In Turkey, as in all countries of the world, education is regarded as the sole means of modernization, progress, civilization, productivity, and sustainability of all these things. The aim of the Turkish education system is to raise students with the national, moral and cultural values of the Turkish nation, to educate them as citizens of a social law state, and solve the existing or potential problems that may arise in the future. The most important document that shows how this aim will be achieved in the country is the curriculum. The purpose of this study is to reveal the frequency of the social issues included in the current curriculum at the elementary education level. Within the scope of the study, social issues presented by sociologists were established through e-Delphi panels, coded under seven titles by researchers, those who were thought to bring solutions to these problems were counted by descriptive analysis method in the specific aims, themes and achievements of the curriculum used at elementary level. Results show that curriculum adopted at the elementary education level include mostly issues related to individual life and individualization, socialization, democratic life and democratization while economic issues, and issues related to family, environment and urbanization are emphasized less. These findings are discussed with other research results.

The aim of this study is to reveal the suggestions of guidance and psychological counseling candidates (GPC) in dealing with math anxiety. The study analysed 50 GPC candidates’ opinions and suggestions on math anxiety. The research study utilized case study method. The participants were asked to respond what kind of studies they would suggest to their clienst in order to overcome math anxiety once they begin to work in their profession. The interviews transcripts were converted into written documents. Content analysis was made on those documents to find GPC candidates’ suggestions and opinions. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that the reasons of math anxiety can vary from individual to individual. Therefore, it was emphasized that the studies to determine the causes of math anxiety should be specific for each individual. Then, consultancy service should be formed based on the assessment of reasons that cause anxiety for each person. If the individual's math anxiety is caused by environmental factors such as teachers, families and peers, guidance and psychological counseling services should be offered to these environmental factors.

Teachers’ use of everyday cognitive heuristics can lead to biases in information processing and, thus, to unfair assessments of student characteristics. This problem can be addressed by a core aspect of research-based learning, i.e., by making use of principles and methods of empirical research in order to systematically collect information. However, pre-service teachers’ attitude towards the use of empirical research methods is usually rather low. To foster their attitudes, a total of 444 student teachers were confronted with their own biased perception during a methodology course. Biased perception was triggered by a halo effect inducing experiment. In a subsequent semester, n = 113 of these students participated in an online survey. They answered questions about their cognitive activity and affective reaction following the presentation of the results of the experiment. Moreover, they reported about perceived attitude changes towards systematic thinking and research methods. The results demonstrate the successful implementation of the halo effect, which affected the students cognitively and emotionally. Structural equation modelling showed, that attitude change was dependent on both cognitive and affective reactions. The findings indicate that the halo effect is not only easy to implement in university courses but also appears to have substantial impact on students’ attitudes towards research-based learning.

The purpose of this research is to examine the correlation between the attitude towards reading and the perception of creative reading. The sample group of the study, in which the correlational survey model among the qualitative research designs was conducted, consists of 319 students studying at fourth grade in primary schools. The scale for the perception of creative reading generated by Yurdakal and Susar Kirmizi and the scale for the attitude towards reading formed by Yurdakal and Susar Kirmizi were applied in collecting data for the research. Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Analysis and Simple and Multiple Linear Regression Analysis were implemented for the analysis of data in the study. When the data obtained from the analyses were examined, it was observed that there was a positive and high correlation between the attitude scale towards reading and its sub-dimensions. Likewise, a positive and high correlation was determined between the perception of creative reading scale and its sub-dimensions. As the attitude towards reading increases, the perception of creative reading decreases. This finding is similar for all the sub-dimensions in the scales. It was also comprehended that the attitude towards reading was a predictor of the perception of creative reading and that there were significant correlations between the perception of creative reading and the sub-dimensions of contributions, meaning, activities, and process of reading. Along with these variables, the attitude towards reading explains the perception of creative reading at a total level of 13%.

The paper is part of the qualitative research project Educational Aspirations, Opportunities and Challenges for Immigrants in University Education in Iceland, conducted in Iceland’s three biggest universities. The main goal of the paper is to investigate immigrant students’ experiences of communication with teachers during the learning process and their perspectives on multicultural group work. Furthermore, the paper explores immigrant students’ experiences of learner-centred approach and culturally responsive teaching methods applied by some teachers. The data was collected through focus group interviews and qualitative, semi-structured individual interviews with immigrant students. The theoretical framework is mainly based on the constructivist theory, which emphasises the importance of communication and the learner-centred approach. Additionally, the theoretical framework includes multicultural education theory, which puts an emphasis on applying culturally responsive teaching methods in classrooms with diverse student populations. The analysis of the interviews revealed that the participants’ experiences of communication with teachers and peers were mostly positive. However, culturally responsive teaching is still a rare phenomenon in Icelandic universities. When it comes to the participants’ perspectives on group work, the experiences ranged from being highly positive to negative.

Achieving the maximum efficiency in teaching a second language (L2) has always been an important issue for educators. Current globalization processes, development of international business relations, political integrations among the various countries throughout the world, and the abilities of latest information and communications technologies (ICT) dictate the more significance of knowledge of foreign languages. All living conditions should be constructed according to the mentioned surrounding changes during the ICT era. Correspondingly, teaching methodologies are also being adapted in order to teach people more efficiently. This paper studies how cellular phones (cell phones) can be used in learning English phrases. In order to examine the impact of cell phones on learning a language an experiment was run among the college and university students in Kazakhstan, supported by GSM Network of KCell (Kazakhstan). This paper discusses the experiment results, in which 126 college and university students participated, and makes some suggestions based on the experimental mobile learning. Study reveals that users could make noticeable improvements learning through their cell phones after the conducted experiment. Positive improvements were noticed on the results of general tests of English language those conducted among all participants of the research.

Recently, there has been growing interest among practitioners and scientists in teaching children computer programming languages. The international efforts to raise generations who produce technologies are supported at the national level in Turkey too. Programming language education is included beginning from secondary school curricula of computer science education. However, it can be mentioned that up-to-date methodological and pedagogical requirements of the courses are not adequately researched. Therefore, the primary aim of the study is to share innovative methods regarding programming education processes with middle school computer science teachers. This paper presents the details of a project conducted to design an in-service training model for computer science teachers and funded by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) with the project number of 116B298. During the training period, up-to-date methodology and technologies were presented in workshops with an integrated approach. At the end of the courses, the participants’ development and the efficiency of the activities were investigated based on the analyses of qualitative and quantitative data and positive results about the content of proposed in-service teacher training methodology were yielded.

The purpose of the present study is to determine if high school students' character strengths composed of twenty-four different features, being virtuous including six dimensions and demographic characteristics predict risky behaviors. The participants of the study were 380 students aged between 14-19 years and enrolled in general high schools. The data was collected by using the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths for Young People and the Risky Behaviors Scale. From the findings, it was determined that the risk of school drop-out score was higher in the ninth grades and the male students had more risky behaviors compared to the their female counterparts. Moreover, it was also determined that the risky behaviors were significantly related to many character strengths. Besides this, as a result of the regression analyses, it was found that the character strengths predicted risky behaviors composed of the areas of anti-social behaviors, use of alcohol/cigarette, eating habits, suicide tendency and school leave at different levels. The findings were discussed within the context of adolescents’ psychological counseling needs and suggestionThe purpose of the present study is to determine if high school students' character strengths composed of twenty-four different strengths, virtues including six dimensions and demographic characteristics predict risky behaviors. The participants of the study were 380 students aged between 14-19 years and enrolled in general high schools. The data was collected by using the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths for Youth and the Risky Behaviors Scale. From the findings, it was determined that the risk of school drop-out score was higher in the ninth grades and the male students had more risky behaviors compared to their female counterparts. Moreover, it was also determined that the risky behaviors were significantly related to many character strengths. Besides this, as a result of the regression analyses, it was found that the character strengths predicted risky behaviors composed of the areas of anti-social behaviors, use of alcohol/cigarette, eating habits, suicide tendency and school dropout at different levels. The findings were discussed within the context of adolescents’ psychological counseling needs and suggestions were proposed.

The analyses described in this paper permitted an evaluation of whether capacity-building professional development practices were related to early childhood intervention practitioners’ reported use of capacity-building family-centered practices. This was ascertained by structural equation modeling for two different types of family-centered practices (participatory and relational) where the two models were compared to determine the better fitting model and the sizes of effects for the relationships among the variables in the models. Results provided converging evidence that capacity-building professional development engenders practitioners’ use of capacity-building family-centered practices. Implications for practice are described.

Pragmatic competence is an indispensable dimension of overall language ability, and proper interpretation of implied meanings is a major constituent of pragmatic competence. In this regard, this study aimed to investigate the efficiency of a film-based instruction program devised to facilitate the interpretation of implied meanings in English. It was conducted with a quasi-experimental design. First, a multiple-choice discourse completion test was given to 144 English language teacher trainees with 77 people in the experimental group and 67 in the control group. After the 5-week instruction given to the experimental group, the test was administered to both groups again. The results revealed significant differences in favor of the experimental group. This makes the program a promising one as it made the participants, who were also prospective English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers responsible for helping their own students have pragmatic competence too, significantly more equipped about processing implied meanings as a major constituent of pragmatic competence.

This descriptive and regression research was conducted to determine the influence of empowerment on organizational behaviors of 215 teachers in Catholic Higher Education Institutions in the Philippines. The results revealed that Catholic teachers have high levels of teacher empowerment. Specifically, they have very high level of status, professional growth, self-efficacy, and impact and high level of decision-making and autonomy in scheduling. Meanwhile, they also high level of organizational behaviors. Furthermore, three of the subscales of teacher empowerment tend to predict almost all dimensions of organizational behaviors of teachers in the school. The research concludes that Catholic Higher Education teachers are empowered to their organization as they feel respected, have opportunities for professional growth, feel efficient and effective in the classroom, and have the capacity to influence students and the school life. However, they do not have enough avenues to be involved in the decision-making process of their institution and do not have enough freedom and opportunities to choose their own schedules and teaching loads. Furthermore, they exhibit positive organizational behaviors in their institutions as manifested in their strong attachment to their organization, high level of involvement to their work, harmonious relationship with their supervisors and middle level managers. Also, they exhibit discretionary actions that goes beyond their functions, and have a desire and passion to continue and uphold the teaching profession.

The aim of this study is to present pre-service biology teachers with reading texts about the research of Van Helmont and Joseph Priestley relate to the subject of photosynthesis, for their familiarization with the processual and contextual aspects of science and their understanding of the nature of science, and to reveal the extent to which these texts contribute to the teacher candidates. The study was carried out by “action research method”.  The sample consisted of 66 biology pre-service teachers studying at Karadeniz Technical University between the years of 2016 to 2018. In this study, two separate reading texts were prepared in order to increase pre-service teachers’ processual and contextual understanding, and after the teacher candidates had read the texts, they were asked to answer the related questions. Percentage and frequency values were determined by grouping the answers as “correct, partially correct, incorrect and unanswered”. The fact that in this study, only 47% of the pre-service teachers were able to form a correct hypothesis means that their skills in this regard are in need of development. Candidates experienced some difficulty in interpreting statements that were not given explicitly in the text. The candidates' level of critical thinking is at a good level. It has been determined that they have post-modern view as epistemological belief. There is a need for designing instructional materials covering conceptual, processual, contextual dimensions of science in different subjects at university level and presenting them to biology teachers in book format.

The main goal of this paper is to briefly describe the educational quality assurance procedures of Jubail Industrial College and share its experience with other local and international institutions that are potentially interested in implementing similar quality assurance procedures in their various departments. This paper follows a document and descriptive method. Document analysis qualitative approach was opted. In essence, implementing quality assurance procedures within any educational institution ensures quality education and helps to maintain an organized structure. Internal quality assurance policies and practices guarantee that the quality of education in an academic institution is consistently monitored. This paper can be utilized by both academic planners and quality assurance personnel in academic institutions. The quality assurance procedures described in this paper are used to ensure the quality of education specific to the Jubail Industrial College; however, it can be applied in other academic institutions as well.

A modern teaching method influences both direct and indirect learning achievement through the student's nonacademic factors. The researcher has an intention to examine the influences of new teaching methodology on mathematics achievement towards mathematics attitude, achievement motivation, and self-efficacy of students as mediating variables (n teacher = 117, n student = 2,205). The Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling revealed that attitude towards mathematics is the most important factor in explaining the academic achievement of individual students. It could be explained the variance with achievement motivation and perceived self-efficacy of students by 60.50%. As for the modern teaching method, there was a positive effect on achievement both directly and indirectly through all three factors with statistical significance and explained conjointly about the variance of student achievement in each classroom by 99.00%. This finding suggests the importance and direction of teaching design that covers the development of relevant factors as proposed in discussions and implementations.

This study is conducted to develop the diagnostic test, which can be used to measure the higher-order thinking skill (HOTs) of students of first-grade senior high school in Bima district, West Nusa Tenggara. The step of developing instruments such as test which using modification model of Oreondo which include two activities such as test designing and test trials. The analysing technique of validity of content used Aiken formula, classical test theory used software Iteman 4.3, the model of Rasch used software Winstep and analysing reliability used software SPSS. The conclusion which can be taken are developing instrument has the characteristics as a useful instrument and fulfil requirement used to measure. This case proved from the data of analysis result which confirm that the instrument has been achieved the content of validity by expert judgment and obtained the empirical evidence, both as classical test theory or Rasch model.

The purpose of this study is to examine the fears of children who are 6-10 years old via drawings. In this study, phenomenology research design which is among qualitative research methods was used. The study group of the study consisted of 314 children aged between 6 and 10 years in three primary schools in Kirsehir city center in 2017-2018 academic year. The data obtained from the participants were analyzed by using the content analysis method. As a result of the research, the drawings were collected under 6 categories according to their similar characteristics .When the drawings obtained from the children were classified, it was seen that the most fear is related to the category of animals, while the least fear is related to the drawings of the category of fears related to medical. In addition, children preferred to use black, red, blue, yellow and green colors in their fear themed drawings.

Conflicts are an inevitable phenomenon within organizations. The organization of interest in this study is the elementary school and the conflicts that may emerge into its context. There are many types of conflicts and their consequences vary; there are positive consequences, but also negatives ones. When teachers are to express their opinions on conflicts, they think that conflicts happen often enough, and they recognize both their negative and positive effects. The present study examined teachers’ perceptions on the frequency of certain types of school conflicts and their consequences. The researchers asked teachers working in public elementary schools in Achaia Prefecture, Greece. Personal characteristics of the study’s participants such as age, gender, years in service and teaching specialization were also taken into consideration. It was found that a small percentage of teachers believed that conflicts happen very often. In general, teachers thought that negative consequences are more frequent than positive ones, even though, they recognized the beneficial aspect of conflicts. Lastly, the teachers’ groups that were formed based on participants’ characteristics showed significant differences. Study’s limitations along with suggestions for future research are also discussed.

This study was conducted to analyze (a) the suitability of National Examination (UN) and national-based school examination (USBN) implementation, which has been running on the current guidelines and efforts to improve students’ achievements, (b) the final examination system that is relevant in measuring student competency achievement based on graduate competence standard. It employed descriptive quantitative evaluation by using CIPP (context, input, process of implementation and product) evaluation model. Participants included the head of the Education and Culture Department, Ministry of Religion, Principals / Madrasas, teachers, and students. To collect the data, questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussions, and documentaries were undertaken. Additionally, the data analysis technique used quantitative and qualitative descriptive statistics. The findings indicate that (1) implementation of the UN and USBN, which has been ongoing, is in accordance with the standard operating procedure (SOP) that has been established by the board of national education standard (BNSP), (2) implementation of UN and USBN can be used to improve performance (3) the final examination system that is able to measure achievement of graduates' competency on certain subjects nationally by referring to the Graduate Competency Standard is computer-based national examination (UNBK). The concluding remarks are an attempt to contribute to the growth of future research in the field of UN and USBN implementation in Indonesia.

This study considers the interaction between an e-learning system, the Blackboard system, and the students who use it in Saudi Arabia. While previous work exists, there is limited consideration of the assessment of the preferences of e-learning system usability variables based on students’ perspectives, especially in developing countries such as Saudi Arabia. This paper attempts to fill the gap by investigating the relative importance of the design criteria developed for e-learning system usability evaluation from the students’ perspective in Saudi tertiary education. Based on reviewed literature, a set of usability principles was developed that have had an influence in the students’ learning process and use of the e-learning system. The list includes system navigation, system learnability, visual design, information quality, instructional assessment and system interactivity. An exploratory study was carried out to identify the most important usability design characteristics from a student’s perspective and then evaluate the overall usability of the current e-learning system, based on this subset. A quantitative approach was adopted to weigh usability design characteristics, based on 181 learners’ perceptions. The sample consists of undergraduates who are users of a web-based e-learning system in a university in Saudi Arabia. The research instrument was tested for construct validity and reliability. The analysed results have shown that information quality is the most important dimension followed by the navigation of the e-learning system. The study has also revealed that the system learnability and visual design came third and fourth in order of importance of e-learning system usability assessment. Finally, the least important design categories that influenced the e-learning system usability assessment were instructional assessment and system interactivity. The empirical results of this study may help to provide insights for designers and evaluators leading to a more effective approach to improve the usability and uptake of the e-learning system.

It is aimed, in this study, to compare the achievement level of the students taught with the fifth grade intensive English language curriculum (IELC) and the ones taught with the fifth grade English language curriculum (ELC) in terms of their speaking skills. With this aim, it is also intended to find out the failure behind the students’ speaking skills. Sequential explanatory strategy, which is one of the mixed-methods research designs, was used for this study as the aim was to further explain the quantitative findings. There were two groups of participants in this study. The first group included 64 fifth grade students selected from two different schools though simple random sampling, while the second group consisted of the five teachers teaching the fifth grade IELC. Two instruments developed by the researcher were utilized to collect data. The first instrument was an achievement test developed to measure students’ success in speaking skills, while the second instrument was a semi-structured interview schedule developed to collect data from the teachers implementing the fifth grade IELC. The quantitative data collected through the achievement test were analyzed with descriptive statistics including means and standard deviations and inferential statistics through independent samples t-test which was used to compare the two groups of students’ achievement levels, while the qualitative data gathered through the semi-structured interviews were analyzed with content analysis. The findings indicated that only one objective was attained by the students, the results of independent samples t-test indicated that there was not a significant difference in the achievement levels of the students taught with the fifth grade IELC and the ones taught with the fifth grade ELC. The reasons behind this failure was found to be resulting from teacher-related, student-related, and Ministry of National Education (MoNE)-related factors referring to implementation problems rather than curriculum design.