Validation of the Intrapersonal Technology Integration Scale: Assessing the Influence of Intrapersonal Factors that Influence Technology Integration

Teachers' beliefs about their self-efficacy for integrating technology, their outcome expectations for integrating technology, and their interest in using technology to support student learning influence their intentions for incorporating technology into their instructional practices. To date, instruments developed to examine the relationships among these factors have focused primarily on measuring self-efficacy. The Intrapersonal Technology Integration scale was developed to expand our understanding of intrapersonal cognitive variables that affect teachers' predispositions toward integrating technology into their teaching.     

High school students’ scientific epistemological beliefs,self-efficacy in learning physics and attitudes toward physics: a structural equation model

Background: There are some theoretical evidences that explain the relationships between core beliefs (i.e., epistemological beliefs) and peripheral beliefs (self-efficacy in learning) in the literature. The close relationships of such type of beliefs with attitudes are also discussed by some researchers. Constructing a model that investigates these relationships by considering theoretical and empirical evidences can empower researchers to discuss these relationships more comprehensively.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the relationships among Turkish high school students’ scientific epistemological beliefs, self-efficacy in learning physics and their attitudes toward physics.

Sample: A total of 632 high school students participated in this study; however, 269 female and 229 male (a total of 498) high school students’ data were used.

Design and methods: Three distinct instruments that measure scientific epistemological beliefs, self-efficacy in learning physics and attitudes toward physics were combined into a unique questionnaire form and it was distributed to high school students. To explore the relationships among these variables, structural equation modeling was used.

Results: The results showed that scientific epistemological belief dimensions uncovered by the nature of knowing (source and justification) significantly and positively related to both self-efficacy in learning physics and attitudes toward other important physics dimensions. Additionally, self-efficacy in learning physics significantly and positively predicted attitudes toward multiple physics dimensions (importance, comprehension and requirement). However, epistemological belief dimensions related to the nature of knowledge (certainty and development) did not have significant impact on self-efficacy in learning physics or attitudes toward physics.

Conclusions: This study concludes that there are positive and significant relationships among Turkish high school students’ scientific epistemological beliefs, self-efficacy in learning physics and their attitudes toward physics.     

Quality of argumentation by seventh-graders in local socioscientific issues

The study's purpose was to evaluate the quality of argumentations presented by students in relation to local socioscientific issues (SSIs). The participants, 36 seventh-grade students from state schools, were divided into three learning groups—outdoor group, newspaper group, and presentation group. Five local environment-related SSIs were selected: an artificial lake, chicken coops, leather tanneries, base stations, and hydroelectric power plants (HPPs). Different data sources were provided to each group pertaining to their SSIs. The outdoor group learned through field trips, the newspaper group acquired information through newspapers, and the presentation group learned via presentations. Each group gathered data from their unique learning sources, which then formed the basis of their arguments. After a pilot study, each group experienced the same argumentation practice within smaller groups. The recorded discussions were transcribed, and the qualities of 582 argumentation episodes chronicled over a period of 10 weeks were evaluated using an analytical assessment tool. It emerged that the quality of argumentations of each group varied by the data sources and the contexts of the SSIs. While the newspaper group displayed the best performance in 4 out of 5 issues, the outdoor group had the lowest performance overall. In terms of generating high-quality argumentations about the artificial lake, chicken coops, and base stations, the newspaper group ranked top, followed by the presentation group, and then the outdoor group. HPPs proved to be the most challenging context for students across all groups. The study sums up with discussions of the differences between the quality of argumentations of the various groups and the implications of the study's conclusions.     

Mathematics teacher quality: its distribution and relationship with student achievement in Turkey

A main purpose of the present study was to investigate the distribution of qualified mathematics teachers in relation to students’ socioeconomic status (SES), as measured by parental education, among Turkish middle schools. Further, relationships between mathematics teacher quality indicators and students’ mathematics achievement were explored. Data from the 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study were used. Relationships between mathematics teacher quality and students’ mathematics achievement were investigated using hierarchical linear modeling. The current study identified SES-related inequities in access to qualified mathematics teachers in Turkey. Low-SES students were more likely to be taught by mathematics teachers who had less than 3 years of experience or who did not hold a degree in mathematics or mathematics education. On the other hand, years of experience and a degree in mathematics or mathematics education were found to be substantially related to Turkish eighth-grade students’ mathematics achievement. Low-SES students’ mathematics teachers were also more likely to report a lack of confidence in their preparation to teach various mathematics contents.     

PISA mathematics and reading performance differences of mainstream European and Turkish immigrant students

Lower reading and mathematics performance of Turkish immigrant students as compared to mainstream European students could reflect differential learning outcomes, differential socioeconomic backgrounds of the groups, differential mainstream language proficiency, and/or test bias. Using PISA reading and mathematics scores of these groups, we examined the role of bias and various measures related to immigrant integration policies of the host societies. Results of a multilevel analysis of reading and mathematics tests demonstrated that at individual level, students with higher scores on an index of economic, social, and cultural status obtained higher achievement scores. At country level, MIPEX scores of education and the human development index of participating countries could predict differences in reading results but not in mathematics. After correction for background characteristics, effect sizes showed a difference of .65 SD (down from a value of .96 before correction) for reading and .58 SD (down from .78) for mathematics. However, a similar correction for background variables increased the score differences between Turkish immigrants and mainstreamers.     

A Regression Model With a New Tool： IDB Analyzer for Identifying Factors Predicting Mathematics Performance Using PISA 2012 Indices

There are many studies that focus on factors affecting achievement. However, there is limited research that used student characteristics indices reported by the Programme for International Student Assessment （PISA）. Therefore, this study investigated the predictive effects of student characteristics on mathematics performance of Turkish students. In PISA studies, sampling design, sampling weights, and plausible values have to be taken into consideration in order not to have biased multiple regression results. In order to conduct multiple regression analyses in PISA, software called the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement （lEA） International Database （IDB） Analyzer is required to be used because the dependent variable consists of several plausible values. This study aims to identify student characteristics that are significant in predicting mathematics performance in Turkey. Results showed that being successful in mathematics is a combination of several factors in which students＇ beliefs, motivation, and other factors must be organized to achieve mathematics. Among these beliefs and motivation, strong self-efficacy, positive self-concept, and minimum level of anxiety seem to be the key for success.     

The impact of preprocessing on text classification

Preprocessing is one of the key components in a typical text classification framework. This paper aims to extensively examine the impact of preprocessing on text classification in terms of various aspects such as classification accuracy, text domain, text language, and dimension reduction. For this purpose, all possible combinations of widely used preprocessing tasks are comparatively evaluated on two different domains, namely e-mail and news, and in two different languages, namely Turkish and English. In this way, contribution of the preprocessing tasks to classification success at various feature dimensions, possible interactions among these tasks, and also dependency of these tasks to the respective languages and domains are comprehensively assessed. Experimental analysis on benchmark datasets reveals that choosing appropriate combinations of preprocessing tasks, rather than enabling or disabling them all, may provide significant improvement on classification accuracy depending on the domain and language studied on.     

The effect of using augmented reality and sensing technology to teach magnetism in high school physics

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of MagAR, an instructional material for teaching magnetism using augmented reality and sensing technology, on students’ academic achievement and learning process, and to identify students’ views about augmented reality. An embedded mixed-method approach was employed in this study. The study’s results suggest that AR learning environments are effective in teaching physics, and facilitate learning by adding visual and textual components to the learning process. In learning activities integrated with AR, the students were observed to participate more, appeared more comfortable, were able to answer questions related to the subject more easily, had increased self-confidence and exhibited higher academic achievement levels in physics. The results suggest that AR should not be considered as an independent learning environment for the teaching of physics, but would be more effective as supplementary to the laboratory environment.     

Sustainability in the Architectural Design Studio: A Case Study of Designing On‐Campus Academic Staff Housing in Konya and Izmir,Turkey

It is important to engender a 'sustainable’ architectural consciousness in the students who will be the next generation architects. In architectural education, design decisions taken during the early phases of the design process play an important role in ensuring concern for the sustainability issue. But, in general, all discussions about the site that have been held since the beginning of the semester get forgotten, and at the end of the design process students usually create projects that ignore the site criteria. In this article, a specific teaching methodology which supports the sustainability issue in the design studio is presented as a teaching/learning experience. The article is an overview of the design studio process illustrated by a case study on academic staff campus housing in Konya and ?zmir, Turkey. To solve the same problem with the same brief in different regions requires developing sensitivity to climate issues. The resulting product is good evidence that teaching about sustainability in the design studio is effective.     

The effects of constructivist learning environment on prospective mathematics teachers＇ opinions

To explore the effects of constructivist learning environment on prospective teachers＇ opinions about ＂＇mathematics, department of mathematics, discrete mathematics, countable and uncountable infinity＂ taught under the subject of Cantorian Set Theory in discrete mathematics class, 60 first-year students in the Division of Mathematics Education at the Department of Science and Mathematics in Buca Education Faculty at Dokuz Eylul University were divided into two homogenous groups. In order to do this segmentation, Minimum Requirements Identification Test was developed and used by the researchers. This test includes concepts like ＂＇set＂, ＂correlation＂ and ＂function＂, which are required to understand Cantorian Set Theory. While the control group was taught by traditional methods, a teaching method based on a constructivist approach was applied to the experimental group. Data were gathered by an open-ended questionnaire administered to total 40 students, 20 from the each group. Collected data were evaluated through content analysis. In the end, despite the minor differences, no statistically significant difference was found between the opinions of control and experimental groups about mathematics （χ^2calculation=2.578, SD=3, p〉0.05）, department of mathematics （χ^2calculation=3.185, SD=3, p〉0.05） and discrete mathematics （χ^2calculation=4.935, SD=3, p〉0.05） after the instruction. However, opinions about Cantorian Set Theory were significantly differentiated between experimental and control groups after the instruction （χ^2 calculation= 13.486, SD=2, p〈0.05）.