Problem Statement: It is a known fact that many students have difficulty understanding solid subjects in geometry and space geometry which are the basics of many subjects in Mathematics. This shows that there should be more emphasis on the concept teaching. Therefore, in this research Form 12 students' mistakes and concept misconceptions were assessed and recommendations are presented on the matter. Purpose of Study: The aim of this research is to define how 12th grade students who are preparing for university perceive concepts like space, plane, point, line and dimension. With this objective in mind, it was tried to provide a sample for concept confusion and suggest a solution for concept fallacies. Significance of the Research: It is considered that developing spatial ability of the students, who are currently at 12th grade and are preparing for university, will support them both in their daily lives and professional environments. The importance and necessity of understanding, grasping and using the relations between concepts of space, plane, point, line and dimension are emphasized. The research tried to define which "concept model" learners have for words like space, plane and dimension. As a result of this study, concept fallacies have also been identified. Problem sentence of the Research What is the level of understanding on the 12th grade students who are preparing for university on space, plane, point, line and dimension; and what are their conceptual fallacies related to these concepts? Methods: The sample of this research is formed by 38, 12-grade students who are studying in the Science-Turkish/Maths unit at Nicosia Turkish Education College (TMK) during the 2012-2013 Academic Year. Experimental research model is used in this research. Findings: Findings of this research put forward that teaching organized based on visualization in geometry is effective. When the findings of the study are evaluated as a whole, it was found that 12th form student who are preparing for university could not answer questions on space and plane concepts before the visualization approach as well as their lack of information on the concept of dimension. It was also found that as a result of the visualization approach, there was an increase in the knowledge of students related to the concepts; in addition to the decrease in their misconceptions. The activities based on the visualization approach are qualified to construct concepts of "space, plane, point, line and dimension". This situation has been clearly observed in the difference between the data of the pre-test and the post-test. Significance of the Research It is considered that developing spatial ability of the students, who are currently at 12th grade and are preparing for university, will support them both in their daily lives and professional environments. The importance and necessity of understanding, grasping and using the relations between concepts of space, plane, point, line and dimension are emphasized. The research tried to define which "concept model" learners have for words like space, plane and dimension. As a result of this study, concept fallacies have also been identified. Problem sentence of the Research What is the level of understanding on the 12th grade students who are preparing for university on space, plane, point, line and dimension; and what are their conceptual fallacies related to these concepts? Conclusion and Recommendations: Findings of this research put forward that teaching organized based on visualization in geometry is effective. Some studies can be done on affective characteristics of 12th form students like attitude and self-efficiancy toward geometry lessons.
Problem Statement: The island of Cyprus, due to its strategic location, was under the influence of many conquerors throughout the centuries. Cultural traces of these captors have survived to the present day. This long, turbulent history has had a profound effect on the Cypriot educational system, with the most recent influence being the impact of the British Administration during the 19th and 20th centuries.Purpose of Study: This article attempts to reveal the influence and consequences of British Colonial policies on education, focussing on curriculum and its aims in the 20th century. The emphasis is more on the opinion of the recipients of education concerning their experience with the education system and their perception of its success or failure rather than on the aims and goals as set by the administrators and educators.Methods: This study encompasses a qualitative research approach to gain in-depth data based on interviews of Turkish-Cypriots and Greek-Cypriots of different backgrounds who were students during the colonial times. The data regarding issues of primary and secondary school curriculum and its aims, nationalism and religion at schools, identity, and ties between the two communities and their "motherlands" was recorded, analysed thematically, and presented in detail.Findings and Results: By implementing sometimes extreme measures, the British followed the tactic of "Divide and Rule" which led the two communities to ethic division. The authors discern the trends of the British Colonial policies towards the establishment of a more British society, which was accomplished by influencing the educational and sociopolitical aspects of life on the island.Conclusions: The British educational policies helped both Turkish and Greek Cypriots to create ethno-nationalism, which inspired the subsequent resistance of both communities. Although it is apparent that Cypriots placed a high value on education, this development was confined only within the context of being Greek or Turkish. Indeed, it would appear that within a curricula context, for the most part, this served as a forum in which all parties sought to construct national identities. The cost remains to be seen.
Problem Statement: Within Language Arts instruction the use of teacher-student writing conferences is accepted as an effective strategy for teaching writing. The writing conference allows for an individual one-on-one teacher-student conversation about the students' writing or writing process and provides the student an audience in terms of revising or sharing purposes (McAndrew & Reigstad, 2001; Newkirk, 1989; Sperling, 1991). Although there is more than one way to label writing conferences, their process and purpose is consistently defined. Teacher-student writing conferences have purpose, follow predictable structure, and put students in a position of being partners in collaboration (Anderson, 2000). Several studies purport that writing conferences make students better writers (Bell, 2002; Eickholdt, 2004; Haneda, 2000; Hewett, 2006; Koshik, 2002; Martone, 1992; Steward, 1991; Wong, Butler, Ficzere, & Kuperis, 1996), help them learn better and increase their achievement (Corden, 2007; Edgington, 2004; Flynn & King, 1993; King, 1993; Mabrito, 2006; Mitchell, 2004) and improve their habits and attitudes toward learning, independence, and authority (Martinez, 2001; McIver & Wolf, 1999; Young & Miller, 2004). Bandura (1989) introduced the concept of self-efficacy and argued its effects on motivation and school success. Self-efficacy is developed from the social cognitive theory suggesting that beliefs about self-efficacy can be changed or increased with the effects of personal and environmental factors (Schunk, 2003). Self-efficacy is "an individual's judgments of his or her capabilities to perform given actions" (Schunk, 1991, p. 207). Even though plenty of studies investigate the connection between the writing conferences and students' writing skills, research on the relationships between writing conferences and self-efficacy has been ignored. The few studies that do relate writing conferences to self-efficacy tend to mention it as a desire to write more and share their writing proudly (Clippard, 1998) as well as the individual writer's confidence (Clippard, 1998; Tobin, 1998). These studies claimed that writing conferences had a positive impact on students' perceived self-efficacy beliefs toward writing, yet none of the research studies mentioned the features of interaction between the teacher and the student that might affect their perceptions of self-efficacy. Overall, it is clear that more work needs to be done on how students (with high self-efficacy vs. low self-efficacy) and teachers behave during teacher-student writing conferences to determine, and examine whether students' level of perceived self-efficacy toward writing affects the nature of their scheduled teacher-student writing conferences. The intend of this qualitative research design with multiple case studies is to investigate the nature of the interaction during scheduled teacher-student writing conferences and explore relationship between students' level of perceived self-efficacy beliefs and their participation style during writing conferences.Purpose of the Study: The purpose of this study was two-fold, first, the nature of teacher-student writing conferences were examined to determine if they were balanced, student-centered, or teacher-centered. Second, whether students' levels of perceived self-efficacy could inform the nature of their writing conferences were determined. The quality of teacher-student writing conferences are not easily determined, so this study aimed to highlight the common patterns that occurred during the conferences with students who had low and high levels of perceived self-efficacy toward writing.Methods: A qualitative study design with multiple case studies was used to observe and analyze scheduled teacher-student writing conferences over a period of 10 weeks. The participants of the study were fifth-graders from a public primary school in the Southeastern United States. Data were collected using the Writing Self-Efficacy Scale (Pajares, Miller, & Johnson, 1999) as adapted from Shell, Murphy, & Bruning (1989), as well as audio and video-taped teacher-student writing conferences, audio-taped interviews with the teacher and students, and field observations. Collected evidence was described and interpreted using qualitative methods.Results: None of the scheduled teacher-student writing conferences were coded as completely teacher-centered. The classroom teacher was good at conducting conferences having balanced and student-centered features. Also, nature of writing conferences changed among students with different self-efficacy levels in terms of focus, ownership, conference agenda, turn taking, frequency of talk, numbers and functions of the questions asked, numbers of praise statements provided by the teacher, and amount of outside interruptions occurred during conferences.Discussion and Conclusion: The analyses of teacher-student writing conferences yielded that conference interaction changed from student to student. While the teacher was successful at conducting student-centered writing conferences in many aspects of the conferences still there were parts she was ineffective on making her students more active participants. The study argues the help of using rubrics to analyze the conference interaction and provides suggestions for practitioners and researchers to better conduct and investigate teacher-student writing conferences.
Problem Statement: Difficulties in the learning process usually emerge from the problem of mental representations constructed by students in their interactions with the world. This previous knowledge and these ideas are in contradiction with scientific facts, and are known as misconceptions or alternative ideas. Thus, an analysis of the mental models can provide very valuable information in understanding students’ ideas and learning processes. Purpose of Study: The present study aims to determine pre-service physics teachers’ understanding of and difficulties with spin concept via mental models, which can be drawn from students’ reasoning both at introductory and advanced levels. Methods: In determining the participants, a purposeful sampling method was used so that the questions the study focuses on would be better illuminated. The qualitative data used in the study was gathered via interviews with the students. All of the interviews were conducted one on one by the researcher in the class environment. Findings and Results: The data gathered through interviews were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively, and the mental models formed by students about the concept of spin were determined. The categories codified as “mental models” reflect the mental models of students concerning the concept of spin and were categorized as “quantum model,” “classical model,” and “without any model.”
Problem Statement: The literature has analyzed the new curriculum from different perspectives, and both the positive and negative sides have been taken into account. In this context, education supervisors' views of the curriculum have been a topic of curiosity. It is expected that the analysis on of the primary schools curriculum from the angle of this research will make a great contribution.Purpose of Study: The purpose of this research is to examine the curriculum in primary schools, instructional methods and techniques, instructional evaluation, extracurricular activities and the education of first literacy according to the views of the education supervisors.Methods: Research data was obtained using a qualitative research method. Open-ended questions were answered by education supervisors. The study's population was composed of education supervisors and the sample was composed of 50 supervisors. The research participants were chosen via purposive sampling and taken from different religions and cities to strengthen the representativeness of the sample. In addition, maximum variety sampling was used to ease the research. Data were interpreted and evaluated with content analysis. The item agreement percentage of the scale was 0.88.Findings and Results: According to the research results, the majority of supervisors said teachers are deficient in applying the curriculum. The teachers do not know how to use instructional technologies and methods and that they do not use them even if they know how to use them. Other important problems are that the physical problems at schools and the inadequacy of technology and materials are other problems that need attention. Other problems with the programme are the teaching programme is too detailed, supervisors said the exam can not test all the skills, most supervisors think the time allocated for socio-cultural activities is not enough, the first grade students who did not attend the nursery school found it difficult to adapt the elementary school and the handwriting system because generally teachers tend to start basic skills as soon as possible, such as maths, reading, etc..Conclusions and Recommendations: The teaching curriculum except for its being too comprehensive was evaluated more positively by supervisors. The curriculum's philosophy has not brought crucial criticism. However, the implementation and teacher efficacy were evaluated more negatively by the supervisors. In this sense, it is necessary to discuss the problems extensively, make up for the deficiencies and make the necessary changes.
Problem Statement: In 2012 Ministry of National Education in Turkey has revised the education system so that the new 4+4+4 system requires a three-tier model of education with primary, secondary, and high school components. As with many changes in the curriculum, foreign language (FL) teaching has also been changed and the starting age for learning a FL has been lowered to 6.6 years of age (second grade). As one of the parties of the education process, teachers’ views about this curriculum change and their understanding of teaching English to young learners (TEYL) have great importance. Purpose of Study: The current research aims to investigate English teachers’ ideas towards the starting age for FL learning, how it should be conducted with young learners, and finally what their current practices are when teaching children. Methods: The data for the study is gathered from 203 primary school English teachers from seven different regions of Turkey via a questionnaire consisting of three parts concerning the aforementioned issues. The first part has closed and open-ended questions and aims at finding teachers views about the starting age/grade for language learning. Second part investigates teachers’ beliefs about TEYL and third part
Problem Statement: By considering the innovations in the field of communication, the inter-relationship between cultures, and the developments in the world, the Ministry of Education has started to take measures for students to learn languages such as German, French, Russian, Spanish, Japanese, Italian, Arabic, etc., in educational institutions in addition to English. For example, two foreign languages are taught in the Anatolian high schools. Since more and more classic high schools are converted into Anatolian high schools, the need for dual foreign language lessons and the teachers who can give these lessons is increasing. The Board for Higher Education has introduced second foreign language lessons in the foreign language teacher programs, envisioned as three semester programs in order for language teachers to gain experience in the field of two languages. Private education institutes are drawing more students by emphasizing their instruction of more than one foreign language. In some districts of certain major cities, teaching foreign languages has started as early as kindergarten. In Turkey, in the basic education, primary schools, secondary schools and higher education institutes, German is the preferred second foreign language in general. The quality of German language lessons should be improved to encourage more students to elect German as their second foreign language.Purpose of the Study: The purposes of this research is to explain the development of the educational marble game, review the effect of the game on the success of learning German as a second language, and reveal how this lesson is planned. Observations were made, photographs were taken and reports were written during the implementation. A 24-item test was used as pre-test and post-test during the German course while they were learning vocabulary at Hacettepe University, Faculty of Education, Department of Foreign Language Education, Division of English Language Teaching.Method: This study is a quasi-experimental study. The researcher began to design educational games in the early 1990s to draw the students' attention to the lessons and to ensure they retain what is taught. These games were developed at a university and tested at the German School in Ankara and other Turkish schools (Coskun, 2004, pp. 37-54; Coskun, 2005, pp. 187-218). Expert opinions were taken during the design of the educational games and the implementation stages. Photographs were taken during the implementation of the games, reports were prepared, and notes were taken during the observations (Glesne, 2011, p. 6). This research was conducted during the 2012/2013 academic year on 80 students who elected German as a second foreign language at the Hacettepe University, Faculty of Education, Department of Foreign Language Education, Division of English Language Teaching. Students focused on vocabulary learning in both the control (group A) and experimental (group B) groups. Before making the ANCOVA analysis, people at the limit values in the data, those who did not participate in the preliminary or final tests and those who were absent during the lessons were eliminated (deleted) from the analysis. At the end of this process, an analysis was conducted on a total of 64 people, with 34 in the experiment group and 30 in the control group. Group A was taught in the traditional method and group B was taught through the use of the educational marble game. A pre-test was applied to both groups before the lessons and a final test was given at the end of the lessons after one week.Findings and Results: The ANCOVA results show that the average score of the experiment group (which used the educational marble game) was meaningfully higher than the control group that used the traditional method. With the help of educational games it is possible to capture the students' interest and keep them busy in German classes for a long time. It is important that educational games are developed with special regard to educational sciences and socio-pedagogy. Classifying the games as primary or supplementary and supporting them with materials will make them effective in guiding the students. During the implementation, the students showed great interest in the marble game and all the students participated in the lessons. As in the case of the food names lesson, the students in group B learned the words better than the students in group A.Conclusion and Recommendation: It was concluded that vocabulary learning through the use of the educational marble game method was more effective than the success of the students on which the traditional method was used. Therefore, the educational marble game is a method that could be effective in vocabulary lessons. Educational games should be used in lessons so the students show more interest in German lessons and are motivated to learn German during the rest of the semester. Educational games should be developed with the help of educational sciences and social pedagogy and implemented in this manner. When developing such educational materials, students' knowledge of their mother tongue and foreign language(s) should be considered. Additionally, the target group's age and interests should be taken into account.
Basis of the study: The claims that the sociology of education has been in a crisis seem to be dependent upon the insufficiencies in doing science and acquiring results with the ontological and epistemological foundations of sociology as a discipline of science. The sociology of education has taken shape from the outset in the framework of American sociological tradition, and therefore has been the conveyor model of impasses arising from the limitedness of functionalist sociological agreement and pragmatic science tradition. The structure of a science practice of this sort favoring status quo, not only has narrowed its boundaries but it also has brought about the fact that the sociology of education has been unsuccessful in its defined targets such as the relationship between reality and education and unification of the issue of education with factual developments. Purpose of the study: In this study, the kinds of directions taken in the field of the sociology of education is critically evaluated together with an assessment of issues in the field: the theoretical and methodological grounds of the practice of the sociology of education in Turkey; and the kinds of problems that the field is facing in the present situation. Sources of Evidence: What is primary here is to characterize the theoretical and methodological insufficiencies in the background of claims of crisis. The epistemological and ontological discussions, which are descriptive of the insufficiencies in question, are evaluated with reference to the main texts, and the validity of claims of crisis in sociology of education is questioned with reference to the science practices that have dominated the discipline's course of development. Convictions in the West with regard to the idea that the sociology of education is in a crisis are exemplified in Inonu University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Sociology, aliesgin@hotmail.com
Problem statement: Problem behavior theory describes both protective factors and risk factors to explain adolescent problem behaviors, such as delinquency, alcohol use, and reckless driving. The theory holds that problem behaviors involving risky behavior are used by adolescents as a means to gain peer acceptance and respect. Problem behaviors constitute a significant part of gaining independence from the family, coping with stress, and eliminating or reducing negativity and pressure. Purpose of study: This study was designed to examine the risk factors related to personality systems, the risk factors related to perceived environment, and the effects of risk-taking variables on problem behavior in a structural model. Methods: This study constitutes causal comparative research in which the effects of personal system risk factors, perceived environment risk factors, and risk-taking variables on problem behavior are analyzed and performed using correlation research. Data have been collected during research sessions with different age groups, and cross-sectional research methods have been used. The dependent variable of the research is problem behavior, while the independent variables are personality characteristics and environment. The mediating variable is risk-taking. The study sample consists of adolescents aged 15 to 18 in Turkey. With purposive sampling, 2834 adolescents with different socioeconomic and cultural characteristics from three Turkish cities (i.e., Ankara, Sivas, and Mugla) were selected. Both a personal data form and the Adolescent Health and Development Questionnaire (AHDQ) were used. For data analysis, participants’ demographic characteristics and average scores according to scale frequency and percentage distribution were used. In
Problem statement: A significant decrease has been recently observed in the resources for education allocated from Turkey’s public budget, despite the increasing number of teachers and students. It is possible to better observe this trend at the primary education stage, which is compulsory and free at public schools through law no 42 under the Constitution. Allocating fewer resources from the public budget for primary education has led to parents’ contributing more to primary education financing. Moreover, parents’ contributions to these schools are not limited to monetary contributions. Through various projects and regulations, parents are expected to contribute voluntarily and in an indirectly monetary way, such as helping with office work, working in measurement-assessment services, participating in school trips, etc. Purpose of the study: This study aims to present the type of parents’ voluntary, but not directly monetary, contributions to schools according to school administrators’ views, and assess whether these contributions differ in sub dimensions of the scale and in other variables. Method: The research is a survey model, and 443 public schools located in
Problem statement: Writing an essay is a most difficult creative work and consequently requires detailed instruction. There are in fact two types of instruction that contribute to the development of writing skills: Reading activities analysing texts in content and schematic structure to find out how they are composed and process writing activities. The reading activities in Turkish textbooks are thought to be insufficient in this aspect, and although process writing is adopted, it is not put into practise with such activities as writing on the text read or a proverb giving students a list of writing rules.Purpose of Study: This study aims to determine the effect of process writing activities on the writing skills of prospective Turkish teachers as well as to equip them with the writing strategies to apply when teaching writing and to propose several activities in this context.Methods: One-group pretest-posttest experimental design was used. Thirty-four first-year students at Istanbul University Education Faculty Turkish Department taken as sample wrote essays as pretest on a topic of their choosing from a presented list. They were then asked to write essays on the same topic as posttest after a 24-lesson process writing instruction. The pretests and posttests were evaluated by three experts using the "Writing Assessment Rubric" developed from the criteria for assessing written texts in the field and the activities done in the class as a base. The Cronbach's alpha reliability factor is found to be ,953 for the rubric. The students were also asked to answer a questionaire with open-ended questions to support the research in a qualitative aspect.Findings and Results: The results of paired samples t-test are found significiant at (p<0.01) level in all writing skills constituting "Writing Assessment Rubric".Conclusions and Recommendations: The activities are especially important for prospective Turkish teachers since in addition to improving their writing skills, they also learn how to teach writing. In the questionnaire the students claimed that they learned a planned method of writing, they could understand and evaluate the texts more easily analysing how they have been written, they gave more importance to title, unity, and coherence and they knew what to write and how to write. One student's comment, "I have learned to look not only at the texts I read but also at current events from different perspectives", indicates that process writing also improves thinking.
Problem Statement: Creativity has been addressed by many scientists and thinkers. Among them, Guilfort regards creativity as the ability to generate new ideas, and relates it to intelligence. According to Thurstone, creativity must develop and be implemented within a theoretical framework, and a solution must result. Torrance thinks of creativity as a scientific research process and sequences its steps.Purpose of Study: This study was conducted to explore whether significant differences in average fluency, flexibility, originality, elaboration, and total scores of students are observable on the basis of class level or gender, to determine whether a primary school curriculum that has been implemented for 6 years has significantly improved the creative thinking skills of students.Methods: The quantitative and qualitative methods were applied in the study. To this end, 172 students from grades 3 to 8 attending a primary school in Cankaya District of Ankara were selected randomly. Descriptive data analysis was conducted on the qualitative data. The data gathered from focus groups were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.Findings and Results: Significant differences were found in average fluency, flexibility, originality, elaboration, and total scores of classes. Fluency, flexibility, originality, elaboration, and total scores of the 5th graders were the highest compared to other classes. On the other hand, the 6th grade students' scores were the lowest. Fluency, flexibility, originality, elaboration and total scores increased from the 3rd to the 5th grade, but declined to their lowest levels in the 6th year. Scores increase once more in the 7th grade, only to fall again in the 8th grade.Conclusions and Recommendations: Significant differences were found in average fluency, flexibility, originality, elaboration and total scores with respect to class levels and gender. These findings are also supported by the outcomes of some other studies. It is stressed that there is a significant relation between class level, gender, and creativity. The significant difference exhibited by the 5th grade students in terms of four areas and total creativity scores can be explained by the fact that their ideas and products related to creativity enjoyed the support of their friends, families, and teachers. In order to improve children's creative thinking, teachers and the parents should be supported by further training programs.
Problem Statement: Design is an indispensable part of the human being. It enters one's life on the very first day that the eyes open. Design awareness is developed at an early age. With a proper education, even in the preschool years, design is experienced within one's close environment.Purpose of the Study: This study aims to determine the problems in the design education programs in the secondary schools of North Cyprus through evaluating Design and Technology lessons and proposing solutions in order to enhance the quality of design education. Accordingly, as a result of the first observations, problems occur and are defined, such as a lack of framework, systems, programs, and curriculum in teaching design. Additional problems are observed including a low level of physical and functional quality in the teaching and learning medium. Some teachers have a lack of knowledge and are not capable of teaching design, and some students have a lack of design background.Method: A one-year pilot study was conducted at four different secondary schools of North Cyprus. Accordingly, after the first series of observations were carried out using a random sampling method, the subject matter as the second action was conveyed to the Ministry of Education, which was determined as one of the actors in the action plan. Third, a commission was established by the Ministry of Education in order to initiate the action plan. Fourth, commission members who were selected among experienced experts developed a framework of teaching and learning. Fifth, the developed framework was tested at four pilot schools for a one-year study in addition to feedback given from the Design and Technology teachers in the seminars held. The internal and external feedback reflected the development and revisions to the tested framework.Findings and Results: Inter Creative Course Model was developed in line with the achieved results of the field study and offered three concepts: 1) learning by doing and doing by learning ("Hands on minds on,") 2) learning from friends and learning with friends ("Over the shoulder learning,") and 3) learning from experience ("Know how learning.") The model provided five benefits to the students: increase creative problem solving ability, develop self-confidence, improve social skills, reinforce aesthetic value and develop ability of management.Conclusions and Recommendations: The results of this study indicated that even an intangible concept such as design could easily be taught and learned like a tangible concept such as science or mathematics. A systematic structure including the alphabet of design, which contains its vocabulary and principles, will be presented in this study.
Problem Statement: Knowledge map (K-map) is a means of schematically displaying important verbal information in a text and relations among the pieces of information. In a K-map, information in a text is presented as node-link-node assemblies. There are two main approaches to the use of K-maps. First one is to train students to generate their own K-maps. And the second one is to use expert-generated K-maps.Purpose: The purpose of the present study is to determine whether expert-generated or student-generated knowledge maps have more positive influences on students' acquisition and recall levels. In light of the findings of the present study it is intended to find out which type of knowledge map is more effective and some suggestions will be made to develop better learning-teaching activities in elementary education.Methods: The present study, pre-and post-test experimental design with a control group is used. For the study, Experimental Group (Student-generated Knowledge Map) and Control Group (Expert-generated Knowledge Map) were determined with equal possibility. The study group of the present research consists of 29 eight grade students. Two data collection instruments were used to collect data in the study. One of them is "space relations aptitude test" and the other one is 31-item multiple choice "Acquisition Level Test" developed to evaluate the acquisition and recall levels of the students in relation to the text entitled "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs". In the present study, the text entitled "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs" was used on which K-maps would be constructed.Findings and Results: No significant difference was found between the acquisition and recall scores of the control group students using the expert-generated K-maps and those of the experimental group students using the student-generated K-maps. This shows that using whether the expert-generated K-maps or student-generated K-maps did not lead to significant difference in acquisition and recall levels.Recommendations: In light of the findings of the present study, it can be argued that use of expert-generated K-maps in learning-teaching process has effects on acquisition and recall levels of students similar to the effects of using student-generated K-maps. Both expert-generated and student-generated K-maps can be used in the learning-teaching process built on constructivist approach.
Problem Statement: The problem of this research is identifying the difficulties that undergraduate students experience during their internships and assessing their future intention to work in the tourism industry.Purpose of Study: This research aims to identify the problems undergraduate students encounter as interns in tourism programs and to document their views on the tourism sector after their internships. The paper also focuses on whether the problems experienced during the internship program affect the students' intention to work in the tourism business in the future.Methods: All research constructs were measured using multiple-item, five-point Likert scales. Third- and fourth-year undergraduate students from two different universities who had completed their internships were selected for the study Balikesir and Canakkale universities were selected by convenience sampling, and the surveys were conducted with 330 of the 550 available students.Findings and Results: Internship problems have four dimensions, though from a business perspective, the problems can also be viewed from two sub-dimensions. The findings of this study reveal that interns are given only very basic employee rights, that interns are viewed as cheap labor, and that the service business does not contribute to the professional development of interns. All these issues negatively influence interns' motivation. The results of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) show that problems encountered during internships negatively affected the students' attitudes toward tourism-related jobs, which in turn undermined their intention to work in this business in the future.Conclusions and Recommendations: The findings of the study indicate that the problems faced during internships have implications both for universities and businesses. Contemporary internship practices necessitate reconsideration by universities. Moreover, the findings show that the business sector does not provide the necessary attention, compensation, and professional conditions to trainees. Collaboration with educational institutions is necessary in order to improve the relationship between interns and tourism enterprises. The managers of tourism enterprises should understand that the interns are required to be there by their schools and that their opinions are shaped by this fact. Consequently, the managers should adopt a more friendly approach to interns, which will yield more positive responses and make the students feel more comfortable in the work place. The study was limited to third and fourth year undergraduates from Schools of Tourism and Hotel Management in Balikesir and Canakkale because of time and cost issues, which also influenced the data collection.
Problem statement: Parental involvement is used as an umbrella term to imply parents' efforts to take an active role in their children's education. In this sense it takes many forms ranging from parent child communication to participating/volunteering in school activities. Although parental involvement is one condition for students' success, the relation between parental involvement and academic achievement must be studied through a task- and grade (age)-specific approach.Purpose of the study: It was aimed to investigate the parental involvement tasks as predictors of primary students' (1st to 5th) Turkish, math, and science & technology achievement in the form of end-of-the-year scores.Method: The study was designed as an associational model employing the correlation method. The participants were 1590 parents. They were parents of first to fifth grade students from six primary schools in Malatya province. Turkish Parental Involvement Scale (TPIS), which includes 39 items under 8-factors (parental involvement tasks), was used to gather data from parents as the predictive (independent) variable. Also, these parents' children's end-of-the-year achievement scores from Turkish, math, and science & technology courses were used in regression analyses as the predicted (dependent) variable.Findings and results: This research found significant low-to-moderate correlations (ranging between r=.103 and r=.338), either in a positive or negative direction, between parental involvement and students' Turkish, math, and science & technology achievement scores through different grades. Relatively the strongest predictors of Turkish achievement scores were parental support for child's personality development and support for child's socio-cultural development, volunteering, communication with child, and helping with homework. Relatively the strongest predictors of math achievement scores. were the same with Turkish except for helping with homework. Relatively the strongest predictors of science & technology achievement scores were parental support for child's personality development, volunteering, and communication with child. Tasks such as communication with teacher/school, personal development, helping with homework (except for fifth grade Turkish scores), and enabling home-setting were not found as significant predictors of academic achievement. Parents' support for their children's socio-cultural development and volunteering together explained 18.6% of the variance in students' Turkish achievement scores and 24.2% of the variance in math achievement scores in first grade. The predictive powers of other associations were generally low (R-2 < .096).Conclusions and Recommendations: It was concluded that parents' support for their children's personality and socio-cultural development, volunteering, and communication with child were found to be significant predictors of pupils' academic achievement. Thus, it was considered important that children should be addressed directly in terms of parental involvement. Parents were recommended to support their children's sociocultural development and volunteer during the first years of school, and next were recommended to support their personality and especially during the fifth year have effective communication with their children.
Problem Statement: When students graduate, they begin to work and start facing the real and difficult life outside school. In addition, what they are obliged to do is that they both have to stand on their own feet and become good members of the society they live in. Furthermore, the students at education faculties are going to be the educators of the future and they will be able to affect many people who will study in their classes. Therefore, it is crucial to study the moral development of university students, especially the students studying at education faculties. Additionally, self-realization, which is the highest level of Maslow's hierarchy for needs, is also important as it is the main force to motivate a person. Purpose of the Study: This study investigates the moral development of university students who study at education faculty. Then the study aims to find out whether there is a correlation with the moral development abilities of the participants and their self-realization levels. Methods: The Turkish versions of Defining Issues Test (DIT) prepared by Akkoyun (1987) and Personal Orientation Inventory prepared by Kuzgun (1973) were given to the participants with an introductory part in order to get some demographic information such as age, gender, the literacy of parents, and so forth. Results: At the end of the study it is found out that the education level of mothers is very important for the moral judgment of participants. The study also shows that students with higher level of self-realization are better at moral judgment. Conclusions and Recommendations: The results reveal that the Junior students' level of moral judgment is higher than the level of Freshman students. Also, the education level of mothers and the departments of students affect participants' moral judgment scores. It is suggested to carry out more studies in order to analyze personal and cultural factors affecting people's moral judgment.
Problem Statement: Thought and behaviour patterns or habits of the people constitute the foundation of environmental problems. Assemblies, where the first step of the environmental protection awareness is taken politically, are supporting the recognition of this necessity with recently increased number of laws, and motivating individuals towards becoming eco-friendly. From this point, the problem sentence of this research was determined as "What is the level of the environmental attitudes, sensitivities and awareness among the staff and members of the TRNC Republican Assembly?". Purpose of Study: The purpose of this study is to determine and associate the environmental attitudes, sensitivities and awareness of the staff and members of the TRNC Republican Assembly, which is the centre where generally the laws, and specifically the environmental laws are drafted and implemented, and thus the environmental sensitivity of which is vital. Methods: The correlational survey model has been conducted in this research which is a quantitative study. The sample group is comprised of 44 persons randomly selected among 150 Republican Assembly members and staff. Data is collected by means of a questionnaire comprised of 3 sections and 72 items, which evaluates environmental awareness and environmental attitude. SPSS 16 programme is used for analysing the data. The data is analysed using arithmetic mean, frequency-percentage distribution, t-test, and one-way analysis of variance. Findings and Results: The evident obtained as result of the research suggest that the environmental attitudes / awareness of assembly members and staff is at "average frequency"; that there is a significant correlation between awareness / attitude and variables of age, education level, and the environmental education they have received in the past; and that, on the contrary, there is not significant difference in terms of the variables of gender and seniority. Conclusions and Recommendations: The general arithmetic means of answers given to Environmental Awareness Scale and Environmental Attitude Scale by staff and members of the Assembly showed a "medium frequency" level. In order to ensure and sustain environmental protection and environmental awareness, first of all education of persons should be supported. Environmental education lessons should be given to increase the low levels of environmental perception among TRNC Republican Assembly members and staff, who should be provided with certain knowledge, perception, and skills related to this issue.
Problem Statement: Teachers' construction of their knowledge and their world view is important in the change process. Teachers often feel discomfort when they find themselves operating according to metaphors that are not complementary to their personal world view and epistemology. By changing one or the other they may find a greater congruence and satisfaction with their teaching. Finding a practice and belief that are not only consistent with one another, but that are effective, is an important task of the teacher. In the past few years, the metaphor has been considered by individuals as a vehicle in understanding abstract, complex or institutional facts and a powerful intellectual vehicle in employing disclosure. From this perspective, examining, understanding and explaining the "teacher" concept from the perception of the teachers and students gives us an important clue that metaphors can be used not only as a discussion vehicle in how teaching should be, but also as a research vehicle. Purpose of Study: The general purpose of this study is to reveal the perceptions of high school students as well as their teachers at the very same schools with regard to the concept of "teacher" by means of metaphors. Methods: This study has been conducted within the qualitative research paradigm. The work group is composed of high school students (tenth grade 117) of Ataturk Vocational School located in Nicosia, the capital of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and all the teachers (72) at the same school. Findings and Results: In this section, the metaphors that were obtained from the research were gathered under eight themes, presented in tables and interpreted for this purpose, initially, the "logical rationale" (reasons or the causes put forward that are related to why it happened in that way) put forward by the teachers and students related to each metaphor was carefully analyzed. At first glance, some metaphors (for example, computer, book, library, etc. or cook, sculptor, carpenter, etc.) were easily gathered into themes while other (for example, flower, child, hope, etc.) themes determined by field specialists required more careful analysis and discussions. Conclusion and Recommendations: As a result, around two thirds of the students that are included in this study describe the teacher with traditional aspects such as knowledge transfer, shape acquirer, instructor whereas more than half of the teachers argue that they have an approach that shows personal attention to and meets the needs of students in assisting their personal development, that entertains during teaching, that is therapeutic and also formative in the obtainment of information.
