This paper probes the ways of which structural formations of society manifest themselves in school practices. Towards this end, study focuses on the daily life experiences of high school students and their interactions with the broader society through making sense of these experiences. Within the scope of the research, 96 high school students attending 11th grade at six different types of high schools were interviewed. All schools are located at the central districts of Ankara. These school are Science (SH), Anatolian (AH), Vocational and Technical Anatolian, (VH) Fine Arts (FAH), Social Sciences (SCH), and Anatolian Imam and Preacher High Schools (IPH). Eight girls and eight boys were selected from each high school to compose study group. In this study, three major segments of experiences of high school student are located at the center of the scrutiny: expectations from students, limits and possibilities of social mobility and distinctive characteristics of school types, as they articulated by high school students. It was found that each high school has various characteristics that shape daily life activities of students. Expectation from students seems to occupy a primary position in establishing the ideas about the self-efficacy as well as legitimating teacher-student relationship. There seems to be intimate relationship among possibilities of social mobility, and school type, the condition that school type corresponds to the possible future positions student may have in the future. Similarly, distinctions across schools are produced with reference to what is going to happen to them in the near future.

Self-efficacy of science teachers has attracted many researcher interest since its association with teachers’ quality of instruction, teachers’ job satisfaction, and student’s achievement and motivation. Therefore, it is very crucial to investigate the factors that affect science teacher’s self-efficacy beliefs such as the components of school climate, the indicators of sources of self-efficacy, and teachers’ background characteristics. In this respect, this study was carried out to reveal the effect of a set of variables such as professional collaboration among teachers, teacher-student relation, disciplinary climate, needs for professional development in subject matter and pedagogy, workplace well-being and stress, experience of teachers, and gender of teachers on science teachers’ self-efficacy in instruction and self-efficacy in student engagement in Estonia, Japan, and Turkey. The variables of this study were gathered from the TALIS 2018. Multiple Logistic Regression was run to estimate the science teachers’ odds of having high self-efficacy in instruction and in student engagement across three countries. The results revealed that whereas significant odds ratios were yielded for some of variables related to school climate, sources of self-efficacy and teachers’ backgrounds, the magnitudes of the odds ratios show some variations across the countries.

Investigating whether the effects of extrinsic and intrinsic factors on teachers’ dissatisfaction with the teaching profession show variation between countries is crucial, especially given the significant impact on quality of instruction, which is also associated with student performance. In this respect, the main aim of this study is to reveal the effects of a group of variables categorized as extrinsic and intrinsic factors and covered in OECD’s 2018 Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS). These factors include teacher-student relations, perceived value of teachers in their society, the participation of stakeholders in school decisions, teacher cooperation, teacher salary satisfaction, teacher gender, socioeconomic status (SES) composition of the class, teacher workload, and this study examines TALIS results from Finland, Italy, and Turkey. Structural equation modelling (SEM) were carried out to reveal relationships between extrinsic factors and teacher satisfaction with the profession, to investigate the effects of extrinsic and intrinsic factors on the dimensions of teachers’ satisfaction, and to reveal relationships among the dimensions of teacher satisfaction. In addition, the probability of having dissatisfied teachers with their jobs for each country were estimated by using two consecutive multiple logistic regressions. The results indicated that teachers’ satisfaction with the environment had a positive effect on satisfaction with the profession, which is highest in Finland compared to Turkey and Italy. In addition, when a group of variables are controlled for, teachers’ dissatisfaction with the profession was highest in Finland among the three countries and lowest in Turkey. The response options were presented as “never (1), once a year or less (2), 2–4 times a year (3), 5–10 times a year (4), 1–3 times a month (5), and once a week or more (6)” (OECD, 2019a). The scale scores for these dimensions were taken for the SEM. In addition, for the logistic regression, two-level categorical variables were obtained by using the determined cut-off point on the scale scores. response

Peer tutoring has been implemented for two academic years (2017 - 18 and 2018 - 19) to a course and the internship of a postgraduate program of the Department of Education Sciences in Early Childhood of the Democritus University of Thrace. Until now fourteen students (eight students and six tutors) have been involved to the method. The purpose of this qualitative study is to research the students’ difficulties that were faced with tutoring and the difficulties of the tutors in applying the method, as well as the ways in which they were dealt with. Therefore, this research helps to highlight the importance of this method for the academic development of undergraduate and postgraduate students of the particular University Department and helps to collect data that could support the further development of the method itself in the Department.

School climate which is specified to be related with many outcomes of the students includes some of the components in which disciplinary climate in schools was expressed as the dominant one. Safety and order in schools which is strongly related with the physical and emotional security stated as one of the indicator of disciplinary climate in schools. Since the opportunities to focus on learning and teaching are more in safe and disciplined schools, the tendency of placing the academic success to the priority is observed more in these schools. In addition, allocating time to emphasizing on academic success is strongly related with having teaching time that is not interrupted by the basic needs of the students. Moreover, academic pressure which reflect the schools’ emphasis on academic success have been discussed in recent studies with its advantages and disadvantages. In this study, by scrutinizing the TIMSS 2015 data, the association of safety, order and disciplined issues, limitation of teaching by students’ needs, academic pressure, teachers’ gender and education level with the schools’ emphasis on academic success was investigated at 4th grade level in three different countries, Finland, Singapore, and Turkey, respectively. Multiple logistic regression was run to analyze the data. The results revealed that schools’ emphasis on academic success varies across three countries after controlling a group of variables. In addition, the estimated odds ratio for the explanatory variable of “safe, orderly and disciplined school” has the highest value among the explanatory variables for all three countries

Bu çalışmanın amacı Türkiye'de alt, orta veya üst sosyoekonomik statüdeki (SES) öğrencilerin PISA 2015 fen testindeki performansını yanlı olarak etkileyen madde özelliklerini araştırmaktır. Çalışmada profil analizi kullanılmıştır. Elde edilen sonuçlar PISA 2015 fen testinde, farklı SES düzeylerine sahip öğrenciler arasında yanlılığa neden olabilecek temel madde özelliklerinin cevap formatı ve bilgi boyutu olduğunu göstermektedir. Genel olarak, cevabın yazılmasını gerektiren ve prosedür bilgisiyle ilgili maddelerin düşük SES düzeyindeki öğrencilerin aleyhine işlediği görülürken, çoktan seçmeli ve içerik bilgisi gerektiren maddelerin de üst sosyoekonomik düzeydeki öğrencilerin zayıflığı olduğu belirlenmiştir.

This study was conducted to adapt SALES (Students’ Adaptive Learning Engagement in Science) scale, developed by Velayutham, Aldridge and Fraser (2011), into Turkish. The sample of this study was 472 (252 female 220 male) eight grade students from public schools of Ankara district. The scale was adapted into Turkish as an abbreviation of FOY (Fen Ogrenimine Yonelim). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were performed to reveal the factor structure of the adapted scale. Furthermore, internal consistency reliability analysis was applied to determine consistency of FOY scale. EFA and CFA analyses have exhibited some robust evidences for the validity of FOY scale and accounted 48.46% of the total variance. Internal consistency coefficients which were obtained for each of the dimensions of the scale were found in the range of 0.86 to 0.89 indicated the reliability of the scale. As a conclusion, it can be said that FOY scale is a valid and reliable based on the results which were obtained with regard to the related literature and statistical analyzes

Because school difference has been shown to be one of the determinants of students’ science performances, this study was carried out to investigate the differences between low- and high-performing schools in the United States based on TIMSS 2007. Discriminant analysis was conducted to explore the differences between low- and high-performing schools. The results revealed that the classified schools were significantly discriminated based on the six composite variables. Whereas using of inquiry-oriented activities were found to be encouraged in high-performing schools, teacher-centered activities were more often implemented in low-performing schools. As expected, socioeconomic status (SES) of the students was found to be one of the critical factors that explain the extent of variation of students’ science performances should be considered intensively by school administrations.

Because school difference has been shown to be one of the determinants of students' science performances, this study was carried out to investigate the differences between low- and high-performing schools in the United States based on TIMSS 2007. Discriminant analysis was conducted to explore the differences between low-and high-performing schools. The results revealed that the classified schools were significantly discriminated based on the six composite variables. Whereas using of inquiry-oriented activities were found to be encouraged in high-performing schools, teachercentered activities were more often implemented in low-performing schools. As expected, socioeconomic status (SES) of the students was found to be one of the critical factors that explain the extent of variation of students' science performances should be considered intensively by school administrations.

Considering the undeniable importance of science teachers in teaching science, this study was carried out to examine the average item difficulties in TIMSS 2011 with respect to various eighth grade student groups which were formed based on their science teachers’ background information and these teachers’ views on science learning environments. The results indicate that the average percentages of the students who answered science items correctly are higher in the group of students whose teachers have a major degree in science than those in the group of students whose teachers have a major degree in science education. In addition, the average percentage of the students who answered the science items correctly is lower in the group of students whose teachers preferred to use instructional strategies to engage their students in science instruction in most lessons than that in the group of students whose teachers preferred to use instructional strategies to engage their students in science instruction in only some lessons.

Considering the undeniable importance of science teachers in teaching science, this study was carried out to examine the average item difficulties in TIMSS 2011 with respect to various eighth grade student groups which were formed based on their science teachers' background information and these teachers' views on science learning environments. The results indicate that the average percentages of the students who answered science items correctly are higher in the group of students whose teachers have a major degree in science than those in the group of students whose teachers have a major degree in science education. In addition, the average percentage of the students who answered the science items correctly is lower in the group of students whose teachers preferred to use instructional strategies to engage their students in science instruction in most lessons than that in the group of students whose teachers preferred to use instructional strategies to engage their students in science instruction in only some lessons.

TIMSS (Trends in Mathematics and Science Study) which is a project of IAE (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement) was lastly conducted in 2011 and has drawn interest of many researchers with its fruitful data. 63 countries from all around the world participated TIMSS 2011 at fourth and eighth grade level. Turkey firstly participated this study in both fourth and eighth grade level at TIMSS 2011. Items in science achievement tests at both fourth and eighth grade levels in TIMSS are organized based on science content and cognitive domains. So, beside the average scores of the countries, TIMSS presents average scores with regard to science content and cognitive domains.Investigating the countries' scores as a whole may trigger to overlook some detailed results which are very crucial for educational policy makers, school administrators, teachers, and students. In this study, school categories such as low-performing schools, medium-performing schools, and high performing schools were created to investigate Turkey's results more deeply. IDB (International Database) Analyzer, which was developed by IAE for analyzing data from IEA's large-scale assessments, was used to investigate the differences between low-performing schools, medium-performing schools, and high performing schools with regard to the students' science content domain scores and their cognitive domain scores at both fourth and eighth grade levels in Turkey. In addition, the aforementioned school groups were examined with respect to the percentages of students who answered science items correctly.As a result of the analyses, it was found that in both fourth and eighth grade levels the earth science content domain scores relatively lower than the other domain scores for three categories of schools (low-, medium-, and high-performing school). In addition, surprisingly, the results revealed that fourth grade students' average reasoning domain scores are higher than students' both knowing and applying domain scores for three categories of schools. Moreover, the results revealed that even the students in high performing schools in Turkey have some difficulties to answer open-ended questions and reasoning items correctly at both fourth and eighth grade level in TIMSS 2011.

This study was carried out to investigate the differences between low- and high-performing schools in the United States based on instructional practices implemented in science classrooms by analyzing TIMSS-2007 data set. Discriminant analysis was conducted to explore the differences between two types of schools. The results revealed that the classified schools were significantly discriminated based on 13 variables (items) related to instructional practices in science classrooms. As a result, whereas students in high-performing schools do more inquiry oriented activities, students in low-performing schools have a tendency to engage more teacher-centered activities. The possible reasons of these results were discussed based on the science classroom practices in the United States.

The present study investigated the factors related to students’ science achievement in the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS 1999) using Linear Structural Modeling. The results suggest that there were negative relationships between students’ perception of failure in science, student-centered activities, and students’ attitudes toward science with students’ science achievement measures. Similarly, positive relationship was found between teacher centered activities and students’ science achievement. Based on the result of this study, the issues that need to be scrutinized in the Turkish educational system, especially in the line with the new science curriculum, have been discussed.

This study was designed to investigate the effectiveness of the conceptual change oriented instruction through demonstration over traditionally designed chemistry instruction on 10th grade students' understanding of chemical reactions and energy concepts and their attitudes towards chemistry as a school subject. One of the groups was defined as control group in which students were taught by traditionally designed chemistry instruction (TDCI), while the other group defined as experimental group in which students were instructed by conceptual change oriented instruction through demonstrations (CCID). The results showed that CCID caused significantly better acquisition of the scientific conceptions related to chemical reactions and energy concepts than TDCI. Also, the results showed that there was a significant difference between post-test mean scores of students taught with CCID and those taught with TDCI with respect to their attitude toward chemistry as a school subject in favor of CCID.

This study was designed to investigate the effectiveness of the conceptual change oriented instruction through demonstration over traditionally designed chemistry instruction on 10th grade students’ understanding of chemical reactions and energy concepts and their attitudes towards chemistry as a school subject. One of the groups was defined as control group in which students were taught by traditionally designed chemistry instruction (TDCI), while the other group defined as experimental group in which students were instructed by conceptual change oriented instruction through demonstrations (CCID). The results showed that CCID caused significantly better acquisition of the scientific conceptions related to chemical reactions and energy concepts than TDCI. Also, the results showed that there was a significant difference between post-test mean scores of students taught with CCID and those taught with TDCI with respect to their attitude toward chemistry as a school subject in favor of CCID.