International scholarly collaboration in science,technology and medicine and social science of Turkish scientists

The fundamental research question being pursued in this study is what influences the degree of international scientific collaboration among Turkish scientists? While the study has been illuminated by bibliometrics, the research study is largely exploratory and qualitative. Email questionnaire surveys and semi-structured interviews were employed to collect data from Turkish scholars. According to the findings, both external (uncontrollable) factors (e.g., institutional, economic, and governmental factors) and internal factors (e.g., motivation, ambition, trust, and hope) play roles in the international collaboration behavior of Turkish scholars. It is expected that this research will contribute to the understanding of Turkey’s international scientific collaboration processes pertaining to technology, economic, strategic, and cultural policy factors. Also, the analytical framework of this study may be useful for analyzing other developing countries that have a similar scientific and demographic context to Turkey’s.     

Democracy exported,history expunged: John Dewey’s trip to Turkey and the challenge of building ‘civilised’ nations for democratic life

In 1924, John Dewey travelled to Turkey to make recommendations on the Turkish educational system. According to many existing accounts, Dewey brought a sorely needed progressive educational perspective to a nation emerging from centuries of despair. On the whole, these accounts dismiss the Ottoman legacy and overlook how Dewey’s historical thinking coloured his view of Turkish democracy. This article draws on these considerations to offer a critical re-reading of Dewey’s trip, arguing that the visit, rather than supporting the expansion of a bottom-up democratic perspective in the Turkish educational system, actually helped advance top-down Turkish nation-building. In so doing, it explores the connections between history and democracy in Dewey’s thinking, reclaims the significance of the Ottoman legacy, examines the role of education in radically remaking the Turkish public, and points to the need for studying places and times where schooling is used to expunge history in the name of exporting democracy.     

Constitutive Discourse of Turkish Nationalism: Atatürk's Nutuk and the Rhetorical Construction of the “Turkish People”

This article explores the “Great Speech” Nutuk, delivered in 1927 by Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. In analyzing Nutuk and its rhetorical features, we identify the mythic underpinnings Atatürk employed to construct a modern “Turkish people.” We use this case to further our understanding of the constitutive discourses of nationalism. We believe Atatürk's Nutuk provides a profitable discourse to think with as we attempt to understand Muslim nations and their negotiation of modernity.     

The Role of Sport for Australian POWs of the Turks during the First World War

Nearly 200 Australians were taken prisoner by the Turks during World War I, some 76 of them during the Gallipoli campaign and the remainder over the succeeding three years during the ongoing campaigns against the Ottoman Empire. Approximately a quarter of them died in captivity. In contrast to the experiences of Australians taken prisoner by the Japanese during the Pacific War, Australian history and collective memory, and Australian commemorative activities, have almost totally overlooked the Australian prisoners of the Turks. This article redresses the balance somewhat by looking at an important aspect of the prisoners’ lives; the games they played while in captivity. The article suggests that sports and games were an important part of their methods for coping with the captivity experience, although there were some significant differences in the role sport played for captives of the Turks as compared to the role it played for those taken prisoner by the Japanese in the next World War.     

The effects of psychoeducational intervention on the adjustment,coping self-efficacy and psychological distress levels of international students in Turkey

The global increase in international students’ population necessitates identifying their needs and engaging in practices that may support their adjustment. Along with excitement, positive attitudes and high expectations about higher education and life abroad, international students might also experience dread as they prepare to start a new life. Challenges in adjustment during the transition and developmental issues might contribute to such students’ susceptibility of intense emotional experiences, anxiety, depression and other mental health issues. Nevertheless, limited research has been conducted on interventions to facilitate transition and adjustment. Indeed, there is a dearth of psychological interventions that enhance the adjustment of international students in Turkey. This study involves a program and examines how effective this program is in enhancing the adjustment levels of international students. With a 2 × 3 controlled quasi-experimental group design, the participants in the experiment group underwent eight weekly sessions of a cognitive-behavioral-oriented psychoeducational program. The posttest results indicated significant differences in coping self-efficacy favoring the experiment group. However, no significant differences were noticed between the two groups in terms of psychological adaptation and distress. Follow-up results revealed significant changes in all the three measures favoring the experiment group. The findings indicated a positive long-term effect of the psychoeducational program in enhancing the international students’ adjustment levels. Consequently, implications for college counseling service providers in terms of designing psychoeducational programs were discussed.     

Students’ perceptions of science teachers’ interpersonal behaviour in secondary schools: Development of a Turkish version of the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction

The purpose of the study was to investigate the reliability and validity of a Turkish adaptation of an existing instrument for measuring teacher interpersonal behaviour. The Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI) maps teacher behaviour in terms of two dimensions: Influence (Dominance–Submission) and Proximity (Cooperation–Opposition). A sample of 674 students from 24 classes (Grades 9–11) of experienced teachers in two Turkish secondary schools participated in the study. Development of the instrument involved several steps: translation and back translation by teacher educators; piloting of different versions while refining the items; interviews with students and teachers to establish the importance of teacher interpersonal behaviour in the Turkish context; and a final administration of the questionnaire to the sample described. Interview data and statistical analyses supported the reliability and validity of the instrument. Turkish teachers were perceived by their students as very cooperative and moderately dominant.

Gender differences in academic performance in a large public university in Turkey

The paper attempts to determine whether there are significant gender differences in academic performance among undergraduate students in a large public university in Turkey based on three indicators; university entrance scores, performance in the English preparatory school and in the program the student is majoring in. The paper finds that a smaller number of female students manage to enter the university and when they do so, they enter with lower scores. However, once they are admitted to the university, they excel in their studies and outperform their male counterparts. This result holds after controlling for the field of study and individual attributes.     

土耳其初等学校课程改革下的价值观教育:目标、内容与实施路径

在全国初等教育课程改革的契机下,土耳其于2005年依托以社会科学课程为核心的新课程体系实施价值观教育.土耳其初等学校课程的价值观教育目标以认知为基、能力为主、情感为核.土耳其初等学校课程的价值观教育内容体现在社会价值观促进社会融入、科学价值观提升理性精神和道德价值观熏陶道德情感.从被动接受到主动建构的认知导向、从言语说...     

A conversational analysis of developments in religious education in Europe and in Turkey

This contribution is focusing on the question: ‘In what way is the issue of religious education in general and Islamic religious education in particular articulated in Europe and in Turkey, and what can be learned from the respective articulations for the interreligious dialogue?’ In the first section, the historical context is presented that makes up the diversity and situatedness of models of religious education (RE) in Europe, and its relation to citizenship education. Then the role of Islam in RE in Europe is addressed. In particular, Islam and RE/Islamic RE in the Dutch context is highlighted. In the second section, the Turkish educational system is described from the Ottoman Empire to the Republican Era, including the position of Islam. Turkey’s present day secularised educational system is presented and the changed position of Islam in education. In the third section, the authors introduce the concept of ‘conversational analysis’ by using ‘European tinted lenses’ to further explore the Turkish articulation of Islam in education, and ‘Turkish tinted lenses’ to explore the European articulation with regard to Islam in RE. Concluding, some interesting aspects are emphasised where European and Turkish educators can learn from and with each other, and some recommendations for further research are given.