The different grade students’ problem solving process takes an important place in the primary school mathematics curriculum mathematics is getting abstract in the second level of primary school. So it is important to examine the different problem solving strategies of students in through transition from arithmetic to algebra according to the new primary school mathematics curriculum in Turkey. So the aim of this study is to investigate the development and the change of problem solving processes on transition process from arithmetic to algebra about 5-8 grade students. The study is conducted by development research methodology at a primary school in Trabzon with the participation of 24 students. The data gathering tools are problems in arithmetic-verbal and algebraic-iconic forms which are developed by the literature support. The data gathered from students are analyzed through the characterization tables which includes arithmetic, pre-algebraic and algebraic characteristics. As a result, by the increase of the students’ grades their solutions changed and improved from arithmetic to algebraic, but this change was very little. As well as the different grade students generally used arithmetic solutions for given two problems, only a few students used algebraic and pre-algebraic solutions.

Keywords: transition from arithmetic to algebra, problem solving, strategies, 5-8.grade
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As in all academic programs, in foreign language teaching, program contructing elements like objective determination, syllabus design, material development, measurement and evaluation have great importance. As well as these items, there is another factor that must be considered specifically. It is course process. In the course process, students’ and the teacher’s roles are determined; activities, tasks and techniques are created; integrated skills are presented. In this study, a detailed scale is developed on this issue and it has been given to 21 English teaching staff in a higher education institution. In this research, by dealing with a course process of an English for a Specific Purposes program, the special features of a foreign language course process are revealed.

Keywords: English for Specific Purposes, Course Process, Syllabus
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This study was prepared to evaluate the effect of biology teachers’ classroom management profiles on the biology course motivation level of the high school students. Descriptive scanning method was used in the study. 3142 students and 110 biology teachers participated as a study group. The data were collected with “Biology Course Motivation Survey” and “Classroom Management Profile Inventory”. In this study, the reliability coefficient of Cronbach-Alpha was found as 0, 89 and it was found 0, 68 for classroom management profile inventory. To evaluate data, descriptive statistics, independent groups t-test, multi factor analysis of variance, Bonferroni multiple-comparison test, Pearson Correlation coefficient and general linear regression analysis were used. At the end of the study, the motivation level of the students was found “medium” and it is determined that biology teachers prefer using highly authoritative teacher profile. The motivation of the students, whose teachers have indifferent classroom management profile, was found the highest. On the other hand, there is a high and linear relation for students between biology course motivation points and inner motivation, interest for learning biology, responsibility for learning biology, reliability dimensions for learning biology. In addition to that, it was understood that the classroom management profiles of the biology teachers are not meaningful predictors of biology course general motivation level for students.

Keywords: Biology teaching, motivation, classroom management profile, biology teacher and classroom management profile of biology teacher.
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The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of active learning applications on eight grade students’ self direct learning skills. Experimental design was used in the study. The study was implemented in a public primary school in Buca, İzmir in spring semester of 2008-2009. 64 students participated in the student study group in all, consisting 30 students in the experimental group and 34 students in the control group. The study lasted 10 weeks. The lessons were performed according to active learning applications in the experimental group, whereas in the control group the lessons were performed based on the 2005 Science and Technology curriculum. In the study, self direct learning scale was used as means of data collection. Covariance analysis techniques was used to analyze data. According to the students’ pretest and posttest scores obtained from the self direct learning scale, there was a significant difference between the experimental group and the control group in the favor of the experimental group.

Keywords: Active Learning, Self Direct Learning, Science and Technology Course
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This study aims to evaluate primary school Life Sciences (1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades) and Social Sciences (4th, 5th, and 6th grades) course books in terms of gender discrimination. This study is a descriptive study aiming to evaluate the primary school Life Sciences (1st, 2nd, 3rd grades) and Social Sciences (4th, 5th, and 6th grades) course books recommended by the Ministry of National Education in terms of the indicators of gender discrimination in photographs, pictures and texts in the course books. For evaluation, content analysis was used .In light of the findings of the study, it can be claimed that the Life Sciences and Social Sciences course books are not prepared with sensitivities towards gender discrimination and there are many indicators of gender discrimination in the photographs, pictures and texts in the books. The findings show that more male pictures than female pictures are included in the books and the women are usually depicted while doing house chores or cooking, they are also presented while doing activities such as doing handy crafts or painting pictures. The women are mostly shown in some certain professions such as doctors, teachers, or nurses. On the other hand, men are presented in more various professions such as doctor, engineer, fire fighter, civil servants, soldier, and police officers. In the course books, scientists are chosen among the men and while pioneers in fields such as art, politics, sports etc. are presented, usually males are preferred and managerial positions are mostly occupied by men.

Keywords: Societal sexuality, course books, sex discrimination
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The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of case studies on Primary School Teaching students’ attitudes toward chemistry lesson. The study was conducted on 63 freshmen from Department of Primary School Teaching at a university in Turkey. The students were taught using case studies about the subjects of Properties and States of Matter, Elements and Compounds, Solutions and Mixtures, Physical and Chemical Changes, Chemical Reactions, Acids and Bases, Solubility and Precipitation. In the study, one group pre-test and post-test experimental design was used. As the tool of supplying data, Attitude toward Chemistry Lesson Scale was applied to determine students’ pre and post attitudes. The results of analyzing the scale showed that chemistry education based on case studies caused significantly positive attitudes toward chemistry lesson.

Keywords: case study method, chemistry lesson, attitude, primary school teaching students
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The main goal of this research is to determine the level of learning organization specifications presented on primary schools by means of participants that present all schools in Kağıthane district. The study revealed that the primary school principals have “usually” level perception in terms of each learning organization discipline. Besides, it was observed that the perception of female school principals is higher than male ones in terms of shared vision discipline; the perception of school principals aged between 20-35 is lower than the older ones in terns of system thinking discipline; the perception of assistant school principals is lower than school principals in terms of system thinking discipline; the perception of school principals having taken course on management is higher than other ones in terms of all five learning organization disciplines; the perception of school principals having participated in team working is higher than other ones in terms of personal mastery and team learning disciplines.

Keywords: learning organization, learning school, organizational learning, fifth discipline, principal’s perception.
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The aim of this study is to examine the students’ level of conceptual and procedural understanding for circle and disc among elementary pre-service teachers. An instrument is used to measure conceptual and procedural knowledge on circle and disc on sample of 158 participants. Independent t- test, MANOVA test and descriptive statistics were used to analyze data. The results show that students have significantly more success on questions about procedural knowledge than about conceptual knowledge. However, this success is insufficient for both procedural and mostly conceptual knowledge considering the mid-point of the range. Finally, senior students’ total achievement is significantly better than freshmen’s. Descriptive analysis of conceptual knowledge questions suggests that the students either misunderstood basic concepts, their relations, the meaning and development of formulas, or don’t conceptualize at all. However, they are incompetent to abstract, generalize, or transfer the knowledge to other domains, as well as solve problems with squared numbers or algebraic expressions.

Keywords: pre-service teachers, conceptual knowledge, procedural knowledge, circle and disc.
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In this study primary students at 5th grades are subjected computer addiction tendencies. The study group consists of 121 students attending a private school which is stated in K.K.T.C. The Scale of Computer Addiction Tendencies and information form have been used. The findings showed that 5th graders’ computer addiction tendencies were not at an alarming level. According to the results of the study, no difference existed between groups in comparisons made concerning gender and having computer in own bedroom. On the other hand, concerning the time spent using a computer, a meaningful difference existed between those who used it for an hour and those who used it for 2 or 3 hours.

Keywords: computer addiction, internet addiction, primary students
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This study aims to find whether there is any significant difference among the variables such as students’ social anxiety, gender, academic achievement, family income and educational level of parents. Target study group is composed of 2008-2009 fall semester Eastern Mediterranean University students (n=300). In order to find the level of social anxiety, Palanci and Ozbay (2001) “Social Anxiety Scale” was used. Research findings were analyzed through descriptive statistics and multivariate variance analyze (MANOVA) was used. When the findings of research are analyzed it is found out that there is significant difference between student social anxiety, academic achievement and age. For family income variance, it is found out that there is a significant difference between the subscale of social avoidance and concern about being criticize subscale. For mother's education level, statistically significant difference was found in terms of social avoidance subscale, concern about being criticize subscale and sense of worthlessness subscale. There isn’t any statistically significant difference for father’s education

Keywords: Social Anxiety, Social Avoidance, Anxiety of being Criticized, Sensation of Worthlessness and Academic Achievement.
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The aim of this study was to identify the reflections of performance-based assessment on science process skills, attitudes and retention variables. Study was conducted in Ankara Beytepe Primary School with three seventh grade (one experimental and two control groups) totally 105 students. Science Process Skills Test (SPST) which was developed by Önal (2005) and Attitude towards Science Scale (ATSS) which was taken from literature was used as measurement tools. Performance activities were taken to students and rubrics were developed during the process. After this, SPST and ATSS were applied again to the students for identifying if there was a difference between the groups. Retention test was applied to groups to look for if science process skills were permanent. Research was pre-test post-test control group experimental design. Data were analyzed by t-test and repeated measures of ANOVA. There was a statistical significant difference of variables was found in favor of experimental group.

Keywords: Science and Technology Education, Science Process Skills, Performance Based Assessment, Rubrics (Graded Scoring Keys)
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The aim of this study is to determine the language learning strategies used by university students and to present whether their use of learning strategies create any difference in terms of gender and academic achievement. This survey has been conducted among 702 university students at Erciyes University, School of Foreign Languages. Strategy Inventory of Language Learning (SILL), developed by Oxford (1990) and adapted into Turkish by Demirel (2009), has been used as the data collection tool. The construct validity of the scale has been checked through confirmatory factor analysis and it is found to have six sub-dimensions (memory, cognitive, compensation, metacognitive, affective and social strategies). The internal coefficient of consistence is .92. According to the findings attained in this survey, the university students have an average level of language learning strategies and they mostly use compensation and they merely use memory strategies. When compared to the male, the female use language learning strategies more and as the level of the use of language strategies increase, the achievements of the students increase as well.

Keywords: Learning strategies, language learning strategies, undergraduate students
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In this study, it was aimed to adapt “How I Learn Inventory” into Turkish. The validity of the structure and the concurrent, the internal-consistency and the reliability of test-repeated test were investigated in this study. As a result of investigating the language equivalence, it was found that there was a positive relationship between English and Turkish version of inventory. In order to analyse structure validity of the inventory, principal components analysis, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were used and items were grouped into four dimension. In the first and fourth groups there were seven items whereas in the second and third groups there were six items. In addition to this, in order to concurrent validity the inventory, Kolb Learning Style Inventory was used. For the reliability of the inventory, test-repeated test and Cronbach alpha internal consistency rates were used. The reliability is satisfactory.

Keywords: Learning style, validity and reliabilitiy, “How I Learn Inventory”
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In this study it is aimed to develop a self-efficacy perception scale for Turkish lessons. Scale items were determined by reviewing the literature, then lecturers, teachers and experts were consulted and the scale was made up of 48 items. The scale was implemented on 150 second grade primary students for reliability and validity studies. Necessary analyses (Cronbach Alfa, Split-Half, Factor Analyses (Varimax), Pearson Moments Multiplication Correlation) required for reliability and validity in the study were made. At the end of the item analysis, 8 items were removed from the scale. It was found out that the scale consisted of 5 factors at the end of the factor analyses, and Cronbach Alfa coefficient was found ,89 at the end of the reliability analyses. According to these results, it can be said that the scale is valid and reliable.

Keywords: Turkish lessons, self-efficacy perception, reliability and validity study.
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The academic self-efficacy is defined as people's beliefs about their capabilities to produce designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events that affect their lives. The main aim of this research is to do a study under the circumstances of Turkey about the validity and reliability of the academic self-efficacy scale prepared by Owen & Froman (1988). The translation of the scale to Turkish was done by language specialists. After that it was evaluated by specialists in terms of relevance to Turkish, content and measurement-evaluation. The scale, on which some arrangements were made, was applied to 683 university students to determine the validity and reliability. The findings related to the structure validity of the scale were provided with factor analysis method. The scale is formed by the three sub- dimension named as social status, cognitive applications and technical skills. The scale includes 33 items. Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient for the general of the scale was found as 0, 86; it is found as 0, 88 for social status dimension; it is 0, 82 for cognitive applications dimension and it 0, 90 for technical skills dimension. The results prove that the scale can be used in the circumstances of Turkey.

Keywords: self-efficacy, academic self-efficacy, scale adaptation, validity and reliability
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The purpose of this research is to examine the moderating effects of psychological hardiness and self-monitoring on the linkage between organizational politics and teacher burnout. Totally 1344 teachers from 112 high schools chosen by random method in Ankara, Istanbul, Adana, Antalya, Samsun, Kahramanmaras, Adiyaman and Gaziantep in 2010-2011 spring semester, constitute sample of the research. Organizational politics were measured using the Perception of Organizational Politics (POP). Maslach Burnout Inventory, the Personal Views Survey III-R and Self-Monitoring Scale (SMS) were used to assess teacher burnout, psychological hardiness and self-monitoring respectively. In the study, the hypotheses were tested by using moderated hierarchical regression. The results of the study reveal that organizational politics is positively related to teacher burnout within high schools. Furthermore, self-monitoring strengthened the positive relationship between organizational politics and teacher burnout and psychological hardiness weakened that relationship.

Keywords: Organizational politics, Psychological hardiness, Self-monitoring, Employee burnout
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The change in students’ problem solving ability in upper-level course through the application of a technological interactive environment-Tablet PC running InkSurvey- was investigated in present study. Tablet PC/InkSurvey interactive technology allowing the instructor to receive real-time formative assessment as the class works through the problem solving strategies was used to improve students` problem solving skills. The method was evaluated by developed problem solving strategies survey as well as quizzes after each chapter of eleven chapters for Advanced Electricity and Magnetism course. Results indicated that the students were used to apply problem solving strategies frequently by the end of the semester.

Keywords: InkSurvey; problem solving strategy steps; tablet pc
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In this study, the effect of the origami technique in the teaching of nucleic acids with which students have trouble understanding, has been investigated. While the topic was explained to the control group of 40 students with a traditional teacher-centered teaching method according to a previously prepared lesson plan created in terms of the curriculum, it was explained to the 40 students in the experimental group in an identical manner and then followed by creating models of the nucleic acids using the origami technique. In this study, in order to determine the knowledge levels of the teacher, candidates success test was applied to both groups as a pre-test and post-test. The data were analysed using SPSS 15.00 packet program. In the analysis of the data, Mann Whitney U and the Wilcoxon significance rank order tests were carried out. Another aim of this study was to determine the topic misconceptions held by the students by asking for 4 drawings and 5 classical explanation questions to the two groups both before and after the explanation of the topic. According to results, due to the use of the models with origami, the students in the experimental group had a higher increase in their levels of success, answered the classical explanation questions better and produce better drawings and also decreased their topic misconceptions to a level lower than that of the control group.

Keywords: Nucleic acid (DNA, RNA), origami, model creation, teaching.
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The aim of this study is to determine the effect of rubrics on the research skills and cognitive achievement of students in science and technology classes. In the study, static group comparison design and the nonequivalent control group design were used. The study was conducted in a secondary school in the Cankaya neighborhood of Ankara, with a total of 199 students, studying in the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades in the 2010-2011 academic year. A rubric and an achievement test were developed as data gathering tools. During a four-week period, the experiment and control groups were given performance tasks in the form of researching activities. While the experiment group was given a rubric, the control group was not. In the study, in order to measure the students’ cognitive domain levels, a pre-test and a post-test were applied. As a result of the study, it was determined that the research skills and cognitive area levels of students who use rubrics are higher than those who do not.

Keywords: Rubric, research skills, cognitive domain, achievement test.
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This paper aims at investigating the kinds of strategies deployed by advanced EFL learners at English Language Teaching Department to learn or improve English pronunciation and revealing whether there are any significant differences between the strategies of successful pronunciation learners and those of unsuccessful pronunciation learners. After reviewing the studies done on pronunciation learning strategies, it defines the concept of a pronunciation learning strategy, presents how several researchers identify pronunciation learning strategies, and displays the results of a research study.

Keywords: EFL learners, pronunciation learning, pronunciation learning strategies
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The Common European Framework of Reference published by the Council of Europe and commonly accepted in our country as well is an initiative to standardise the learning-teaching-education of foreign languages through certain criteria. In relation to free movement, it can be considered as an estimable regulation in the learning-teaching-education of foreign languages in the European Union countries where no common criteria have been used before. From another point of view, it is an efficient and comprehensive application in this field. However, it has been criticised by the scientists working in this area and some of its suggestions and applications have been unconfirmed. This study, taking into consideration the criticism in question, aims to evaluate The Common European Framework of Reference in terms of Turkey and its educational conditions. The language level B2 in the study under discussion have been studied in details and discussed whether it is applicable and accessible in our country in order to form a useful and realistic approach in the nation-wide application of the the work whose target is to present new developments, motivations and ideas by bringing new criteria to the learning-teaching-education of foreign languages. The studie examines the criterias for level B2 according to the CEF. Therefor the students have been asked how the objectives have been achieved through the mutual in-depth interviews. The Students was observed and the results compared with their success on skill based tests.

Keywords: Common European Framework, foreign language teaching-learning-education, language level B2.
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The primary purpose of this research is to compare and evaluate the effectiveness of observed score methods -Mantel-Haenszel, logistic regression- and latent score methods –IRT-LR, SIBTEST- which used to determine DIF under variety conditions. These methods were compared by simulation study. Sample sizes, ability distribution, proportion of items with DIF were considered for data simulation conditions. Results of this research revealed that latent score methods were more sensitive and effective in determining items with DIF rather than observed score methods. Latent score methods were more liberal and observed score methods were more conservative in identifying items with DIF. As a result, MH, SIBTEST and IRT-LR methods present consistent result in determining uniform DIF in all conditions. Furthermore, consistent results were found in identifying non-uniform DIF with LR, SIBTEST and IRT-LR methods.

Keywords: Differential item functioning, Mantel-Haenszel, logistic regression, SIBTEST, likelihood ratio.
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The purpose of this research is to analyze the general qualities of supervisory applications and the application of supervisory behavioral characteristics in comparison with a decade ago according to the opinions of the Primary School Teachers (N=2553), Supervisors (N=600), Provincial (N=54) and Sub-Provincial (N=538) Directors of National Education, Youth and Sports. As a data gathering mean the questionnaire developed by Karagozoglu (1977) and consisted of four parts was used. Arithmetic mean, standart deviation and t-test were used for analysing the data. As a result of the research, with comparison to a decade ago, there weren’t any significant differences in the opinions of the officers in favour of supervisors and applications.

Keywords: educational supervision, behavioral characteristics, supervisor, supervisory applications
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Biology teachers’ intention to teach evolution as well as factors influential in their intention are studied in this research through semi-structured interviews with 25 Turkish and 12 German biology teachers. The interview forms were designed based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour developed by Ajzen (2005) so as to account for behaviours. The data were analysed through the method of qualitative content anaysis. Consequently, it was found that Turkish and German biology teachers’ intentions and factors affecting their intentions varied, which thought to have stemmed from their societies’ cultural and religious values. It was also found that 20 of the Turkish teachers and all of the German ones had positive attitudes towards the teaching of evolution, and that they had intention to teach the topic. The remaining 5 of the Turkish teachers did not intend to teach the topic. While 18 Turkish teachers thought that society in general did not wish the topic to be taught, German teachers stated that it was a mission to teach the topic which they were charged with. All of the German teachers had highly perceived behavioural control whereas 3 of the Turkish teachers pointed out that the current circumstances were not appropriate for the teaching of the topic.

Keywords: evolution teaching, theory of planned behavior, qualitative content analysis, biology teachers, cross-cultural study
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The purpose of this study is to develop an attitude scale towards daily life chemistry for secondary school students. The pilot study carried out with the participation of 426 secondary school students. The process of developing the Daily Life Chemistry Attitude Scale consists of a literature review, creating an item pool, taking expert opinions and a pilot study. The Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient of the scale was calculated to be .88 and the conclusions of the factor analysis supported the structure with 5 subdimensions. In other words, the final version of the scale was found to be reliable and valid in terms of determining the attitudes of secondary school students towards daily life chemistry.

Keywords: The daily life chemistry attitude scale, factor analysis, attitude.
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This study examined the applicability of mastery learning model in music education in line with the implementation principals. Essentials of mastery learning model and implementation requirements were applied on the subject selected within the curriculum. In the study that was conducted with the 10th grade students of Anatolian Teachers’ High School, “Major and Minor Scales” were selected as subject for students to study. The subjects were taught through mastery learning model and a higher level of learning was achieved in the experiment group as the study included two separate groups as the Experiment Group and the Control Group. The selected subject was taught through conventional learning methods in the control group. The study with the experiment group included activities such as pre-test, elimination of shortcomings, a hands-on study, feedback and post-test after the correction. Scores of students were comparatively assessed in the outcome of the study. The data obtained have suggested that the mastery learning practice is more successful than the classical learning practice.

Keywords: mastery learning model, music teaching, major scale, minor scale.
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Concept of matter is a concept that children have experienced frequently in daily life and tried to understand. Students’ conception of matter were searched at different contexts, because it affects students’ understanding of many concepts related to matter (Nakhleh, 1992). In this study, semi-structured clinical interviews were conducted with fifteen eigth graders. Interview questions were taken from Nakhleh, Samarapungavan, Sağlam and Duru’s (2006) study. Data were coded according to the coding scheme given in Nakhleh & Samarapungavan (1999) study. Results of the study showed that students were mostly at micro-level while they were describing the matter. Most of them could provide micro-level explanations while explaining melting process. But, most of them were proposed macro-level explanations for the dissolution process. Most of them were at micro-level while explaining the fluidity of water and distribution of gas while tooth-stick conserving its shape. When the results of this study were compared to Nakhleh, Samarapungavan, and Sağlam (2005) and Nakhleh et al. (2006) study, it could be said that students participating this study and Izmir study proposed more micro-level questions at most of the questions than the American students participated to Nakhleh, et al. (2005) study. On the other hand, American students’ explanations were varied more than the explanations of Turkish students.

Keywords: conception of matter, micro and macro level properties, phase change, dissolution
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This study, aiming to determine the relationship between pre-service teachers’ beliefs about education and their attitudes towards utilizing computers and internet, is a descriptive study in scanning model. The sampling of the study consisted of 270 pre-service teachers. The potential relationship between the beliefs of pre-service teachers about education and their attitudes towards using computers and internet was analyzed and the results were evaluated. The study concluded that there are positive significant relationships between pre-service teachers’ beliefs about education and their attitudes towards using internet and computers. It was found that there are positive significant relations also between the progressivism, reconstructionism and existentialism sub-dimensions of the scale of beliefs about education and their attitudes towards computers. Additionally, the attitudes of pre-service teachers towards using internet and the progressivism, reconstructionism and existentialism sub-dimensions of the scale of beliefs about education were found to have positive significant relationships.

Keywords: educational beliefs, internet utilization, computer utilization.
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In this study, biology teachers’ opinions about 9th grade Biology Textbook, published by Ministry of Education in 2007 were determined in terms of its their general, didactic and physical features, and were made comparisons based on some variables (education level, type of school). In the study, 93 items of questionnaire for biology textbook`s general, didactic and physical features was used 5 scale likert type. According to the results of the research the biology teachers took part in the survey generally presented positive opinions on the items of the questionnaire. There were no significant differences on teachers’ opinions about general, didactic and physical features of 9th grade Biology Textbooks according to their educational level and the kinds of schools they work.

Keywords: Biology Textbook, Biology Teachers`s View, Textbook analysis
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The study tries to determine the environmentalism of university students based on their attitudes towards the environment. The present study was carried out among 220 senior students studying in various departments in 2007-2008 academic year. The data were collected through an “Environmental Ethics” scale developed by the researcher and were analyzed through proper statistics from SPSS program package. In light of the findings, it can be argued that the participants mostly exhibit a “mild” environmentalism tendency that pays attention to both the instrumental and intrinsic values of non-human entities.

Keywords: environmentalism, environmental ethics, attitude, environmental education
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This paper studies the relationship between competitiveness and higher education systems in Europe. It explores whether more competitive countries have developed more labour-market-oriented systems of higher education (HE) that thereby give their graduates greater short term employability potential. Based on and a large-scale survey among 45.000 higher education graduates five years after graduation in 19 European countries, five employability indicators are identified and analysed in combination with World Economic Forum Indicators. The paper finds evidence demonstrating that more competitive countries have developed HE systems with more practically oriented studies and a higher workload. The paper identifies five country clusters indicating a combination of country competitiveness and other characteristics of HE systems. This is the first empirical study to examine relation between ‘soft’ dimensions of higher systems and competitiveness on country comparative basis.

Keywords: competitiveness, employability, higher education, labour market
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The aim of this study is to investigate how university students provide the connection between the visual and analytic thinking strategies during the problem solving process in integral, and to examine the changes the teaching experiment creates in their visual preferences, which is realized in order to enable them to use the visual strategy more effectively and by relating it to the analytical process. In this study teaching experiment which is a qualitative research method was used and the participants of the study are six preservice mathematics teachers. The visual preferences of the participants were identified with Mathematical Processing Instrument. The teaching experiment was designed with six nonvisual participants during the four weeks time period. Before and after the teaching experiment, clinical interviews were conducted to identify the change of visual preference of participants. As a result of the study, different reasons for the preference of participants’ analytical strategies over visual ones were identified. Some of these reasons for this preference are that analytical methods are more commonly used methods at problem solving than visual methods and lecturer gives emphasis mostly on analytical strategies. Consequently, analytical features of some mathematical concepts are better known than the visual features of these concepts by the participants. The teaching experiment was observed to result in different preference changes in participants. This difference among the participants can be partially explained by the difference of their mathematical beliefs gained through previous learning experiences.

Keywords: integral, visual strategies, analytic strategies, mathematics education
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The aim of this study is to determine the attitudes of prospective biology teachers towards mathematics, and to see whether they need a mathematics course, which is not included in their curriculum at present. To this end, a “Attitudes towards Mathematics Scale” and “Student Information Form” was applied to students. With the scale, the attitude towards mathematics was examined under seven sub-dimensions, and in the information form, students were asked whether they need a mathematics course and the reasons for this need. As a result of the findings, as far as attitude towards mathematics in relation to gender was concerned, it was seen that there is a meaningful difference in favor of female students in the “interest, love, pleasure” sub-dimensions, and no such difference in the “confidence, fear, profession and importance” sub-dimension. In terms of class levels, meaningful differences were obtained both towards mathematics and towards its sub-dimensions, and it was determined that the differences are in favor of fifth-year students in all sub-dimensions. Another result was that there is a meaningful difference in favor of those who answered the question “Should there be a mathematics course in your curriculum?” as “yes.” As a result of the examination of the views of students in the information form, it was concluded that a great many of students want a mathematics course in the curriculum.

Keywords: Attitude towards Mathematics, Curriculum, Prospective Biology Teacher.
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The purpose of this study was to find out the value systems of primary school teachers. Stratified random sampling was used to choose the sample of the study. 902 primary school teachers from 50 different schools (44 state, 6 private schools) located in İzmir participated in the study. The data was collected with “Portrait Values Scale”. Means, standard deviation, t-test, One-way ANOVA, and LSD significance tests were used to analyze the data. The results were as follows: Gender of the teachers indicated a significant difference in “Achievement”, “Hedonism”, “Universalism”, “Tradition”, and “Security” value dimensions. Age was an important effect in “Achievement”, “Stimulation”, and “Conformity” value dimensions. The teaching fields of teachers caused a significant difference in “Hedonism” and “Tradition” value dimensions. Teachers from private and state schools differ from each other in their perceiving “Stimulation”, “Benevolence”, and “Conformity” value types.

Keywords: teachers, values systems, Schwartz Value Theory
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The aim of the study is to find out if the academic achievements of students differ in regular and summer courses and reveal the perceptions of them on intensive courses. A study was undertaken to determine the effectiveness of a 7 week summer course versus 14 weeks regular course, and to gather student opinions about summer course in 2007–2008 term. A type of post-test equivalent group design was used in this research for performance comparison, and a survey was used to gather student’s opinions. Results indicated that regular courses are more effective than summer course. Hence, students thought that they would like summer courses in the other semesters since they felt better themselves and would pass their courses earlier.

Keywords: summer term (semester), regular term, intensified term, student achievement
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The purpose of the study is to take into consideration of the use of cultural items in the Turkish language Teaching books titled YENİ HİTİT, the mostly common used ones in the field. In order to reach the data, all the texts in these books are analyzed and the results show that the cultural items are not distributed equally throughout the units in the books.

Keywords: Turkish, communication, television, programs, commercials.
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The main purpose of this study was to determine the reliability and validity of Sentence Verification Technique (SVT) by using texts that were at the sixth, seventh and eighth grade levels and examine how SVT measured seventh grade students’ reading and listening levels. One hundred-eighty-five seventh-grade students randomly selected from three different middle-income schools in the city of Ankara participated in the research. Listening and reading SVT tests were conducted in randomly selected two classrooms. The pilot study of this research showed that SVT was a reliable method to measure Turkish students’ reading and listening skills. Cloze tests results were also used to determine the readability levels of texts. Cloze and SVT tests showed similar results and SVT tests successfully discriminated seventh and eighth grade texts. These results showed that SVT was a valid measure of listening and reading skills of Turkish students.

Keywords: sentence verification technique, reading, listening, comprehension.
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The purpose of this study is to find out whether the faculty members’ appreciation level to evaluation of the teaching by the students differ significantly according to the gender, academic title, teaching experience of the faculty members, and student ratings of faculty members’ teaching activities. The data were collected by the scale including 10 items from 62 faculty members. Causal relationship model was administered in the study. The data was analyzed by using the Mann Withney U, Kruskal Wallis H and bivariate correlation tests. Results indicate that the most of the faculty members appreciate to evaluation of the teaching by the students. The faculty members’ reactions about this issue do not differentiate regarding the genders, academic titles and teaching experiences of them. Besides, there is positive, significant and low relationship between the faculty members’ appreciation level to evaluation of the teaching by the students and student ratings on their teaching.

Keywords: student evaluations, student feedback, evaluations of teaching, higher education
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Scamper technique is a user-friendly and entertaining brain storming technique, which can be use to develop the creativity and creative thinking skills of students. This study examines the opinions of parents regarding the use of SCAMPER technique in creating the awareness of Atatürk in second grade students in primary school. Aiming to determine the opinions of parents, this study used case study method from qualitative research techniques. The study included seven classroom teachers, 187 students and 98 parents of students. Descriptive analyses were made examining the opinions of teachers. The study found that the opinions of parents had two dimensions as cognitive and affective; and the results from the examinations of parents’ views indicated that they had positive opinions regarding the use of SCAMPER technique in creating the awareness of Atatürk in students.

Keywords: Creative thinking, scamper (directed brain storming technique), research skills
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The purpose of study is to evaluate the teacher supervision practices in terms of constructivist learning paradigm principles in the primary schools based on the opinions of the supervisors and the teachers. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were used in the study. As quantitative method, the scale which was developed by the researcher and as qualitative method the focus group interview and document analysis techniques were used. Parametric and non-parametric analysis techniques were used in the analysis of quantitative data. The sample of the study is consisted of 367 teachers and 42 primary education supervisors so as to collect quantitative data and 12 teachers and 12 primary education supervisors for qualitative data, all of which work in Şanlıurfa city central district. Content analysis was applied to the qualitative data. According to supervisors’ opinions, the primary education supervisors usually observe five dimensions of teacher supervision in terms of constructivist learning paradigm principles on the supervision of teachers. On the other hand according to teachers’ opinions, the primary education supervisors usually observe these dimensions; the activities related to the teacher’s administrative tasks, the activities of planning the instruction and organizing the learning environment, the activities of encouraging the learning. However, they sometimes observe these dimensions; the activities of skill development and evaluation, the activities of improving the thinking. The results show that there are some problems in supervision processes, supervisory duties and supervision laws and regulations in teacher supervision.

Keywords: Primary education curriculum, teacher supervision, constructivist supervision.
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There has been a growing body of research on the identification of particular characteristics or factors that can be used to predict learners’ success in online learning environments. However, there still exists much uncertainty about the conditions that are essential to create a successful online venture for both learners and educators. The purpose of the study is to investigate the factors that support online learners’ success from the online graduates’ perspective without constraining it to one or two constructs. The study included 40 participants who graduated from Online Information Technologies Certificate Program in 2009. The qualitative methods were used to analyze the data. The findings were categorized under four main factors: demographic and personal characteristics, studying strategies, motivation and interaction. The results of the study might be worthy of consideration for future research studies and other online learning institutions who knows little about how to assist learners to be successful.

Keywords: online learning environments, online achievement, online success factors
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