The aim of this study was to investigate the VMLSE perception levels of eighth grade students and differentiations based on variables of gender, state of success, final grade and ability to relate mathematical concepts to daily life and examine their views on this issue. The exploratory design of mixed method, which includes both quantitative and qualitative methods, was used in the study. The survey method was used in the quantitative dimension of the study. In qualitative dimension, phenomenological design which is one of the qualitative research designs is used. The data obtained from the quantitative dimension by VMLSE perception scale were analyzed by t-test and one-way analysis of variance. The data obtained from the semi-structured interview form were analyzed by using the content analysis method for the qualitative dimension of the research. As a consequently, there was a significant difference in VMLSE perceptions based on the variables of final grade, finding one’s self successful in the field of mathematics and ability to relate mathematical concepts; however, there was no significant difference based on gender. Additionally, it was found, the students had the idea that having VMLSE perception would affect mathematics success positively. 

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.

This article introduces a model entitled, “Responsive Teaching through Problem Posing” or RTPP, that addresses a type of reform oriented mathematics teaching based on posing relevant problems, positioning students as experts of mathematics, and facilitating discourse.  RTPP incorporates decades of research on students’ thinking in mathematics and more recent research on responsive teaching practices.  Two classroom case studies are presented.  A high school unit on functions is explored utilizing individual research on the part of the teacher to enact RTPP lessons.  A middle school teacher enacts a RTPP lesson on proportions and utilizes this model to bridge students’ incorrect additive reasoning strategies with correct multiplicative reasoning strategies.  The results showed that both teachers were able to elevate students’ roles in classroom discussions through implementation of RTPP.  Individual research conducted by the high school teacher informed his RTPP approach while participation in professional development sessions with a classroom embedded component influenced the middle school teacher’s enactment of RTPP lessons.  Both teachers used specific teacher moves within RTPP to relinquish their role as mathematics experts in order to elevate their students’ roles in classroom discussions.  The RTPP cycle is offered as a potential model for studying mathematics teaching and learning across a variety of secondary mathematics classrooms.

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 fact that the prospective Turkish teachers’ having a command of different methods and techniques as being Turkish teachers of the future is important in terms of its positive effects on the comprehension and expression skills of the middle school students. This study used the case study design and the qualitative approach. The aim of the research was to test the effectiveness of literature circle method and contribute to the field in theoretical and practical context. Fourty-six prospective Turkish teachers were conveniently sampled from the state university in Istanbul, to participate in the study. During six weeks, the opinions of prospective Turkish teachers who applied literature circle method were collected through unstructured interview forms. The data collected were subjected to a content analysis. It was concluded that prospective Turkish teachers found the method of literature circle favorible, in terms of cooperation, solidarity, gaining different perspectives, revealing hidden talents, developing self-confidence, aesthetic pleasure, enriching vocabulary and catching the details.

The current study investigated the opinions of secondary school students taking the science course from different science teachers about the science course and science teachers. The current study was conducted with the participation of 32 students instructed by different science teachers and attending different secondary schools in the fall term of 2018-2019 academic year. The data of the current study were collected by means of semi-structured interviews. In the analysis of the data, the descriptive analysis technique was used. The findings of the current study have revealed that high majority of the students love their science classes and science teachers, that in science classes, lecturing, question-answer and note-taking are methods widely employed, that if there is a smart board in the class, then Okulistik or EBA computer program is on, that the assignments given are from the textbook, that the most frequently adopted behavior by the teachers in the face of any discipline problem is warning and that informal learning environments are not used much. Moreover, it was found that projects are rarely assigned to students and the projects assigned are given as homework. A great majority of the students expect their teachers to be entertaining, they want their lessons to be instructed through games and experiments, and they do not want to write a lot in their classes.

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.

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 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.

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.

This research aims to reveal the first-year experiences of social studies teachers who have just started their profession in the public sector. Also, it aims to reveal what awaits teachers in the school environment and the current experiences of teachers at the beginning of the profession. Case study design, one of the qualitative research designs, was used in the study. The study group of the research consists of 34 social studies teachers working in secondary schools affiliated to the Ministry of National Education (Turkey) in the districts of Ankara. Participants were selected on an equal basis from all districts of Ankara province. Purposeful sampling, one of the non-random sampling methods was used in determining participants. In addition, criterion sampling was also used in the purposeful sampling phase. The obtained data were subjected to the content and descriptive analysis. As a result of the research, following the latest changes and developments and developing their basic knowledge and skills seems important for teachers who started their profession in the public sector. The multidisciplinary of the social studies branch, attractivity, and the fact that there are no alternatives comes to the fore in teachers' decision-making process to become social studies teachers. In addition, teachers participating in the research suggested to new teachers that they should master their fields, maintain their personal development, get to know the target group, and maintain strong communication in school.

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.

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.

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 aims at investigating the perceptions of the faculty members of the University of Jordan towards the use of The Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in the educational process and their suggestions to improve them, the study followed the descriptive / analytical approach. The sample consisted of (115) teachers from the faculty members of the University of Jordan, who were chosen intentionally during the second semester 2018/2017. A key tool was developed that was validated and consisted of (70 items). The results showed that the use of MOOCs courses was moderate and positively affect the support of the educational process. The results showed that there were no statistically significant differences attributed to the teaching experience, gender and academic rank variables. While the results showed that there are statistically significant differences to the degree of the use of the faculty members of the University of Jordan MOOCs courses in the educational process according to the collage variable. Results related to the second area of proposals for improving the use of MOOCs courses were also high. In the light of the results of the study, the researcher recommended, based on the answers of faculty members, the need to reconsider the importance of using electronic MOOCs courses in the educational process, And spreading a culture of awareness of the importance of using electronic environments in the educational process, to provide tangible financial and technical support for the production and design of MOOCs courses in cooperation with faculty members and the use of experts.

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.

This study aims to identify the effect of metacognitive awareness of reading strategies on self-efficacy perception in reading comprehension of secondary school students and whether self-efficacy perception in reading comprehension of secondary school students differs according to the variables such as their gender and reading habits. In this correlational survey model study, data were collected from the sample of 380 students of 8th grade by using ‘Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory’ developed by Mokhtari and Reichard and translated into Turkish by Ozturk; and ‘Self-Efficacy Scale in Reading Comprehension’ developed by Epcacan and Demirel were used. The data gathered were evaluated statistically by multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) with the help of the SPSS program. As the results of the study, Reading Visual Comprehension, Self-regulation in Reading and Reading Self-confidence subscale scores of self-efficacy perception in reading comprehension, were found to be statistically and significantly larger in the groups that have a tendency to finish books that they start. Moreover, Reading Visual Comprehension, Self-regulation in Reading and Reading Self-confidence subscale scores of self-efficacy perception in reading comprehension, were found to be statistically and significantly larger in the groups that have advanced level of reading habits. Additionally, RSC, SRR and RVC subscale scores of self-efficacy perception in reading comprehension, were found to be significantly different in favor of female participants. General Reading Strategies, Problem Solving Strategies and Supporting Reading Strategies subscales of metacognitive awareness of reading strategies have a positive effect on Reading Visual Comprehension, Self-regulation in Reading and Reading Self-confidence scores of the participants. In other words, metacognitive awareness of reading strategies contributes to self-efficacy perception in reading comprehension of eighth-grade students.

This survey study provides a holistic picture of English teachers’ qualification and the status quo of English instruction in secondary school classrooms in four lowest-achieving rural disctricts in Beijing, China. It covers a wide variety of aspects related to language instruction, including teachers’ professional background and credentials, lesson preparation and instructional materials, teachers’ instructional languages, factors that limit English instruction, roles teachers play in classrooms, and classroom instruction on pronunciation and fluency, vocabulary, grammar, and comprehension. Results shows how inequality in resources and the lack of teaching standards and qualifications can negatively impact students, further hindering their academic and professional opportunities. The findings provide valuable information to the teacher preparation and professional development in these districts and hopefully bring attention to the Department of Education in China about the educational needs of the low achieving rural districts in Beijing.

This study aimed to develop an instructional design that focuses on programming teaching for gifted and talented students and to investigate its effects on the teaching process. During the development of the instructional design; the steps of Morrison, Ross and Kemp Instructional Design Model were followed. Embedded experimental design, one of the mixed-method research designs, was used in the modeling of the study. The participants consisted of students studying at the Science and Art Center (BILSEM) (experimental group: 13 girls and 12 boys, control group: 10 girls and 15 boys). While the instructional design developed by the researchers was applied to the gifted and talented students in the experimental group, the standard activities used in Information Technologies and Software Courses at BILSEM were applied to the gifted and talented students in the control group. “Computational Thinking Scale (CTS)”, “Torrance Creative Thinking Test (TCTT-Figural)” and “Computer Programming Self-Efficacy Scale (CPSES)” were used to collect the data of the quantitative phase of the study. Qualitative data were gathered by using interview form, observation forms, and design thinking rubric. Two-Factor ANOVA Test, Bonferroni Adjustment Multiple Comparisons Test, and interaction graphs were used to analyze quantitative data while qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis. The quantitative results of the research showed that the instructional design was effective on students' computational thinking and creative thinking skills, but not on programming self-efficacy. Qualitative findings revealed that the instructional design helped the students learn the computational concepts, use computational applications, and develop computational-perspectives. Also, students improved their design thinking skills to a certain level and expressed that they enjoyed the design thinking process, learned the course content, and experienced some difficulties.