Game addiction and academic achievement

The primary aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between game addiction and academic achievement. The secondary aim was to adapt a self-report instrument to measure game addiction. Three hundred and seventy high school students participated in this study. Data were collected via an online questionnaire that included a brief explanation of the aim of the study, demographical questions, game addiction scale (GAS) and the grade point average of the current year. The GAS had two forms: (i) 21-item and (ii) 7-item. Game addiction and academic achievement were negatively correlated but this correlation was not supported by regression and structural equation modelling analyses. The present study primarily suggests that there may be a negative correlation between game addiction and academic achievement; however, this correlation may be qualified as negligible. In addition, the two forms of the GAS were adapted for Turkish language with reliability and validity to measure computer and video game addiction in adolescents as promising instruments.     

Can We Make Definite Categorization of Student Attitudes? A Rough Set Approach to Investigate Students’ Implicit Attitudinal Typologies Toward Living Things

This study investigates the possibility of analyzing educational data using the theory of rough sets which is mostly employed in the fields of data analysis and data mining. Data were collected using an open-ended conceptual understanding test of the living things administered to first-year high school students. The responses of randomly selected 60 students among the participants were analyzed using rough set approach on the basis of “nine attitudinal typologies toward wildlife” defined by Kellert (1996). Student responses were tabulated to be used in rough sets and upper and lower approximation analyses were carried out. Students were found to display the characteristics of four out of nine typologies. Analyses revealed that some students who possessed characteristics of a certain typology may partially display the characteristics of other typologies and these typologies could be determined using rough set theory.     

The impact of problem-based learning on engineering students’ beliefs about physics and conceptual understanding of energy and momentum

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of problem-based learning (PBL) on freshmen engineering students’ beliefs about physics and physics learning (referred to as epistemological beliefs) and conceptual understanding of physics. The multiple-choice test of energy and momentum concepts and the Colorado learning attitudes about science survey were used to collect the data. The sample consisted of 142 students enrolled in the PBL and traditional lecture classes in the engineering faculty of a state university in Turkey. The analyses showed that the PBL group obtained significantly higher conceptual learning gains than the traditional group and the change (improvement) in the PBL group students’ beliefs from the pre- to post test were significantly larger than that of the traditional group. The results revealed that beliefs were correlated with conceptual understanding. Suggestions are presented regarding the implementation of the PBL approach.     

Cross-cultural experience in preservice teacher education

The study investigated the effect of international student teaching experience on the professional and personal development of preservice teachers. Within the framework of their internship program, 26 graduate students in a private university in Turkey had a two-month internship in a mid western state in the United States, the main component of which was a six-week student teaching experience in high schools. Student teachers worked with mentors in pairs or triads in six high schools in different subject areas. They got involved in teaching practices, technology seminars, and diverse cultural activities during their internship. The student teachers and mentor teachers were surveyed through e-mail and three student teachers were interviewed to evaluate the outcomes of the program. The findings of the current research suggest that the international student teaching experience and the overall internship program with its cultural components contributed in a positive way to student teachers’ professional and personal development and helped student teachers increase their cultural awareness. The findings also suggest that the presence of international students in US schools and society in general helped American students and people have a better idea of other countries and cultures.     

Home Accidents and Assistance in Daily Activities of Older Women in Turkey

This study analyzed the relation between incidents of at-home accidents and the assistance in daily activities of women age of 65+ living in the area of Dikmen Akp?nar Health Care Unit in Ankara-Turkey. Of the women, 49.2% had experienced a home accident in the last 12 months. More than half of these accidents were caused by falling. Women over the age of 65 who were dependent with regard to daily activities had a significantly higher level of accident percentages. As the age and the dependence level in daily activities increased, the ratio of accidents increased.     

Determination of the opinions of individuals aged 65 and over on aging in place: the case of Ankara

ABSTRACT

This study was planned to determine the opinions of individuals aged 65 years and older on “aging in place” and was conducted with 506 elderly individuals living in the Çankaya district of Ankara. In order to determine the level of satisfaction of the elderly with the environment they live in, the “Aging in Place Scale,” consisted of 15 items and three sub-dimensions, was used. In the study, the score received from the scale indicates the level of satisfaction of elderly individuals with the environment they have lived for a long time. In the study, the elderly were observed to receive scores well above the averages in all three sub-factors, and this situation demonstrated that their satisfaction levels were high. There was no statistically significant difference between the Aging in Place Scale and its sub-factors scores of the elderly and gender and housing ownership. A statistically significant difference was found between the “Attainable Social Support” sub-factor and the level of education and income, and Aging in Place Scale, “Perceived Social Support” and “Physical Competence” sub-factors with living situation. Furthermore, in the study, the relationship between marital status and Aging in Place Scale, its all sub-factors were also statistically significant. The obtained results were discussed within the framework of the studies in the literature, and suggestions were made to individuals, the related institutions and organizations for elderly individuals to age in place successfully.     

Collective Effects of Individual,Behavioral, and Contextual Factors on High School Students’ Future STEM Career Plans

This study explored the structural relationships among secondary school students’ conceptions, self-regulation, and strategies of learning science in mainland China. Three questionnaires, namely conceptions of learning science (COLS), self-regulation of learning science (SROLS), and strategies of learning science (SLS) were developed for investigating 333 Chinese high school learners’ conceptions, metacognitive self-regulation, and strategies in science. The confirmatory factor analysis results verified the validity of the three surveys. Moreover, the path analyses revealed a series of interesting findings. Learners with lower-level COLS, namely “memorizing,” “testing,” and “practicing and calculating,” tended to use surface learning strategies such as “minimizing scope of the study” and “rote learning.” However, learners’ higher-level COLS, namely “increase of knowledge,” “applying,” “understanding,” and “seeing in a new way,” had complicated connections with their SROLS and SLS. On the one hand, learners’ higher-level COLS had negative relations to “minimizing scope of the study” and “rote learning.” On the other hand, their higher-level COLS were powerful predicators for their metacognitive self-regulation and further affected their use of “deep strategy” and “rote learning.” Though Chinese secondary students with higher-level COLS usually have a negative view of “rote learning,” the functioning of their metacognitive self-regulation may change their initial attitudes towards the surface strategy. Learners with higher-level COLS still used “rote learning” as a prior step for achieving deep learning. Therefore, we concluded that the SROLS played an important mediating role between the COLS and SLS and may change learners’ original intention to utilize learning strategies.