Effects of Conceptual Change and Traditional Confirmatory Simulations on Pre-Service Teachers’ Understanding of Direct Current Circuits

The objective of this research is to investigate the effects of simulations based on conceptual change conditions (CCS) and traditional confirmatory simulations (TCS) on pre-service elementary school teachers’ understanding of direct current electric circuits. The data was collected from a sample consisting of 89 students; 48 students in the experimental group who were taught simulations based on CCS, and 41 students in control group who followed the TCS. Subjects in both groups used open source software (Qucs) to simulate electric circuits. All students were administered Electric Circuits Concepts Test (DIRECT), Science Process Skills Test, Physics Attitude Scale, and Computer Attitude Scale before the treatment. Pre-test analyses revealed that there is no significant difference between experimental and control groups in terms of understanding of direct current electricity. After completing 3 weeks treatment, all students received the DIRECT again as a post-test. Analysis of covariance was used. Science process skills and attitudes toward computers were taken as covariates. The results showed that the conceptual change based simulations caused significantly better acquisition of conceptual change of direct current electricity concepts than the confirmatory simulation. While science process skills and attitudes towards computer made significant contributions to the variations in achievement, gender differences and interactions between gender and treatment did not. Eleven weeks later, the DIRECT was reapplied to the students in both groups. Eleven weeks delayed post-test results showed that the experimental group outperformed the control group in understanding of direct current electric concepts.     

Social responsibility in community colleges: Rethinking the commitment to alternative education

Because high school dropouts are among the least advantaged members of American society, the educational system that has failed them has the social responsibility for remediating their educational and developmental needs. The community college is proposed as the institution most able to develop policies and programs that will enable these least advantaged members of American society to overcome the educational system that has failed them. This paper discusses the responsibility of providing a quality education to all individuals, examines the role the community college can play in meeting the educational and social needs of dropouts, and presents an innovative program at a community college that has been particularly effective in meeting the needs of dropouts.     

Alternative views of the solar system among turkish students

This study examines middle-school students’ alternative frameworks of the earth’s shape, its relative size and its distance from the sun and the moon. The sample was selected in the province of Giresun in Turkey. Sixty-five 14-year-old students participated in the research. A structured interview consisting of open-ended questions was employed to reveal students’ ideas. The students’ verbal responses were scrutinized and categorized according to their level of understanding. The results showed that the students had many alternative frameworks with regard to astronomical concepts. Implications and recommendations were made for teachers, textbook authors, teaching materials developers and researchers for future research to remedy students’ alternative frameworks.     

Dyslexia quotient: An index of reading ability

Summary A new index for expressing degree of reading disability in children is presented. Called the Dyslexia Quotient (D. Q.), it has the advantages of being simple to calculate and of being expressed in round numbers. Standardization of this new index is presented. In addition, the use of the Dyslexia Quotient in 50 patients who completed intensive dyslexia therapy is presented. An age-improvement distribution diagram, using the D. Q. is given. The authors suggest that the Dyslexia Quotient offers a valuable universal means of indicating degree of reading disability at any grade or age level.     

Maarif: transformation of a concept in the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the nineteenth century

During the Ottoman period, ‘science (ilim, pl. ulûm)’, ‘knowledge (marifet, pl. maarif)’ and ‘technique (fen, pl. fünûn)’ emerged as three important concepts of knowledge. Maarif, which came into prominence with Selim III, began to undergo a semantic transformation together with the concepts of ulûm and fünûn and by the time of Mahmud II it had become an overarching concept representing the knowledge dimension of the new era. This article discusses the semantic transformation of maarif, focusing on the period between 1789 and 1839. This study applies the history of concepts approach developed by Reinhart Koselleck, whereby a synchronic analysis of the concept of maarif is undertaken alongside an examination of its diachronic dimension. This reveals an ambiguous and multi-dimensional structure and helps us to account for its evolution as an umbrella term.