessment of narrative, descriptive and prediction-personal reaction task types for each group were compared and focus-group interviews were carried out with the students in order to get in depth data on the issue. The results showed that there was no significant difference between the narrative, descriptive and prediction-personal reaction task type groups in terms of oral performance scores. However, qualitative data showed that the narrative group students felt more relaxed and free to express themselves in the assessment sessions.
Keywords: Speaking, Oral Assessment, Task Types
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INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE LEARNING STYLES OF PRESERVICE ELEMENTARY TEACHERS AND SOME VARIABLES
Yrd.Doç.Dr, Şendil CANThe purpose of this descriptive study carried out through survey method is to elicit the learning styles of pre-service elementary school teachers and investigate the relationships between these learning styles and gender, grade level, age and learning type. The Kolb Learning Style Inventory was used to obtain data. The present study was carried out with 409 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year students from the classroom teacher education department of the education faculty at Muğla University in the spring term of 2008-2009 academic year. The sampling of the study was randomly constructed. In the analysis of the data, some descriptive statistics; frequencies and percentages, and a non-parametric test, Chi-square, were used. As a result of the analyses, a significant relationship was found between the learning styles of the students and their
grade levels; but no significant relationships were found for age, gender, and learning type.
Keywords: 4mat learning style, Kolb learning style inventory, learning styles, pre-service elementary teacher.
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A MODEL EXPLAINING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES, LEARNING STYLES AND SUCCESS IN READING COMPREHENSION
Yrd. Doç. Dr. Mustafa Onur CESUR & Doç. Dr. Seval FER In this study, the model explaining and predicting the relationships between Turkish university preparatory students’ (TUPS) language learning strategies (LLS), learning styles (LS) and success in reading comprehension (RCS) was examined. The subjects were 368 university prep class students from 8 different universities in İstanbul, Turkey. The study used the structural equation modeling design. With the aim of identifying the students’ LLS and LS, Oxford’s (1990) Strategy Inventory of Language Learning, and Cohen, Oxford and Chi’s (2001) Learning Style Survey were adapted to Turkish; proven linguisticly equivalent and used to reveal the students’ LLS and LS. In order to measure the RCS, the English Language Placement Test was developed by the researcher and used in the study. Model analysis results showed that LLS such as cognitive, memory, compensation and auditory learning style predict and have direct influence on RCS. In conclusion, the model developed in this study explains 23 percent of the variance in TUPS’ RCS in foreign language
Keywords: reading comprehension success in foreign language, language learning strategies, learning styles
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EFFICIENCY OF TEACHING MATERIAL FOR THE SKILL OF GETTING ON BUS DEVELOPED FOR VISUALLY DISABLED PEOPLE
Öğr. Gör. Salih ÇAKMAKThis study focuses on, the efficiency of the teaching material for the skill of getting on the bus developed for visually disabled people. Three 8th grade students from the Ankara province Mitat Enç Elementary School for Visually Disabled, who are visually disabled and go to school by the school bus, participated in the study in the 2007-2008 school year. The dependent variable is the level of students getting on the municipality bus and the independent variable is “the teaching materials for the skill of getting on the bus presented with the simultaneous hint teaching method”. In this study, the multiple probe design across subject used. Each teaching session was organized in a way that the researcher applie a skill step to the student by providing physical prompt (by performing together with the student).In conclusion, the teaching material for the skill of getting on the bus was effective in enabling the subjects to get on the bus and go home independently, and gave the impression that it was a socially valid program.
Keywords: Total blindness, Public transportation, Orientation and mobility
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USING CONCEPTUAL CHANGE TEXTS WITH ANALOGIES FOR MISCONCEPTIONS IN ACIDS AND BASES
Dr. İpek ÇETİNGÜL & Prof. Dr. Ömer GEBANThis study was conducted to explore the effectiveness of conceptual change oriented instruction over traditional instruction on students' understanding of acids and bases concept. Besides, effects of gender difference and science process skills on students’ understanding of acids and bases were also investigated. Analysis of the results showed that establishing an analogical thinking during the instruction via conceptual change text caused better acquisition of scientific conceptions and elimination of misconceptions. In-depth interviews after the post-tests showed that students' lack of knowledge and misinterpretation of solutions and bonds concepts result in serious misconceptions in acids and bases concept. Especially, students have problems when they relate the concentration and strength with acidity, basicity and pH. Results also showed that science process skills of the students could be a strong predictor of their achievements in acids and bases whereas there was no significant effect of gender on students’ understanding of acids and bases.
Keywords: kavram yanılgıları, kavramsal değişim, kavramsal değişim metinleri, benzeştirme, asitler ve bazlar
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THE EFFECT OF MATHEMATICAL MODELING ON TRANSFERRING MATHEMATICS INTO DAILY LIFE
Yrd. Doç. Dr. Bekir Kürşat DORUK & Prof. Dr. Aysun UMAY The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of mathematical modeling activities on students’ ability to transfer the mathematical concepts into daily life. The study was applied to 116 sixth and seventh grade students from one public school. The “Daily Life Mathematics Test” (DLMT) developed by the researcher was administered to both experimental and control groups as a pre-test. Activities about mathematical modeling were given to the experimental group. DLMT was administered to the students as a post-test at the end of the semester. Furthermore, as qualitative data, semi-structured interviews were carried out with the students from experimental group. The results revealed that mathematical modeling-based instruction for both sixth and seventh grade had a significant effect on students’ ability about transferring mathematics into daily life compared to other groups in which the mathematical modeling-based instruction was not utilized. As a result of examining the video records obtained during the activities and interviews, it is observed that this effect might be related to properties which are naturally contained in the structure of modeling activities. Because, these activities are taken from real life and socially powerful and usually require to use metacognitive thinking skills.
Keywords: Mathematics education, mathematical modeling, transferring mathematics into daily life
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ADAPTATION OF THE BEERY-BUKTENICA DEVELOPMENTAL TEST OF VISUAL-MOTOR INTEGRATION TO SIX YEARS (60-72 MONTHS) OLD TURKISH CHILDREN
Yrd. Doç. Dr. Zülfiye Gül ERCAN & Prof. Dr. Neriman ARALThis study was planned to adapt the Beery-Bıkutenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration(VMI-5th) (Beery & Beery 2004)for Turkish children with six ages (60-72 month), whose original was developed by Beery-Buktenica. The instruction of test was translated into Turkish and the content validation was examined in line with the opınion of specialists. The form which finalized in line with the opinions of specialists was applied to 206 children and the correlation between subtest of inventory were examined. It was determined that the correlation between all test were meaningful (p<.01). Internal consistency reliability coefficients were calculated and retest correlation, it was determined
between .67-.79. As a result of test-retest correlation, it was determined that the test provided consistent results over time (r
.72-.84). The outputs obtained from the Frostig Visual Perception Test which was applied due to similar scale validity with Beery-Buktenica VMI(-5th) were determined as consistent (p<.05). For the criteria validity of the test, teacher assesstments were taken as the basis and it was determined that those children whose visual-motor integration development was poor and good than peers according to the Beery-Buktenica (VMI-5th), was also poor and good according to the teachers. In line with the findings, it has been determined that the Beery-Buktenica (VMI-5th) constitued a valid and reliable measuring tool for six years old ( 60-72 month) Turkish children.
Keywords: The Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration
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EDUCATIONAL MESSAGES IN TEVFİK FİKRET’S POEMS
Assist. Prof. Dr. Kelime ERDALBeing in the education community for long years, Tevfik Fikret aims to educate children and teenagers with the works he has written while he is carrying out his profession. Knowing child’s world very well, the poet gives messages which can be counted valid in today’s education perception. Emphasizing the basic humanistic and moral values such as sharing, cooperation, obedience in his poems, the poets stresses the importance of education starting at earlier ages. When the teenagers are discussed, Tevfik Fikret, changing his messages, lays huge responsibilities on teenagers. Teenagers, to whom the country is entrusted, will firstly love their country, and if necessary they will lay down their life. In order to accomplish this, trusting in yourself, working hard and being determined are essential. No matter what is the subject either a child or a teenager, the poet always looks to future, dreams the future that he misses in teenagers and children. In this study, Tevfik Fikret’s poems are examined in terms of the values wanted to be transmitted to child and teenagers, this educational messages are tried to be analysed under various headings.
Keywords: Child, teenager, education, educational message.
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THE ECOCENTRIC, ANTHROPOCENTRIC AND ANTIPATHHETIC ATTITUDES TOWARD ENVIRONMENT IN TURKISH AND AZERBAIJANI STUDENTS
Doç. Dr. Sinan ERTEN & Yrd. Doç. Dr. Cemil AYDOĞDUThis study compares the ecocentric, anthropocentric, and antipathetic attitudes of Turkish and
Azerbaijani teacher candidates toward the environment. It seeks to determine whether there are differences between the
environmental attitudes of the students of these countries. In order to bring to light some of the psychological structures
behind their thoughts on the subject, a Turkish translation of the attitude scale is used to determine whether anthropocentric,
ecocentric, or nonenvironmental reasoning forms the basis of the attitudes of these individuals toward the environment.
The importance of this study lies in its demonstration of a difference in the aforementioned environmental attitudes between
these two societies, so commonly thought of as one nation in two states. The results indicate that there is a statistically
significant difference between the groups in terms of ecocentric, anthropocentric, and antipathetic attitudes toward the
environment. It is thought that the underlying cause of this difference lies in a discrepancy between the two societies'
environmental consciousnesses. In the present study, the Cronbach alpha of the survey used for Turkish teacher candidates is
found to be .85, while the Cronbach alpha of the survey used for Azerbaijani teacher candidates is .74
Keywords: ecocentric, anthropocentric, antipathy toward the environment, and attitudes toward the environment.
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THE FILM AS VISUAL AIDED LEARNING TOOL IN CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT COURSE
Assist. Prof. Dr. Zehra ALTINAY GAZİ & Assist. Prof. Dr. Fahriye ALTINAY AKSALThis research aims to investigate the impact of the visual aided learning on pre-service teachers’ co- construction of subject matter knowledge in teaching practice. The study revealed the examination of film as an active cognizing and learning tool in classroom management course within teacher education programme. Within the framework of action research, teaching sessions were reorganized with integrating mediated and visual aided learning process to enhance pre-service teachers’ subject matter knowledge and abilities in teaching practice. The qualitative research approach was employed in this study, thirty eight pre-service teachers self-reports revealed the in-depth interpretation and analysis on their experiences and gained awareness in teaching practice in relation to film inline with supervision. Visual aided learning process through film and the instructor’s supervision provided meaningful contributions in enhancing co-construction of knowledge in teaching practice and also it contributed to internalize professional practice as well.
Keywords: Action research, constructivist approach, subject matter knowledge, instructional technology, visual aided learning.
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THE REDUCTION LEVEL OF AGGRESSION AND ANGER OF THE MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS
Dr. Filiz GÜLTEKİNThe purpose of this study is to, determine the effectiveness of the SOAP. To determine the effectiveness of SOAP. SOAP was applied to the experiment group, occupational guidance activities were applied to placebo group. In this study, the Aggression Scale, Trait Anger and Anger Control subscales of Trait Anger Expression Inventory were used. The comparison of pretest-posttest-fallow up test scores of experiment group was made through Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test. Also the comparison of posttest-fallow up test scores of groups was made through the Kruskal-Wallis test. As a result of the study, the fall on level of aggression and trait anger of the experiment group’s students was not significant, the rise on anger control scores of experiment group’s students was significant and this case kept going in five monthly fallow up period. There was not a significant difference between posttest-fallow up test scores of the experiment, control and placebo groups.
Keywords: aggression, anger, anger control, middle school students
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REFLECTIONS FROM APPLICATION OF THE FOURTH GRADE MATHEMATICS COURSE CURRICULUM
Yrd. Doç. Dr. Gönül GÜNEŞ & Prof. Dr. Adnan BAKİIn the present study answers of the following questions have been sought: ‘What kind of problems have the teacher faced?’ and ‘How have these problems reflected to their learning environments?’ The research method of the study is case study and data were obtained with qualitative data gathering tools. Nine 4th grade teachers had been interviewed at three different times and their classroom learning environments had been observed. According to the results of the study, teachers dubbed problems below most frequently; infrastructure problems of the schools, excessive student numbers in the classrooms, duration of the lesson’s being too short for attaining intended learning gains, teachers’ being incompetent for the
new system and insufficient and wrong guidance. As a result of the observations it was concluded that situations mentioned as problems by the teachers had adversely affected constructive nature of the learning environments formed in classrooms.
Keywords: mathematics curriculum, students centered learning, learning environment
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EFFECTS OF STUDY DIARIES ON SIXTH GRADERS SELF-REGULATED LEARNING
Hülya GÜVENÇThe purpose of this research is to study effects of structured and unstructured study diaries on students’ self-requlated learning. Pretest-posttest experimental design with control group was utilized. One of the experimental groups was used structured diaries and other one was used unstructured study diaries. Sixth graders (61 female, 56 male) going to an elementary school in Aegean district participated in this research. Experimental groups wrote their diaries about their studies at home for two months. Data of the research was collected by Self-efficacy For Studying and Scale for Learning Strategies. Also students were interviewed about diaries. Findings have discerned that study diaries have positive effects on students’ self- regulated learning and students have positive perceptions about diaries.
Keywords: Study diary, self-regualted learning, self-efficacy, learning strategy
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Hacettepe Üniversitesi E ğ itim Fakültesi Dergisi (H. U. Journal of Education ) 41: 219-230 [2011] FACTORS INFLUENCING EXEMPLARY SCIENCE TEACHERS’ LEVELS OF COMPUTER USE
Dr. Meral HAKVERD İ, Prof. Dr. Thomas M. DANA & Assoc.Prof. Dr. Colleen SWAINThe purpose of this study was to examine exemplary science teachers’ use of technology in science
instruction, factors influencing their level of computer use, their level of knowledge/skills in using specific computer
applications for science instruction, their use of computer-related applications/tools during their instruction, and their
students’ use of computer applications/tools in or for their science class. The sample for this study includes middle and high
school science teachers who received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Teaching Award (sponsored by the
White House and the National Science Foundation). Award-winning science teachers were contacted about the survey via e-
mail or letter with an enclosed return envelope. This study found female exemplary science teachers have more knowledge of
computer applications/tools than male exemplary science teachers. On the other hand, study findings revealed female science
teachers used technology in their classroom less than male science teachers.
Keywords: Exemplary science teachers, level of computer use, factors influence teachers’ computer use
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CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS OF MULTIPLICATION AND DIVISION PROBLEMS IN FRACTIONS POSED BY PRESERVICE ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS TEACHERS
Yrd. Doç. Dr. Cemalettin IŞIKIn this study, it was aimed to analyze conceptually the multiplication and division problems in fractions posed by pre-service elementary mathematics teachers. The study was conducted with 127 pre-service teachers studying in the department of elementary education in mathematics in the education faculty of a state university in Eastern Anatolia during spring term of 2007-2008 academic year. Descriptive design, which is a non-experimental design, was utilized in this study. Problem posing test with eight items was used as a data gathering tool. Pre-service teachers were required to pose problems about multiplication-division in fractions and problems posed were analyzed in details. Analysis results indicated that pre-service teachers were inadequate in multiplication of mixed fractions, division of two fractions, and giving meaning to fractions.
Keywords: mathematics education, pre-service elementary mathematics teachers, multiplication of fractions, division of fractions
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ASSUMPTIONS AND PEDAGOGICAL KNOWLEDGE: TEACHING AND LEARNING ACCORDING TO TEACHERS OF ENGLISH
Assist. Prof. Dr. Cemal KARAATAThis article investigates assumptions and pedagogical knowledge of English teachers working in primary, secondary and higher education in Turkey to identify their current orientations towards practices in foreign language learning and teaching. A survey was administered to 197 participants. The two questionnaires, on learning and teaching, were designed in a way to identify the extent to which teachers’ views overlap with those offered at teacher training programs as well as their beliefs and assumptions that markedly deviate from the current state of the art research. Findings overall reveal that teachers’ views overlap considerably with those in foreign language learning and teaching scholarship. However, traces of Audiolingual Method can be seen in teachers’ thinking. They favor the use of language laboratories as well as the repetition drills. Gender, age, and experience do not play a statistically significant role in the assignment of assumptions and pedagogical knowledge
Keywords: teacher assumptions, pedagogical knowledge, foreign language learning and teaching.
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FACTORS INFLUENCING THE TEACHING OF EVOLUTION
Arş. Gör. Dilek Sultan Kılıç, Prof. Dr. Haluk Soran & Prof. Dr. Dittmar GrafThe present study examined and compared the factors affecting the intentions of Turkish and German pre-service biology teachers towards teaching evolution. Data were collected by using “Evolution Teaching Intention Survey”. The survey was prepared by the researcher in accordance with the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), proposed by Ajzen (2002). Participants’ intentions to teach evolution were determined by using structural equation modeling. The most important factor affecting the intention was found to be their attitude towards teaching evolution. The most important difference in the models constructed for Turkish and German pre-service teachers is that in addition to attitude, subjective norm is effective in the intentions of German pre-service teachers, and perceived behavior control is effective in the intentions of Turkish pre-service teachers. TPB explains the intentions of Turkish pre-service teachers to teach evolution in 61%, while it explains those of German pre-service teachers in 52%.
Keywords: Evolution teaching, Theory of Planned Behavior, pre-service biology teachers, structural equation model
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A QUALITATIVE STUDY ON THE USE OF SUMMARIZING STRATEGIES IN ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
Assist. Prof. Dr. Fatma SUSAR KIRMIZI & Assist. Prof. Dr. Nevin AKKAYAThe objective of this study is to reveal how well summarizing strategies are used by Grade 4 and Grade 5 students as a reading comprehension strategy. This study was conducted in Buca, İzmir and the document analysis method, a qualitative research strategy, was employed. The study used a text titled “Environmental Pollution” and an “Evaluation Criteria Form”. The maximum sampling method was used to obtain data from 246 students from 6 different schools. The first language of the participants in the sample was Turkish. Students were asked to summarize the text “Environmental Pollution” and their summarizing strategies were evaluated. The summaries were then assessed and codified as follows: surface summarizing, relating to the subject and writing the very same text again, paraphrasing the main idea, diverging from the main idea, and missing the main idea. In general we found that students made insufficient use of summarizing strategies.
Keywords: Summarizing Strategies, Primary Schools, Students, Qualitative Research
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DEVELOPING THREE-TIRE MISCONCEPTION TEST ABOUT REGULAR CIRCULAR MOTION
Arş. Gör. Hasan Şahin KIZILCIK & Prof. Dr. Bilal GÜNEŞThis study aimed to develop a test which determined whether students have misconceptions about regular circular motion. The developed test has seven three-tiered items. The second phase of the test items is multiple-choice requiring the reason of the answer and it includes some possible misconceptions. In this phase, the choices determined as a result of the semi-structured interview with 10 students and there has been also remained an open ended choice. The reliability coefficient found as 0.68 by a pilot implication which 68 students attended. The test applied to 286 teacher candidates who are training in certain departments of Gazi Education Faculty in 2005-2006 academic years. As a result, it found that the students have misconceptions in certain levels which were estimated before. The students have misconceptions mostly about velocity and force at regular circular motion. Additionally, the students make out causal connection between circular motion and centripetal force.
Keywords: Regular circular motion, misconception, three-tire test, physics education
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THE EFFECT OF CANDIDATE TEACHERS’ EDUCATIONAL AND EPISTEMOLOGICAL BELIEFS ON PROFFESSIONAL ATTITUDES
Assosc. Prof. Dr. Ayşem Seda ÖNENWhile teacher’s cognitive skills are described with epistemological beliefs, the attitudes towards their profession, teaching styles and disciplinary actions are mainly associated with their educational beliefs. This study aiming to determine the effect of relation between candidate teachers’ educational and epistemological beliefs on their attitudes towards teaching profession is a kind of descriptive research in terms of screening model. In this study the relation between biology, physic, chemistry and mathematic candidate teachers’ educational beliefs and epistemological beliefs are examined and the effect of this relation on their attitudes towards teaching profession is analyzed. This research is conducted with 200 candidate teachers studied in Education Faculty of Hacettepe University in 2010-2011 academic years. Educational Belief Scale, “Epistemological Belief Scale” and “Attitude Scale of Teaching Profession” are used in the research. At the end of the analyses, the significant positive relation is determined between the candidate teachers’ professional and epistemological beliefs and attitudes towards their profession. Also, the relation between sub-dimensions of Epistemological Beliefs and Educational Beliefs Scales are analyzed and positive significant relations are determined.
Keywords: Beliefs, the philosophy of education, teaching profession, attitudes.
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EXAMINATION OF SCHOOL COUNSELORS’ LEVEL OF PROBLEM SOLVING AND SOCIAL SKILLS
Öğrt. Berrin EMRAN ÖZBULAK & Doç. Dr. Nergüz BULUT SERİNThe aim of this research is to determine whether there is a difference between school counselors’ perceptions of their problem solving skills and their level of social skill in regard to certain variables. The study is a descriptive type general scanning model conducted with the quantitative research technique. The sample of the study was consisted of a total of 145 counselors: The data has been collected using “Social Skills Inventory” (SSI) and “Problem Solving Inventory” (PSI). In the analysis of the data, F-Test and t-Test techniques were used. The results of the study revealed that there weren’t any significant difference between the school counselors’ problem solving skills and their gender, graduated department, type of school they work. According to the results, there were significant differences between the school counselors’ department which they were graduated and social skills inventory’s sub-dimensions; emotional expressivity, social expressivity and social control. And also there were significant differences between the type of school they work and emotional sensitivity, social control.
Keywords: problem solving skills, social skills, school counselor.
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EXAMINING THE FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENTS’ SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS ACHIEVEMENT WITH STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING
Öğr. Gör. Yeşim ÖZER & Doç. Dr. Duygu ANILIn this study, factors that affect students’ science and mathematics literacy were modeled based on the data obtained from Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA 2006). For this purpose, using principle components analysis technique, dimensions of the student questionnaires were determined. Using these dimensions for student questionnaires, latent variables such as family background, computer and software, educational materials and learning time were selected to be included in this study. According to results of modeling which was conducted by structural equation modelling using LISREL 8.7, learning time of students positive effect on science and mathematics literacy.
Keywords: structural equation modeling, programme for ınternational student assessment (pısa 2006), science and mathematics literacy.
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AN ANALYSIS OF PRE-SERVICE MATHEMATICS TEACHERS’ PREFERENCES AND VIEWS ON ACTIVITIES IN RELATION TO THEIR LEARNING STYLES
Arş. Gör. Kemal ÖZGEN & Prof. Dr. Hüseyin ALKANThe aim of this study is to identify the preferences and views of pre-service mathematics teachers, who
had different learning styles, in relation to various learning activities and the multiple activity approach used in the learning
process. The research participants were 33 pre-service mathematics teachers. In order to identify the preferences and views of
the pre-service teachers with different learning styles in relation to the different types of learning activities used in the
learning process, a preference scale for learning activities, a learning styles scale and an interview schedule were used in data
collection. The analysis of the data indicated that pre-service teachers with different learning styles had similar preferences
for the learning activities. Moreover, interview data suggested that learning activities were received positively
Keywords: activity, learning style, multiple activity approach, pre-service mathematics teachers
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HOW DO EPISTEMOLOGICAL BELIEFS DIFFER BY GENDER AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS?
Yrd. Doç. Dr. Şule ÖZKAN & Prof. Dr. Ceren TEKKAYAhe present
study explores the differences in students’ epistemological beliefs by gender
and socio-economic status (SES). The Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire (Conley, Pintrich, Vekiri, & Harrison,
2004) was adapted and administered to 1230 seventh grade students. The multivariate analysis of variance
(MANOVA) revealed differences in epistemological beliefs among students by gender and SES. While girls had
more sophisticated beliefs in justification of knowledge than boys, girls and boys appeared to be similar in their
beliefs in the Source/Certainty and Development dimensions. According to the results, students having medium and
high SES had more sophisticated beliefs on the Source/Certainty dimensions when compared with low SES group
Keywords: gender, epistemological beliefs, socio-economic status.
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THE EFFECT OF TYPE OF COMPUTER MEDIATED COMMUNICATION TOOLS ON SOCIAL AND COGNITIVE PRESENCE IN ONLINE LEARNING COMMUNITY
Yrd. Doç. Dr. Ebru ÖZTÜRK & Doç. Dr. Deniz DERYAKULUThe main aim of this study was to find out the effect of type of computer mediated commucation tools and the virtual guest participation on students’ social and cognitive presence in online learning communities designed for blended learning environment. The research was carried out in 2x2 factorial design. Participants were 85 students of the Department of Computer and Instructional Technologies Education. The data of the study were analyzed by using Mann-Whitney-U Test for independent samples and by using content analysis schemes for online discussions. The results showed that the type of computer mediated communication tools has significant effect on the social (U=136.50, p<.05) and cognitive presence (U=97.00, p<.05) whereas the virtual guest participation has no significant effect on the social presence (U=253.00, p>05) and cognitive presence (U=329.00 p>05). In addition, no significant relationship found between gender and the sense of classroom community (U=685.00, p>05), however, female students reported significantly higher level of feeling of learning than did male counterparts. Similarly, females reported significantly higher level of comfort on sharing personal information (U=616.00, p<05).
Keywords: Social presence, cognitive presence, online learning community, virtual guest.
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INVESTIGATION OF PARTICIPATION IN STUDENT-LED ONLINE DISCUSSION WITH RESPECT TO MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITY AND LEARNING STYLES
Arş. Gör. Ferhat Kadir PALA & Doç. Dr. Mukaddes ERDEMThis study aims to investigate participation in online discussion that is designed as a part of student-led blended learning environment with respect to management responsibility and learning styles. Participation was determined by using quantitative data regarding the number of messages sent, length of messages, login frequency, and stay time. The course was based on blended learning with face-to-face and online features. Online forums were established as a part of the online dimension of the learning environment, where all dimensions were led by student teams established by student choice. They were expected to interact in this environment via discussions and enhance their learning. Data were gathered through the quantitative examination of the forum discussion records. Parametric and non-parametric statistical techniques were used for the analyses. The difference in student participation during student-led weeks and other weeks was analyzed, as well as the effects of learning style on participation. While the effects of learning style on participation appeared to be not significant, management responsibility was observed to increase participation significantly across all teams.
Keywords: online discussion, online participation, learning style, student led teaching
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COMPARISON OF CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS OF STUDENTS IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION TEACHER EDUCATION, COACHING AND RECREATION PROGRAMS
Arş. Gör. Fatma SAÇLI & Prof. Dr. Gıyasettin DEMİRHAN The purpose of the present study was to determine the critical thinking skill levels of students in Physical Education Teacher Education, Coaching, and Recreation Programs and to compare critical thinking skills scores according to gender, program, grade levels and university entrance examination score types. A total of 1394 students attended in three programs were included in the study. Turkish version of Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal Test (W- GCTAT) was used to collect data. Descriptive statistics and analyses of variance were used for all data analyses. The results showed that although there was no significant gender difference between the critical thinking skills levels, significant differences were observed between the mean critical thinking skills scores according to programs, grade levels and the university entrance examination score types. In conclusion, it can be said that critical thinking skill levels of students is moderate and should be improved.
Keywords: physical education teacher education, coaching, recreation, student, critical thinking skill
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DEVELOPING A SELF-EFFICACY SCALE FOR BECOMING A TEACHER IN MULTIGRADE CLASSES
Yrd. Doç. Dr. Ramazan SAĞThis study aimed to develop a scale that helps to determine the perceptions of student teachers’ self-efficacy regarding their skills of becoming a teacher in multigrade classes. Items in the try form were developed based on literature of teaching in the multigrade classes, and also in self-efficacy, then it was taken opinions from eight experts about validity of the scala. The Principle Component Analysis technique was used for factor analysis of the data collected from 418 student teachers enrolled in four universities. For the analysis, Exploratory Factor Analysis was used in accordance with the Heuristic approach and Varimax rotation technique was used for the dispersion of factors. In the results, a scale with 2 factors and 19 items was obtained. The first of the factors found as significant in the scale explains 31% of the variance and the second factor explains 29 % of the variance of the scale. Its reliability (α) is .93.
Keywords: multigrade classes, student teacher, self-efficacy, developing a scale.
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A STUDY ON THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS’ PREPARATION OF TESTS
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Arif SARIÇOBANIn this article the researcher has examined the current situation in test (a) construction: designing,
structuring, developing, (b) administering, and (c) assessing the foreign language tests to see if we are still at the same point (traditional) and has given some suggestions on this indispensable issue. To collect the necessary data the 4th year students doing their practicum studies at a state high school in Ankara under the supervision of the researcher are asked to collect one sample of each test (written or oral form) their mentors have been using to assess their foreign language students. The common characteristics of the test samples are scrutinized in terms of validity and reliability, language skills and areas
including spelling, contextualization, time, typing, students’ foreign language level (simple or complex structures), instructions, and backwash effect. Relying on the findings of the study some recommendations have been made for foreign language teachers.
Keywords: Testing, designing, administering, assessing, foreign language education.
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EFFECTIVENESS OF SYSTEMATIC INSTRUCTION ON THE ACHIEVEMENT OF HISTORY CONSCIOUSNESS IN SOCIAL SCIENCES COURSE
Arş. Gör. Burcu SEZGİNSOY & Prof. Dr. Buket AKKOYUNLUIn this study, effect of systematic instruction on achivement of history consciousness was investigated. Research was conducted in the framework of pretest – posttest control group experimental design model and effect of systematic instruction on achivement and retention was searched. During the research which was carried out on two different groups with students of grade 4, in the experimental group, systematic instruction was implemented, while available social studies curriculum was implemented in the control group. Data were collected through achivement test. The test was conducted to study groups as pretest and posttest and after 8 week from pre and post test, retention test was applied to experimental group. The main results obtained from the study have been clarifed that a significant difference was found between the experimental group and the control group at the level of knowledge, comprehension and total achievement mean scores in favor of the experimental group. A significant difference was also found between the experimental group and the control group at the total retention mean scores in favor of the experimental group. However, There was no significant difference between the experimental group and the control group at the level of application achievement mean scores.
Keywords: Systematic Instruction, Social Studies, History Consciousness
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COMPARING READING COMPREHENSION LEVEL AND ORAL READING SPEED OF 5TH CLASS STUDENTS WHO HAD FIRST READING WRITING THROUGH DIFFERENT METHODS
Yrd. Doç. Dr. Ayfer ŞAHİNIn this study comparison of the reading comprehension levels and oral reading speed has been made for primary school 5th class students, who had first reading writing skills through sentence analysis and sound based sentence method. One of the empirical methods; “Controlled final-test model”; has been used in this study. The students who got their pre reading writing skills through “sentence analysis method” has formed the control group and the others through “sound based sentence methods” has formed the experiment group. The data has been obtained by two different measuring tools related reading comprehension. Points referred to experiment and control groups have been compared at .05 significance
level using independent t-test. At the end of the study no significant difference has been found between the levels of reading comprehension and aloud reading speed of the students in experiment group and in control group.
Keywords: first reading and writing, reading comprehension level, oral reading speed, sentence analysis method, sound based sentence model.
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EFFECTS OF ADMINISTRATORS’ ETHICAL LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL JUSTICE BEHAVIOR ON TEACHERS’ ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT LEVEL
Yrd. Doç. Dr. Celal Teyyar UĞURLU & Yrd. Doç. Dr. Mehmet ÜSTÜNEROrganizational behaviour affects many attitudes. In organization administrator’s moral behavior, organizational justice and organizational commitment are the variables which are affected by the organizational behavior. These three concepts that affect each other are important from the point view of the organizations to realize their aims. To determine the sample of this research in schools that have more than ten teachers from each district in Hatay were preferred. As a result, 9004 teachers from 635 primary schools of 12 districts comprise the population of the study. It was made use of Pearson Moments Product Correlation Coefficient and simple and multiple regression analyze, mean, standard deviation, one-way anova Mann Whitney U, Kruskal Wallish, methods to compute the datas.The results revealed that administrative ethical leadership attitude creates organizational commitment in teachers for their relationships with their schools by effecting organizational justice nature of the schools. Organizational justice is accepted as an important guide variable between administrative ethical leadership attitude and organizational commitment. At the basic of the commitment of teachers the administrators are to show their administrative ethical leadership attitude by guaranteeing organizational justice.
Keywords: Leadership, ethical leadership, organizational justice, organizational commitment.
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LIFELONG LEARNING COMPETENCE SCALE (LLLCS): THE STUDY OF VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY
Prof. Dr. Hüseyin UZUNBOYLU & Dr. Çiğdem HÜRSENIn this research our aim is to develop a scale for lifelong learning competences and investigate the validity and the reliability of the structure of the scale. The participants of this research are 300 secondary school teachers who are randomly selected. The findings on the scale’s validity of the structure are computed by the method of factor analysis. It is observed, at the end of analysis, that lifelong learning competencies scale (LLLCS), which is made up of 6 sub-dimensions, contains 51 items. The six sub-dimensions are stated as follows; “self-management competencies”, “learning how to learn competencies”, “initiative and entrepreneur competencies”, “competencies of acquiring information”, “digital competencies” and “decision-taking competencies”. The coefficient of Cronbach Alfa reliability of the scale is measured as
1.95. As the studies on the viability and reliability illustrate, the scale has the sufficient merit of utilization.
Keywords: Lifelong learning, Lifelong learning competencies, Validity, Reliability, Teachers
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EFFECTS OF AN INSTRUCTION BASED ON DOMINANT INTELLIGENCE ON OVERCOMING MISCONCEPTIONS
Öğrt. Alime UZUNKAYA & Yrd. Doç. Dr. Sami ÖZGÜRThis research is featured by the determination of misconceptions about students’ opinions prior to teaching, relating them to the areas of multiple intelligences and analysis of the effect of the teaching, designed taking this relationship into the account, on eliminating the misconceptions. In this research the quasi-experimental design was used. The sample group of this research involves two different 6th grade students in one of schools in central Balıkesir. 33 of the students represent the experimental group while control group includes 30 students. In this qualitative research, an interview planned in accordance with “interview form approach” to establish the differences and parallels between the students’ answers, analysis tableaus to analyze the given answers, a multiple intelligence inventory and a multiple intelligence observation form, helping to determine the kinds of multiple intelligences of students have been used. Findings show that there is a relationship between the misconceptions affecting the instruction in a negative way and the kind of dominant intelligence. It has been tried to define learning/ teaching environment enriched with the help of activities done by taking this relationship into consideration and an instruction including original aspects has been planned. As a result of this instruction, it has been seen that the misconceptions in the students’ prior knowledge, have been eliminated.
Keywords: misconception, multiple ıntelligence theory, dominant ıntelligence, ınstruction
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THE USE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES BY UNIVERSITY STUDENTS LEARNING ENGLISH, GERMAN AND FRENCH
Yrd. Doç. Dr. Dalım Çiğdem ÜNAL, Yrd. Doç. Dr. İrem ONURSAL-AYIRIR & Yrd. Doç. Dr. Sibel ARIOĞULThis study covers students who are registered in different departments at Hacettepe University and who are learning English, German and French at the Preparatory Class of the School of Foreign Languages. In order to measure these students’ use of strategies; to find out if there is any significant statistical difference between those learning English, German and French in terms of using strategies; to calculate the correlation between six different strategy types by finding out the correlation between the use of direct and indirect strategies, Oxford’s “Language Learning Strategies Inventory” is administered. As a result of the analysis carried out using ANOVA, it is found that other than one strategy type, there is a significant statistical difference between the uses of all the other strategy types. Apart from this, the conclusion drawn is that it is necessary to teach the use of “memory strategies”, “cognitive strategies” and “affective strategies”.
Keywords: foreign language learning strategies, direct strategies, indirect strategies, autonomous learning
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TOWARDS IMPROVEMENTS IN TEACHERS’ PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT THROUGH THE REFLECTIVE LEARNING PARADIGM – THE CASE OF SLOVENIA
Milena VALENČIČ ZULJAN, Darjo ZULJAN & Samo PAVLIN Developing reflective teachers who will be committed to their professional mission and whose own development will represent a value is an important objective of the professional training of future teachers. This article deals with an evaluation of the module of instruction in teacher training that was directed at raising students' awareness of the importance of reflecting on their pedagogical work and their overall professional activity. The module focused on the acquisition of skills for thoughtful activity in pedagogical practice and the development of a positive attitude to lifelong teacher education. The main aim of the study was to assess students’ conceptions of instruction, in particular from the perspective of students’ perceptions of the importance and influence of learner-centred methods targeting didactical competencies.
Keywords: teacher development, teacher education, reflection learning, didactic competencies of teachers
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EFFECTS OF USING THREE-DIMENSIONAL VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS AND CONCRETE MANIPULATIVES ON SPATIAL ABILITY
Arş. Gör. Bahadır YILDIZ & Doç. Dr. Hakan TÜZÜNThe purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of using 3-D virtual environments and concrete manipulatives on spatial visualisation and mental rotation abilities. A 3-D virtual unit block simulation was designed with True Vision 3D game engine. The study was implemented at two schools with 108 students from fifth grade. A quasi- experimental pre-test post-test research design was followed at each school. The 3-D virtual environment was used in the experimental groups. Unit blocks were used as concrete manipulatives in the control groups. Spatial Visualisation and Mental Rotation Tests were administered before and after the implementations. Spatial Visualisation and Mental Rotation Test scores increased significantly in the control group. Spatial Visualisation Test score increased significantly in the experimental group, while the increase in Mental Rotation Test score was not statistically significant. There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of Spatial Visualisation and Mental Rotation Test results.
Keywords: Spatial ability, spatial visualisation, mental rotation, 3-D virtual environment
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COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT DESIGNS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE GENERALIZABILITY THEORY IN COMMUNICATION SKILLS EXAMPLE
Funda NALBANTOĞLU YILMAZ & Prof. Dr. Selahattin GELBALThe aim of this study is to compare the results of G and D studies that were obtained by design that formed jointly and alternatively scoring of students by more than one rater in performance assessment in terms of generalizability theory. 48 students that were chosen randomly from the third-class degree students of the Medical Faculty of Hacettepe University at 2007-2008 academic years and 3 raters constitute the study group. In this study, G and D studies that done for s x t x r and (s: r) x t designs (s:student, t:task, r:rater) are compared. As a result of study, it is observed that variances that were estimated for variables in both designs are parallel to each others. Decision studies are no such a big difference. In this way scoring certain number of students alternately is much more convenient in time, labor and economy.
Keywords: generalizability theory, performance measurement
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