The purpose of this study was to enhance grade 11 students’ conceptual understanding of fundamental acid-base models using Predict-Observe-Explain based animated movies (POE-AM). Twelve grade 11 students participated in the study. To collect data, the students’ responses to the POE-AM tasks and interview protocols were used. The findings indicated that the POE-AM tasks positively improved the students’ conceptual understanding of fundamental acid-base models and remedied any deficiency identified in pre-interviews and/or the ‘predict’ stage of the POE strategy. The results also showed that before implementation the students stated the main parts of acids and bases as H+ and OH- ions, respectively. After the implementation, they indicated that the Arrhenius model had the least adequate explanation to imply features/behaviors of acids and bases whilst the Lewis model did the most adequate acid-base definition to address their features/behaviors. Moreover, the study revealed that most of the students had alternative understanding or only partial understanding at the ‘predict’, but showed somewhat a sound understanding of these concepts at the ‘observe’ and ‘explain’ stages. The current study suggests that chemistry teachers should integrate the POE-AM into their classes to effectively promote student learning.
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This research aims to adapt the Pedagogical Knowledge and Skills in Teaching (PKST) survey developed by Wong, Chong, Choy and Lim (2012) to Turkish. The participants of the study are 830 4th year students of education faculty studying at two different public universities. Explanatory Factor Analysis (EFA) was conducted with total 205 pre-service teachers in which 110 (53. 6%) of female and 95 (46,4 %) of male. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was also carried out with total 625 preservice teachers in which 330 (52. 8 %) of them are female, 295 (47. 2 %) of them are male. Back translation was used to ensure language validity. EFA and CFA were conducted for the construct validity and to ensure psychometric characteristics of measurement tool. EFA show that survey has six factors and 37 items. Coefficient was 0.94 for the survey whereas it ranged between 0.70 and 0.88 for its factors. The analyses and findings show that the survey is a valid and reliable data collection tool.
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In this study, the mediating roles of perceived teacher support and students' mathematics self-beliefs on
the feedback process were investigated in The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)
context in Turkey. PISA 2012 mathematics scores and questionnaire responses of 4848 15-year-old
students were analyzed. Results indicated that perceived feedback was positively related to math selfconcept and negatively related to math anxiety. The investigated indirect effects were partly confirmed:
perceived feedback was indirectly related to students' mathematics achievement via perceived teacher
support and math self-efficacy. Also, perceived feedback showed an indirect effect on students'
mathematics achievement via math anxiety. However, the influences of perceived teacher support on
math self-concept and anxiety, and the mediating role of math self-concept were not supported. The
results suggest the importance of investigation of mediated effects of teachers' support and students' selfbeliefs between teachers' feedback and mathematics achievement. These relationships may help to
understand how teacher's feedback influences mathematics achievement.
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This study aims to investigate the descriptive characteristics, research topics and methodological procedures of master’s theses and doctoral dissertations regarding early childhood education in Turkey. Within the scope of the current study, 931 Master’s. theses and 171 doctoral dissertations were analyzed according to university, institute, department, publication year, academic title of the advisor, research topic, sample group, location in which the study took place, research setting of the study, type of research, instruments, statistical analysis, and sampling methods. The study covers theses published from 1986 to 2016, and a content analysis method was implemented for data analysis. As expected, the current study found that students were the most frequently used subject groups in both M.S. theses (37.39%) and Ph.D. dissertations (53.39%). In the M.S. theses, researchers mostly preferred research topics regarding the education of young children (29.95%) whereas in PhD. dissertations, researchers mainly focused on developmental issues (32.78%). Nearly, all the graduate theses were conducted in city centers and central districts.
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In this study, the purpose is to compare factor retention methods under simulation conditions. For this purpose, simulations conditions with a number of factors (1, 2 [simple]), sample sizes (250, 1.000, and 3.000), number of items (20, 30), average factor loading (0.50, 0.70), and correlation matrix (Pearson Product Moment [PPM] and Tetrachoric) were investigated. For each condition, 1.000 replications were conducted. Under the scope of this research, performances of the Parallel Analysis, Minimum Average Partial, DETECT, Optimal Coordinate, and Acceleration Factor methods were compared by means of the percentage of correct estimates, and mean difference values. The results of this study indicated that MAP analysis, as applied to both tetrachoric and PPM correlation matrices, demonstrated the best performance. PA showed a good performance with the PPM correlation matrix, however, in smaller samples, the performance of the tetrachoric correlation matrix decreased. The Acceleration Factor method proposed one factor for all simulation conditions. For unidimensional constructs, the DETECT method was affected by both the sample size and average factor loading.
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T No matter how strong the theoretical infrastructure of a study is, if the measurement instruments do not
have the necessary psychometric qualities, there will be a question of trust in interpreting the findings,
and it will be inevitable to make wrong decisions with the results. One of the important steps in scale
development/adaptation studies is to provide evidence of the experimental validity. In order to reveal
evidence of construct validity of Likert type scales, to identify factor structures, to confirm previously
predicted structures, factor analysis is used. The primary issue to be examined is the level of
measurement of the variable and one of the leading decisions that must be taken is which relation matrix
will be used. This descriptive research is based on the effects of using Pearson or polychoric correlation
matrix in the factor analysis. It is determined that items showed different "item-total correlations",
"loading values" and “correlation coefficients”, different factor numbers emerged, different items were
removed out of the scale, confirmation status of the structure has changed.
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Previous multilevel analyses for Turkey show that performance differences of students vary more between schools than within schools. These school-disparities might be associated with Turkey’s tracking system and related differences in student body and learning environments of school tracks. Since it is not known how Turkey’s low-performing vocational, low-performing academic, and high-performing academic school tracks differ regarding students’ family background, motivational and behavioral engagement of students, and schools’ learning environments, we analyzed the PISA 2012 data to examine these differences. Results indicate that Turkish students which attend high-performing academic schools are more likely to have higher socio-economic status, display higher confidence in their math ability, are less engaged during class and are exposed to a richer learning environment than students attending low-performing academic schools. Policy implications of each finding are discussed in detail.
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The purpose of this study was to identify motivational elements of an online multi-player educational computer game that uses a 3D multi-user environment to immerse children ages 9-12 in educational tasks. The methodological approach design ethnography, a process that involves using ethnographic methods when the researchers are both observers and designers of the context being studied, was employed for researching this game. Interviews were completed with twenty participants playing the educational game and prolonged observations were conducted where participants played the game in a natural setting. The constant comparison method of grounded theory was used for analyzing interview and observation records. The qualitative methods used in this study allowed for additional insights into previous research on motivation. In addition to the 5 constructs identified in previous motivation research on videogames (challenge, curiosity, control, fantasy, and choice), 10 additional motivational elements to play the game emerged from an analysis of interviews with and observations of the 20 children participating in this study. These were identity presentation, social relations, playing, learning, achievement, rewards, immersive context, uniqueness, creativity, and context of support.
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This study investigated Turkish middle school students’ proportional reasoning and provided a diagnostic assessment of their strengths and weaknesses on the ratio and proportion concepts. A proportional reasoning test with 22 multiple-choice items was developed from the context of the log-linear cognitive diagnosis model. The test was developed around four core cognitive skills (attributes) that required in solving middle school ratio and proportion problems. These skills included understanding ratios, directly, inversely, and nonproportional relationships. The test was applied to 282 seventh grade students, and the collected data were analyzed using the Mplus software. The analysis showed that approximately 62% of the students were able to recognize directly proportional relationships. Whereas, roughly 48% of them were able to recognize inversely proportional relationships. Moreover, while 25% of the students did not master any of the four cognitive skills, 39.1% mastered all four of these skills. In addition, many students had difficulty distinguishing proportional relationships from nonproportional relationships. Diagnostic feedbacks on the students’ strengths and weaknesses were provided based on the findings.
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The aim of this research was to analyze and compare analytic rubric and general impression scoring in peer assessment. A total of 66 university students participated in the study and six of them were chosen as peer raters on a voluntary basis. In the research, students were supposed to prepare a sample study within the scope of scientific research methods course and were also expected to present their studies in class. While the students were giving a presentation, their course instructor and peer raters conducted scoring, firstly by using the analytic rubric and subsequently by using general impressions. Collected data were analyzed using the Rasch model. Consequently, it was found that students were distinguished from one another at a highly reliable rate using both scoring methods. Additionally, it was discovered that the differences between students’ ability levels were better revealed when analytic rubric was used. It was ascertained that there was a high level positive correlation between the ability estimations obtained from the scores performed by the peers and the instructor, regardless of the scoring method used. Finally, it was determined that ability estimations, corresponding peer raters’ analytic rubric and general impression scoring, held a positive and highly strong relation.
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