Improving a required course in our curriculum that has proven to be a challenge for our students was the focus of this study. Surveys of both students and instructors attempted to identify specific problem areas. Using the information from these surveys, the researchers developed a series of videos to explain vital course concepts and deployed these into the course sections. The purpose of the videos is to provide consistency across the multiple modalities in which we offer our courses (including online, classroom and via videoconferencing) and to improve overall student understanding. This project seeks to determine how supplemental content focusing on material identified as “difficult,” by students and instructors, can impact student performance. Challenges include the deployment of the videos across various modalities and obtaining sufficient student feedback.

Understanding the structure of energy literacy is of importance to provide an effective energy education. This article reports the difference in attributes of energy literacy by applying the energy literacy structural model proposed in our previous study through lower secondary school students in Thailand (N = 635) and Japan (N = 1070). Results indicated that Thai students scored higher than those of Japan except the basic energy knowledge and awareness of consequences. On the other hand, the amount of basic energy knowledge did not affect to increase the entire energy literacy of Japanese students. Moreover, mean values of Japan tended to decrease with the school year progression. The energy literacy model was able to support our previous outcome that the awareness of consequences plays a critical role to link between basic energy knowledge and energy-saving behavior. The social expectations or pressures may affect the structure of energy literacy of Thai students. This study suggested that the energy education required in Thailand is to enable students to derive solutions by their own critical thinking based on knowledge relevant to the energy and environmental issues. While, for Japan, it may be necessary to implement energy education as early as possible to enhance students’ awareness of consequences in an appropriate manner incorporating with family participation and visiting energy-related facility. These findings contribute the development of energy education for improving energy literacy in an effective manner.  

The aim of this study is to develop an Entrepreneurship Scale to measure the entrepreneurial skills of 5th grade students and to conduct the reliability and validity of the scale. This research is a descriptive survey method. The pilot application was made with 432 students in Amasya City in Turkey. SPSS 23 and LISREL 8.80 programs were used to analyze the data. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was performed to construct the validity. As a result of exploratory factor analysis, a 4-factor structure emerged on the scale. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the structure, and it was determined that the developed model was in compliance with the criteria in the literature. These sub-factors were identified as meaningful in terms of self-confidence, need for success, personal benefit and leadership and responsibility. The Cronbach Alpha internal consistency coefficient of the scale was determined as 0.77. At the end of the research, a reliable and valid measurement scale about entrepreneurship was developed for the 5^th grade students.

In this study, it was aimed to investigate the relationship between the art interests and critical thinking dispositions of the students who study fine arts education in the faculty of education. The sample of the research consisted of 236 fine arts education students including 123 from the department of painting teaching and 113 from the department of music education. In the research, relational survey method was used. It was found in the research that the art interests of the students were at the level that can be considered as good. In addition, it was noticed that the average scores of critical thinking dispositions of the students were at moderate level. One of the findings obtained from the study was that there was no significant difference between the scores of art interest and critical thinking according to gender. Another finding was that art interests of the students in the music department were significantly higher compared with the scores of the students in the department of art education. In addition, a positive moderate level of relationship was found between the art interest and critical thinking, analyticity, inquisitiveness sub-dimensions; significantly low positive relationship with self-confidence, systematicity, searching truth and cognitive maturity sub-dimensions.

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 aim this qualitative study is to determine current situation of policy on teacher employment model in Turkey from the perspectives of contracted teachers. The sample of the study consisted of 24 forms and branch teachers who were determined with the method of convenience sampling. The inclusion criterion for the sample was being contracted teachers who were employed in the provinces of Erzurum and Sanliurfa in Turkey in the academic year of 2017-2018. The data of the study was collected by using a semi-structured interview form consisting of open-ended questions. The data was analyzed by using the qualitative research method of content analysis. The findings of the study were discussed under the themes of the objective of contracted teaching, its negative aspects, and the future of the practice and solution recommendations. According to the results of the study, the vast majority of the participants were aware of the objectives of the practice of contracted teaching. The participants thought that the practice provided continuity in instruction-teaching and teachers at the schools they were appointed to. The vast majority of the participants were of the opinion that the practice of contracted teaching led to status discrimination as tenured-contracted teachers, and this reduced their motivations and organizational commitment. They stated that this practice carried negative aspects in terms of postgraduate education and being prospective teachers.

In a situation where life is insecure and the future seems to hang by a thread, motivating students to learn a second language that has no immediate need in their daily lives could be challenging. This article explores the motivation to learn English as a second language of students and the use of motivational strategies of English teachers in one state of Myanmar, which has undergone civil wars for more than seventy years. Sequential explanatory mixed-method research was employed to investigate this complex phenomenon. Questionnaires, classroom observations, and semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data. A pleasantly surprised finding showed that the students could still remain a certain level of motivation to learn English amidst great hardship and fear in everyday life. As for the teachers’ motivational strategies, most that were observed and reported did not tend to support students’ autonomy. The findings lend support to previous studies on the effects of unstable sociopolitical situations on students and teachers and highlight the needs for effective teacher trainings for pre-service and in-service teachers in such areas.

This study was carried out to determine the effect of literature circles on the social skills of fourth-grade elementary school students. To this end, the study was designed as a quasi-experimental study and carried out on 74 students in a public elementary school in the Pamukkale district of Denizli, Turkey. The literature circles method was administered to an experimental group for 18 weeks. In the control group, activities continued in line with the current Turkish Course Curriculum. “School Social Behavior Scales” were used as a data collection instrument. A comparison of the scores on the scales revealed that there was a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in favor of the experimental group. The results imply that the literature circles method had a positive influence on the development of the students’ social skills.

The aim of this research is to examine the psychological resilience levels of students studying in the Faculty of Sports Sciences according to some variables. The sample of the study consisted of Sports Sciences Faculty students of Duzce University, and the population consisted of 200 students from the Sports Sciences Faculty selected through a convenience sampling method. An eight-item personal information form developed by the researcher for demographic characteristics and ‘‘Short form of resilience scale’’ to determine resilience levels of participants were used. According to data obtained, while resilience levels, grades, gender, branch, department, age, and income variables of participants did not show a significant difference (p>0,05), it showed a significant difference according to sports age and place of living variables (p<0,05). Besides it was determined that resilience scores of male participants were higher than females, and team athletes had higher scores than individual athletes, lower classes had higher scores than upper classes, sports management students had higher scores than coaching and physical education and sports teaching students, and students who had younger age had higher scores than students who had older age. As a result of research, it was determined that resilience could be differed by class, sports age, residence variables. Also, it was revealed that sports age affects resilience negatively.

Shared leadership enables employees to develop positive feelings for their organizations and themselves. Especially, their devotional feelings and behaviours towards their organizations increase with the sharing of leadership. In this study, the shared leadership of the school and the organizational commitment levels of the teachers, their relationship with each other and the predictive status were examined. This study is a research within relational survey model. The data of the research were collected from 512 teachers in primary and secondary schools in Malatya districts of Turkey in the 2019-2020 academic year. The data were collected through the Shared Leadership Scale and the Organizational Commitment Scale of Teachers. For the analysis of the data, t-test, ANOVA test, correlation and regression analyzes were performed. According to the results of the research, shared leadership and organizational commitment levels in primary and secondary schools are high. There is a positively significant and moderate correlation between the shared leadership of the school and the organizational commitment of teachers. Shared leadership in primary and secondary schools positively and significantly predicts teachers' organizational commitment. For this reason, in order to increase the organizational commitment of teachers; it is important to create a sharing school life, in order to support teachers for the purposes of the organization and to include them in decision-making processes. According to the results obtained, it is recommended that young teachers with lower organizational commitment be given more duties, powers and responsibilities.

The aim of the present study is to examine the effect level of procrastination on academic achievement. To this end, a meta-analytic approach was applied and the studies published between January 2000 and May 2020 in Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) and Academic Search Ultimate databases were included in the study. The research was limited to articles examining the correlation between the variables and, accordingly, the correlation coefficient was specified as an index to identify the effect size. After reviewing 22 relevant studies with 8307 participants, the meta-analysis was conducted through Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (CMA) software. The findings revealed that the variables were negatively correlated with each other and the overall effect size of procrastination on academic achievement was found -0.61, which can be interpreted as the medium effect size. The findings of the study endorse the main tenets of theoretical framework regarding the aforementioned link.

This research aims at revealing the effects of Second Life (SL) application used in virtual environment in art and design education of creativity. This research is a qualitative study conducted evaluating the results of a group of 16 students studying art and design at universities, for a period of 12 weeks. For SL, a 3D, online, multi-user virtual environment was chosen as the study area.  The process of the research was evaluated by the researcher with a Structured Observation Form (SOF). Student designs were evaluated by four graduated artists/educators and researchers with a Rubric. The study group discovered SL during the application process. They made numerous trials, took risks and tried different solutions in SL. The design process that started with an avatar creation continued with 3D design, adding texture, colour, and script to objects and creating a notecard. According to the researcher’s feedback based on SOF, the group is considered “Good” in the design process. According to the Rubric for creativity, applied by the experts is evaluated as “Accomplished.” As for the rubric applied by the researcher, the group is evaluated “Good.” Based on these results, it can be considered that the inclusion of SL in the art and design education curriculum will contribute to 21st century skills and develop imagination and creativity of students.

Motivation for school is an important concept which influences students’ academic, social and cultural development. Leadership behaviours to be displayed by school principals can be thought to affect the network of social relations in school and to support the climate of trust in school for students to develop positive attitudes towards the school. In this context, this paper aims to analyse the correlations between school principals’ social justice leadership behaviours, students’ trust in school principals and motivation for school. The study group was composed of 762 secondary school students from Altindag district of Ankara. The data were collected with social justice leadership scale, trust in the school principal scale and motivation for the school scale. The data were put to descriptive analysis, correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis. The findings demonstrated that students had moderate level of perceptions of school principals’ social justice leadership behaviours and trust in school principals and high level of motivation for school. Besides, significant correlations were also found between the variables. Additionally, it was found that social justice leadership predicted significantly trust in school principals and motivation for school. The findings showed that the social justice leadership behaviors of the school principal play a key role on students’ motivation and their trust in the principals.

The objectives of this research were to: 1) Study the suitability of the indicators to be included in the model, 2) Test the consistency of the model developed from the theories and research studies’ empirical data, 3) Evaluate reliability value of the main components, the sub-components and other related indicators. The population used in the research were the teachers in the schools under the local administrative organization of Thailand. The multistage random sampling was used for the selection of 660 samples from a total population of 30,359 teachers across the country. The following results were observed: 1) All of the 52 indicators used in the research were appropriate according to the specified criteria, 2) The theoretical model was found to have been consistent with the empirical data. All of the statistical figures including; Relative Chi-Square, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation, Goodness-of-Fit Index, Adjusted Goodness-of-Fit Index, Comparative Fit Index, and Normed Fit Index: NFI, were found to have met with the specified criteria in both the first and the second confirmation factor analyzes, and 3) The primary element’s factor loading was between 0.73 to 1.48, which is higher than the criteria of 0.70, the sub-element’s factor loading was between 0.67 to 1.72 and the indicators weight was between 0.68 to 1.37, which is higher than the criteria of 0.30. These results indicate that the theoretical model developed in this research can be effectively used with construct validity for the development of the targeted samples in a research study.

The purpose of the study is to examine pre-service teachers' impromptu speaking skills on the basis of the evaluations of the instructor, peers and their own. The study employed a descriptive case study design, one of the qualitative research methods. A total of 23 pre-service math teachers taking the course of Art of Effective Speech in a state university in Turkey in the 2016-2017 academic year participated in the study. The data of the study were collected through the observations of the researcher and pre-service teachers. Descriptive analysis was used in the analysis of the data. As a result of the study, it was found that in most of the observation items, the pre-service teachers found themselves inadequate in terms of impromptu speaking skills while they were found to be adequate by their peers and instructor. In addition, it was revealed that the pre-service teachers found themselves inadequate in some items related to the use of voice while they found themselves adequate in most of the items related to articulation/diction and body language and in all of the items related to communication. However, while the instructor observed that the pre-service teachers were generally competent in all the sub-dimensions, she determined that they needed improvement in the sub-dimensions of eye contact, pausing at the appropriate place and speaking without repeating words.  

The research aims were to examine the relationship among psychological resilience, patience, and happiness levels of physical education teachers employing in İzmir, Afyonkarahisar, and Muğla provinces in the Aegean Region and was to explain whether psychological resilience and patience levels predict happiness. The research was a descriptive study in the relational scanning model. The study participants consisted of 336 PE teachers, 182 (54.2%) were males, and 154 (45.8%) were females.. The data were obtained using the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS), Patience Scale and Oxford Happiness Questionnaire. In the analysis of data were used SPSS 25 statistical program. The analysis of the data descriptive statistics, correlation, and statistical regression methods were used. As a result of the research, it was determined that the psychological resilience, patience, and happiness levels were at medium levels according to the average score the PE teachers got from the scales. It was found that there is a moderate positive relationship between PE teachers' psychological resilience, patience, and happiness levels, and psychological resilience and patience levels are a significant predictor of happiness.

The aim of the research was to investigate the relation between middle school students' perceptions of school climate and school motivation, whether school climate perceptions have a significant power on school motivation as well as to see if those perceptions and motivation differ significantly depending on gender, grade level, and school location variables. The sample of the study consisted of 674 middle school students studying in two state schools, which were located in the central district and village in Kosk province in Aydin in Turkey. Data were collected by using School Climate Perceptions Scale and School Motivation Scale with three questioned personal information form. Results showed that there were significant medium-level correlations between school climate perceptions and school motivation of middle school students. While grade-level variables had significant differences in both school climate perceptions and school motivation of middle school students, the location did not create a difference. On the other hand, gender had a significant difference only with school motivation. Finally, the model tested student-teacher relation significantly predicted 18% of the school motivations of middle school students.

In the field of education, globally, teachers are recognised as important contributors in shaping learners’ interaction in a cooperative learning environment through effective lesson planning. There is a plethora of research conducted internally on lesson planning, as a critical instructional competency for good teaching and as a purposeful activity that precedes the delivery of instruction. This study aimed to explore Life Orientation teachers’ lesson planning incorporating a cooperative teaching and learning approach in secondary schools in De Aar, South Africa. The researchers adopted a mixed-methods phenomenological research design. Seven Grade 10 Life Orientation teachers were purposely selected to collect semi-structured interviews data, non-participatory observation, and document analysis. Data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis and supported with the literature review and the theory underpinning this study. This paper suggests an enactment between teachers’ subject and pedagogical content knowledge and instructional material. Lastly, it is also evident that many teachers lack knowledge, insufficient instructional resources, and an understanding of effective lesson planning to implement a cooperative teaching approach.

What are missing in the U.S. education policy of “college for all” are supporting data and indicators on K-16 education pathways, i.e, how well all students get ready and stay on track from kindergarten through college. This study creates synthetic national longitudinal education database that helps track and support students’ educational pathways by combining two nationally-representative U.S. sample datasets: Early Childhood Longitudinal Study- Kindergarten (ECLS-K; Kindergarten through 8th grade) and National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS; 8th grade through age 25). The merge of these national datasets, linked together via statistical matching and imputation techniques, can help bridge the gap between elementary and secondary/postsecondary education data/research silos. Using this synthetic K-16 education longitudinal database, this study applies machine learning data analytics in search of college readiness early indicators among kindergarten students. It shows the utilities and limitations of linking preexisting national datasets to impute education pathways and assess college readiness. It discusses implications for developing more holistic and equitable educational assessment system in support of K-16 education longitudinal database.