In the study, a meta-analysis was conducted to determine the effect of the use of the learning cycle model on the achievements of the students. Doctorate and master theses, made between 2007 and 2016, were searched using the keywords in Turkish and English. As a result of the screening, a total of 123 dissertations, which used learning cycle models to increase the achievement of students, were included in the analysis. As a result of this study, it is confirmed that the effect of learning cycle models on students’ achievement is positive and the determined effect size was found out as 1.164 (% 95 CI, SE = .071) according to random effects model.. In the study, moderator analysis was made according to the learning cycle models, type of the dissertations, disciplines, and education levels of students. The analyses showed that among the learning cycle models, the highest effect size was determined in the 4E Model (2.659), among the dissertations the highest effect size was in master thesis (ES = 1.231), among the disciplines the highest effect size was in the other lessons (ES = 1.637) and among the educational levels the highest effect size was in the high school students (ES = 1.237).

The purpose of this study was to compare and associate BrainDance activity to a control group on reading scores as well as social, learning, and negative behavior. A total of 40 students in two classrooms participated in this study. A Likert scale and words per minute   reading scores followed by quantitative analysis using a t-test to document and assess students’ behaviors and reading scores. The findings indicated no significant difference in reading fluency, but the BrainDance group improved in four specific areas—focus, use of sense, multiple senses, and restlessness. There were positive correlations of social and learning behaviors, but negative correlations for learning and negative behaviors in addition to social and negative behaviors.

This study aims to describe achievement motivation on outstanding students in learning to write at the fifth grade  primary schools students. The research method used is descriptive qualitative. Subjects in this study were 18 achieving students. The data were collected through questionnaire, interview and observation. Analytical techniques used are interactive analysis consisting of data collection, data reduction, data presentation and conclusion. The results of this study indicate that the achievement motivation on outstanding students in learning writing is good, this happens because of several factors that support outstanding students in learning writing have good achievement motivation. There are factors of individuals (intern) and environmental factors (external), an individual factor which consists of 1) the competence of students; 2) belief to succeed, while environmental factors consists of 1) the competitive situation; 2) support from parents, 3) schools, including how to teach teachers.

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

This study analyses the relationships between schools’ structural capital, teachers’ organizational commitment and job satisfaction. 32 schools were selected randomly with cluster sampling method from the primary schools at Hatay city in the 2017-2018 academic year. Of the 300 questionnaires that were distributed, 264 were found to be validated and taken into analysis. The final structural equation model suggests that schools’ structural capital perceived by teachers is positively related to teachers’ organizational commitment and job satisfaction. Organizational commitment is a full mediator in the relationship between structural capital and job satisfaction. Teachers working at schools which are perceived to have a high level of structural capital, feel more committed to their school and thereby get satisfied with their job. School administrators are recommended to invest in promoting the level of school’s structural capital, if they want teachers to be more committed and satisfied which are key factors of performance at schools.

Pictologics (PLS) is a language teaching method which relies on imaginative usage of pictures. The current paper reports the effects of applying this method on enhancing critical thinking ability of the Malaysian students. 69 students (32 boys & 37 girls) in two classes in a public primary school in Penang, Malaysia participated in this study. The experiment covered ten 1-hour sessions which were all audio-recorded and video-taped. The main objective was to engage the students in short conversations in English by using new words that they were learning via PLS. The following qualitative instruments were employed in this study: interviews with the teachers, focus group interviews with the students, a group interview with students’ parents, class check-list of the students’ behavior during the sessions, photos, and video footages. The findings reveal significant patterns of critical thinking among the students such as recognizing and criticizing assumptions, giving reasons to support a conclusion, incorporating isolated data into a wider framework, and using analogies to solve problems. The author strongly recommends application of adopted PLS techniques to be used either alone, or combined with the other conventional language teaching methods.

This study aims to conduct Turkish adaptation, validity and reliability studies of the Teacher Rating Scales of Early Academic Competence. This study also aims to examine and improve early academic competence thoroughly on the basis of teachers’ ratings in Turkey, and lastly to contribute an assessment and measurement instrument to the literature which will enable to conduct further research in the field. This study was designed in a general survey model. The study included normally developing 619 36-72 month-old preschoolers attending to nursery classes and kindergartens affiliated to Afyonkarahisar Ministry of National Education in 2015-2016 academic year. The validity and reliability studies of the data obtained following the implementation of TRS-EAC, was completed. The Cronbach Alpha, split half test, test-retest reliability of the scale and its subscales were measured. TRS-EAC was found to be valid and reliable for 36-72 month-old children. It can be considered that the various studies that can be used TRS-EAC in Turkey will provide important contributions to the measurement power of this test.

The purpose of this study is to examine the views of nine years old students about media literacy and media literate. Phenomenology approach was used qualitative research designs in the research. The study group consisted of 12 (7 girls, 5 boys) third grade students from two different primary schools in Bayrakli, Izmir, Turkey. Research data were collected through interviews. In these interviews, a semi-structured interview form was used. Content analysis was used to analyze the data. Research findings are grouped under three themes: The meaning of media literacy, Characteristics of media literate and Being able to define themselves as being media literates or not. The findings showed that students mostly defined media literacy as “having a time limit in the use of media tools” and “critical view to the media”. According to students, the media literate is “ the one who uses the media for educational purposes" and as "critics".

This research examines the English language teachers’ motivations related to the usage of role-playing on English language practice in rural secondary schools in Ecuador. The sample consists of 45 English language teachers who work in public schools located in the rural and urban areas of the province of Manabi. A mixture of qualitative and quantitative research approaches is applied to analyze teachers’ motivations about using role-plays in English class and analyze the relationships between teaching motivations and the factors: teachers’ gender and work location. The instruments are (1) Focus group guide to collect participants' voices about the language practice at schools; and the (2) Likert questionnaire created by the research team, titled: Teachers' perceptions about role-play contribution on the foreign language acquisition process. The statistical analysis shows significant relationships between teachers’ perceptions and the factors in gender and work location. It is concluded that English teachers, both female and male from rural and urban locations in Ecuador, are highly motivated to use role-play in secondary schools as a teaching strategy, in spite of the demand of extra time and energy required, because it promotes in teachers and students the collaborative and creative learning; and improves their confidence to express their ideas and feelings using English as a foreign language.

This study aims to explore the effect of savoring of teachers at universities in Shandong, China, on their creative behaviors, using creative self-efficacy and aesthetic experience as mediators. This study adopted the use of questionnaires to investigate teachers at 32 universities in Shandong, China. 822 valid questionnaires were retrieved and were analyzed using structural equation model (SEM). Findings from this study include: 1. teachers’ savoring has a negative effect on creative behaviors; 2. teachers’ creative self-efficacy has a positive effect on creative behaviors; 3. teachers’ aesthetic experience has a positive effect on creative behaviors; 4. teachers’ savoring, mediated by creative self-efficacy, has a positive effect on creative behaviors; 5. teachers’ savoring, mediated by aesthetic experience, has a positive effect on creative behaviors.

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

The character strengths and virtues approach is a classification system to examine the characteristics of good character in terms of twenty-four strengths and six virtues. This study was designed to investigate the psychometric properties regarding the reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the VIA-Youth. A tool developed to evaluate the character strengths of youth. In addition, character strengths were examined in terms of life satisfaction, values and demographic characteristics. 1963 high school students between 14-19 years participated in this study by completing VIA-Youth and the Human Values and Life Satisfaction inventories. The results confirm the six-factor model in the theoretical framework. It has also been concluded that character strengths affect life satisfaction and values and that socio demographic features are related to strengths. The adaptation of this inventory into Turkish culture contributes to the current understanding of the universal aspects of character strengths for studies within the context of positive youth development. Besides the adaptation, the relationships between character strengths, values, demographic characteristics and life satisfaction were discussed and suggestions were made.

This study describes the development and validation of a psychometrically-sound instrument, the Active Learning Strategies Inventory (ALSI), designed to measure learners’ perceptions of their active learning strategies within an active learning context. Active learning encompasses a broad range of pedagogical practices and instructional methods that connect with an individual learner's active learning strategies. In order to fulfill the study's goals, a conceptual framework on learners’ active learning strategies was developed and proposed, drawing upon the research literature on active learning. The development and construct validation of the Active Learning Strategies Inventory (ALSI), based on the conceptual and methodological underpinnings, involved identifying five scales of learners’ active learning strategies: engagement, cognitive processing, orientation to learning, readiness to learn and motivational orientation. An item pool of 20 items was generated following an extensive review of the literature, standardized card sorting procedures including confirmatory factor analysis and scale validation of a pilot (n = 407) survey. The ALSI scale demonstrated strong internal consistency and reliability with a Cronbach's alpha ranging from 0.81 to 0.87. High item loading scores from the factor analysis provided initial support for the instrument's construct validity of the five-factor model. The ALSI scale provides a reliable and valid method for researchers and academicians who wish to measure learners' perceptions of their active learning strategies within an active learning context. Finally, we discuss the implications and address the limitations and directions for future research.

In the context that it was scrutinized in the present study, peer instruction was initially developed by Eric Mazur, a physicist. The aim of the present study was to determine the impact of peer instruction method on academic achievements and creative thinking skills of the students. The study was conducted with the pre-test-posttest control group method, a quasi-experimental design, which was defined as a two-factor mixed design. The study was conducted with sophomore students attending Firat University (FU), Faculty of Education, Social Studies Teaching Department in Turkey during the 2018-2019 academic year spring semester. The experiment (N = 30) and control (N = 30) groups were determined with convenience sampling (a non-random sampling method). Present study findings demonstrated that peer instruction method improved the achievement and creative thinking skill levels of the students. However, it was observed that the method was more effective on course achievement.

The purpose of this study is to examine the mediator role of cognitive flexibility and difficulties in emotion regulation in the relationship between resilience and distress tolerance amongst college students. The sample of the study involved 1114 students (771 females, 343 males) from various universities in Turkey. The mean age of the sample was 20.65 (Sd=2.77). The Resilience Scale, Distress Tolerance Scale, Cognitive Flexibility Scale, and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) had been used to collect data. In this study, a Serial Multiple Mediation Model was used, as proposed by Hayes. The findings showed that people with a higher level of distress tolerance possess higher degrees of cognitive flexibility and that cognitively more flexible individuals experience less difficulty in emotion regulation, and thus, lower levels of difficulty in emotion regulation were associated with an increase in resilience. Furthermore, the model in its entirety had proven to be statistically significant, accounting for 42% of the total variance.

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

This study examines the effects of the SCAMPER technique-based educational activities in the simple machines unit of a science lesson on students' academic achievement, motivation and attitude. The study examines the effects of the simple machines unit activities in the science lesson through a paired quasi-experimental design, which is one of the quantitative research methods. The sample group of the research consists of 33 eighth-grade students studying in a middle school in the Ortaköy district of the Aksaray province in 2018–2019. The research uses simple random sampling method. The experimental group was given SCAMPER-based activities in the simple machines unit for 4 hours a week with a total of 16 hours, and lessons were conducted with the control group in line with the curriculum. To collect data within the framework of the research, the 'attitude scale towards science lesson', scale for 'students' motivation towards science learning' and 'simple machines unit achievement test' were used. As a result, when compared to the control group, there was a significant difference in the academic achievement and motivation of the experimental group who performed SCAMPER-based activities in the simple machines unit of the science lesson. There was no significant difference between the attitude scores of the experimental and control group as a result of the study.

The purpose of the current study is to determine pre-service teachers’ perception of individual entrepreneurship and opinions about their critical thinking tendency. As the data collection tools, the Individual Entrepreneurship Perception Scale and the Marmara Creative Thinking Tendencies Scale were used in the current study. The participants of the study are 469 freshman, sophomore, junior and senior students attending the Departments of Pre-school Teacher Education and Primary School Teacher Education. In the analysis of the collected data, frequencies, percentages, independent samples t-test, Mann Whitney U test and correlation analysis were employed. The findings obtained from the analyses have revealed that the pre-service teachers’ individual entrepreneurship perceptions and creative thinking tendencies vary significantly depending on the variables of gender and whether they took a course/seminar on entrepreneurship. The pre-service teachers’ individual entrepreneurship perceptions and creative thinking tendencies were found to be not varying significantly depending on the department attended. The pre-service teachers’ personal entrepreneurship perceptions and creative thinking tendencies were found to be above medium. A highly positive and significant correlation was found between the pre-service teachers’ individual entrepreneurship perception and creative thinking tendency total scores. The pre-service teachers can be encouraged to take the course “Economics and Entrepreneurship” and to participate in certificate programs on entrepreneurship.

Child Friendly School (CFS) is a democratic environment based on children's rights, where all students are accepted, teaching-learning processes are organized according to children's interest needs, health, safety and protective measures are taken for children and gender-based discrimination is not provided. Preschool education institutions, which are considered to be very effective on the future of the child and the society, should be child friendly in this way. The aim of this study is to identify the teaching-learning environment of independent kindergartens in the context of a child-friendly. The data of the study was obtained from the independent kindergarten in different socioeconomic environments with “CFS Diagnostic Form”. According to the results, it was seen that in terms of effectiveness, the physical areas and materials of the schools were sufficient, but the places and qualifications that increase the effectiveness of teaching were insufficient; in terms of inclusiveness, all children attend school without discrimination in terms of inclusiveness, but female students have low access to school; in terms of democratic participation, means are used to ensure communication with the environment, in terms of healthy, safe and protective environment, physical requirements are fulfilled, necessary measures are taken, but ventilation and out-of-school safety measures are not sufficient and in terms of gender sensitivity, there is no discrimination based on gender. It has been concluded that the independent kindergartens are largely child-friendly, despite some inadequacies.

This research aims to explore the effectiveness of interdisciplinary education program based on multicultural education on the tolerance value, attitude and critical thinking skills of the fourth grade primary school students. Single group pre-posttest design has been used in the study. The research has been carried out with 30 fourth-grade students, at a primary school located within the district of Karakocan in Elazig during the 2015-2016 academic year. Among the participants, 15 are females and 15 are males. The research has employed Tolerance Attitude Scale developed by Kaptan-Yarar, tolerance value and critical thinking story tests and scoring rubrics. Descriptive statistics and dependent samples t-test have been used during data analysis. Research results have revealed a statistically significant difference between critical thinking scoring rubric, tolerance value scoring rubric and tolerance attitude scale pretest-posttest scores in favor of posttest. Based on these results, it can be said that the interdisciplinary curriculum developed based on multicultural education improves students' critical thinking skills, tolerance value and attitudes.