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Understanding life on a molecular level is greatly enhanced when students are given the opportunity to visualize the molecules. Especially understanding DNA structure and function is essential for understanding key concepts of molecular biology such as DNA, central dogma and the manipulation of DNA. Researches have shown that undergraduate students typically lack a coherent view of concepts and their relationships when studying molecular biology within instruction-based lecture with no other pedagogical applications. In this study, we have designed an experimental to investigate the effect of a hands on paper models exercise within group work (Jigsaw Cooperative learning) on student biology teachers' academic achievement and attitudes to biotechnologies. Our goal was to develop a manipulative activity using inexpensive but graphic materials. The sample for this study consisted of 42 student teachers in the department of Biology Education during the 2005-2006 academic year. We have divided the students in two different classes. One of the classes was randomly assigned as the non-paper model (control, n=21) and the other as the paper model group (n=21). In experimental group cut and paste paper models exercise within cooperative groups, in control group traditional instructional design has been applied in teaching DNA structure, Central Dogma and Recombinant DNA. The posttests of the groups in achievement and attitudes to biotechnologies show significant differences. The results indicated that the paper model group was more successful than the non-paper group. (Contains 1 figure and 4 tables.)

The news in the national papers has an important role to inform the people about the content of new primary school curriculum. This study investigated the way of function with the comparison of the studies in the literature. The news concerning the renewed curriculum appearing in the national media in the period between 2004 and 2007 was obtained through document analysis and were compared to scientific studies in terms of consistency. For our purposes, 484 news articles and columns from 14 newspapers which were grouped into 3 categories were examined through document analysis. Consequently, it was found that the highest rate was in the year 2004 and that the rate of concepts decreased as the years passed by. The information on the novel curriculum was brief statements made by officials and was in the form of headings in the early years; yet in the following years such knowledge as the philosophy of the curriculum, its being student-centred as well as details of measurement and evaluation was presented. In the literature, findings related with inadequacy and content/ design categories were seen taking place heavily.

This paper examines listening comprehension skills of visually impaired students (VIS) using computerised adaptive testing (CAT) and reader-assisted paper-pencil testing (raPPT) and student views about them. Explanatory mixed method design was used in this study. Sample is comprised of 51 VIS, in 7th and 8th grades. 9 of these students were interviewed for determining student views about tests. Results indicated that scores obtained from CAT are significantly lower than scores obtained from raPPT. Additionally, a positive and high correlation was found between scores of CAT and raPPT. This result suggests that similar ability estimations were made by CAT and raPPT. Another finding is CAT made more reliable predictions, and was completed in shorter duration using fewer items. In qualitative part, student views were gathered through interviews and content analysis revealed three themes as technical features, test features, and psychological effects. In general, students reported positive views about CAT. VIS prefer CAT due to its listening/control options, shorter test durations, clarity of reading, and fairness of test, elimination of dependency to reader. Study provides implications for test developers and test-users to consider CAT as a multi-accommodation for VIS through its advantages.

The main aim of this study was to determine students' perceptions toward web-based versus paper-based homework and identify any differences based on homework performance score and grade point average. A 21-item perception of online vs. paper-based homework survey was administered to 103 students (54 were male and 49 were female) in general physics-1 classes. Results of the study indicated that there was not a statistically significant difference in physics grade point average scores; however, there was a statistically significant difference in homework performance (average) scores based on assigned homework groups. Overall, students' perception of web-based homework testing was positive. Finally, some tentative recommendations are posed. (Contains 3 tables.)

Problem Statement: While gender as a variable is a significant research and discussion area in foreign language learning, computers are not only common tools in EFL writing classes but also a research subject in foreign language learning. Previous research indicates that female learners have negative attitudes on writing on computers and there have not been certain findings and consensus on gender effect on computerized writing samples of EFL learners. Purpose: This research aimed to investigate the gender effect on writing quality of pen-paper and computerized samples of EFL learners. Method: Writing samples of 20 pen-paper and 20 computer group students were scored analytically and analyzed statistically. Findings and Results: It was found that gender had a significant effect on vocabulary, accuracy, organization, originality and creativity, unity and coherence, relevance, fluency, content, and language control of the samples produced on computer while it had no effect on mechanics of the computerized samples. Recommendations: It is recommended that further research should focus on computer anxiety, interest, and attitudes of female EFL learners. (Contains 2 tables.)

The purpose of this study is to compare primary school 5th-class students' electronic text reading performance, reading speed and reading comprehension with tablet PCs and printed books. This study examined a sample of 20 students. The students were randomly divided into two groups, a control group and a treatment group. The control group students read ordinary printed books, and the students in the treatment group read the same text on an electronic tablet PC display. Both qualitative and quantitative data collection tools were used for the study. Qualitative data were collected on the reading speed and reading comprehension skills for both groups of students. Statistically, there was no significant difference between the groups in reading speed or the level of reading comprehension. Students' opinions on tablet PCs and recommendations for future studies are also discussed.

The number of ELT doctoral dissertations is growing every year, and these are great sources to spot the leading research trends and the research gaps in the field. Previous studies have been conducted to explore research trends in Turkey, accordingly journal articles and conference proceedings were examined. However, little research has aimed to investigate doctoral dissertations. As the number of graduates increases every year, a current study exploring the research trends of ELT in Turkey is needed. Therefore, the present research aims to fill this gap by examining 252 doctoral dissertations published between 2010 and 2020. Content analysis was conducted on the titles and abstract parts of the dissertations and then, coding was applied with the help of a priori codes suggested by the relevant literature. Findings have suggested that Teacher Professional Development is the leading research topic while Culture, Social, and Gender Issues are found to be under-researched. The results imply that these areas need improvements on both local and global scales. In light of the findings, further research in certain areas is suggested for local researchers.

How has education for refugees been shaped by broader dynamics of educational privatization? This paper argues that the invoking of the 'refugee crisis' narrative has been a crucial force in facilitating the privatization of this sector. The urgency of crisis helps to naturalize private actors' participation in refugees' education as equal partners to host governments, multilateral agencies, and civil society. Consistent with Stephen Ball's (2012) distinction between privatization in and of education, the privatization of refugee education also advances through two dimensions: the creation of a new space -- a new 'market' -- for private actors, and the infusion of market and business principles such as 'innovation' into all aspects of education. The crisis narrative has created a new 'horizon of taken-for-granted' (Hall, 1993), where it is simply natural that private actors must participate in the assumption of the traditional responsibilities of the state in providing education for refugees.

While previous research has documented the challenges international students face during their graduate level study in U.S. universities (Casanave and Li, 2008), less is known about the graduate students at English-medium universities, which are common in non-English dominant (EFL) contexts. To address this gap in the literature, this exploratory research study investigates second language (L2) graduate students' academic literacy practices at English-medium universities in Turkey. During one academic year, Turkish graduate students in English language education programmes at seven English-medium universities were invited to participate in a survey regarding their academic literacy practices in English and Turkish. One hundred ten participants responded on the survey. In addition, a subset of participants was asked to participate in semi-structured interviews. Graduate students stated that studying through the medium of English made it almost impossible to write in their L1 (i.e. Turkish). They, however, were asked to make parallel use of English and Turkish in some genres such as academic papers and conference abstracts. Based on the results, the study highlights the importance promoting academic biliteracy along with full-bilingualism at graduate programmes in English-medium universities.

Scientific knowledge accumulates after a certain process. Increasing knowledge production based on scientific studies ensures the development of the academic field. In this process, the field-specific scientific literature is formed. In this study, in order to reveal the profile of the Turkish Education, 9th Full text reports published in the book International Turkish Education-Teaching Conference in were analyzed based on bibliometric measurements. The model of the study is the case study from qualitative research patterns. The scope of the study is 9 th ITLETC [International Turkish Language Education-Teaching Conference] is a full text booklet. The data of the study were collected by means of the PPR. Bibliometric analysis technique was used for data analysis. WordSift word cloud software is preferred for keyword visualization. According to the results 168 papers were accepted for oral presentations. Of these, 32 were it is a full text in the UCRSC proceedings. On the other hand, the papers had a total of 391 pages; at least 6, maximum 20 pages. In terms of the number of writers, more than half of the authors have contributed by two authors and it has been assessed that Assoc. Dr. has been the most contributors. The most contributing researchers were Erzincan University, Ministry of National Education and Kafkas University. The most discussed topics are Turkish language education and teaching, language, listening and reading. The most commonly cited source is the book. The most cited books are scientific research methods and statistics. Half-life in the education and teaching of Turkish language was determined as 11.9 years.

Students' attitudes and motivations toward mathematics decrease as they intensively confront cognitive information along the process of mathematics teaching in general. One of the most important reasons for this is the lack of activities for affective and psychomotor domains in the mathematics teaching process. One way to overcome this problem is to include activities through which students can participate effectively in the teaching process. For example, activities performed using origami can be one of them in teaching the attainments covered by the field of geometry learning in mathematics curriculum. Therefore, this study was carried out to present an exemplary activity about how origami can be used when teaching mathematics in secondary schools and to identify preservice teacher opinions on this activity. The activity presented in this study was performed with 32 preservice elementary mathematics teachers attending the faculty of education at a university and taking the Mathematics Teaching with Origami course, and their opinions were taken afterwards. At the end of the application, the preservice teachers stated that such activities would have very positive contributions to students' mathematics learning. In addition, the preservice teachers communicated and exchanged ideas with each other during the application. It is therefore recommended to use such activities in mathematics teaching.

Purpose: This study was conducted to reveal the views of academicians, working in the Faculty of Education, on the 2023 Vision Document of the Ministry of National Education. Method: Qualitative research method was used in this study. The study group consisted of six faculty members. In the determination of participants, easily accessible situation sampling, which is one of the purposive sampling methods, was used. A descriptive qualitative research design was used in this study; interview technique and semi-structured interview form were used as data collection tools. Findings: The findings showed that the views of academicians, who participated in this study, about the education system were based on a philosophical foundation that continues from individuality to sociality, from material dimension to spiritual dimension, and emphasizes an original national and spiritual thought system extending from local to universal. Also, results indicated that, firstly, students should gain national and universal values and then should be equipped with 21st-century skills and competencies if the courses are satisfactory concerning quality, the reduction of the course hours can be positive; emphasis can be given on the necessity of giving the pedagogical formation education rather than giving it. Implications for Research and Practice: The findings obtained from this study suggest that the views of the academicians may contribute to the successful implementation of the document. Studies should be carried out to reveal the opinions of teachers and school administrators, which are important components of education programs, within the framework of the document.

This paper provides a descriptive content analysis of biology education research papers published in eight major academic journals indexed in Social Science Citation Index [SSCI] of Thomson Reuters® from 1997 to 2014. Total of 1376 biology education research [BER] papers were examined. The findings indicated that most of the papers were published in the JBE and IJSE, and frequently studied topics were environment and ecology, genetics and biotechnology, and animal form and function. The findings were also indicated that learning, teaching and attitudes was in the forefront as the frequently investigated subject matters, undergraduate and secondary school students were mostly preferred as sample group and sample size mostly varies between 31-100 and 101-300. In addition, it was found out that interactive qualitative research designs were mostly preferred. Besides, that single data collection tool was generally used and this data collection tool included questionnaires, interviews and documents. Finally, frequency/percentage tables, central tendency measures, statistical analysis such as t-test and ANOVA/ANCOVA and content analysis were commonly used as data analysis.

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.

Textbooks are among the most important means of education in terms of instilling leadership skills in students. The characters presented as models in the textbooks play an important part in building up such leadership skills with the help of quotes from such characters, texts written with reference to them, and the activities developed accordingly. Thanks to his leadership qualities, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is one such character who continues to provide guidance even after a century. As a model for the students, he arguably plays a role in helping them develop leadership skills. Therefore, it is important to analyze his description in the textbook from a scientific perspective. Against this background, this study presents an analysis of the 8th grade textbook for "The History of Turkish Revolution and Kemalism" course used in the academic year 2021-2022, with reference to Ataturk's leadership traits and the types of leadership deemed important in the 21st century (strategic, authentic, charismatic, servant, transformative, transactional, etc.). The data gathered through document review was then subjected to descriptive analysis. The analysis led to the conclusion that the text represented Ataturk's leadership traits in tune with the types of leadership prevailing in the 21st century. It is also understood that Ataturk's strategic, visionary, transformative, charismatic, entrepreneurial, and creative leadership skills were more prominent in the text. [Paper presented at the Social Studies Education Symposium (Turkey, Jun 9-11, 2023).]

This note is based on hitherto untapped visual resources (photographs, presentation albums, and scrapbook) on post-World War I Russian refugees in Istanbul that belong to the Anna Mitchell Papers, which were gifted to the Hoover Institution Library and Archives at Stanford University in 1967. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital technologies have been used for measurement purposes and whether the test medium influences the user is an important issue. The aim of this study is to investigate students' performances and duration differences between online and paper-pencil tests. An online testing tool was developed and administered in order to determine the differences between the traditional paper-pencil tests and online tests concerning students' performances and the duration on tests. This tool enables to add questions that utilize an online database and which are in the form of multiple choice (with 5 or 4 options), true-false, matching, filling in the blanks, with multiple answers, with short answers, with long answers, and it also enables to prepare tests and to turn them into paper-pencil test mode. Performance test was applied with both online and paper-pencil modes on junior students at one of the universities in Turkey. Besides, the online testing tool developed within the context of the study was evaluated by instructors with respect to usability, relevance to the purpose and design. Instructor and student questionnaires are developed to determine the opinions on the online testing tool and online tests. Results showed that there was no significant differences between the performances on online and paper-pencil tests. On the other hand, the time they spent on the online test has been longer than the time they spent on paper-pencil test. Students found the online testing tool easy to use and stated that online test medium is more comfortable than paper-pencil tests. However, they complained about external noises, tiredness, and focusing problems regarding the online examination mediums. Generally, instructors have also appreciated the online testing tool's design and they agree on the fact that it serves for its purposes.

Content analysis of the studies of both Turkish and foreign authors on PBL in science education in national and international journals was made considering such variables as the research subject, method, sample, diversity of data collection tools and the data analysis methods. To this end, content analysis of 104 papers - 42 by Turkish authors and 62 by foreign authors - which were carried out between the years 1986-2012, was made. All these papers were accessed in full text. It was identified that in 40.4% of the studies whose content analysis was made, the focus was on the effect of PBL on learning, while in 35.6% the focus was on concept analysis. It is seen that while Turkish authors worked on teaching studies in 59.5% of their studies, foreign authors focused on concept analysis in 41.9% of their studies. Also while Turkish authors mostly preferred quantitative research methods (61.9%) in their studies, foreign authors preferred qualitative research methods (66.1%). The commonly used data collection tools for Turkish authors were questionnaire and achievement test, while foreign authors preferred interview and alternative data collection tools. In terms of choosing a sample group, it is seen that studies with undergraduate and secondary school students (9-12) were referred more often. The findings of the study reveal that studies on PBL were not very common in our country until 2005; that they reached the highest number between the years 2005-2009, and that foreign authors published the highest number of papers in 2006. While the foreign authors had a superiority over Turkish authors in terms of their papers on PBL in science education until 2005, it is seen that as of 2005, except the year 2006, the number of papers of Turkish authors has been equal to/higher than the number of papers by foreign authors until 2012. Besides, it is also identified that most of these studies were mixed and in the field of chemistry education. It is believed that this study is significant in terms of providing an opinion to young researchers working in the field of PBL and to those who are planning to work in the field.

It could be argued that the main goal of the teaching process is to create accurate projections of scientific models in the minds of individuals. In this context, it could be argued that it is important to determine the change and development of the mental models that individuals create for events/phenomena and related metaphors in this process. This paper seeks to reveal how the mental models and metaphors of students with similar sociodemographic characteristics have evolved throughout the teaching process from secondary school to the undergraduate level. In the present study, the cross-sectional survey model, which is one of the descriptive research methods, was used. While the population of the study consists of students and pre-service teachers who receive formal education in public schools located in the South East Anatolia region in the 2019-2020 academic year, the sample consists of 720 students in total selected in equal numbers from every grade level with similar socio-demographic characteristics (60 students selected from the 5th -grade to the 4th -year students of the undergraduate degree). The data collection tool used in the study was a four-tier conceptual understanding test created by the researcher, who also tested its validity and reliability. The data were subjected to descriptive statistics, content analysis, and the Chi-square test. The results reveal that the students have highly different definitions and metaphors for the concept of the atom with their mental models generally evolving up to the Rutherford atomic model and failing to reach a higher model. It is recommended in future studies that researchers follow the process longitudinally and investigate the reasons why students' mental models fail to evolve into higher atomic models. [This study was presented as an oral presentation at the "International Conference on Education in Mathematics, Science & Technology" (ICEMST 2017).]

The study aimed to investigate cognitive and metacognitive strategies and products of cognitive and metacognitive processes that preservice science teachers engaged in while reading heat-temperature text after being exposed to no reading strategy instruction, explicit reading strategy instruction,and peer tutoring reading strategy instruction. This study differs from other strategy teaching studies in terms of determining the cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies used by individuals after being exposed to different types of reading strategy instruction, which which was specifically designed to improve conceptual understanding. This study employed holistic multiplecase study wherein preservice teachers were assigned to one of the three groups that received no reading strategy instruction (n = 9), explicit reading strategy instruction (n = 10), and peer tutoring (n = 10) based on their scores on Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory and good communication among them. The content of strategy instruction included various domain-specific reading comprehension strategies used for activating cognitive and metacognitive processes that contribute to improving conceptual understanding and conceptual change. It was found that the diversity and frequency of using cognitive strategies and products of cognitive processes were the highest in the explicit strategy instruction group, and the metacognitive strategies and products of metacognitive processes were more diverse and frequent in reading strategy instruction groups compared to no strategy instruction group. [Paper presented at the National Science and Mathematics Education Congress (13th, Denizli, Turkey).]