From the Past to the Present: Imam and Preacher Schools in Turkey—An Ongoing Quarrel

One of the most controversial issues in Turkey since the establishment of the Republic in 1923 has been the question of religious education in general, with a focus on the Imam and Preacher Schools (IPS) in particular. This continues to be a serious problem even today. This article touches on this important matter. The article begins with a history of the opening of IPSs and tries to indicate the development of this institution throughout the history of the Republic. It provides answers as to why, while some people oppose these schools, others support the very same institution. In this article it is claimed that these schools not only act as good models for the Turkish educational system, but also for education in other Muslim countries. In addition, the article examines how the people who have graduated from these schools have served Turkish people in various fields, from the conception of the schools to the present day.     

Using mid-semester course evaluation as a feedback tool for improving learning and teaching in higher education

The way in which mid-semester course evaluations are structured, administered and reported is important for generating rich and high-quality student feedback for the enhancement of learning and teaching. Mid-semester evaluations usually contain open-ended questions that trigger more elaborative feedback about what is going on in a class than that from end-of-semester evaluations with Likert scale-type questions. The anonymity of the process for students and the confidentiality of the process for instructors make the process more reflective for students and less stressful for instructors. This study describes how the mid-semester course evaluation process can be used as a feedback tool for improving the quality of teaching and learning at an institutional level. Through a longitudinal analysis of 341 mid-semester course evaluation reports, positive areas and areas of concern with respect to learning and teaching were identified, and changes in student evaluations over the years were examined meticulously to make an overall evaluation of the quality of learning and teaching at a non-profit Turkish university. This research showed that the value of mid-semester course evaluations can go beyond course-level if we use open-ended questions and are able to gather the reports together to make some comprehensive analysis at university level.     

Using our Heads and HARTSS*: Developing Perspective-Taking Skills for Socioscientific Reasoning (*Humanities,ARTs, and Social Sciences)

Functional scientific literacy demands an informed citizenry capable of negotiating controversial socioscientific issues (SSI). Perspective taking is critical to SSI implementation as it enables understanding of the diverse cognitive and emotional perspectives of others. Science teacher educators must therefore facilitate teachers’ promotion of classroom environments that value diverse perspectives. The purpose of this theoretical paper is to propose the HARTSS model through which successful practices that promote perspective taking in the humanities, arts, and social sciences are identified and translated into socioscientific contexts, thereby developing an array of promising interventions designed for science teacher educators to foster perspective taking in current and future science teachers and their students.     

Sex division of labour in Syrian school textbooks

The sexist division of labour, particularly in the occupational sector, which is believed to be more eminent in developing countries than in the developed ones, is reinforced by school textbooks. This state of affairs is hampering sex-role equality on the way to emancipation. Various Syrian school textbooks have been scrutinized and proved to be malebiased in content and language. Despite quantitative growth of education, the emancipatory quality of the school textbooks leaves much to be desired. The government has had the chance since 1963 to produce textbooks conductive to its promise of sex-role equality in education. The textbooks portray males for a bustling world of decision making, while conditioning the females to seek fulfilment in the background where servitude and support are the only requirement. Females are derogated and victimized. These contents, which are internalized at school and reproduced in society, certainly do not serve development. The exclusion of one-half of the population from contributing to the tasks of development is a waste of human talent which no society can afford. Furthermore, the sexist portrayal of females in Syrian textbooks is a pale reflection of Arab women in Arab history and literature.     

The relationship between personal epistemology and self-regulation among Turkish elementary school students

The purpose of the study was to determine the level of the relationship among Turkish elementary school students' personal epistemologies, motivation, learning strategies, and achievements in science. A total of 322 fifth-grade students participated in the study. Results from the structural equation modeling showed that students' personal epistemologies influence both their motivation and metacognitive strategies in science learning. Viewing scientific knowledge as constructed by the learner contributes to the students having high motivations, high science achievement, and the ability to engage metacognitively in learning tasks.     

Maternal Socialization and Kindergarten Children’s Behaviors from Jordanian Mothers’ and Teachers’ Perspectives

This study investigated whether Jordanian mothers’ self-reported parenting practices were associated with their kindergarten children’s prosocial or anti-social behavior based on three parental patterns: nurturance, respect, and power assertion. The participants were 95 mothers with children in the kindergarten level in Jordan. Additionally, 13 teachers of these 95 kindergarten children were also participants. This Parenting Styles Inventory Scale, and the Prosocial and Anti-Social Behavior Rating Scale, developed by Lin (Influences of parenting and teaching styles on young children’s prosocial and anti-social development in Taiwan. Unpublished dissertation, Arizona State University, USA, 1995), were used as instruments. Results indicated that nurturance was the most frequent and preferred parenting pattern of participants. Mothers who are warm and nurturing were more strongly associated with prosocial behavior in their children. An unexpected finding was that mothers with more children were more assertive and strict towards them.     

Pathogenicity of bacterium, Xenorhabdus nematophila isolated from entomopathogenic nematode （Steinernema carpocapsae） and its secretion against Galleria mellonella larvae

INTRODUCTION Entomopathogenic nematodes of the generaSteinernema and Heterorhabditis have been used tocontrol a wide range of agriculturally important insectpests (Kaya and Gaugler, 1993). The mechanism bywhich these nematodes are able to infect and repro-duce in the insect host involves a mutual relationshipbetween the nematode and the symbiotic bacteria,Xenorhabdus spp. and Photorhabdus spp. (Akhurstand Dunphy, 1993; Forst and Nealson, 1996). Poinarand Thomas (1966) established tha…     

School principals’ evaluations of their instructional leadership behaviours: realities vs. ideals

The purpose of the current study was to examine primary and middle school principals’ evaluations of their own instructional leadership behaviours, and thereby pay closer attention to the ideal instructional leadership behaviours suggested in the related literature and the realities of principals’ instructional leadership behaviours. Although studies in the instructional leadership literature have vastly examined instructional leadership and its relationship with various variables, few studies have focused on school principals’ evaluations of their instructional leadership behaviours using a qualitative approach. This study was framed to contribute to gain an insight into the essential characteristics of instructional leadership in Turkey and to suggest some educational implications for school leadership in a Turkish context. The researchers conducted a qualitative case study in a large city in South-eastern Turkey in the academic year of 2012–2013. The study group consisted of 11 primary and middle school principals chosen via a maximum variation sampling technique. It was found that some of the school principals painstakingly tried to improve school-related factors which may potentially increase positive student outcomes. However, they were not able to display some instructional leadership behaviours such as change management, promoting teachers’ professional growth, collaborating with teachers and forming a positive learning environment due to multifarious reasons. The study concludes by presenting implications for the development of school principals as instructional leaders in Turkey.     

Effects of technology-enhanced constructivist learning on science achievement of students with different cognitive styles

Education and Information Technologies - The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of technology-enhanced constructivist learning on science achievement of seventh-grade students with...