The aim of this study was to investigate the VMLSE perception levels of eighth grade students and differentiations based on variables of gender, state of success, final grade and ability to relate mathematical concepts to daily life and examine their views on this issue. The exploratory design of mixed method, which includes both quantitative and qualitative methods, was used in the study. The survey method was used in the quantitative dimension of the study. In qualitative dimension, phenomenological design which is one of the qualitative research designs is used. The data obtained from the quantitative dimension by VMLSE perception scale were analyzed by t-test and one-way analysis of variance. The data obtained from the semi-structured interview form were analyzed by using the content analysis method for the qualitative dimension of the research. As a consequently, there was a significant difference in VMLSE perceptions based on the variables of final grade, finding one’s self successful in the field of mathematics and ability to relate mathematical concepts; however, there was no significant difference based on gender. Additionally, it was found, the students had the idea that having VMLSE perception would affect mathematics success positively. 

Biological evolution stands out as critically important content for K-12 education as it is considered a cornerstone of the biological sciences. Yet, it remains one of the most socially controversial topics related to science education. In this exploratory study, we are seeking to understand the ways elementary preservice teachers (PSTs) use their views of science to justify including or excluding alternative explanations to evolution in the science curriculum. This investigation included 76 PSTs who were enrolled in an elementary science methods course. Data came from an activity designed by the authors entitled “Science in the Public Schools – School Board Scenario.” The scenario proposed that the local school board was considering a motion to alter the science curriculum by introducing creationism and intelligent design (ID) to the unit on biological evolution and the PSTs had to offer their informed recommendations. The two researchers independently read and coded the data using an inductive, constant comparative approach. Findings revealed that 32 would not add creationism or ID, 26 would add both, 9 would add creationism, 6 would add ID, and 3 would only mention them. PSTs came up with diverse explanations for their decision on if to include alternative explanations when teaching evolution. Common rationales emerged within each group and are further explored.

Three methodological approaches were applied to understand the role of interest and self-efficacy in reading and/or writing in students without and with persisting specific learning disabilities (SLDs) in literacy. For each approach students in grades 4 to 9 completed a survey in which they rated 10 reading items and 10 writing items on a Scale 1 to 5; all items were the same but domain varied. The first approach applied Principal Component Analysis with Varimax Rotation to a sample that varied in specific kinds of literacy achievement. The second approach applied bidirectional multiple regressions in a sample of students with diagnosed SLDs-WL to (a) predict literacy achievement from ratings on interest and self-efficacy survey items; and (b) predict ratings on interest and self-efficacy survey items from literacy achievement. The third approach correlated ratings on the surveys with BOLD activation on an fMRI word reading/spelling task in a brain region associated with approach/avoidance and affect in a sample with diagnosed SLDs-WL. The first approach identified two components for the reading items (each correlated differently with reading skills) and two components for the writing items (each correlated differently with writing skills), but the components were not the same for both domains. Multiple regressions supported predicting interest and self-efficacy ratings from current reading achievement, rather than predicting reading achievement from interest and self-efficacy ratings, but also bidirectional relationships between interest or self-efficacy in writing and writing achievement.  The third approach found negative correlations with amygdala connectivity for 2 reading items, but 5 positive and 2 negative correlations with amygdala connectivity for writing items; negative correlations may reflect avoidance and positive correlations approach. Collectively results show the relevance and domain-specificity of interest and self-efficacy in reading and writing for students with persisting SLDs in literacy.

The fact that the prospective Turkish teachers’ having a command of different methods and techniques as being Turkish teachers of the future is important in terms of its positive effects on the comprehension and expression skills of the middle school students. This study used the case study design and the qualitative approach. The aim of the research was to test the effectiveness of literature circle method and contribute to the field in theoretical and practical context. Fourty-six prospective Turkish teachers were conveniently sampled from the state university in Istanbul, to participate in the study. During six weeks, the opinions of prospective Turkish teachers who applied literature circle method were collected through unstructured interview forms. The data collected were subjected to a content analysis. It was concluded that prospective Turkish teachers found the method of literature circle favorible, in terms of cooperation, solidarity, gaining different perspectives, revealing hidden talents, developing self-confidence, aesthetic pleasure, enriching vocabulary and catching the details.

Teaching with technology is considered a necessity in the U.S. mathematics classroom. However, few studies have established explicit considerations to support technology-enhanced student achievement. The purpose of this study was to characterize the effectiveness of technology in the mathematics classroom by systematically reviewing meta-analytic research. An exhaustive literature search was conducted. After applying a prioi inclusion criteria the pool of 65 initial meta-analyses was reduce to 13 representative studies. Each study was reviewed and characteristics were coded in four categories: (1) sample, (2) measurement, (3) design, and (4) source. An inductive review of the coded studies produced five unique moderators that were the most salient across studies. Overall mean effect sizes were retrieved or calculated from available study data. Hedges g was used as the common effect size metric for comparison across studies.  The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework was used to interpret the most salient moderators of effects across studies.  Studies were categorized by didactical functionality and technology type. The results suggest that effects vary by didactical functionality from small to medium. The largest variations were observed for the didactical function of developing conceptual understanding.  Implications for research and instructional praxis are provided.

This study mainly aims to determine the effect of the layered curriculum on the 6th grade students’ learning styles in science lesson. The study group consists of students in the 6/A and 6/D at Fevzi Cakmak Secondary School in the city center of Siirt-Turkey in the academic year of 2015-2016. “Learning Styles Inventory” developed by Kolb and translated into Turkish by Askar and Akkoyunlu, diaries of students and semi-structured interview form developed by researchers and examination of the documents were used as data collection tools. As for data analysis, percent (%) and chi-square techniques were used to determine the learning styles of students, but in the analysis of students’ opinions the descriptive analysis was used. During the study, students were also asked to express their experiences and considerations about learning activities via a diary. The thoughts and feelings reflected in the diaries of students were directly quoted in findings. As a result of the analysis, in pre-test results of the students in the experimental group exposed to the layered curriculum, a significant difference was found in terms of gender; however, no significant difference was found in their post-test results.

The aim of this study is to investigate teachers’ perceptions about the importance of learning innovation toward critical thinking ability in learning mathematics. The subjects in this study are the teachers and the students of grade Vin Al-Islam 6 Al-Fajar, Muhammadiyah 23 and Cokroaminoto Islamic Elementary School Surakarta. The research method used in this research is qualitative case study. The problem in the research is the students' mathematics score is low that is seen from the results of the daily test’s students which showed 85% get grades below the minimal mastery criteria there is 60. The analysis technique used is triangulation. Validation used is qualitative descriptive. Based on the results of interviews to a number of teachers who teach mathematics in the fifth-grade in Pasarkliwon sub-district, it can be concluded that students' critical thinking ability in mathematics is low so that it is required innovative learning model used by the teachers.

The aim of this study is to collect and analyze children's comments on the pictures in children's story books. Four students studied in the first grade of a public primary school in Adana participated in the study. The research model is an example of phenomenology among qualitative research patterns. Focus group method was used as the data collection tool and observation method was used in a second exercise to support the first method. In focus group discussion "The City on the Wind" by Behic Ak, selected as the Book 1, was reviewed along with 4 participating students. In the second exercise, the book named "The Little Match Girl" selected as Book 2 was reviewed. Descriptive analysis and document analysis methods were used in the analysis of the research data. Students' comments on the pictures were collected under four different themes. "Description" among these themes was the most common in student expressions. The sentences for the themes of superficial interpretation, imaginative interpretation and critical understanding were less frequently used by students. Another finding of the study is the number of words students used to describe the picture. Students built short sentences not exceeding 2-3 words.  

The aim of this research is to investigate ability of sixth grade students’ comprehension the listened story text. The research is the survey type of quantitative research methods. The population of the study consisted of the sixth grade students of the middle schools in the city center of Yozgat, Turkey in the 2018-2019 academic years. A simple random cluster sampling method was used in the selection of the sample. A total of 369 sixth grade students are sample. As a data collection, a story text entitled “Hero of the Town” was used. Data were collected in October 2018. SPSS 21 program was used to analyze the data. The level of listening comprehension the sixth grade students to the story text is 77.46%. It is seen that the sixth grade girl students’ listening comprehension are better than boy students. The girls’ listening comprehension is higher than boys’ %8. 

This research was conducted in order to determine whether math anxiety was effective in the selection of secondary school students. This research, in which the mixed method was adopted, was conducted in a secondary school at Siirt. The participants (157 pupils) were determined by convenient sampling method from the four different classes (two 5th grade and two 8th grade). Math anxiety levels of the students were determined by the Mathematics Anxiety Scale. Sociometry technique was used to determine the informal friends groups in each class. For this purpose, a friend preference form was used. Students' friends preferences were transformed into data matrix and Hierarchical Clustering Analysis was used to form informal friends groups for each class. Math anxiety scores of informal groups were compared with Kruskal Wallis test. Accordingly, there were significant differences between the mathematical scores of the informal groups in the branches of the 5th and 8th grades. This finding was evaluated that mathematics anxiety may be a factor in the selection of friends.  

The aim of the study is to examine the pre-service teachers’ problem solving skills and curiosity levels according to different variables and to determine whether there is a relationship between them. The research was designed as a descriptive study in the survey model. The sample of the study consists of 1st and 4th grade pre-service teachers in the departments of German, Science, English, Mathematics, Music, Pre-school, Painting, English, Mathematics, Turkish Language Teaching at a university in Turkey. “Curiosity Scale” adapted into Turkish by Demirel and Diker Coskun, “Problem Solving Inventory” adapted into Turkish by Sahin, Sahin and Heppner  and “Personal Information Form” prepared by the researcher were used as data collection tools. In the analysis of the data obtained, SPSS-Windows 22.00 package program was used and descriptive statistics and parametric tests were applied in accordance with the sub-problems of the study. In addition, a correlation analysis was conducted to determine whether there was a relationship between pre-service teachers’ problem solving skills and curiosity levels. Based on the findings, suggestions about the problem solving skills and curiosity levels of the prospective teachers were presented.

The current study investigated the opinions of secondary school students taking the science course from different science teachers about the science course and science teachers. The current study was conducted with the participation of 32 students instructed by different science teachers and attending different secondary schools in the fall term of 2018-2019 academic year. The data of the current study were collected by means of semi-structured interviews. In the analysis of the data, the descriptive analysis technique was used. The findings of the current study have revealed that high majority of the students love their science classes and science teachers, that in science classes, lecturing, question-answer and note-taking are methods widely employed, that if there is a smart board in the class, then Okulistik or EBA computer program is on, that the assignments given are from the textbook, that the most frequently adopted behavior by the teachers in the face of any discipline problem is warning and that informal learning environments are not used much. Moreover, it was found that projects are rarely assigned to students and the projects assigned are given as homework. A great majority of the students expect their teachers to be entertaining, they want their lessons to be instructed through games and experiments, and they do not want to write a lot in their classes.

Art is one of the most powerful ways of expressing an individual's internal state, expectations and needs with an aesthetic attitude. Different materials can be used during the expression process including colour, line, sound, movement, word, object and so on. Although the materials used in these branches of art are different from each other, the path followed in the application process and the final results are the same “to reveal an aesthetic product”. In order for an artistic practice to mature and reach the beautiful one, the practitioner must have the art education discipline and acquire certain knowledge, skills and understanding of the art field concerned. The art of painting, which is one of the plastic arts, provides the ability to search for beauty through lines and colours on two dimensional surfaces, to create compositions and express the individual's self with this composition, also has its own beauty value criteria. From this point of view, it was aimed to determine the opinions of the prospective teachers studying in the Department of Painting Education in the study about the beauty criteria that should be in the picture. In this study, survey method which is one of the quantitative research methods was preferred. As a data collection tool, a five - point Likert - type scale was developed by the researchers, and 25 items were used. 110 prospective teachers from various grades participated in the study. The results of the research showed that the prospective teachers greatly contributed to the beauty criteria that should be in the picture.

In the current study we examined the relationships between student evaluations of lecturers (teaching surveys) and faculty members' perceptions of these surveys as capable of blocking and limiting their professional advancement. Faculty members are judged and evaluated by academic authorities for their academic performance in research and teaching. 178 questionnaires were collected from the faculty of several academic institutions. We employ a mix method analysis, and form a model that reflects the factors perceived by faculty members as having the potential to block their professional advancement in academia. The research findings show that lecturers are of the opinion that teaching load has a detrimental effect on students' evaluations in the surveys. Lecturers at the beginning of their academic life, those in lower ranks: senior teacher and senior lecturer, address the negative aspects of the surveys more than others. The research findings indicate that although more hours are taught in colleges than at universities, it is harder to receive positive survey ratings at colleges. Moreover, since in Israeli academia research is still the main criterion for promotion – faculty members born in Israel were found to teaching less than those born elsewhere. Hence, faculty members think that student surveys are destructive and entail risks for their professional advancement. Assuming that students' voice and opinions on teaching are important – how can a balance be achieved between the research achievements of faculty members and student satisfaction?

In this study, it is aimed to examine the relationship between prospective teachers' occupational anxiety and technological pedagogical content knowledge. Correlational model was used in this study. The participants consisted of 481 prospective teachers studying at Sakarya University Faculty of Education in the spring term of 2018-2019 academic year. Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Scale (TPACKS) and Occupational Anxiety Scale (OAS) were used as data collection instruments. As a result of canonical correlation analysis, it was determined that technological pedagogical content knowledge affects occupational anxiety by 62%.

The aim of this study is to compare 2018 Science Course Curriculum (SCC), 2015 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and 2018 High School Entrance Examination (HSE) in terms of content domains, cognitive domains and learning objectives. Qualitative research method, was used in this study. Data were analyzed using document review matrices to determine the similarities and differences between the objectives of SCC, TIMSS and HSE. SCC outcomes and HSE science questions were also classified according to TIMSS cognitive domains. Results show that the learning objectives of the fields of Physics, Biology and Earth Sciences of TIMSS are compatible with those of all grade levels of SCC and that the objectives of Chemistry are compatible with those of the seventh and eighth grades. Most of HSE questions are compatible with the objectives of SCC, however, the latest revision in the curriculum has introduced some eighth grade objectives to other grade levels. HSE science questions measure higher-level skills than TIMSS science questions. The subject domain of the “Organisms and Life” of SCC has the most learning objectives in the levels of “knowing” and “reasoning” while the subject domain of the “Physical Events” has the most learning objectives in the levels of “applying.” Besides, the seventh-, fifth- and eighth-graders have the most objectives in the levels of “knowing,” “applying,” and “reasoning,” respectively. It is hoped that the results will contribute the literature in improvement of science curricula and interpretation of national and international exams.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of Instructional Technologies and Material Design (ITMD) course on pre-service mathematics teachers’ attitudes, efficacy beliefs about using concrete materials, and their opinions regarding the material preparation process. A total of 73 pre-service teachers were participated in this study. The scale developed by Bakkaloglu was used to determine efficacy beliefs of pre-service teachers about using concrete materials, and the attitudes scale developed by Cetin, Bagceci, Kinay and Simsek was used to determine the attitudes towards ITMD course. A written form was also used to reveal the opinions of pre-service teachers regarding the material preparation process. The qualitative data collected from 16 pre-service teachers was analyzed with the MAXQDA. Using content analysis, codes and themes were created separately by the researchers and analyzed through several iterations. As a result of this study, positive changes were found in the attitudes and efficacy beliefs of pre-service teachers. The results obtained from the opinions of the pre-service teachers support this positive change. In other words, it is possible to argue that the attitudes of pre-service teachers towards the material development process changed positively with the positive change in the efficacy beliefs about preparing materials after taking the ITMD course.

It has been well documented that oral language skills are precursors of the development of written abilities, meaning that improving oral language skills, e.g. vocabulary, listening comprehension, could have positive effects reading comprehension. The main aim of the present study was to analyze the effect of a training program focused on four components of comprehension ability provided in listening or written modality on first-graders’ reading and listening comprehension. The training programs were implemented by school teachers as part of the class’s normal school activities, under the supervision of experts. Their efficacy was compared with the results obtained in a passive control group. Our results showed that both the training programs produced positive effects on listening and reading comprehension (by comparison with a passive control group), and that the gains in reading comprehension were maintained at a five-month follow-up. Findings demonstrated specific improvements in listening comprehension with the listening modality program, as well as an improvement in the modality not directly trained. A similar cross-modality effect was found from the written modality training group, therefore confirming the strict relation between oral and written abilities. Reading comprehension performance of first graders can be improved with activities provided in listening and written modality. Hence, it is possible to enhance reading comprehension even before decoding and fluency in reading are acquired.

“Mathematical knowledge for teaching” is a concept indicating the requirement for a specific kind of knowledge required to teach mathematics. Mathematical knowledge for teaching necessitates a more complex structure than what is required to carry out mathematical tasks and the knowledge to do that. The purpose of this study is to realize the adaptation of “Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching -Geometry (MKT-G)” Test that was initially conceived in English to Turkish (or to Turkish culture). During the adaptation process; after the translations of the items, focus group interviews were held with a group consisting of mathematics teacher educators and experienced mathematics teachers, and then the data from 243 elementary mathematics teachers was analyzed via  Item Response Theory (IRT). As a result of the analysis of the test items, psychometric values of the test items indicated that the items in the test performed well in Turkey. Besides, validity and reliability arguments were also tested. As a result, the Turkish version of the MKT-G test is highly reliable and valid to measure the teachers’ knowledge of teaching geometry.

In the current study, the problems posed by pre-service primary school teachers within the context of semi-structured problem formation were analyzed according to their type, cognitive structure, and content knowledge. A total of 134 pre-service primary school teachers attending a state university in Turkey participated in the current study designed in line with the case study design. The pre-service teachers were presented with a table and they were asked to establish a problem suitable for the elementary level using the data given in the table. The data were collected through the established problem statements and written explanations of the participants. The collected data were analyzed by using both content and descriptive analyses. The findings have revealed that the pre-service teachers less preferred real-life problems than routine type of problems and the problems at the level of reasoning than the problems at the levels of knowing and applying. Moreover, nearly half of the pre-service teachers erroneously expressed the grade level for which they established their problem. The results have shown that the pre-service teachers do not adequately use real-life problems and problems at the level of reasoning and that there are deficiencies in their mathematical content knowledge depending on their knowledge of the curriculum.