This study aims to conduct a comparative analysis between the Century of T & uuml;rkiye Education Model Science Curriculum (2024, Grades 3-8) and Singapore's Science Syllabus (2023 implementation, Primary 3-6 and Lower Secondary 1-2) to examine the role of sustainability competencies and higher-order cognitive skills, which are at the forefront of global educational approaches. In this study, a qualitative document analysis was conducted to thematically evaluate the current curricula of both countries. Thematic coding and content analysis were performed using the QDA Miner qualitative data analysis software. The analysis revealed that sustainability and higher-order cognitive skills are explicitly included in both curricula but with distinct pedagogical priorities. Singapore's curriculum exhibited a significantly greater emphasis on practice-based and inquiry-based higher-order skills, such as Decision Making (56.0% vs. T & uuml;rkiye's 44.0%) and Problem Solving (54.8% vs. T & uuml;rkiye's 45.2%). Conversely, the Turkish curriculum placed a stronger emphasis on the theoretical dimensions of sustainability, specifically Future-Oriented Thinking (59.1% vs. Singapore's 40.9%) and Systems Thinking (53.7% vs. Singapore's 46.3%). Although the Turkish curriculum has a vision defined at the strategic level, the findings suggest that its implementation could benefit from integrating more explicit, step-by-step guidance and case studies to match its strong theoretical foundation. Overall, the findings reveal the strengths and areas for improvement of both programmes, offering valuable insights for curriculum development, teacher education, and assessment systems. By shedding light on the pedagogical foundations of sustainability-oriented science education, the study contributes significantly to understanding how educational systems are adapting to the demands of 21st-century skills.
This study explores the views and experiences of middle school mathematics teachers regarding technology integration. The research examines the teachers' use of technology, the benefits of using technology, the challenges encountered, solutions to these challenges, and their suggestions for broader teacher support. Indepth interviews were conducted with nine teachers selected through snowball sampling using a qualitative research method. According to the findings, teachers use technology to make content more visible, enrich lessons, and involve students more. However, the analysis based on the SAMR model shows that teachers mostly use technology at the substitution and augmentation levels. The benefits of technology include improving students' academic and affective development, making lessons more practical, and supporting teacher development. The challenges encountered were student-centered problems, teacher-based obstacles, time management problems, and technical/infrastructure problems. The solution suggestions include guidance, a preparation process, immediate problem-solving, and technical support. Teachers emphasized that technology use in schools was inadequate and suggested wider technology integration, such as seminars, motivational initiatives, project funding, administrative support, collaboration opportunities, better tool access, and increasing student technology use.
This systematic analysis evaluates Turkey's education strategies and policy documents, focusing on their compatibility with digital transformation and artificial intelligence (AI). The study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the country's current educational landscape and its preparedness for emerging technologies. Employing content analysis, documents were selected based on their direct relevance to national education policy, digital transformation, and AI integration, including recent publications like the Higher Education Council's (Y & Ouml;K) guide on generative AI. Findings indicate a significant gap between policy aspirations for digitalization and the on-the-ground realities of educational inequality and infrastructure deficits. While policy documents acknowledge these challenges, they often lack concrete mechanisms for sustainable implementation, a concern also highlighted in global reports. AI presents significant opportunities for personalized learning, teacher support, and curriculum development; however, it also raises critical ethical concerns regarding data privacy and equity. In conclusion, a multi-faceted and sustainable strategy is proposed to accelerate Turkey's digital transformation in education. This strategy should focus on strengthening the digital infrastructure to ensure equity of opportunity, aligning teacher training with new pedagogical models, establishing robust ethical guidelines for artificial intelligence, digitizing educational materials, centering stakeholder involvement in the system, and continuously feeding this entire process with research and development studies.
In the 21st century, rapid technological advancements and digital transformation have significantly impacted education, making innovation a central component of modern educational systems. Creating a school culture that values and sustains innovation has become increasingly important. This study explores the structural characteristics of innovative schools from the perspectives of school administrators who are actively leading innovative efforts. Employing a qualitative research design based on the phenomenological method, data were collected through focus group interviews. The participants consisted of 11 school administrators specializing in educational management, selected through criterion sampling. A semi-structured interview form with openended questions was developed by the researchers to guide the focus group discussions. The data obtained were analyzed through content analysis using the MAXQDA 2020 qualitative data analysis software. The findings of the study were categorized under six main sub-dimensions: the defining characteristics of innovative schools, the roles of innovative school managers, the contributions of teachers and parents to the innovation process, the outcomes of innovative educational practices, and practices that should be adopted or avoided in innovative school environments. The study contributes to the understanding of how school leadership shapes and sustains innovation, offering insights for policymakers and practitioners aiming to foster innovation in educational settings.
The primary purpose of this study is to investigate preservice science teachers' competencies related to AI-TPACK and their perceptions regarding the use of artificial intelligence in education. By examining these constructs, the study aims to provide insights into how preservice teachers integrate AI into their pedagogical and content knowledge and how their perceptions influence this process. This study adopted a quantitative survey research design. Specifically, two standardized instruments, the AI-TPACK and Perceptions of Artificial Intelligence in Education (PAI) scales, were administered simultaneously to preservice science teachers. The participants of this study consisted of 122 undergraduate students enrolled in the science education program at the faculty of education of a public university. The findings indicate that preservice science teachers' overall performance on the AI-TPACK scale reflected moderate competency in integrating AI into pedagogical practices. The highest mean scores highlighted willingness to integrate AI technologies into self directed learning, self-efficacy in enhancing conceptual understanding, and competence in using AI-based simulations. The findings revealed that preservice science teachers' overall results on the PAI indicated generally positive perceptions toward AI integration in education. Preservice science teachers particularly valued AI's contribution to efficiency, rapid assessment, and ease of access to information while noting potential drawbacks such as reduced student engagement and dependency. The analysis revealed a statistically significant positive correlation between preservice teachers' AI-TPACK competencies and their perceptions of AI. Results also indicated that male preservice teachers scored significantly higher in several AI-TPACK subscales. At the same time, prior AI training enhanced technological knowledge but did not necessarily improve pedagogical or content-related competencies. Overall, the findings highlight the need for targeted training opportunities emphasizing hands-on, pedagogically integrated use of AI to foster more comprehensive AI-TPACK competencies.
