Prospective English teachers’ views on the physical environment, human resources, and program of their departments

The quality of teacher education, in general, is affected from a number of variables such as physical environment of the institutions, instructor quality, the curriculum implemented, administrative support, and others. As the input of the system, the perspectives of the students on those variables also influence the direction and the quality of the education taking place in the colleges of education. Regarding this, the purpose of the present study is to identify and compare the perspectives of fourth-year English Language Teaching students on the physical environment, human resources, and the program of three ELT departments at three different state universities. As part of the survey research design, the questionnaire was administered to totally 278 prospective English Teachers from the ELT departments at state universities in Ankara. The results of the study, unlike the past research on the issue, presented that the prospective English teachers had positive views on the instructors and program generally; however, they stated problems on the physical environment of their departments. Moreover, there were significant differences in students’ views on the physical environment, resources, and its sub-dimensions. The students from the institution, which was renovated before the study, had more positive views on their department than the others. The results suggested it might be useful to reevaluate and reconsider the current conditions of the English language teacher education in relation to the departments’ human resources, program and especially the physical environment.     

Relationships between teachers’ perceived leadership style,students’ learning style,and academic achievement: a study on high school students

There is debate about whether the leadership style of the teacher or the learning style of the student affects academic achievement more. A large sample (n = 746) of eighth‐grade students in Istanbul, Turkey, participated in a study where the leadership style of the teacher was assessed in terms of people orientation and task orientation. The learning styles examined were: group, individual, visual, auditory, tactile, and kinesthetic. Multiple discriminant analysis indicated that teacher leadership style was the main factor affecting academic performance. No significant relationship was found between learning style and academic achievement.     

Short forms of protean and boundaryless career attitudes scales in the Turkish context: validation and psychometric evaluation

International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance - This project validates the short forms of protean and boundaryless career attitude scales and assesses their psychometric properties...     

Investigation of the science achievement models for low and high achieving schools and gender differences in Turkey

A science achievement model was separately investigated for students in low and high achieving schools (LAS and HAS) in Turkey. Then, gender differences based on variables that significantly contributed to each achievement model were investigated. The student-level variables that were under investigation for multiple regression analyses include attitudes toward science, epistemological beliefs, metacognition, views on science teaching, and socioeconomic status (SES). The science achievement scores of students on a nationwide exam were used to measure science achievement. Both for LAS and HAS, two schools were selected. Results were reported for 241 and 320 students in LAS and HAS, respectively. According to the results, self-concept in science, knowledge of cognition, SES, importance of science, gradual learning, and views on lab work significantly contributed to the science achievement model in LAS. On the other hand, self-concept in science, SES, gradual learning, studying, and learning science in school significantly contributed to the science achievement model in HAS. Results also revealed that girls outperformed boys on knowledge of cognition and importance of science in LAS. Moreover, girls scored higher than boys on gradual learning and studying in HAS. According to these findings, implications for science education were discussed.     

An investigation of the artifacts and process of constructing computers games about environmental science in a fifth grade classroom

This study employed a case study design (Yin, Case study research, design and methods, 2009) to investigate the processes used by 5th graders to design and develop computer games within the context of their environmental science unit, using the theoretical framework of constructionism. Ten fifth graders designed computer games using Scratch software. The results showed students were able to design functional games, following a learning-by-design process of planning, designing, testing, and sharing. Observations revealed that game design led to opportunities for informal knowledge building and sharing among students. This, in turn, encouraged students to test and improve their designs. The findings support the conclusion that elementary students can develop programming concepts and create computer games when using graphical programming software developed for their level of experience. Insights into the iterative process of learning-by-game design are presented.     

“We are much closer here”: exploring the use of WhatsApp as a learning environment in a secondary school mathematics class

Learning Environments Research - In this study, we examined a mathematics teacher’s communicative acts on an instant messaging tool, WhatsApp, and its role in creating a sustained learning...     

Problem‐based learning in an eleventh grade chemistry class: ‘factors affecting cell potential’

The purpose of this research study was to examine the effectiveness of problem‐based learning (PBL) on eleventh grade students’ understanding of ‘The effects of temperature, concentration and pressure on cell potential’ and also their social skills. Stratified randomly selected control and experimental groups with 20 students each were used in this study. To determine their misunderstandings and misconceptions about closely related, previously covered subjects, such as oxidation‐reduction reactions and electrochemical cells, interviews were conducted. Following a preparatory lesson where remediation of misconceptions were undertaken, a pre‐test was given, and no significant difference was found between the two groups of students (p>0.05). Then, the same teacher taught factors that affect cell potential using a teacher‐centred traditional format to the control group, and a PBL format to the experimental group. Results from the post‐test of both groups (p<0.05) showed that PBL is effective on students’ achievement, remedying formation of misconceptions in a significant way. Interviews were also conducted with PBL students to determine their beliefs according to PBL activity. The findings according to interviews revealed that students in the PBL class were more motivated, self‐confident, willing to problem‐solve and share knowledge, and were more active in cooperative group activities than the traditionally‐taught students.     

Inquiry-Based Laboratory Activities in Electrochemistry: High School Students’ Achievements and Attitudes

This study aimed to investigate the effects of inquiry-based laboratory activities on high school students’ understanding of electrochemistry and attitudes towards chemistry and laboratory work. The participants were 62 high school students (average age 17 years) in an urban public high school in Turkey. Students were assigned to experimental (N?=?30) and control groups (N?=?32). The experimental group was taught using inquiry-based laboratory activities developed by the researchers and the control group was instructed using traditional laboratory activities. The results of the study indicated that instruction based on inquiry-based laboratory activities caused a significantly better acquisition of scientific concepts related to electrochemistry, and produced significantly higher positive attitudes towards chemistry and laboratory. In the light of the findings, it is suggested that inquiry-based laboratory activities should be developed and applied to promote students’ understanding in chemistry subjects and to improve their positive attitudes.     

WOMEN AND UNIVERSITY EDUCATION IN TURKEY

An examination of the statistics indicates that Turkish women have made great strides with respect to their recruitment to positions at all levels in the higher education institutions of their country, particularly in such fields as medicine, the hard sciences, and engineering in which women in very many countries are usually thought to be underrepresented. The author attributes this achievement to the Republican ideology of post‐1923 Turkey, the opportunities which were opened to élite women by the correspondence of the latter with the developmental needs of the country, the availability of domestic service provided by non‐elite women, and the existence of family solidarity networks. Women, however, have not been so well represented in such fields as law and political science which, were traditionally close to the loci of political power. In recent years, however, with the expansion of the higher education system, competition between men and women for posts has greatly increased, and economic change and urbanization have dried up the supply of inexpensive domestic help and have stymied family solidarity networks. Thus academic women are increasingly beset by conflicts between their professional and their family roles. This new situation has caused Turkish women to lose ground with regard to recruitment to prestigious positions in higher education and to seek conservative Islamic solutions to the conflicts in question. Reforms based on a renewed Republican ideal are needed to improve the situation and to enable Turkish women academics to build on their past achievements.