This study aimed to investigate teacher candidates’ attitudes towards nuclear energy and changes ... more This study aimed to investigate teacher candidates’ attitudes towards nuclear energy and changes in their views about the construction of nuclear power plant after the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster. Working group of the study was composed of 484 teacher candidates attending the Faculties of Education of two Turkish State universities. Study findings present that 29% (N:129) of teacher candidates had positive views about the construction of nuclear power plants and Fukushima accident did not affect their views whatsoever. 47% (N:229) of teacher candidates did not wish nuclear power plants to be constructed and kept their views after the Fukushima incident whereas 23% (N = 113) of teacher candidates had positive opinions before the Fukushima incident but changed their views following the disaster. Findings show that approximately 50% of teacher candidates were against the construction of nuclear power plants and that 23% changed their views for the negative after the incident. Accordingly, the majority of teacher candidates was affected from the Fukushima incident and started to view the construction of nuclear power plants negatively. The study investigated teacher candidates’ attitudes on nuclear energy as an alternative which is still a significant and current problem and their views after the recent Fukushima nuclear accident. It is necessary for teacher candidates to have sufficient information in order to develop opinions about any topic.
Eğitim kalitesinin artırılması için yapılacak işlerden bir tanesi öğrencileri tanımaktır. Araştır... more Eğitim kalitesinin artırılması için yapılacak işlerden bir tanesi öğrencileri tanımaktır. Araştırmalar, öğrencilerin farklı yollarla öğrendiklerini ve bireysel farklılıkların öğrenmeyi etkilediğini göstermektedir (Kumar, Kumar, & Smart, 2004). Öğretmenler, farklı öğretim tekniklerine hakim olmanın yanı sıra öğrenci başarısını etkileyen bazı faktörlere dikkat etmeli ve öğretim aktivitelerini planlarken bunları dikkate almalıdır. Bir dersteki akademik başarıyı veya bir öğrencinin başarısını etkileyen faktörlerden bir tanesi öğrencilerin öğrenme stilleridir. Çalışmalar, bireylerin farklı şekillerde öğrendiklerini ve her bireyin bilgiyi alma ve işlemede kişisel tercihleri olduğunu göstermektedir. Bu kişisel tercihler öğrenme stilleri olarak adlandırılmaktadır (Kumar, Kumar, & Smart; 2004; She, 2005). Öğrenme stilleri, öğrencinin başarılı bir şekilde bilgiyi yapılandırmasında önemli bir rol oynamaktadır. Çalışmanın amacı, 8. sınıf öğrencilerinin öğrenme stili tercihlerinin fen ve teknoloji dersindeki akademik başarıları üzerindeki etkisini araştırmaktır. Çalışmaya, 267 8. sınıf öğrencisi katılmıştır. Öğrencilerin öğrenme stili tercihlerini belirlemek üzere Barsch Öğrenme Stili Envanteri kullanılmıştır. Öğrencilerin fen ve teknoloji dersindeki akademik başarılarının belirlenmesinde, birinci ve ikinci dönem sonunda yapılan TEOG sınavlarının ortalaması alınmıştır. Çalışmanın bulguları, fen ve teknoloji dersinde görsel ve işitsel öğrenme stiline sahip öğrencilerin daha başarılı olduklarını göstermiştir. Ayrıca, aynı sınıfta öğrenim görmelerine rağmen kinestetik öğrenme stiline sahip öğrencilerin göster ve işitsel öğrenme stiline sahip öğrencilerden daha düşük başarıya sahip oldukları görülmüştür.
The authors examined the effect of an instructional material designed through Ausubel's expositor... more The authors examined the effect of an instructional material designed through Ausubel's expository learning related to the "Human and environment" Unit in 7th grade Science and Technology Curriculum on students' academic achievement, attitudes towards science and computers. The quasi experimental pretest-posttest controlled group design has been used in the study. The study has been conducted with K7 students in one of secondary schools in Kahramanmaras/Turkey. The experimental and control groups have been attended randomly and each group has been consisted of 24 students. Totally 48 7th grade students have been participated in the study. Prior to the study Academic Achievement Test, Science and Technology Attitude Scale and Computer Attitude Scale have been administered as pre-test and following to the application, the mentioned data collection tools have been administered as posttest. The analysis of the collected data has reported that therehas been a significant increase in favor of the experimental group related to the Academic achievement and computer attitude scores. There has been no significant difference between experimental and control groups students' science attitudes in both groups following to the application .
Çalışmanın amacı, “Kimyagerin Sınıfı” isimli web destekli materyalin 9. Sınıf öğrencilerinin karı... more Çalışmanın amacı, “Kimyagerin Sınıfı” isimli web destekli materyalin 9. Sınıf öğrencilerinin karışımlar konusundaki akademik başarılarına, kimya dersine karşı tutumlarına ve bilgisayara karşı tutumlarına etkisini araştırmaktır. Çalışmaya 54 9. Sınıf öğrencisi katılmıştır. Çalışmada yarı deneysel araştırma deseni kullanılmış, deney ve kontrol grubu oluşturulmuştur. Uygulamadan önce “Bilgisayar Tutum Ölçeği”, “Kimya Tutum Ölçeği” ve “Akademik Başarı Testi” deney ve kontrol grubuna ön test olarak uygulanmıştır. Öğretmen, kontrol grubunda Kimya Ders Kitabını (MEB, 2012) takip ederek ders işlerken, deney grubunda web destekli “Kimyager’in Sınıfı” isimli materyali kullanmıştır. Deneysel araştırma 4 hafta sürmüş ve ardından son testler uygulanmıştır. Çalışmanın bulguları öğrencilerin bilgisayara karşı tutumları arasında anlamlı bir fark olmadığını, akademik başarıları ve kimyaya karşı tutumlarında deney grubu lehine anlamlı fark olduğunu göstermiştir.
This study aims to search students' science learning motivation in relation with some variables (... more This study aims to search students' science learning motivation in relation with some variables (such as having a separate study room at home and a personal computer) and the effect of motivational factors on students' science achievement. In the study, descriptive corelational survey model has been used to examine students' motivation in relation with some variables and to search the relationship between students' science learning motivation and their TEOG exam scores. The sample of the study consisted of 232 8 th grade students attending 3 state secondary schools in Kahramanmaraş during 2013-2014 academic year. Students' motivation level has been determined by administering SMTSL. Students' average scores of the TEOG exam have been considered as their science achievement. The findings show that female students' motivation level is higher than the male students. In addition, it has been observed that female students' motivation is higher in sub-categories of active learning strategies, science learning value and achievement goal. There is a direct relationship between the students' motivation and their TEOG scores. This shows that students with higher levels of motivation have higher success in TEOG.
This study investigated the impact of a web-based teaching method on students' academic achieveme... more This study investigated the impact of a web-based teaching method on students' academic achievement and attitudes in the elementary education fifth grade Science and Technology unit, 'System of Earth, Sun and Moon'. The study was a quasi-experimental study with experimental and control groups comprising 54 fifth grade students attending a state school in the 2012-2013 academic year. Lessons in the experimental group of 26 students were taught with the help of web-based teaching materials designed in a computer environment, whilst students in the control group of 28 were taught according to the textbook. Comparisons based on pre-and post-test results were used to identify the impact of the web-based method on student achievement. Findings suggested a significant difference in favor of the experimental group in their achievement in Science and Technology lessons and positive attitudes towards computer technologies and astronomy.
Current study examined the effects of virtual and physical laboratory practices on students' conc... more Current study examined the effects of virtual and physical laboratory practices on students' conceptual achievement in the subject of electricity and their attitudes towards simple electric circuits. Two groups (virtual and physical) selected through simple random sampling was taught with web-aided material called " Electricity in Our Lives ". Quasi experimental research design was used in the study and " Simple Electric Circuits Achievement Test " composed of three dimensions (CCAB, FCC and RCE) and " Attitude Scale for Simple Electric Circuits " composed of five dimensions were given to the groups are pre and posttests. It was identified that conceptual achievement significantly differed in the CCAB and RCE dimensions of the virtual laboratory implementations on the basis of total scores compared to the physical group whereas no meaningful differences were detected in the FCC dimension. It was also found that virtual laboratory implementations did not generate differences in student attitudes towards simple electric circuits.
Current study aimed to examine the effects of web-based instructional material enriched by concep... more Current study aimed to examine the effects of web-based instructional material enriched by concept maps, the academic achievement of 7th graders in “Structure and Properties of Matter” unit. The study utilized a quasi-experimental model with pretest-posttest control group design. A sample of the study was composed of 58 students. “Structure and Properties of Matter” unit was taught to the experimental group with computer assisted teaching method, while the same unit was taught to control group by using traditional teaching methods. “Structure of Matter Achievement Test”, “Science and Technology Attitude Scale” and Computer Attitude Scale” were used as data collection tools. The results showed that web-based teaching method was more effective compared to traditional teaching methods in increasing academic achievement in science and technology classes and there is no statistically significant difference in both group attitudes towards Science and Technology Class or computers.
This study implemented multi- media learning material developed for the 5th grade science course ... more This study implemented multi- media learning material developed for the 5th grade science course topic “Food and Healthy Nutrition” and examined its effect on students’ academic achievement and science attitudes. The study used a control group, a pre-test-post-test quasi experimental research design, and a convenience sample consisting of 62 5th grade students. The research instruments were an achievement test and a science attitude scale. During the implementation process the experiment group learned using multimedia learning material and the control group learned with traditional methods. Data were analyzed using an independent-samples t test, a paired-samples t-test, and ANCOVA statistics. According to the findings there is a statically significant difference between post-test achievement scores of the experimental and control groups, with the experimental group scoring higher. Also there is a statically significant difference between students’ post-test scores in terms of gender, favoring females over males. In terms of science attitude there is also a significant difference between post-test scores of the experimental and control groups. In conclusion it may be said that multimedia learning promotes more effective learning in science education.
The most important characteristic that distinguishes physical sciences from other disciplines of ... more The most important characteristic that distinguishes physical sciences from other disciplines of science is the emphasis on experimentation, observation and discovery. The significance of using methods that focus on this characteristic in chemistry laboratory classes is obvious. Current research was aimed to investigate the effects of teaching method implemented in General Chemistry Laboratory II class on academic achievement, attitudes towards chemistry, chemistry anxiety and attitudes towards chemistry laboratory of science teacher candidates who attended a state university. Two groups were randomly selected for this purpose. Research data were obtained through quasi-experimental method. A total of 34 students participated in the study. Paired sample t-test, independent sample t-test, one way ANOVA, MANOVA, ANCOVA and one way ANOVA for repeated measures analyses for used for data analysis. According to study results, it was identified that academic achievement of the treatment group who were taught with 5E learning cycle was significantly different compared to the comparison group who were taught with V diagram; that anxiety towards chemistry laboratory disappeared in the group taught with V diagram; that the implemented methods did not affect chemistry laboratory and chemistry lesson attitude scores based on post-test scores; that male students were more successful compared to female students in the chemistry laboratory and an inverse correlation existed between anxiety towards chemistry laboratory and attitude.
The study aims to examine primary school second level students' electronic waste awareness and en... more The study aims to examine primary school second level students' electronic waste awareness and environmental attitudes. A total of 250 students attending primary schools in Kahramanmaras province center in Turkey during 2011-2012 educational year participated in the study. The study that employed survey model utilized " Environmental Attitude Scale " and " Electronic Waste Awareness Survey ". Results of the study presented meaningful relationships between students' environmental attitudes and the type of school they attend to and parental income level while no meaningful relationships were found between environmental attitudes and variables of gender, grade and mother's or father's educational levels. Electronic waste survey results show that students have insufficient information or are misinformed about electronic wastes.
Advances in computer technologies and adoption of related methods and techniques in education hav... more Advances in computer technologies and adoption of related methods and techniques in education have developed parallel to each other. This study focuses on the need to utilize more than one teaching method and technique in education rather than focusing on a single teaching method. By using the pre-test post-test and control group semi-experimental research model, this study examined the effects of the web-assisted education method supported by six thinking hats technique on student achievement, on students' attitudes towards science and their attitudes towards the use of computers in science classes. The working group of the study was composed of 7th graders in a state secondary school in the 2013-2014 academic year. A working group consists of two randomly selected classes assigned as the experimental and control groups. The working group comprised of 50 students with 25 experimental and 25 control group students. Paired samples t-test, independent samples t-test and ANOVA techniques were used in analyzing the data collected via data collection tools to compare the experimental and control groups. The results showed that web-assisted education materials prepared with the use of the six thinking hats technique increased student attitudes towards science and computers. Students' attitudes towards computers were similar based on the variables of owning a computer and gender. Paternal education levels had no significant effects on student attitudes towards computers and their academic achievement.
Current study aims to identify critical thinking disposition of teacher candidates and investigat... more Current study aims to identify critical thinking disposition of teacher candidates and investigate critical thinking disposition in terms of different variables. The study was undertaken with a total of 220 teachers from Classroom Teaching, Science Teaching, Primary School Mathematics Teaching and Computer Education and Instructional Technology (CEIT) Departments of Faculty of Education. “The California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI)” adapted to Turkish was utilized in the study to find out critical thinking dispositions. Frequencies, percentages, arithmetic means, ANOVA and t-tests were used in data analysis. Critical thinking disposition of teacher candidates was found to be positive based on the findings obtained in the study. Differences were observed in critical thinking disposition depending on gender, class levels and departments of teacher candidates. No differences were identified based on father’s occupation, location of family home and the type of high school graduation.
This study aimed to adapt the 'Beliefs about Climate Change' (BACC) scale developed by Liarakou, ... more This study aimed to adapt the 'Beliefs about Climate Change' (BACC) scale developed by Liarakou, Athanasiadis and Gavrilakis (2011) to Turkish students by administering it to a group of 6th, 7th and 8th graders. The scale was sent to expert academicians after translation to ensure equivalency across languages and language equivalency was evaluated according to the Kendall coefficient of concordance. Results of exploratory versus confirmatory factor analysis undertaken to determine the factor structure of the BACC showed a single dimensional structure. A relationship above 0.34 was found for all items of the scale as a result of item-total correlation for the BACC. Item factor loads of BACC for each item were between 0.34 and 0.61. The Cronbach alpha internal consistency coefficient and test-retest correlation for the scale were found to be 0.85 and 0.78, respectively. Correlation analysis implemented for criterion-related validity of the BACC also showed a meaningful relationship.
Web technology is changing rapidly every day and the Internet has become a lifestyle for people a... more Web technology is changing rapidly every day and the Internet has become a lifestyle for people all over the world. It is obvious that the life style of societies is in a process of change, as new habits are acquired. Even though Internet use is one of the new social habits, it is one of the most important factors that induce this change as regards the convenience it brings to communication and other areas. The widespread use of Internet implies the idea that it can also be more widely used for educational purpose. Since chemistry teachers have a very important function in education, the determination of teachers' attitude towards Internet use is also important. In the literature it is possible to see many studies on teacher candidates' attitude towards Internet use; however studies on appointed teachers' attitude are not very common. In our study, which aims to determine the attitude of appointed chemistry teachers according to different variables , we used the Internet use attitude scale. Participant teacher's attitude towards Internet use was analyzed and interpreted according to the variables of gender, years on the job, type of school at which they are teaching, and duration of their weekly Internet use. It was seen that a vast majority of the teachers have personal computers, they connect to Internet at home and have positive attitude towards Internet use. It was also seen that female teachers have more positive attitude than male teachers in use of Internet for social interaction and communication.
The widespread use of internet implies the idea that it can also be more widely used for educatio... more The widespread use of internet implies the idea that it can also be more widely used for educational purposes. In this respect, since physics teachers have a very important function in education, to determine physics teachers’ attitudes towards internet use is also important. In the literature it is possible to see many studies on teacher candidates’ attitude towards internet use; “however studies on appointed teachers’ attitude are not very common. In our study, which aims to determine the attitude of appointed teachers according to different variables, we used the Internet Use Attitude Scale. For the teachers that took part in the study the attitude towards internet use was analyzed and interpreted according to the variables of gender, years on the job, type of school at which they are teaching, and duration of their weekly internet use. It was seen that a vast majority of the teachers have personal computers, they connect to internet at home and have positive attitude towards internet use. It was also seen that female teachers have more positive attitude than male teachers in use of internet for social interaction and communication.
Computer Education and Instructional Technology (CEIT) Departments train computer teachers to fil... more Computer Education and Instructional Technology (CEIT) Departments train computer teachers to fill gap of computer instructor in all grades of schools in Turkey. Additionally graduates can also work as instructional technologist or software developer. The curriculum of CEIT departments includes mathematics courses. The aim of this study is to identify attitudes of undergraduate students at CEIT departments towards math. In order to investigate the research question quantitative methods was used. Specifically survey research was preferred. Mathematics Attitude Questionnaire (MAQ) that was developed by Duatepe and Çilesiz (1999) was used and the questionnaire includes 38 items. The instrument was conducted with 122 undergraduate students from CEIT departments of four different universities in Turkey in the spring semester of 2010-2011. Data were analyzed through independent samples t-test and one-way ANOVA by means of PASW Statistics-18. In conclusion, some differences were found in terms of math attitudes of CEIT's students.
The purpose of this research is to determine the effect of web-based instruction with educational... more The purpose of this research is to determine the effect of web-based instruction with educational animation content at sensory organs subject on the 7th grade students' academic achievement and attitudes in the science and technology course. Quasi-experimental research method was applied in this study. For this purpose, as a means of measuring, Science and Technology achievement test consisting of 30 questions and 15-itemed Science Course attitude scale developed by Geban et.al. (1994) were used. In experimental group, the sensory organs were explained with web-based instructional materials with educational animation content, and academic achievement test and attitude scale were applied as post-test; in the control group, subject of sensory organs were rendered in the traditional lecture method and application is finished with applying academic achievement test and attitude scale as post-test. As consequence of study, there is a meaningful difference in favor of experimental group on the academic achievement pre-test / post-test marks between experimental group instructed with web-based instructional materials with educational animation content and control group instructed with traditional lecture method. It is found that there is no significant difference on attitudes towards science and technology.
Character education competencies of teachers are very important in the achievement of educational... more Character education competencies of teachers are very important in the achievement of educational objectives in addition to their field knowledge, general knowledge and pedagogical knowledge. The study which utilized survey model aimed to identify competencies in teachers, who play a significant role in shaping the character of students along with the parents, through self assessment. Data was collected with the help of CECBS (Character Education Competency Belief Scale) developed by Milson & Ekşi (2003). Working group of the study was composed of 231 teachers employed in various provinces of Turkey. Results showed that teachers' beliefs on character education competency centered on " agree " on CEC (Character Education Competency) and GEC (General Education Competency) dimensions; variables such as gender, type of school teachers graduated from, type of setlement they work in, income levels of their students and seniority did not create a significant difference on their character education competency beliefs however the subject they teach, attending in-service seminars and reading books about character education were found be significant. In the contenxt of the findings; increasing the number of in-service training opportunities and the number of publications are suggested.
This study aimed to investigate teacher candidates’ attitudes towards nuclear energy and changes ... more This study aimed to investigate teacher candidates’ attitudes towards nuclear energy and changes in their views about the construction of nuclear power plant after the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster. Working group of the study was composed of 484 teacher candidates attending the Faculties of Education of two Turkish State universities. Study findings present that 29% (N:129) of teacher candidates had positive views about the construction of nuclear power plants and Fukushima accident did not affect their views whatsoever. 47% (N:229) of teacher candidates did not wish nuclear power plants to be constructed and kept their views after the Fukushima incident whereas 23% (N = 113) of teacher candidates had positive opinions before the Fukushima incident but changed their views following the disaster. Findings show that approximately 50% of teacher candidates were against the construction of nuclear power plants and that 23% changed their views for the negative after the incident. Accordingly, the majority of teacher candidates was affected from the Fukushima incident and started to view the construction of nuclear power plants negatively. The study investigated teacher candidates’ attitudes on nuclear energy as an alternative which is still a significant and current problem and their views after the recent Fukushima nuclear accident. It is necessary for teacher candidates to have sufficient information in order to develop opinions about any topic.
Eğitim kalitesinin artırılması için yapılacak işlerden bir tanesi öğrencileri tanımaktır. Araştır... more Eğitim kalitesinin artırılması için yapılacak işlerden bir tanesi öğrencileri tanımaktır. Araştırmalar, öğrencilerin farklı yollarla öğrendiklerini ve bireysel farklılıkların öğrenmeyi etkilediğini göstermektedir (Kumar, Kumar, & Smart, 2004). Öğretmenler, farklı öğretim tekniklerine hakim olmanın yanı sıra öğrenci başarısını etkileyen bazı faktörlere dikkat etmeli ve öğretim aktivitelerini planlarken bunları dikkate almalıdır. Bir dersteki akademik başarıyı veya bir öğrencinin başarısını etkileyen faktörlerden bir tanesi öğrencilerin öğrenme stilleridir. Çalışmalar, bireylerin farklı şekillerde öğrendiklerini ve her bireyin bilgiyi alma ve işlemede kişisel tercihleri olduğunu göstermektedir. Bu kişisel tercihler öğrenme stilleri olarak adlandırılmaktadır (Kumar, Kumar, & Smart; 2004; She, 2005). Öğrenme stilleri, öğrencinin başarılı bir şekilde bilgiyi yapılandırmasında önemli bir rol oynamaktadır. Çalışmanın amacı, 8. sınıf öğrencilerinin öğrenme stili tercihlerinin fen ve teknoloji dersindeki akademik başarıları üzerindeki etkisini araştırmaktır. Çalışmaya, 267 8. sınıf öğrencisi katılmıştır. Öğrencilerin öğrenme stili tercihlerini belirlemek üzere Barsch Öğrenme Stili Envanteri kullanılmıştır. Öğrencilerin fen ve teknoloji dersindeki akademik başarılarının belirlenmesinde, birinci ve ikinci dönem sonunda yapılan TEOG sınavlarının ortalaması alınmıştır. Çalışmanın bulguları, fen ve teknoloji dersinde görsel ve işitsel öğrenme stiline sahip öğrencilerin daha başarılı olduklarını göstermiştir. Ayrıca, aynı sınıfta öğrenim görmelerine rağmen kinestetik öğrenme stiline sahip öğrencilerin göster ve işitsel öğrenme stiline sahip öğrencilerden daha düşük başarıya sahip oldukları görülmüştür.
The authors examined the effect of an instructional material designed through Ausubel's expositor... more The authors examined the effect of an instructional material designed through Ausubel's expository learning related to the "Human and environment" Unit in 7th grade Science and Technology Curriculum on students' academic achievement, attitudes towards science and computers. The quasi experimental pretest-posttest controlled group design has been used in the study. The study has been conducted with K7 students in one of secondary schools in Kahramanmaras/Turkey. The experimental and control groups have been attended randomly and each group has been consisted of 24 students. Totally 48 7th grade students have been participated in the study. Prior to the study Academic Achievement Test, Science and Technology Attitude Scale and Computer Attitude Scale have been administered as pre-test and following to the application, the mentioned data collection tools have been administered as posttest. The analysis of the collected data has reported that therehas been a significant increase in favor of the experimental group related to the Academic achievement and computer attitude scores. There has been no significant difference between experimental and control groups students' science attitudes in both groups following to the application .
Çalışmanın amacı, “Kimyagerin Sınıfı” isimli web destekli materyalin 9. Sınıf öğrencilerinin karı... more Çalışmanın amacı, “Kimyagerin Sınıfı” isimli web destekli materyalin 9. Sınıf öğrencilerinin karışımlar konusundaki akademik başarılarına, kimya dersine karşı tutumlarına ve bilgisayara karşı tutumlarına etkisini araştırmaktır. Çalışmaya 54 9. Sınıf öğrencisi katılmıştır. Çalışmada yarı deneysel araştırma deseni kullanılmış, deney ve kontrol grubu oluşturulmuştur. Uygulamadan önce “Bilgisayar Tutum Ölçeği”, “Kimya Tutum Ölçeği” ve “Akademik Başarı Testi” deney ve kontrol grubuna ön test olarak uygulanmıştır. Öğretmen, kontrol grubunda Kimya Ders Kitabını (MEB, 2012) takip ederek ders işlerken, deney grubunda web destekli “Kimyager’in Sınıfı” isimli materyali kullanmıştır. Deneysel araştırma 4 hafta sürmüş ve ardından son testler uygulanmıştır. Çalışmanın bulguları öğrencilerin bilgisayara karşı tutumları arasında anlamlı bir fark olmadığını, akademik başarıları ve kimyaya karşı tutumlarında deney grubu lehine anlamlı fark olduğunu göstermiştir.
This study aims to search students' science learning motivation in relation with some variables (... more This study aims to search students' science learning motivation in relation with some variables (such as having a separate study room at home and a personal computer) and the effect of motivational factors on students' science achievement. In the study, descriptive corelational survey model has been used to examine students' motivation in relation with some variables and to search the relationship between students' science learning motivation and their TEOG exam scores. The sample of the study consisted of 232 8 th grade students attending 3 state secondary schools in Kahramanmaraş during 2013-2014 academic year. Students' motivation level has been determined by administering SMTSL. Students' average scores of the TEOG exam have been considered as their science achievement. The findings show that female students' motivation level is higher than the male students. In addition, it has been observed that female students' motivation is higher in sub-categories of active learning strategies, science learning value and achievement goal. There is a direct relationship between the students' motivation and their TEOG scores. This shows that students with higher levels of motivation have higher success in TEOG.
This study investigated the impact of a web-based teaching method on students' academic achieveme... more This study investigated the impact of a web-based teaching method on students' academic achievement and attitudes in the elementary education fifth grade Science and Technology unit, 'System of Earth, Sun and Moon'. The study was a quasi-experimental study with experimental and control groups comprising 54 fifth grade students attending a state school in the 2012-2013 academic year. Lessons in the experimental group of 26 students were taught with the help of web-based teaching materials designed in a computer environment, whilst students in the control group of 28 were taught according to the textbook. Comparisons based on pre-and post-test results were used to identify the impact of the web-based method on student achievement. Findings suggested a significant difference in favor of the experimental group in their achievement in Science and Technology lessons and positive attitudes towards computer technologies and astronomy.
Current study examined the effects of virtual and physical laboratory practices on students' conc... more Current study examined the effects of virtual and physical laboratory practices on students' conceptual achievement in the subject of electricity and their attitudes towards simple electric circuits. Two groups (virtual and physical) selected through simple random sampling was taught with web-aided material called " Electricity in Our Lives ". Quasi experimental research design was used in the study and " Simple Electric Circuits Achievement Test " composed of three dimensions (CCAB, FCC and RCE) and " Attitude Scale for Simple Electric Circuits " composed of five dimensions were given to the groups are pre and posttests. It was identified that conceptual achievement significantly differed in the CCAB and RCE dimensions of the virtual laboratory implementations on the basis of total scores compared to the physical group whereas no meaningful differences were detected in the FCC dimension. It was also found that virtual laboratory implementations did not generate differences in student attitudes towards simple electric circuits.
Current study aimed to examine the effects of web-based instructional material enriched by concep... more Current study aimed to examine the effects of web-based instructional material enriched by concept maps, the academic achievement of 7th graders in “Structure and Properties of Matter” unit. The study utilized a quasi-experimental model with pretest-posttest control group design. A sample of the study was composed of 58 students. “Structure and Properties of Matter” unit was taught to the experimental group with computer assisted teaching method, while the same unit was taught to control group by using traditional teaching methods. “Structure of Matter Achievement Test”, “Science and Technology Attitude Scale” and Computer Attitude Scale” were used as data collection tools. The results showed that web-based teaching method was more effective compared to traditional teaching methods in increasing academic achievement in science and technology classes and there is no statistically significant difference in both group attitudes towards Science and Technology Class or computers.
This study implemented multi- media learning material developed for the 5th grade science course ... more This study implemented multi- media learning material developed for the 5th grade science course topic “Food and Healthy Nutrition” and examined its effect on students’ academic achievement and science attitudes. The study used a control group, a pre-test-post-test quasi experimental research design, and a convenience sample consisting of 62 5th grade students. The research instruments were an achievement test and a science attitude scale. During the implementation process the experiment group learned using multimedia learning material and the control group learned with traditional methods. Data were analyzed using an independent-samples t test, a paired-samples t-test, and ANCOVA statistics. According to the findings there is a statically significant difference between post-test achievement scores of the experimental and control groups, with the experimental group scoring higher. Also there is a statically significant difference between students’ post-test scores in terms of gender, favoring females over males. In terms of science attitude there is also a significant difference between post-test scores of the experimental and control groups. In conclusion it may be said that multimedia learning promotes more effective learning in science education.
The most important characteristic that distinguishes physical sciences from other disciplines of ... more The most important characteristic that distinguishes physical sciences from other disciplines of science is the emphasis on experimentation, observation and discovery. The significance of using methods that focus on this characteristic in chemistry laboratory classes is obvious. Current research was aimed to investigate the effects of teaching method implemented in General Chemistry Laboratory II class on academic achievement, attitudes towards chemistry, chemistry anxiety and attitudes towards chemistry laboratory of science teacher candidates who attended a state university. Two groups were randomly selected for this purpose. Research data were obtained through quasi-experimental method. A total of 34 students participated in the study. Paired sample t-test, independent sample t-test, one way ANOVA, MANOVA, ANCOVA and one way ANOVA for repeated measures analyses for used for data analysis. According to study results, it was identified that academic achievement of the treatment group who were taught with 5E learning cycle was significantly different compared to the comparison group who were taught with V diagram; that anxiety towards chemistry laboratory disappeared in the group taught with V diagram; that the implemented methods did not affect chemistry laboratory and chemistry lesson attitude scores based on post-test scores; that male students were more successful compared to female students in the chemistry laboratory and an inverse correlation existed between anxiety towards chemistry laboratory and attitude.
The study aims to examine primary school second level students' electronic waste awareness and en... more The study aims to examine primary school second level students' electronic waste awareness and environmental attitudes. A total of 250 students attending primary schools in Kahramanmaras province center in Turkey during 2011-2012 educational year participated in the study. The study that employed survey model utilized " Environmental Attitude Scale " and " Electronic Waste Awareness Survey ". Results of the study presented meaningful relationships between students' environmental attitudes and the type of school they attend to and parental income level while no meaningful relationships were found between environmental attitudes and variables of gender, grade and mother's or father's educational levels. Electronic waste survey results show that students have insufficient information or are misinformed about electronic wastes.
Advances in computer technologies and adoption of related methods and techniques in education hav... more Advances in computer technologies and adoption of related methods and techniques in education have developed parallel to each other. This study focuses on the need to utilize more than one teaching method and technique in education rather than focusing on a single teaching method. By using the pre-test post-test and control group semi-experimental research model, this study examined the effects of the web-assisted education method supported by six thinking hats technique on student achievement, on students' attitudes towards science and their attitudes towards the use of computers in science classes. The working group of the study was composed of 7th graders in a state secondary school in the 2013-2014 academic year. A working group consists of two randomly selected classes assigned as the experimental and control groups. The working group comprised of 50 students with 25 experimental and 25 control group students. Paired samples t-test, independent samples t-test and ANOVA techniques were used in analyzing the data collected via data collection tools to compare the experimental and control groups. The results showed that web-assisted education materials prepared with the use of the six thinking hats technique increased student attitudes towards science and computers. Students' attitudes towards computers were similar based on the variables of owning a computer and gender. Paternal education levels had no significant effects on student attitudes towards computers and their academic achievement.
Current study aims to identify critical thinking disposition of teacher candidates and investigat... more Current study aims to identify critical thinking disposition of teacher candidates and investigate critical thinking disposition in terms of different variables. The study was undertaken with a total of 220 teachers from Classroom Teaching, Science Teaching, Primary School Mathematics Teaching and Computer Education and Instructional Technology (CEIT) Departments of Faculty of Education. “The California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI)” adapted to Turkish was utilized in the study to find out critical thinking dispositions. Frequencies, percentages, arithmetic means, ANOVA and t-tests were used in data analysis. Critical thinking disposition of teacher candidates was found to be positive based on the findings obtained in the study. Differences were observed in critical thinking disposition depending on gender, class levels and departments of teacher candidates. No differences were identified based on father’s occupation, location of family home and the type of high school graduation.
This study aimed to adapt the 'Beliefs about Climate Change' (BACC) scale developed by Liarakou, ... more This study aimed to adapt the 'Beliefs about Climate Change' (BACC) scale developed by Liarakou, Athanasiadis and Gavrilakis (2011) to Turkish students by administering it to a group of 6th, 7th and 8th graders. The scale was sent to expert academicians after translation to ensure equivalency across languages and language equivalency was evaluated according to the Kendall coefficient of concordance. Results of exploratory versus confirmatory factor analysis undertaken to determine the factor structure of the BACC showed a single dimensional structure. A relationship above 0.34 was found for all items of the scale as a result of item-total correlation for the BACC. Item factor loads of BACC for each item were between 0.34 and 0.61. The Cronbach alpha internal consistency coefficient and test-retest correlation for the scale were found to be 0.85 and 0.78, respectively. Correlation analysis implemented for criterion-related validity of the BACC also showed a meaningful relationship.
Web technology is changing rapidly every day and the Internet has become a lifestyle for people a... more Web technology is changing rapidly every day and the Internet has become a lifestyle for people all over the world. It is obvious that the life style of societies is in a process of change, as new habits are acquired. Even though Internet use is one of the new social habits, it is one of the most important factors that induce this change as regards the convenience it brings to communication and other areas. The widespread use of Internet implies the idea that it can also be more widely used for educational purpose. Since chemistry teachers have a very important function in education, the determination of teachers' attitude towards Internet use is also important. In the literature it is possible to see many studies on teacher candidates' attitude towards Internet use; however studies on appointed teachers' attitude are not very common. In our study, which aims to determine the attitude of appointed chemistry teachers according to different variables , we used the Internet use attitude scale. Participant teacher's attitude towards Internet use was analyzed and interpreted according to the variables of gender, years on the job, type of school at which they are teaching, and duration of their weekly Internet use. It was seen that a vast majority of the teachers have personal computers, they connect to Internet at home and have positive attitude towards Internet use. It was also seen that female teachers have more positive attitude than male teachers in use of Internet for social interaction and communication.
The widespread use of internet implies the idea that it can also be more widely used for educatio... more The widespread use of internet implies the idea that it can also be more widely used for educational purposes. In this respect, since physics teachers have a very important function in education, to determine physics teachers’ attitudes towards internet use is also important. In the literature it is possible to see many studies on teacher candidates’ attitude towards internet use; “however studies on appointed teachers’ attitude are not very common. In our study, which aims to determine the attitude of appointed teachers according to different variables, we used the Internet Use Attitude Scale. For the teachers that took part in the study the attitude towards internet use was analyzed and interpreted according to the variables of gender, years on the job, type of school at which they are teaching, and duration of their weekly internet use. It was seen that a vast majority of the teachers have personal computers, they connect to internet at home and have positive attitude towards internet use. It was also seen that female teachers have more positive attitude than male teachers in use of internet for social interaction and communication.
Computer Education and Instructional Technology (CEIT) Departments train computer teachers to fil... more Computer Education and Instructional Technology (CEIT) Departments train computer teachers to fill gap of computer instructor in all grades of schools in Turkey. Additionally graduates can also work as instructional technologist or software developer. The curriculum of CEIT departments includes mathematics courses. The aim of this study is to identify attitudes of undergraduate students at CEIT departments towards math. In order to investigate the research question quantitative methods was used. Specifically survey research was preferred. Mathematics Attitude Questionnaire (MAQ) that was developed by Duatepe and Çilesiz (1999) was used and the questionnaire includes 38 items. The instrument was conducted with 122 undergraduate students from CEIT departments of four different universities in Turkey in the spring semester of 2010-2011. Data were analyzed through independent samples t-test and one-way ANOVA by means of PASW Statistics-18. In conclusion, some differences were found in terms of math attitudes of CEIT's students.
The purpose of this research is to determine the effect of web-based instruction with educational... more The purpose of this research is to determine the effect of web-based instruction with educational animation content at sensory organs subject on the 7th grade students' academic achievement and attitudes in the science and technology course. Quasi-experimental research method was applied in this study. For this purpose, as a means of measuring, Science and Technology achievement test consisting of 30 questions and 15-itemed Science Course attitude scale developed by Geban et.al. (1994) were used. In experimental group, the sensory organs were explained with web-based instructional materials with educational animation content, and academic achievement test and attitude scale were applied as post-test; in the control group, subject of sensory organs were rendered in the traditional lecture method and application is finished with applying academic achievement test and attitude scale as post-test. As consequence of study, there is a meaningful difference in favor of experimental group on the academic achievement pre-test / post-test marks between experimental group instructed with web-based instructional materials with educational animation content and control group instructed with traditional lecture method. It is found that there is no significant difference on attitudes towards science and technology.
Character education competencies of teachers are very important in the achievement of educational... more Character education competencies of teachers are very important in the achievement of educational objectives in addition to their field knowledge, general knowledge and pedagogical knowledge. The study which utilized survey model aimed to identify competencies in teachers, who play a significant role in shaping the character of students along with the parents, through self assessment. Data was collected with the help of CECBS (Character Education Competency Belief Scale) developed by Milson & Ekşi (2003). Working group of the study was composed of 231 teachers employed in various provinces of Turkey. Results showed that teachers' beliefs on character education competency centered on " agree " on CEC (Character Education Competency) and GEC (General Education Competency) dimensions; variables such as gender, type of school teachers graduated from, type of setlement they work in, income levels of their students and seniority did not create a significant difference on their character education competency beliefs however the subject they teach, attending in-service seminars and reading books about character education were found be significant. In the contenxt of the findings; increasing the number of in-service training opportunities and the number of publications are suggested.
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Instructional Technology (CEIT) Departments of Faculty of Education. “The California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI)” adapted to Turkish was utilized in the study to find out critical thinking dispositions. Frequencies, percentages, arithmetic means, ANOVA and t-tests were used in data analysis. Critical
thinking disposition of teacher candidates was found to be positive based on the findings obtained in the study. Differences were observed in critical thinking disposition depending on gender, class levels and departments of teacher candidates. No differences were identified based on father’s occupation, location of family home and the type of high school graduation.
Instructional Technology (CEIT) Departments of Faculty of Education. “The California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI)” adapted to Turkish was utilized in the study to find out critical thinking dispositions. Frequencies, percentages, arithmetic means, ANOVA and t-tests were used in data analysis. Critical
thinking disposition of teacher candidates was found to be positive based on the findings obtained in the study. Differences were observed in critical thinking disposition depending on gender, class levels and departments of teacher candidates. No differences were identified based on father’s occupation, location of family home and the type of high school graduation.