Evaluation of Information on Body Donation Promotion at Official Websites of Turkish Anatomy Departments

Raising public awareness of body donation is crucial for countries like Turkey that have struggling donation programs. The official websites of anatomy departments may contribute to achieving this goal. Nevertheless, previous studies reported institutional or individual reluctance of departments or anatomists, respectively, due to an expectation of adverse publicity. This study aimed to investigate whether the official websites of Turkish anatomy departments provided information on body donation and analyzed the content of these websites. Websites of anatomy departments at 100 medical faculties were evaluated. Only 12 departments (12%) provided information on body donation with varying content. A thematic analysis of the information provided revealed five main themes. These were (1) legal aspects, (2) significance, (3) acceptance/rejection criteria, (4) availability, and (5) redirection. All departments (n = 12, 100%) outlined the legal aspects of body donation, seven departments (58%) highlighted the significance of body donation, seven departments (58%) provided contact information for potential donors, five departments (41%) covered acceptance/rejection criteria, and three departments (25%) provided a link to the official website of the Turkish Society of Anatomy and Clinical Anatomy. Thus, Turkish anatomy departments were reluctant to provide information on body donation, and the content of provided information varied greatly among departments. This lack of information, coordination, and participation in existing awareness activities for body donation in anatomy department websites may be contributing to the low numbers of body donations and donor registrations seen nationally.     

Monuments to the Republic: School as a nationalising discourse in Turkey

This article examines the cultural construction of the school in Turkey in relation to the construction of Turkish nation-ness. By looking at how the modern school was fit together with a network of interrelated discourses available in early twentieth-century Turkey, the article investigates the ways in which the school became an object of thought in support of narrating and imagining Turkish nation-ness. In the article, I argue that the school was pivotal in the imagination and institution of Turkey not only literally but also symbolically. Juxtaposed with a radically contrasting image of the traditional educational establishment of the Ottoman dynastic past called mahalle mektebi, the school was appropriated by the Republican elite as a statement of modernity, national character and a total break from the Ottoman past. Giving a visual expression to the new regime’s aspirations for the society, the school, with its very architecture, layout and disciplinary and hierarchical organisation, functioned as a clear symbol of enlightenment, civility, order and progress.     

Image of Turkish Basic Schools: A Reflection from the Province of Ankara

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to investigate the organizational image of basic schools in Turkey, a rapidly developing nation that has been investing significantly in education. Participants were 730 residents of Ankara province in the Golba?? district. The participants were selected using a cluster sampling methodology. Data were collected through a public opinion survey developed by the researcher. The analysis of the data revealed a moderate public image of public education. This finding does not support the strong public confidence expected in education, despite significant investment in this area. Implications for further research are also discussed.     

Nation-building in Turkey through ritual pedagogy: the late Ottoman and early Turkish Republican era

ABSTRACT

In the modern world, festivals and commemorative ceremonies, national pledges, songs are all used to help students connect to each other and their wider society, particularly to the nation state and its ideals. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how such rituals were used to different ends in terms of nation-building in the Republic of Turkey. The Western-oriented identity of the Turkish Republic began to take shape during the Ottoman era, and education played a very significant role in this. This paper first introduces the educational rituals of the Otoman state to set the scene for the main discussion, which centres on the development of new rituals in the Turkish Republic. Religious and sultanic rituals were replaced by new rituals which fostered Turkish identity and promoted secular nationhood. To this end, the most effective educational rituals – national festivals, flag-raising ceremonies and Turkey’s student pledge – are examined in detail.     

Digital exclusion in Turkey: A policy perspective

This article explores the patterns of the digital divide in Turkey and analyzes policies related to this issue. Our analysis reveals that the digital disparities are interwoven with other social inequalities. This finding is parallel to the conclusions of previous research which suggests that digital exclusion can have a ‘reinforcing’ effect on social and/or economic inequalities. Having considered the current range of policies targeting either ICT access or skills, we argue that techno-centric solutions with huge budgets occupy the policy agenda at the expense of more sophisticated programs that take into account the social context of digital exclusion. These policies fail to address the most disadvantaged groups. Those who are old, disabled, female and reside in rural areas are less likely to be internet users and existing policies do not reach out to these groups.     

Ownership of Bibliographic Data and Its Importance to Consortia

No abstract available for this article.     

The Effect of Guided-Inquiry Instruction on 6th Grade Turkish Students' Achievement,Science Process Skills,and Attitudes Toward Science

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of guided-inquiry approach in science classes over existing science and technology curriculum in developing content-based science achievement, science process skills, and attitude toward science of grade level 6 students in Turkey. Non-equivalent control group quasi-experimental design was used to investigate the treatment effect. There were 162 students in the experimental group and 142 students in the control group. Both the experimental and control group students took the Achievement Test in Reproduction, Development, and Growth in Living Things (RDGLT), Science Process Skills Test, and Attitudes Toward Science Questionnaire, as pre-test and post-test. Repeated analysis of variance design was used in analyzing the data. Both the experimental and control group students were taught in RDGLT units for 22 class hours. The results indicated the positive effect of guided-inquiry approach on the Turkish students' cognitive as well as affective characteristics. The guided inquiry enhanced the experimental group students' understandings of the science concepts as well as the inquiry skills more than the control group students. Similarly, the experimental group students improved their attitudes toward science more than the control group students as a result of treatment. The guided inquiry seems a transition between traditional teaching method and student-centred activities in the Turkish schools.     

Policy,practice, and reality: exploring a nation-wide technology implementation in Turkish schools

Technology has already become an indispensable part of our lives, and nations around the world see schools as the main agents to prepare their youth for a technology-filled future, and invest important amounts of funding to provide hardware to schools, students and teachers. The Turkish Ministry of National Education is in the midst of the FAT?H project, a nation-wide attempt to provide each classroom with an interactive whiteboard and each student with a tablet computer. In this paper, the authors present interview data from teachers at first-year FAT?H pilot schools who are using these technologies to understand how this national attempt is being translated into practice, and identify what is working and what areas need further attunement. Results show that teachers were especially content with being able to make their lessons visually more appealing for their students. They were, however, not satisfied with the in-service training provided, especially in understanding ways to effectively integrate the technologies into their teaching, and the limitations put upon Internet access from the tablets. The impacts of these tools on their teaching practices were very minimal.     

土耳其文化认同双重性探析

土耳其是一个伊斯兰教国家,长时段的历史使土耳其在文化认同上有着欧洲情节,这使土耳其成了伊斯兰教世界的异类。在西化浪潮和当前的全球化、文化多元化时代,土耳其的文化认同成了特例,就是这种特殊性,土耳其成了近现代社会变革成功的典范,当代致力于入欧盟,积极争取完全"脱亚入欧"的历程。土耳其文化认同的双重性是由其长时段的历史决定的,特殊的地理位置使土耳其成为欧洲文化的发祥地之一,又是伊斯兰文化的继承者,土耳其既是欧洲文明的遗产,又是奥斯曼帝国的遗产。是地理环境、长时段历史造就了土耳其文化的双重认同,这种文化认同在当今文明冲突的时代具有借鉴作用。