Search

The paper reports a qualitative study to reveal how preservice science teachers' decision making (DM) processes on socioscientific issue (SSI) in a referendum case compare between unsophisticated (Group U) and sophisticated (Group S) views in terms of nature of science (NOS) understandings. Firstly, pre-study was conducted with focus group interviews with pre-service science teachers. With the findings, one-on-one semi-structured in-depth interviews of the main study for DM on SSI, the artificial meat was developed. In the main study, 12 participants' responses were analyzed, and a new DM model named the Fractal Model of DM which reflects real-life situation DM process, especially referendum case, was constructed. In DM, NOS lens usages of five NOS aspects about creativity and imagination, observation and inference, empirical-basis, subjectivity, and social and cultural embeddedness and 23 other lens usages such as animal rights (morality), economic, and risk factor were detected and explained through the fractal model. Findings showed that there is a hidden and complex effect of NOS understandings about tentativeness of scientific knowledge on DM. With multiple lens usage, each participant had multi-perspective considerations in DM. While Group S used NOS lenses mainly parallel with their NOS understandings, Group U used them in a more complicated way.

The purpose of this study was to explore science teachers' conceptions about micro-and macro-evolutionary processes. In this study, a case study was employed to compare and contrast novice and experienced middle school science teachers' evolution conceptions. The data were collected using four micro-and macro-evolutionary scenarios alongside cognitive interviews. The findings illustrated that while the novice teacher mostly provided non-Darwinian explanations, the experienced teacher predominantly applied key concepts of natural selection in her causal explanations, but cognitive biases regarding evolution were also found in her explanations. Therefore, the study suggested that the reasons for the coexistence of evolution concepts and cognitive biases be worthy of further exploration. The findings also indicated that even though the experienced teacher used several principles of macroevolution to explain the evolutionary changes above the species level, she based her causal explanations mainly on natural selection concepts. In this regard, the study recommended that teacher education programmes place special emphasis on the areas that are shown to be problematic for teachers like teaching and learning evolution, especially the concepts of macroevolution. The study also suggested that it may be worth the effort to develop a comprehensive qualitative measure in order to uncover learners' conceptions concerning macroevolution.

Practices such as astrology or crystal healing can be defined as pseudoscience. Against pseudoscience, one of the major responsibilities of science education must be to develop science-literate individuals who are able to understand what science is, how science is undertaken, how scientific knowledge is constructed, and how it is justified, then they will be able to determine whether a claim is valid and be alert to practices which fall outside the realms of science, especially those in the area of pseudoscience. For this reason, the ability of recognizing flawed process and claims of pseudoscience is referred to one of the crucial parts of science literacy. The present study aimed to uncover middle school students' understanding of the inherent aim of pseudoscientists and pseudoscientific applications related to crystals and to reveal their judgments and justifications regarding the effectiveness and scientific basis of these applications. The present study was qualitative in nature. The results of the study showed that the students were very gullible about the aim, effectiveness, and scientific basis of pseudoscientific practices and in particular the use of crystals. Furthermore, similar to pseudoscientists, the students generally used weak reasoning to evaluate the presented claims and research designs about crystals and crystal healing.

This study investigated how preservice teachers develop collective efficacy when preparing lesson plans for a science methods course, and how this collective efficacy changed over time. The data were collected from four preservice science teachers working in a group to fulfil the requirements of the course. Findings revealed that four factors, including collaborative work, sharing the same goal, attitudes towards group work and group cohesion, played an important role in the development of collective efficacy among preservice teachers. The study also showed that collective efficacy improved continuously over the semester.

In order to educate elementary students scientifically literate as expected in the science curricula in many countries around the world, science teachers need to be equipped with the diverse aspects of scientific literacy. This study investigates whether pre-service elementary science teachers at universities in Turkey have a satisfactory level of scientific literacy, and how the level of scientific literacy is affected by different variables, such as attitude toward science, gender, year in university, and education level of parents. The domains of scientific literacy for this study are scientific content knowledge (SCK), nature of science (NOS), and the nature of technology (NOT). The data were collected with the Test of Basic Scientific Literacy (TBSL) and the Scientific Attitude Inventory (SAI-II). The sample consisted of 667 first-year and 405 fourth year pre-service teachers from 10 education faculties in all regional areas in Turkey. The results indicated that pre-service teachers have adequate levels of scientific literacy regardless their gender and year in university. The comparisons illustrated that female students score higher than males, and 4th year students score higher than 1st year students in the TBSL.

The shortfall of young people, particularly women, in the field of Science, Mathematics and Engineering (SME) has been shown in many national studies. Schreiner and Sjoberg (2007) indicated that boys outnumber girls in physics and engineering studies, while the gender balance is shifted towards the girls in studies including medicine, veterinary medicine, environmental science and biology. This paper sets out to explore the issues, which are relevant to understanding these gender differences and the factors affecting students' career choices. The instrument called "Vilje-con-valg" was used to obtain data from 1635 first year students from eight different departments--mechanical, civil, computer, electrical-electronics, industrial, chemical, environmental and food engineering at 21 universities in Turkey. The results of this study showed that (i) most of the students decided on career options during their last grade level in high school or after graduation from high school, (ii) students were influenced by the jobs that they were interested in; their talents and abilities that they wanted to use and job prospects after graduation, (iii) internet, popular scientific magazines, books and movies were important factors in choosing their careers and (iv) the creativity and independence in the jobs are important considerations that influence career decisions. (Contains 7 tables and 1 figure.)

The nature of science aspects (NOS) are the most emphasized theme in many curriculum and reform attempts. Teachers as a curriculum implementer in the classroom play important role for policy, arrangements and classroom experiences on NOS understandings of students. Researchers generally assessed the teachers' NOS conceptions using open-ended questions plus interview in limited samples. However, in the literature, there have been some critics on this way of assessment. For that reason, this study aims to assess elementary science teachers' (N = 47) NOS conceptions by using "Open-ended questions" and "Knowledge test". The results showed existence of some misunderstandings on NOS and the participants' responses to knowledge test and open-ended questions gave similar pattern in terms of ten aspects of NOS, except for three aspects. (Contains 7 tables and 1 figure.)

This paper examined high school students' attitudes toward the environment and their interest in learning about environmental protection with respect to gender. The questionnaire-based Relevance of Science Education (ROSE) Project data of 9th grade students were collected in Turkey from 1,260 students. Statistical analysis included tabulation of frequency distribution, descriptive statistics chi-square and multivariate analysis of variance. The findings of this study revealed that (i) Turkish students have favourable attitudes toward environmental issues, (ii) students are eager to find solutions to environmental problems and show optimistic trends about the future, (iii) students' interests in learning about environmental protection issues are moderate level, and (iv) statistically significant differences were found in environmental attitudes and interests in learning about environmental protection mean scores of students regarding gender. The authors offer suggestions, based on the results, for further research to identify reasons for differences between boys and girls so as to improve environmental education in Turkish schools. (Contains 3 tables and 2 footnotes.)

This study examined associations between Turkish high school students' perceptions of their teachers' interpersonal behavior and their attitudes toward science and investigated what profiles could be discerned in class perceptions of these teachers. Data were collected with the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI) and the Test of Science Related Attitudes (TOSRA). A total of 2342 students (Grades 9 to 11) from 81 classes (14 public schools) in three major Turkish cities participated in the study. Correlation analyses, regression analyses and analyses of variance revealed that students' perceptions of their teachers' interpersonal behavior were significantly associated with their attitudes and that a variety of interpersonal profiles could be distinguished. (Contains 6 tables, 3 figures and 1 footnote.)

The issue of teachers' efficacy is of importance as teacher preparation programs throughout the world attempt to address shortages of qualified, competent teachers. In the field of science education, monitoring and reacting to the issue of efficacy seems to be one way in which teacher preparation programs are evaluating the structure of programs. The study reported in this paper provides a comparison of the self-efficacy of future science teachers in two countries (one developed and one rapidly developing). The purpose of the study is to compare preservice elementary teachers' efficacy beliefs at a large Turkish university and at a large American university located in the Midwest. The data for this study were collected by utilizing Enochs and Riggs' (1990) Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument (STEBI-B). The STEBI-B is comprised of two subscales; personal science teaching efficacy beliefs (PSTE, 13 items) and science teaching outcome expectancy (STOE, 10 ITEMS). The participants consist of a Turkish sample of 100 preservice elementary teachers and an American sample of 79 preservice elementary teachers. The data were collected by convenient sampling. A descriptive analysis of student data indicates generally positive self-efficacy beliefs regarding science teaching in both countries. Results from this study indicate that there were differences in personal teaching efficacy beliefs of the USA and Turkish samples of preservice teachers. In general, USA preservice teachers have stronger personal science teaching efficacy beliefs than Turkish preservice elementary teachers. (Contains 4 tables.)

Argumentation has been a prominent concern in science education research and a common goal in science curriculum in many countries over the past decade. With reference to this goal, policy documents burden responsibilities on science teachers, such as involving students in dialogues and being guides in students' spoken or written argumentation. Consequently, teachers' pedagogical practices regarding argumentation gain importance due to their impact on how they incorporate this practice into their classrooms. In this study, therefore, we investigated the instructional strategies adopted by science teachers for their argumentation-based science teaching. Participants were one elementary science teacher, two chemistry teachers, and four graduate students, who have a background in science education. The study took place during a graduate course, which was aimed at developing science teachers' theory and pedagogy of argumentation. Data sources included the participants' video-recorded classroom practices, audio-recorded reflections, post-interviews, and participants' written materials. The findings revealed three typologies of instructional strategies towards argumentation. They are named as Basic Instructional Strategies for Argumentation, Meta-level Instructional ?St??rategies for ?Argumentation, and Meta-strategic Instructional ?St??rategies for ?Argumentation. In conclusion, the study provided a detailed coding framework for the exploration of science teachers' instructional practices while they are implementing argumentation-based lessons.

This study investigated the relationship between pre-service science teachers' written argumentation levels about socio-scientific issues and epistemic belief levels in an online discussion environment. A mixed-methods approach was used: 30 Turkish pre-service science teachers contributed with their written argumentations to four socio-scientific issues. The pre-service science teachers' argumentations were evaluated by an adapted version of argumentation analysis framework developed by Sadler and Fowler (2006) and their epistemic belief levels were measured using the Epistemic Belief Questionnaire by Kuhn, Cheney, and Weinstock (2000). The qualitative as well as quantitative results indicated that: (1) the pre-service science teachers produced high-level argumentations for each socio-scientific issue in an online discussion environment, (2) levels of argumentations increased from climate change to human genome project issue, and (3) higher-level argumentations were produced for higher epistemic belief levels (i.e., multiplist and evaluativist).

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of explicit-embedded-reflective (EER) instruction in nature of science (NOS) understandings of ninth-grade advanced science students. This study was conducted with 71 students, who were divided into three groups, by using non-equivalent quasi-experimental design. In the treatment groups, the EER teaching was conducted, while in the comparison group NOS instruction was carried out in the same time interval by lecturing, demonstration and questioning strategies. Views on Nature of Science Questionnaire-Form C and follow-up interviews were used for data collection. Categorisation of the participants' profiles on aspects of the NOS was used for data analysis. According to the results, participants had misunderstandings about "scientific methods", "laws and theories" and "observation and inference", while they had expert views on "the role of creativity and imagination" in the beginning of the study. For changing naive NOS understandings, the EER approach was found to be effective.

The purpose of this study was to examine associations between Turkish high school students' perceptions of their science teachers' interpersonal behaviour and their attitudes towards science. Students' perceptions of the teacher-student interpersonal relationship were mapped with the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI), which uses two relational dimensions: influence and proximity. Data on Students' subject-related attitudes were collected with the Test of Science Related Attitudes (TOSRA). A total of 7484 students (Grades 9 to 11) from 278 science classes (55 public schools) in 13 major Turkish cities participated in the study. Multilevel analyses of variance indicated that influence was related with student enjoyment, while proximity was associated with attitudes towards inquiry and with enjoyment. (Contains 1 figure and 7 tables.)

The purposes of this study were to examine how Turkish students perceived their biology classroom environment, how their perceptions compared to those of students in other countries, and what classroom learning environment profiles could be discerned in Turkish high school biology classrooms. Data were gathered from 1,474 high school students in four inner city schools, in Bursa, Turkey. A total of 11 biology teachers participated in the study with 52 of their classes. Data on students' perceptions of their learning environment were collected with the What Is Happening In this Class? (WIHIC) questionnaire. Results indicated that Turkish classrooms were perceived as being low in terms of Teacher Support and high in terms of Task Orientation. Six distinct classroom learning environment profiles were found: the "self-directed learning classroom", "task-oriented cooperative learning classroom", "mainstream classroom", "task-oriented individualised classroom", "low-effective learning classroom" and "high-effective learning classroom". The most common profile was the "mainstream classroom" for which all WIHIC scales had medium-high scores. (Contains 6 tables, 1 figure and 2 footnotes.)

The study investigates environmental literacy of pre-service teachers at one of the largest public universities in Turkey. The research evaluates the relationship of pre-service teachers' environmental knowledge, attitude, and concerns of their interests in environmental problems, involving outdoor activities, parents' interest and involvement in environmental activities. Canonical analysis is used to explore relationships between pre-service teachers' environmental background and literacy. The results are promising and rewarding in addition to restructuring efforts of faculties of education in Turkey. Showing that environmental background of pre-service teachers is positively related to environmental literacy and attitudes along with other uses affected significantly by gender. (Contains 1 figure and 11 tables.)

This study proposed a conceptual model of relationships among constructivist learning environment perception variables (Personal Relevance, Uncertainty, Critical Voice, Shared Control, and Student Negotiation), scientific epistemological belief variables (fixed and tentative), and learning approach. It was proposed that learning environment perceptions predict learning approach directly and indirectly through scientific epistemological beliefs. Constructivist Learning Environment Survey, Scientific Epistemological Beliefs, and Learning Approach Questionnaire were administered to 1152 Turkish eight grade elementary school students to measure constructivist learning environment perceptions, scientific epistemological beliefs, and learning approach, respectively. Path analysis supported the model in general, although not all proposed paths were significant. All constructivist learning environment perception variables were found to predict learning approach directly and indirectly through tentative beliefs. The relationship between fixed beliefs and learning approach was not significant. Fixed beliefs were significantly related only with personal relevance variable. (Contains 2 figures and 3 tables.)

This study investigated the effectiveness of 5E learning cycle on 6th-grade students' achievement of cell concepts, and their scientific epistemological beliefs. Epistemological Belief Questionnaire and the Cell Concept Test were administered as pre-test and post-test to a total of 153 sixth grade students in four intact classes of an elementary school. Two classes were randomly assigned as control and experimental groups. Experimental groups received 5E learning cycle instruction and control groups received traditional instruction. The data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance. Results showed that treatment had a significant effect on the collective dependent variables. Univariate ANOVAs indicated a statistically significant mean difference between experimental and control groups regarding cell concepts achievement and epistemological beliefs in the favor of experimental groups. (Contains 2 tables.)

The purpose of the study was to investigate the reliability and validity of a Turkish adaptation of an existing instrument for measuring teacher interpersonal behaviour. The Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI) maps teacher behaviour in terms of two dimensions: Influence (Dominance-Submission) and Proximity (Cooperation-Opposition). A sample of 674 students from 24 classes (Grades 9-11) of experienced teachers in two Turkish secondary schools participated in the study. Development of the instrument involved several steps: translation and back translation by teacher educators; piloting of different versions while refining the items; interviews with students and teachers to establish the importance of teacher interpersonal behaviour in the Turkish context; and a final administration of the questionnaire to the sample described. Interview data and statistical analyses supported the reliability and validity of the instrument. Turkish teachers were perceived by their students as very cooperative and moderately dominant.

The purpose of this study was to explore Turkish preservice science teachers' science teaching efficacy and classroom management beliefs. Data in this study were collected from a total number of 584 preservice science teachers utilizing the Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument and the attitudes and beliefs on classroom control (ABCC) inventory. Data analysis indicated that preservice science teachers generally expressed positive efficacy beliefs regarding science teaching. In addition, results revealed that participants were interventionist on the instructional management dimension, whereas they favored non-interventionist style on the people management dimension of the ABCC inventory.

The international science education community recognises the role of pre-service science teachers' views about the interdependence of Science, Technology, and Society (STS) in achieving scientific literacy for all. To this end, pre-service science teachers' STS views signal the strengths and the weaknesses of science education reform movements. Turkey, a country that follows the international reform movement, aims at improving citizen's understanding of the STS interdependence to enable them to fully participate in an industrialised, democratic society. This study explores the Turkish pre-service science teachers' views (n = 176) on STS issues and discusses the ongoing reform efforts' strengths and weaknesses within the context of the study findings. Data were collected through an adopted "Views on Science-Technology-Society" instrument. Analysis revealed that many participants held realistic views on science, technology, and society interdependence, while their views on technology and the nature of science were differed. Some viewed technology as an application of science, and some viewed science as explanatory and an interpretation of nature. Most agreed that the scientific knowledge is tentative but they did not present a thorough understanding of the differences between hypotheses, laws, and theories. (Contains 1 figure.)

This study aimed at investigating the contribution of motivational beliefs, cognitive, and metacognitive strategy use to Turkish high school students' achievement in biology. In order to investigate the specified purpose of the study, 519 tenth-grade students were administered the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, & McKeachie, 1991) and a Biology Achievement Test developed by the researchers. Results of multiple linear regression analyses showed that extrinsic goal orientation, task value, rehearsal strategy use, organization strategy use, management of time and study environment, and peer learning contributed significantly to the prediction of achievement scores. (Contains 1 figure and 4 tables.)

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of the Engagement, Exploration, Explanation, Extension, and Evaluation (5E) learning cycle, conceptual change texts, and traditional instructions on 8th grade students' understanding of photosynthesis and respiration in plants. Students' understanding of photosynthesis and respiration in plants was measured using the test developed by Haslam and Treagust (F. Haslam, D. F. Treagust (1987) "Diagnosing secondary students' misconceptions of photosynthesis and respiration in plants using a two-tier multiple choice instrument," "J. Biol. Educ." 21, 203-211). The test was administered as pre-test and post-test to a total of 101 8th-grade students in three intact classes of the same school located in an urban area. The classes were randomly assigned as control and experimental groups. Students in the first experimental group (n = 33) received 5E learning cycle instruction, students in the second experimental group (n = 34) received conceptual change text instruction, and students in the control group (n = 34) received traditional instruction. Attitudes toward science and pre-test scores were used as covariates. A quasi-experimental design utilizing the analysis of covariance showed a statistically significant difference between the experimental and control groups in the favor of experimental groups after treatment. However, no statistically significant difference between two experimental groups (5E "versus" conceptual change text instruction) was found.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the 9th-grade students' understandings of the nature of scientific knowledge. The study also aimed to investigate the differences in students' understanding of the nature of scientific knowledge by gender, and school types. A total of 575 ninth grade students from four different school types (General High, Anatolian High, Vocational High and Super Lycee) participated in the study. Data were collected utilizing an adapted version of the Nature of Scientific Knowledge (NSKS). Data were analyzed by using MANOVA. Results revealed statistically significant differences in the student's perceptions of nature of scientific knowledge by gender and school types. It was also found that many of the participants had inadequate understanding of nature of scientific knowledge. (Contains 1 figure and 3 tables.)

This study examines Turkish pre-service science teachers' understanding of science concepts and their confidence in its teaching. A total of 299 senior science education major students participated in the study. Data collection instruments included the Science Concepts Test, and the Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument. Although findings of the study indicated that majority of the participants held misconceptions concerning fundamental science concepts, they generally felt confident about teaching it. The relationship that might exist among pre-service science teachers' confidence in their effectiveness in teaching and the number of the science courses completed in university is examined.

The purpose of this study was to explore preservice science teachers' perceptions of their classroom management beliefs. In addition, we were interested in determining differences in preservice teachers' beliefs regarding classroom management by gender and grade level. For this purpose, the adapted form of the Attitudes and Beliefs on Classroom Control (ABCC) Inventory was administered to 584 (172 third year and 412 fourth year) preservice science teachers enrolled in science teacher education programs at the eight different universities. Data were analyzed by utilizing descriptive statistics and t-tests. Results revealed that preservice science teachers had non-interventionist orientations on the People Management subscale, whereas they had interventionist orientations on the Instructional subscale. Contrary to the expectation, no significant difference revealed between preservice science teachers' perceptions of classroom management beliefs on the two subscales of the ABCC Inventory regarding gender and grade level. (Contains 3 tables.)

Discusses problems within teacher education in Turkey, focusing on western influences and their consequences in building a relevant teacher education program in Turkey. Data from the literature and from the authors' personal experiences indicated that irrelevance between teacher education programs and the realities of Turkish schools and the demand for a relevant theoretical base for teacher education were linked to western influence on the knowledge base and research traditions. (SM)

Examines preservice elementary teachers' understanding of the concepts of photosynthesis and inheritance, explores their self-efficacy beliefs in the teaching of science, and investigates the relationship between the two. Shows that participants held alternative conceptions regarding photosynthesis and inheritance and have generally positive self-efficacy beliefs regarding science teaching. (Author/MM)

Abstract This study examined Turkish preservice elementary teachers' science knowledge level, attitude toward science teaching and their efficacy beliefs regarding science teaching. In addition, the contribution of science knowledge level [...]