The aim of this research is to examine the relationships between self-compassion and automatic thoughts. Participants were 299 university students. In this study, the Self-compassion Scale and the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire were used. The relationships between self-compassion and automatic thoughts were examined using correlation analysis and the hypothesis model was tested through structural equation modeling. In correlation analysis, self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness factors of self-compassion were found negatively related to automatic thoughts. On the other hand, self-judgment, isolation, and over-identification factors of self-compassion were found positively correlated to automatic thoughts. The model demonstrated excellent fit (χ2 =0.05, p =.03832, GFI =1.00, AGFI =.96, CFI =1.00, NFI =1.00, IFI =1.00, RFI =.97, SRMR =.014, and RMSEA =.038) and also accounted for 39% of the automatic thoughts variances. According to path analysis results, automatic thoughts were predicted negatively by self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness. On the other hand, self-judgment and over-identification predicted automatic thoughts in a positive way. However, the path from isolation to automatic thoughts wasn’t significant. Results were discussed in the light of the related literature.

Keywords: Self-compassion, automatic thoughts, path analysis
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This study aims to assess the effects of phonological awareness skills training given to children who have mild mental retardation on their reading skills. The sample of the study consisted of a total of 12 children, who are between 9 and 12 years old, have mild mental retardation, receive special education service and attend a mainstreaming classroom in a private institution, and have gained the initial literacy skills but have troubles in reading. The results gained through the study, which is formed by pre-test, intervention and post-test stages, indicate that the training given within the scope of the study was influential on the acquisition of receptive language skills, basic phonological awareness skills, the total reading duration of the whole text, the number of mistakes made while reading, reading mistakes based on the insufficiency of phonological awareness skills, substitution of words that are phonologically similar with each other and reading mistakes correction skills of the children who have mild mental retardation.

Keywords: phonological awareness, mental retardation, reading skills
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Culture which individual belongs to do effect not only his life style but also his leisure perception, attitudes and behavior. This study focuses on 13 year old adolescent’s leisure perceptions, activities and their related feelings considering the gender differences. Data were gathered by survey instrument covering two parts including 3 open-ended questions which were asked to 371 children attending the seventh grade of three elementary schools of Ministry of Education in Izmir (Karşıyaka and Bornova). Descriptive analyze was used. Findings indicated that one-third of the adolescents described leisure “doing nothing and being idle”; half of the males spend time on internet, some females study for the tests; generally, few participated in sports and social activities. Considering the collectivist values dominating the Turkish society, initially starting with the parents, adolescents leisure awareness should be increased and guided by education.

Keywords: adolescent, leisure perception, culture
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The purpose of the study was to examine pre-service chemistry teachers’ preferences for creating constructivist learning environment in their future class. For the specified purpose, Constructivist Learning Environment Scale (CLES) was adapted to Turkish and validated for pre-service chemistry teachers by conducting Confirmatory and Exploratory Factor Analyses. The data analyses were carried out utilizing LISREL 8.71 and SPSS 15.0 programs. Results supported 5-factor structure of CLES. Moreover, Cronbach’s alpha value for each scale was found to be sufficiently high. Administration of Turkish version of the CLES as a valid and reliable instrument revealed that learning to speak out subscale of the CLES had the highest mean value (M=25.44). The mean of learn about the world (M=24.94), and learn to communicate (M= 24.33) subscales were higher than that of learn to learn (M=22.12) and learn about science (M= 21.07) subscales. Discussion of the results and suggestions for teacher education were provided.

Keywords: Constructivist Learning Environment Scale (CLES), constructivism, pre-service teachers.
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In recent years, studies that are conducted in Turkey and around the world about thinking skills, critical thinking skills, problem solving ability, determining the learning needs, learning how to learn, applying the learning, and collaborative learning support the idea that student-centered learning environments enhance students’ success in science classrooms. Problem-based learning (PBL) is one of the examples of student-centered learning environments. In this study, the effects of PBL on student teacher’s learning of Electrolysis and Battery subjects and their attitudes toward the chemistry courses were investigated in the Hacettepe University, Faculty of Education, Science Education Program. An experimental design was used in the research. The instruments used for data collection were Science Process Skills Test, Electrochemistry Achievement Test, and Chemistry Attitude Scale. PBL was used with the experimental group students and their chemistry achievement was found to be higher than the control group that was taught by traditional teaching methods. Also the experimental PBL group’s chemistry attitude scores were higher than that of the control group.

Keywords: Electrolysis and battery, chemistry education, problem based learning
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Foreign language learning strategies is a topic that has recently been highly emphasized. As well as providing students with great advantages, the use of learning strategies can show variation from one person to another depending on different factors. In this study, a questionnaire is administered to students studying English, German and French at the Preparatory School of Hacettepe University to test their frequency of utilizing strategies. The obtained results are evaluated in terms of students’ gender and the relation of their fields of study to languages. From the two points of view, it is found that compared to male students, female students and those students registered in foreign-language related departments compared to those in other departments use more foreign language strategies. At the end of the study, various techniques are presented for teachers to develop their students’ use of strategies where necessary.

Keywords: foreign language teaching / learning, independent learning, language learning strategies, individual differences.
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The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between the basic concepts related to the unit of Chemical Reactions and Energy and the sub-concepts underlying for meaningful learning of the unit and to investigate the effectiveness of them on students’ learning achievements. For this purpose, the basic concepts of the unit were correlated with the concepts of previous units. The study involved fifty-two 11th grade students who were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. Before the instruction, a preparatory course was applied on only experimental group to remedy students’ the misconceptions and lack of pre-knowledge identified by the concept test results and the literature reviews. After the preparatory course, the experimental and control groups were taught by the same teacher with the same instruction. The achievement test and interviews results showed that the experimental group significantly had higher scores and fewer misconceptions than the control group.

Keywords: chemical reactions and energy, concepts, misconceptions, learning achievement
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The aim of this study is to adapt The Social Space Scale of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Environments developed by Kreijns, Kirschner, Jochems and Van Buuren (2004a) to Turkish language and culture. The original scale is in English, includes two factors and 20 items. Firstly, the original scale was translated into Turkish, and experts’ critics were obtained. Afterwards, both the English and Turkish forms were administered to students (n=29) of Başkent University Faculty of Education Computer Education and Instructional Technologies (CEIT) Department in a one-week interval in order to determine the equivalency of these two forms. The construct validity studies were carried out on 158 CEIT students attending to Ankara, Marmara, Gazi and Van Yüzüncü Yıl Universities. Results showed that the Turkish version has two factors and consisted of 17 items. The Cronbach Alpha internal consistency coefficient was also calculated as .87.

Keywords: computer supported collaborative learning environments, CSCL, social space scale
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The purpose of this study was to investigate elementary school teachers’ perceptions and expectations about in-service education organized by the Ministry of Education. The inventory was design to measure teachers’ in-service educational perceptions and expectations based on two components of the in-service education: participated in-service education and will participate in service education. Data were obtained from 301 elementary school teachers working at K-8 schools in Denizli. The results of the study demonstrated that all elementary school teachers participated in this study have similar expectations about the in-service education that are going to participate in their future professional life. On the other hand, “male” and “classroom” teachers’ perceptions about in-service education that were participated in their past professional life were different and more positive than the “female” and “subject” teachers.

Keywords: Teacher education, professional development, in-service education
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The objective of this study is to investigate the influence practice of the group counseling on the levels of obsessive and compulsive symptoms of the university students. Experiment and control group of the study consists of nine students. Pre-test and post-test models were used in employed in this study. Maudsley Obsessive Compulsive Scale was applied to experiment and control groups as pre-test and pst-test. Mann Whitney U test and Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test were used to determine whether the difference between pre-test and post-test of experiment and conrol groups mean scores was significant. Group counseling based upon cognitive behavioral approach reduced the level of obsessive and compulsive symptoms of the students. The students taking part group counseling sessions displayed a lower level of obsessive and compulsive symptoms in comparison with those not attending these sessions. Post-test scores of the students in the experiment group were significantly lower than pre-test scores. Findings putforward.

Keywords: Obsession, Compulsion, Cognitive-Behavioral Approach
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The objective of the present study is to investigate the pre-school prospective teachers’ level of self efficacy on using the creative drama method and the relationship between several variables and their self efficacy levels. The participants were 190 second, third and fourth year students who attended Department of Pre-School Education during 2008-2009 and who took the Creative Drama Lesson. The students were given the Self Efficacy Scale Regarding The Use of Creative Drama. Among these students, four students who were chosen by extreme or deviant case sampling were interviewed. The analysis revealed that pre-school prospective teachers’ self efficacy on using the creative drama method is in good level and their self-efficacy levels on using the creative drama method differ meaninfully depending on their class, gender and whether they received additional work-shop instruction on the method. The results also revealed differences between the pre-school prospective teachers with high and low self efficacy levels on using the creative drama method.

Keywords: creative drama method, self-efficacy, pre-school prospective teachers
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In the comprehension of the subjects of physics and in the correct solution of physics questions, a substantial mathematical foundation is a pre-requisite. Thus, general mathematics course, which is the basis for advanced mathematics, is highly important for students. Limit, which is one of the subjects within general mathematics, plays a crucial role in the comprehension of the concepts of derivative and integral. In this study, first, the levels of prospective teachers regarding the limit and their misconceptions were determined, and their views on the content and methodology of the general mathematics course were asked. Various computer-generated visualizations were done for their deficiencies related to the limit in order to make the concepts such as limit on the right/left and infinite convergence more comprehensible, and students were instructed in a computer environment. As a result of the study, it was recommended that computer-generated visualization was helpful both in order to eliminate the misconceptions of prospective teachers and to teach the limit permanently and meaningfully. In the light of the findings of the study, it was also recommended that the content of the general mathematics course should be re-planned according to the needs of prospective physics teachers.

Keywords: prospective physics teachers, general mathematics course, visualization, limit and misconceptions.
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This study aims to examine the high school students’ reasons to protect the species, and whether these reasons are affected by grade level and gender. As a result of the study, it was determined that the students attach importance mostly to biospheric reasons. Aesthetic and economic reasons follow them respectively. Although the grade levels and genders of the students did not have an impact on their reasons to preserve the species individually, they were found to have a significant interaction effect. From the findings of the present study, it can be concluded that girls in the 11th and 12th grades attach more importance to biospheric reasons than the girls in the 9th and 10th grades. Moreover, girls in the 11th grade attach more importance to biospheric reasons than do the boys in the 11th grade. No significant difference according to gender and grade level was observed in terms of economic and aesthetic reasons.

Keywords: reasons to protect species, gender, grade level
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The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of scenario-based learning on scenario writing and comprehension skills of the pre-service teachers having different cognitive styles. The study was designed according to single group pretest-posttest experimental model. The study group consists of 52 students from the departments of pre-school teacher education and painting and arts teaching of the education faculty in Muğla University in 2008-2009 academic year. Two types of data collection tools were used in the present study. In order to determine the cognitive styles of the students (field-dependent/field-independent) The Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) was used and cognitive scenario texts about distance education were used to evaluate the cognitive scenario writing skills of the students. The findings of the study revealed that there is a significant difference between cognitive scenario generation skills and concept usage levels favoring the students having field-independent style.

Keywords: Cognitive style, cognitive scenario, concept usage
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Increasing globalization of the business world makes it essential for the companies to communicate with their customers to market and sell services or commodities. For the global market, as well as increasing demand and developing product diversity, now it is a must to develop communication strategies. Accordingly, the expectations are increased from the applicants in terms of the foreign language skills. In recent years, companies can reach job seekers through internships and career days, but still business ads in newspapers and online job postings are as powerful as they’ve used to be and especially today web sites are very effective in staff recruiting. In this study, the job advertisements that were posted between 04.10.2010 and 13.10.2010 on web site "kariyer.net", the Human Resources site which has the largest candidate database in Turkey, were evaluated. Top 15 sectors and 200 jobs in each sector, a total of 3000 adverts were examined in terms of the foreign language demand. As a result of the analysis, it is concluded that some sectors search candidates who know other foreign languages besides English.

Keywords: companies, multilingualism, English
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The purpose of this study; it is investigated whether teacher candidates’ views regarding the phonological awareness (PA) differ according to their universities, class-grades and gender, whether there is a correlation between teacher candidates’ views and avarege mean scores of academic achivement, ages. As a result, it was investigated whether teacher candidates’ views regarding PA differ according to their universities, class-grades and gender. Significance levels were determined as respectively p=.001, p=.037 and p=.000. Besides, female PA’s score was higher than male PA’s score . There was a low corelation between the views of teacher candidates regarding PA and avarege mean scores of academic achivement (r=0,14; p<.05). But however there was not a correlation between the views of teacher candidates regarding PA and ages.

Keywords: Phonological awareness, Hearing impaired program, Pre-service teacher
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Parents play a critical role in the literacy development of their children. The current case study explores the reading patterns that parents have with their children with hearing impairment. First, the home reading patterns of parents with their children were investigated. Then, the home reading patterns preferred by children were addressed along with the reasons of those preferences. The data were collected from 64 parents in a school called İÇEM (i.e. Education and Research Center for Hearing Impaired Children). The school in which this study was conducted is a unique school for Turkish children with hearing impairment. Data collection tools were a questionnaire and semi structured interviews. The results of the study revealed that parental involvement should be emphasized on a more formal level which can be achieved through various ways.

Keywords: Reading, family involvement, hearing impairment
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In this research, definement of primary school teachers’ opinions and expectations were purposed according to educational supervisors’ communication skills. The research group was formed from 3906 teachers that worked during 2009–2010 Academic Year in Yenimahalle, ANKARA. 357 teachers of this research group were chosen for “Sampling“. “The Scale of Supervisors Communication Skills“, which was developed by Özgözgü in 2008, was used for data collection. Arithmetic avarage, standard deviation, t–test were used for data analyzing. As a result of the research, the level of the teachers’ opinions on the educational supervisors’ communication skills, is leveled as “Sometimes” whereas the level of the teachers’ expectations is leveled as “Always” and a significant difference between the expectations and opinions of the teachers about the educational supervisors’ communication skills is seen.

Keywords: educational administration, educational supervision, supervision, communication, educational supervisor.
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The purpose of the research is to find out the difference of multiple intelligence theory assisted by cooperative learning method from traditional teaching method and show its effect on achievement. The practice study has been carried out at Vali Fahrettin Akkutlu Primary School in Çanakkale in the second term of 2005-2006 education periods. At this school, over 60 students educated in the 6th grade, 32 students in 6/A class have constituted of the experiment group whereas 28 students in 6/B class have constituted of the control group. At the end of the study, whereas the average of the pre-test scores of the students in the experiment group was 21.81 ± 3.30, their post-test average has been found as 32.00 ± 4.60. As for the control group, while average of pre-test scores was 21.78 ± 4.58, their post-test average has been found as 24.03 ± 4.58. Through the analysis of the averages of both groups’ post-test scores, it has been determined that this difference is significantly meaningful in the favour of experiment group at an advanced level (p<0.01). As for the averages of permanence test scores, it was 32.87 ± 4.47 for experiment group, whereas it was 24.82 ± 4.51 for the control group. After the statistical analysis, it has been concluded that this difference is also significantly meaningful in the favour of experiment group at an advanced level (p<0.01).

Keywords: Geography, Cooperative Learning, Theory of multiple intellegent, Statistic
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In this study, it was aimed to determine the effect of mobbing displayed towards teachers on their levels of stress, burnout, job satisfaction and life satisfaction. The target population of this study consists of primary school teachers working in Elazığ downtown in 2008–2009 fall semester. The questionnaires were administered to a sample of 300 teachers that were selected randomly from this population and 237 of the questionnaires were validated and taken into analysis. Using LISREL 8.51 version, a structural equation model was developed. According to this model; mobbing positively influences on stress and burnout and negatively influences on job and life satisfaction. Mobbing influences; on burnout through the partial mediation effect of stress, on job satisfaction through the partial mediation effect of stress and burnout, and finally on life satisfaction through the partial mediation effect of stress, burnout and job satisfaction.

Keywords: Mobbing, stress, burnout, job satisfaction, life satisfaction, structural equation modeling.
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Today’s societies strive toward not leaving any children behind in their educational systems. Efficacy of educational inputs and processes is of paramount importance in today’s education. Research studies can provide essential input in efforts toward attaining such efficacy. Thus, the purpose of this study was to test if high school students’ motivation and learning strategies scores differed significantly according to their gender, grade level, mother’s level of education and father’s level of education. Participants of the study were 318 volunteering high school students. Motivational and Learning Strategies Questionnaire and the Demographic Information Form were used for data collection. Data analysis was done with ANOVA and MANOVA procedures. Results showed that students’ scores on motivation factor differed only according to grade level. Their scores on learning strategies factor differed according to both gender and grade level. Results, limitations of the study and implications for educators and school counselors were discussed.

Keywords: Motivation, learning strategies, high school students, mathematics education.
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Pre-service biology teachers’ intentions to teach evolution and factors influential in their intentions are analysed in this research in terms of the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 2005), a socio-psychological theory. The research was conducted with 19 Turkish and 18 German pre-service biology teachers. For our purposes, semi-structured interview forms were used in interviews, and the results were analysed through the method of qualitative content analysis. It was consequently found that Turkish pre-service biology teachers’ intention was under the ifluence of their attitudes and of their perceived behavioral control, that their low levels of perceived behavioral control would make the teaching of evolution difficult, but that they would try to carry on teaching despite the difficulty. It was further found that German pre-service teachers’ intention of teaching evolution was shaped by their attitudes as well as subjective norms, that they mostly had the intention to teach the topic of evolution due to having subjective norms.

Keywords: Evolution teaching, theory of planned behavior, qualitative content analysis, pre-service biology teachers, cross-cultural study
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The aim of this study is to examine the effects of activities designed according to 5E model under the name of daily life chemistry on 9th grade students’ attitudes towards daily life chemistry, motivation for chemistry course and skills of relating basic chemistry knowledge regarding Chemical Changes Unit with their daily life. The principal application group of the research have been 145 students at Anatolian High School, High School and Vocational School. In conclusion, it has been found out that the activities designed according to 5E model of which subject is daily life chemistry have important contributions to 9th grade students’ skills of using basic chemistry knowledge regarding the topic in Chemical Changes Unit and relating them with their daily life. When chemistry course is correlated with daily life, it has been observed that there has been an increase in students’ attitude towards daily life chemistry and motivation for chemistry course. Other findings obtained from Achievement Test and Structured Grid has shown that daily life chemistry activities have enhanced the students’ success in Chemical Changes Unit.

Keywords: Daily life based learning, 5E model, motivation for chemistry course, attitude towards daily life chemistry.
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Symmetry as one of the key concepts has a significant place at almost every stage of education. Whether the concept of symmetry is undeveloped or wrongly developed, influences many learning experience such as the students’ acquiring mathematical concepts or solving routine/nonroutine problem. The line symmetry is a base for this issue. Thus, students’ experience about symmetry according to a line is important. In the current study, it is aimed at determining the elementary school 8th grade students’ knowledge about line symmetry. For this purpose, an open ended test with 11 questions was given to 147 students attending to four different schools in Eskisehir. Consequently, it was revealed that the students were successful at determining the vertical and horizontal line symmetry of the given shape in the case that the shape is not intersected with the symmetry line; however, in all other cases they made several conceptual mistakes.

Keywords: Mathematics education, line symmetry, primary school.
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Aim of this study is to determine the relationship between students’ learning styles and learning strategies in an online learning environment. Data regarding students’ learning styles were collected by using the Kolb Learning Styles Inventory. Data related to students’ learning strategies were gathered by using Learning Strategies Scale, developed by the researcher based on Weinstein and Mayer’s (1986) classification. Analyses of the survey data included both descriptive and inferential statistics including means, standard deviations, Independent sample t-Test, One Way ANOVA, eta correlation coefficient and reliability estimates for the whole sample. Findings of the research show that the use of learning strategies is not related to learning styles. Online learners use learning strategies at sufficient level.

Keywords: Online Learning, Distance Education, Learning Style, Learning Strategies
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The purpose of this research is to adapt Object - Spatial Imagery and Verbal Questionnaire (OSIVQ, Blazhenkova, Kozhevnikov, 2009) into Turkish which is theoretically based on Object - Spatial - Verbal Cognitive Style Model (Kozhevnikov, Kosslyn and Shepard, 2005). In this context linguistic equivalence, validity and reliability analysis were conducted. The research is implemented with 1st and 3rd grade 450 students from seven departments of various colleges of Hacettepe University. OSIVQ is a three dimensional questionnaire, consists of 45 items. Expert opinions were obtained for the content validity of the OSIVQ. Confirmatory Factor Analysis was used by trying the 3 models within the construct validity analysis. The most satisfactory goodness of fit indices was obtained by the “correlated three dimensional model”. Model has showed perfect fit after the modifications [χ 2 (853, n=450)= 2388.32, p<0.000, RMSEA=0.063, GFI= 0.80, CFI= 0.91, NNFI= 0.091]. Cronbach Alpha value .829 has been determined.

Keywords: Visual Cognitive Style Questionnaire, linguistic equivalence, validity, reliability
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This study aims at revealing the effect of candidate teachers’ emotional intelligence levels and personality traits on their way of coping with stress who make efforts to keep pace with the modifying values of life, preserve the basic values and who would play a dominant role in society . In the study, The Functions of Identity Scale is used to reveal 300 candidate teachers’ identity functions which is originally created by Serafini et al (2006) and Turkish version is done by Demir (2011); the modified version of Emotional Intelligence Scale is also used to determine the emotional intelligence levels which is modified by Austin et al (2004) and originally created by Schutte et al (1998) and translated to Turkish by Göçet (2006). The last scale used in this study is Inventory of Coping With Stress Attitudes which is originally created by Özbay (1993) and then adapted to Turkish by Özbay & Şahin (1997). At the end of this study, candidate teachers’ personality traits and emotional intelligence levels and their attitudes of coping with stress are analyzed and commented at all points.

Keywords: identity scale, emotional intelligence, attitudes of coping with stress, candidate teachers.
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The aim of the study is to indicate the effect of the dialect awareness training on the attitudes of the prospective Turkish teachers towards Anatolian dialects. To this end, the pretest - posttest control group design was used in this experimental study. The experimental group received dialect awareness training two hours a week during 14 weeks whereas the control group received no training. The “Anatolian dialects attitude scale (ADAS) with the parts: “the place and function of dialects in education”, “attitude towards dialect users”, “emotional value about dialect use” and “attitudes towards the status of dialects”.” was administered as a pretest and posttest. It was found out that there is a significant difference in favour of experimental group according to the results of the “Anatolian dialects attitude scale consisting of sub scales such as “the place and function of dialects in education”, “attitude towards dialect users”, “emotional value about dialect use” and “attitudes towards the status of dialects”.

Keywords: dialect awareness, language awareness, prospective teacher, language attitudes.
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The aim of this research is to determine school directors’ level of attitudes regarding multiculturalism. Descriptive survey model was used in this study and data were collected through multiculturalism attitude scale. The sample of this research is composed of 203 school principals assigned, for the first time, to public schools in Kocaeli for 2009-2010 academic year. According to the findings of research it was found that school principals generally have positive attitudes towards multiculturalism. Principals have more positive attitudes towards ‘care’ dimension of multiculturalism rather than its sub-dimensions ‘know’ and ‘act’. While gender and age did not make significant difference regarding principals’ attitudes towards multiculturalism, seniority made significant difference regarding multiculturalism. It was observed that as their seniority increased, their attitudes towards multiculturalism decreased. Another finding is that school principals are more interested in some components of multiculturalism and less interested in others. Providing in-service and sensitivity trainings of multiculturalism to school principals, regarding the points that they are less interested, will develop their skills to manage the differences in school.

Keywords: Multiculturalism, multicultural society, multicultural attitude, diversity management, school principal
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The main purpose of this study is to re-examine the reliability and the validity of the Quality of School Life Scale (QSLS) which was developed by Sari (2007). Totally 578 students from 4th - 7th grades in six elementary schools which are located in Adana central province participated to the study. Construct validity of the scale was studied by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Cronbach Alpha internal consistency coefficients were examined in reliability studies. As the results of these analyses, it has been found that the scale consists of five factors (Teachers, Students, Affects toward school, Administrator and Status) and 35 items with 46.92% of the total variance. Cronbach Alpha coefficients were calculated as 83, .80, .82, .77 and .69. Also results of confirmatory factor analysis show that the model fitness indicator indexes meet the statistical standards [χ2=2003.03 (sd=547, p<.001), (χ2/sd=3.66, RMSEA=0.068, NNFI = 0.94, CFI = 0.95 ve GFI=0.83].

Keywords: quality of school life, quality of school life scale, reliability, validity
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This study was conducted to compare the organizational culture in two TRNC schools by using influencing factors of metaphors, physical environment, values, norms, rituals, language, legends and reward systems. To obtain data, a triangulation of participant interviews, observations and written sources were used. Results appear to display that the youth are losing their ties to their national values whereas the State tries imbue students with the importance of national values through rituals and ceremonies at schools. While the organizational culture of both schools is becoming more progressive, according to the participants, younger generations may be in danger of losing some of intrinsic, traditional values since students might not consider them important anymore.

Keywords: Organisational culture, Cultural factors
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This study aims to determine the effects of Conceptual Change Texts assisted Dual Situated Learning Model on students’ achievement for the elimination of misconceptions related to the subject of melting and dissolving. Moreover, the present study also analyzes the effects of student scientific reasoning skills on their achievement. The population of this study was comprised of sixty four freshmen attending the Faculty of Education at Hacettepe University and taking the Basic Chemistry course. The Melting and Dissolving Concept Test (MDCT) and the Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning (SRT) were used as data collection tool within the scope of the study. At the end of the study, Conceptual Change Texts-Supported Dual Situated Learning Model were found to positively affect student achievement. In addition, scientific reasoning skills were recorded to have positive effects on student achievement in melting and dissolving subjects.

Keywords: conceptual change, conceptual change texts, dual situated learning model, scientific reasoning
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The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of brain-based learning approach on attitudes and achievements of teacher candidates in geography courses.The study was conducted with the participation of 131 freshmen studying at the Department of Primary School Teaching of Education Faculty at Rize University in 2008-2009 spring term. An attitude scale and self-evaluation were used as a means of data collection.In addition, open-ended questions were asked. T test and content analysis were employed in analyizing data. When the pre and post- test averages of attitude scale were compared, it was found that there was a significant difference statistically in favour of post- test (p>0.05). It was also found that using brain based learning approach in geography teaching had a positive effect on the students’ attitudes toward the course. In consequence of qualitative analysis, it was found that the most positive view of the students on the syllabus built in accordance with brain-based learning approach was that it was very entertaining. However, the most important of negative views was that it was very tiring. It was also among the findings that teacher candidates were affected by brain based learning approach.

Keywords: Geography education, brain based learning, teacher candidate
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This study examines the learning strategies, learning techniques and cognitive structures of university biology students as well as the learning strategies coming to the forefront in formation of the cognitive structure in the case of Protein and Cystic fibrosis. A qualitative research method is used in this study. Problem-centered interview and think-aloud process and concept map were used as data collection techniques. The study group consists of 32 biology students in the first stage and 5 persons chosen out of these students in the second stage. As a conclusion, study group was divided into types using advanced strategies, medium strategies and weak strategies according to cognitive learning strategies. It is observed that there is a strong interaction between types’ usage of learning strategies and the cognitive structure.

Keywords: Biology education, learning strategies, cognitive structure
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This case study attempted to investigate senior pre-service biology teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge, concerns, attitudes, and intensions related to teaching evolution in high school biology classes. Beside, their NOS understandings were explored. Data collected from seven senior pre-service biology teachers through individual semi-structured interviews. Participants although found to be fairly knowledgeable about students’ difficulties, and had general ideas about measurement and evaluation techniques and instructional strategies, were unaware of the place of evolution in biology curricula and lacked necessary knowledge related to evolution and nature of science. Moreover, they seemed to harbor some doubt about their PCK necessary to teach evolution effectively and shared several concerns regarding teaching of this topic in their future biology classes. This study has some important implications for pre-service teacher preparation

Keywords: Pre-service biology teachers, nature of science, evolution, pedagogical content knowledge, pedagogical content concerns.
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Teaching Turkish as a Foreign Language (TFL) has gained importance recently and several studies are carried out in this field. Especially, learners of linguistically different communities (Byelorussian/Russian) are observed to make errors while learning Turkish. If making errors is an integral outcome in learning a TFL, then to what extent is it true for Byelorussian learners to do errors while producing Turkish sentences? What are the specific areas Byelorussian learners do errors? What are the reasons for doing errors in Turkish? What are solutions to cope with linguistic problems while learning TFL? This study investigates the answers of these questions and makes suggestions for TFL learners.

Keywords: Yabancı dil olarak Türkçe öğretimi, farklı dil aileleri, yabancı öğrencilerin yaptıkları hatalar
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Advancements in science and technology launched a new age. The most important feature of this age which is called information age is the intense usage of information technologies and information production which became important rather than material products. All the societies have naturally entered into this process of transformation and change. Students should be conscious of the way they learn, have the skills of following their own learning, know their learning styles, know and select the strategies they can use while learning and learn how to use them in order to adapt themselves to this change. One of the most efficient ways of acquiring or making individuals acquire the skills of learning how to learn is to teach individuals how to use the learning strategies. The purpose of the present research is to determine whether learning strategies usage level of prospective teachers changes or not in terms of their gender, department of study, the time they spare for studying and their planning of studying.

Keywords: learning, learning strategies, teacher candidates.
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In the study, it was aimed to examine the effect of the designed generative multimedia learning environment on achievement, attitude and retention according to teacher candidates’ learning styles. The one group pretest-posttest design was used in the study. 31 teacher candidates, who were studying in Hacettepe University, Faculty of Education, and Department of Chemistry Education during 2010 – 2011 academic year’s fall term, were included in the study. Kolb Learning Styles’ Inventory, Achievement Test about Chemical Bonds and Chemistry Attitude Scale were used in the study as a data collection tool. It was found as a result of the study that multimedia learning environment applications caused a statistically significant increase in achievement and attitude scores of the chemistry teacher candidates and retention of learning. However, any statistically significant difference was not observed in the teacher candidates’ achievement, attitude and retention according to their learning styles.

Keywords: learning styles, generative multimedia learning environment, achievement, retention, attitude
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Communication is undoubtedly the foundation of civilisation. High technology products, specifically the fast expanding and developing computers and the Internet, occupy considerably a great place in training and foreign language education as they do in all spheres of life. Both the CDs and the DVDs marketed continuously as well as the many web sites and blogs are quite challenging in this respect as they are in other areas. This fact brings into mind the question whether “machines” can take the place of teachers in education, especially in teaching foreign languages. We review this topic with various aspects and identify the pros and cons of the machines and the place of teachers in training and education. As a conclusion, we point that irrespective of the level of development of any tool of technology, the teachers cannot be replaced in this regard.

Keywords: teacher, student, ICT, learning, education.
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The aim of this study is to determine the lifelong learning tendencies of university students and find out whether these tendencies change in terms of university, class level and gender. This study employed survey method and the study group is composed of 1st and 4th grade students studying in different faculties of Marmara University and Yeditepe University (n: 1545). The research data is obtained from the “Lifelong Learning Tendency Scale”. According to the explanatory factor analysis results, the scale contains four sub-dimensions as motivation, perseverance, lack of self regulation, and lack of curiosity. The Cronbach alpha internal consistency coefficient of the scale containing 27 items is calculated as .89. In the results, the average score students gained from “Lifelong Learning Tendency Scale” is found to be lower than the scale medium score, so it is concluded that the lifelong learning tendencies of university students were low. According to the findings, lifelong learning tendencies of the university students differ significantly in terms of university, class level and gender.

Keywords: Lifelong learning, motivation, curiosity, self-regulation, persistence, higher education
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