The study aims to determine the reason for choosing the teaching profession identifying how history teacher candidates perceive the concepts of "teacher" and "teaching". The study was conducted with 115 history teachers enrolled in an initial teacher training programme in a university located in Turkey’s Central Anatolia Region in the 2014-2015 academic year. To investigate the candidate teachers’ perceptions of the teaching profession, the research participants filled in blank space from a questionnaire administered by the researchers. The collected data was analysed using the content analysis method and this gave rise to specific metaphors with associated categories. Thus, 19 metaphors and 6 categories for the teacher concept; 26 metaphors and 7 categories for teaching; 15 reasons and 3 categories for the reasons of choosing the teaching profession emerged. Research findings illustrate that the candidate history teachers’ perception of the teaching profession are positive. However, the participants used predominantly negative metaphors, in describing the difficulties history teacher candidates encounted regarding “teaching”. In relation to teaching profession choices, the most occurring reason was the love for the profession; other factors affecting the candidates’ preference were the reasons articulated in the categories of “need” and “responsibility”.

The aim of this study investigate to the reasons why the usage of Social Network Sites (SNS) makes users happy. To this end, the study was conducted with as a qualitative research method. The phenomenological design, which is a qualitative research method, was utilized for determining why SNS usage cause happiness and having a better to understand of how SNS users describe SNSs and what they feel about it. The study group was composed of 137 university students (60 males and 77 females) attending the Faculty of Education, Faculty of Science, Faculty of Literature, and Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences at a university in the southwestern of Turkey. A structured, open-ended interview was used as the data collection instrument. The contributors were asked the question “Why does SNS usage cause happiness?” and their answers were retrieved. The answers were encoded and entered to the NVivo software to conduct analyses. Based on the most frequent answers of the participants, three different experts were consulted and seven themes were created accordingly. These seven themes include Need for Stroke, Self-Concealment, Ease of Interaction, Ease of Accessing and Disseminating Information, Ease of Shopping, Leisure Activity, and Fear of Missing Out. Subcategories were also created for these seven themes. It was concluded that the theme of FoMO is nourished by all other themes.

This study mainly aims to determine the effect of the layered curriculum on the 6th grade students’ learning styles in science lesson. The study group consists of students in the 6/A and 6/D at Fevzi Cakmak Secondary School in the city center of Siirt-Turkey in the academic year of 2015-2016. “Learning Styles Inventory” developed by Kolb and translated into Turkish by Askar and Akkoyunlu, diaries of students and semi-structured interview form developed by researchers and examination of the documents were used as data collection tools. As for data analysis, percent (%) and chi-square techniques were used to determine the learning styles of students, but in the analysis of students’ opinions the descriptive analysis was used. During the study, students were also asked to express their experiences and considerations about learning activities via a diary. The thoughts and feelings reflected in the diaries of students were directly quoted in findings. As a result of the analysis, in pre-test results of the students in the experimental group exposed to the layered curriculum, a significant difference was found in terms of gender; however, no significant difference was found in their post-test results.

In this study, the relationship between high school students' test anxiety, academic procrastination behaviours, family attitudes and academic achievements were examined; the predicting of test anxiety, academic procrastination and family attitudes on the academic achievement was also investigated. The participants of the study were composed of 496 high school students. The end-of-term grade average of the students was defined as the criterion of their academic achievements. The students' test anxiety was measured by the Revised Test Anxiety Scale and the academic procrastination behaviours by the Academic Procrastination Scale. The family attitudes were measured by determining the frequency of the activities that support the academic achievement of the students. Data were analysed by correlation and regression methods. The findings indicate that there was a negative correlation between “achievement score” and “anxiety”, “test irrelevant thinking” and “academic procrastination” while there was a positive correlation between “achievement score” and “family attitude”. The findings also revealed that “tension”, “bodily symptoms” and “family attitude” significantly predicted the “end-of-term grade average” positively, while “worry”, “test irrelevant thinking” and “academic procrastination” significantly predicted the “achievement score” negatively. The findings were discussed in the light of literature along with the suggestions for further studies.

The aim of this research is to investigate ability of sixth grade students’ comprehension the listened story text. The research is the survey type of quantitative research methods. The population of the study consisted of the sixth grade students of the middle schools in the city center of Yozgat, Turkey in the 2018-2019 academic years. A simple random cluster sampling method was used in the selection of the sample. A total of 369 sixth grade students are sample. As a data collection, a story text entitled “Hero of the Town” was used. Data were collected in October 2018. SPSS 21 program was used to analyze the data. The level of listening comprehension the sixth grade students to the story text is 77.46%. It is seen that the sixth grade girl students’ listening comprehension are better than boy students. The girls’ listening comprehension is higher than boys’ %8. 

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 aim of the study is to examine the pre-service teachers’ problem solving skills and curiosity levels according to different variables and to determine whether there is a relationship between them. The research was designed as a descriptive study in the survey model. The sample of the study consists of 1st and 4th grade pre-service teachers in the departments of German, Science, English, Mathematics, Music, Pre-school, Painting, English, Mathematics, Turkish Language Teaching at a university in Turkey. “Curiosity Scale” adapted into Turkish by Demirel and Diker Coskun, “Problem Solving Inventory” adapted into Turkish by Sahin, Sahin and Heppner  and “Personal Information Form” prepared by the researcher were used as data collection tools. In the analysis of the data obtained, SPSS-Windows 22.00 package program was used and descriptive statistics and parametric tests were applied in accordance with the sub-problems of the study. In addition, a correlation analysis was conducted to determine whether there was a relationship between pre-service teachers’ problem solving skills and curiosity levels. Based on the findings, suggestions about the problem solving skills and curiosity levels of the prospective teachers were presented.

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.

The aim of this study was to investigate the social media addiction of high school students in terms of some variables such as age, class, type of school, gender and daily average internet usage period. Survey method was used in the study. “Social Media Addiction Scale” (SMAS) developed by Tutgun-Unal and “Personal Information Form” prepared by the researcher were used as data collection tools. The data were obtained from a total of 596 students studying in three high schools with different academic achievement level in Kirsehir in Turkey. No significant difference was found in terms of gender variable. When the total scores of high school students on Social Media Addiction Scale are examined, it is determined that the students have “low level of addiction”. In addition, it was found that there was a significant relationship between high school students' daily average internet usage time and social media addiction.

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".

The aim of this study is to identify parental involvement types and determine what type of parental involvement the parents of middle school children prefer. Moreover, it is aimed to examine the parental involvement types with regard to the parents' gender, their educational background and the socio-economic status of the school. The population of the study comprises the parents of the six grade students study in  29 middle schools during 2018-2019 academic year in Denizli province in Turkey. The sample of the study consists of 243 volunteer parents in three different schools with low, medium and high socio-economic level based on their residential area according to the information obtained from the National Education Directorate. According to the data obtained from the scale, it was seen that parents were more likely to use parenting, learning at home and decision-making as parent involvement types; on the other hand they used 'collaborating with community' the least. Parental involvement types did not differ significantly according to gender. Whether parents are female or male did not affect the types of participation. This may be related to parents' trust in school. It may be stated that the school, which had a higher social status, met the expectations of parents and did not require active participation. Parental involvement types varied significantly depending on the parents' educational background.

The aim of this research is to determine the misconceptions among 6th, 7th and 8th grade students about the order of operations in line with arithmetic expressions and posing and solving problems related to arithmetic expressions. The research has a mixed-method research design with concurrent-triangulation design. The study group for the research comprised a total of 240 students with 78 from 6th grade, 80 from 7th grade and 82 from 8th grade chosen with the simple random sampling method from schools located in a city in the Eastern Black Sea Region in Turkey. The research used a two-tier diagnostic test developed by the researcher to determine the misconceptions of students. According to the results of the research, it was determined that 6th, 7th  and 8th grade students performed arithmetic expressions from left to right without paying attention to order of operations, stated that only operations in brackets need to be performed first in terms of order of operations, did not pay attention to order of operation when writing or solving an arithmetic expression equal to a given number, and that students had difficulty posing a problem sentence involving arithmetic expressions and requiring order of operations.

Universities are more than institutions only conducting research and educating students in today’s world. Changing conditions in the world show that there is a need for redefining the functions of universities. This is called the third mission of universities. Starting from this perspective, this study aims to examine, first, the missions of all state and private universities in Turkey within the framework of the “third mission,” one of the most important priorities of universities today. The study results show that universities in Turkey adopted the third mission understanding to a certain extent, and particularly with the influence of the Council of Higher Education (CHE). However, they should do more related to the continuing education (CE), and, partially, to the social engagement (SE) dimensions. While many of the world’s leading universities include concepts such as service-learning, public engagement, or outreach in their missions and programs in order to seek integration with the societies in which they exist and with all the stakeholders with whom they cooperate, collaborate, and conduct important related activities, it is a concern regarding Turkey’s future that many universities (about 23%) did not even reflect the third mission understanding in their mission statements.

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.

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.

“Mathematical knowledge for teaching” is a concept indicating the requirement for a specific kind of knowledge required to teach mathematics. Mathematical knowledge for teaching necessitates a more complex structure than what is required to carry out mathematical tasks and the knowledge to do that. The purpose of this study is to realize the adaptation of “Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching -Geometry (MKT-G)” Test that was initially conceived in English to Turkish (or to Turkish culture). During the adaptation process; after the translations of the items, focus group interviews were held with a group consisting of mathematics teacher educators and experienced mathematics teachers, and then the data from 243 elementary mathematics teachers was analyzed via  Item Response Theory (IRT). As a result of the analysis of the test items, psychometric values of the test items indicated that the items in the test performed well in Turkey. Besides, validity and reliability arguments were also tested. As a result, the Turkish version of the MKT-G test is highly reliable and valid to measure the teachers’ knowledge of teaching geometry.

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 main purpose of this research was to reveal the opinions of prospective teachers of special education teacher education program about special education schools and the special education field. This study was used the phenomenological designed. It involved 14 special education teachers of Harbiye Selman Nasir Eskicak Secondary School. The collected data were subjected to data mining by content analysis. Some results had been obtained regarding the dreams and problems and solutions proposed by prospective teachers in a special education institution and special education. It had been found out that prospective teachers design student-centered and differentiate the disability differences among individuals-oriented design when designing special education schools. In addition, they pointed out that there were some problems related to teachers, teaching environment, curriculum, legislation and parents in the field of special education. It had been seen that prospective teachers who produce solutions to these problems have awareness about the field. With the help of the results obtained from the study, suggestions about the special education field were developed.