ASIAN JOURNAL OF INSTRUCTION

Number 2, 2013

1-17
INVESTIGATION OF MIDDLE-SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD TECHNOLOGY AND FACTORS AFFECTING THE ATTITUDES

Authors: Şirin YILMAZ, Fatih AYDIN

Abstract

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Number of views: 667

Technology is not only electronic tools or their applications like computer. Technology is a process in which systems are developed and changed to human beings' wishes and needs satisfy. Especially in 17th century effects of development and technology in reflected to social life and this had caused to start an attraction between science, technology and society. As a result of technology's effects on human life a new research area has occurred and attitudes towards technology have started to develop. It is related with the development in content knowledge to become a knowledge society technological literacy us defined as individual s' understanding, using, directing and evaluating technology. When analyzed for technology studies it is seen that the studies generally are carried out with pre-service teachers. The purpose of the study is to investigate of middle-school 6., 7. & 8. grade students’ attitudes toward technology and factors affecting the attitudes. In the study, case study was selected as one of the qualitative research methods. The study was conducted with the participation of 6th grade (N=2), 7th grade (N=3) and 8th grade (N=5) students who educating in a middle-school in Sakarya city during 2012-2013 second semester. In the study, semi-structured questions were used to interview with students prepared by the researchers and controlled by the an expert in the field of technology education. Interviews were recorded and all personal information was kept confidential. Content analysis was used to analyze all data. Findings show that students have positive and negative attitudes toward technology. It is seen as positive factors that consideration of the benefits of technology, the interest of students and especially useful in their courses. It is seen as negative factors that technology basically contains harmful properties such as radiation and expenditure of time. Furthermore, factors affecting that students develop positive and negative attitudes toward technology are lure of computer games, affectation that other children and development of technology constantly. At the end of the study, suggestions were given for our research, further research and researchers. Keywords: Technology, attitude toward technology, middle-school students.

18-28
EXAMINATION OF THE PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF SCALES DEVELOPED THROUGH ITEM ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES THAT ARE USED TO SELECT ITEMS FOR LIKERT-TYPE

Authors: D. Bahar ŞAHİN, H. Deniz GÜLLEROĞLU

Abstract

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Number of views: 576

In the devolopment process of likert type scales, which is one of the techniques for measuring the attitude, the item discrimination index can be computed using different techniques. This study is correlational research study to investigate the psychometric properties of scales. To analyze students’ attitude towards physics laboratory course, “Attitude Scale Towards Physics Laboratory Course’’ was developed by researcher. The general aim of this research is to analyse the psychometric properties of scales developed through item analysis techniques that are used to select items for likert-type attitude scales. For this purpose, “Attitude Scale Towards Physics Laboratory Course’’ was developed and administered to 486 university students who were studying science education at the faculty of education. According to the data obtained from pre-testing, different item analysis techniques were used in order to determine the discrimination power of each item relating to the attitude measured through the scale. Statistics for item scores were determined via the tecniques of correlation, t-test, simple linear regression and factor analysis. The first twenty items producing the highest value constituted the ultimate form of scales. Two factors which laboratory Importance and laboratory exhausting were obtained. First factor (Laboratory Importance) explaining 28.028% of the cumulative variances where as second factor (Laboratory exhausting) explaining 13.625% of the cumulative variances.Total addition of these two factors to cumulative variances is 41.653%. According to factor analyze, first 20 items are selected. Physometric properties of scale is related to physometric properties of item in this scale. The purpose of four different scale which are conducted different iteman alysis from first tentative scale is tofind which analysis is best result in terms of validity and relability. Consequently, the physometric properties of the scale is linked to the correctness of decision. According to findings, one of the four techniques as item analysis technique is used in this study, because there is no difference between these four different techniques. A significiant diffirence was not found between the reliability coefficents of the scales developed through four different tecniques-keeping the number of items to be selected for likert-type scales constant. It was observed that there was no difference between the ranking consistency of the scales developed via different tecniques Keywords: Attitude scales, reliability coefficient, item analysis.

29-43
GETTING PRE-SERVICE CHEMISTRY TEACHERS TO CONSTRUCT UNDERSTANDING ABOUT INQUIRY-BASED TEACHING

Authors: Eylem BAYIR, Fitnat KÖSEOĞLU

Abstract

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Number of views: 445

Inquiry, value of which has been emphasized by science educators for many years, has become one of the most important notions in the vision of new science curriculum in many countries, including Turkey, around the world. Inquiry refers to the activities of students in which they develop knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas, as well as an understanding of how scientists study the natural world. Given that teachers have the central role in success of reform efforts, it is possible to state that science teacher must have pedagogical knowledge and skills which are necessary to enact inquiry-based science teaching. However, research indicates that preservice and in-service teachers of science are not qualified enough for successful implementation of inquiry pedagogy in their future classrooms. The aim of the study is to develop an inquiry-based professional development workshop for the pre-service and inservice teachers of chemistry, and to examine their understandings about inquiry-based teaching after the participation to the workshop. The sample of the study was 20 pre-service chemistry teachers. The workshop was composed of seven sections (Activities Based-on Inquiry, What is Inquiry?, Models and Strategies Supporting Inquiry, Scientific Process Skills in Inquiry, Asking Questions in Inquiry, Misconceptions About Administration of Inquiry, Experience and Opinion Sharing About Inquiry). The administration of the workshop lasted 10 weeks in 3-hour sections. In order to examine the participants’ understandings about inquiry-based teaching, interviews and written documents were utulized as qualitative data sources. The data were analyzed by using content analysis methodology. The findings of the quantitative analysis indicated that the understandings of participants about inquiry-based teaching focus on attainments of students and structure of the methodology. It seems that the professional development intervention provided for the participants understandings related to capability for enactment of inquiry-based teaching in their future classrooms. Keywords: Inquiry-Based Teaching, Teacher Education, Professional Development, Chemistry Education, Science Education

44-55
VALUES IN THE READING PASSAGES THAT ARE USED IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 5TH GRADE SOCIAL SCIENCES TEXTBOOK

Authors: Osman AKTAN, Serkan PADEM

Abstract

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Number of views: 460

The purpose of this study is to detect the morals included in Primary School 5th grade Social Sciences textbook. The method of the research is based on qualitative research methodology. The data source of the study is composed of a 5th grade Social Sciences textbook which was distributed to Primary schools for free by the Ministry of Education in 2010-2011 education year. The sample of the study consists of 3 texts randomly chosen out of each unit, which are 24 in total. Morals were detected by examining and analyzing the texts. Among the text examined in the study, the most common morals were found to be peace, succeeding, cooperation, love, responsibility and charity. The least common morals were found to be open-mindedness, caring family unity, reliability, being idealist, belief of national unity, kindness, freedom, self-confidence, patience, cleanness and being open to innovation. The top 5 morals which also take place in Social Sciences curriculum was responsibility, charity, cooperation and peace. Caring family unity, being fair, freedom, cleanness and patriotism, which are also in Social Sciences curriculum, were found to be the least common ones. Morals such as independence, sensitivity, honesty, tolerance, hospitality and caring about being healthy, which can be seen in Social Sciences curriculum, were found not to have been included in the texts. In the end, the importance of choosing the right texts to teach morals to children and representing the morals included in the curriculum was emphasized. Key Words:Values, values education, reading text, Social Studies Teaching Program, values education, 100 Basic Works

56-65
THE DEVELOPMENT OF INQUIRY SKILLS SCALE: RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY STUDY¹

Authors: Çiğdem ALDAN KARADEMİR, A. Seda SARACALOĞLU

Abstract

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Number of views: 521

Within the scope of the educational reform of 2004, in the curriculums which are applied starting with the 2005-2006 academic year, cognitive and constructivist approaches have been taken into consideration rather than the behavioral approach. In the curriculum the common skills that determine the vision and target behaviour are specified and one of them is stated as the inquiry skills. As the aim of the curriculums is to raise students as individuals who can question and have critical thinking as well as problem solving skills and are eager to inquire besides establishing student centered learning environments which encourage active student participation. For this purpose, the need for applying inquiry based learning in all lessons, particularly in science and technology lessons, is emphasized. Inquiry based learning is applied in many lessons and through different variables its effectiveness has been studied. However teachers are very important in order to carry out the changes in the curriculum and to have positive results, thus to raise students with increased inquiry skills it is important that teachers, even preservice teachers, have increased inquiry skills. When the researches were examined, a scale for determining the inquiry skills of teachers and preservice teachers was not encountered in the literature. Therefore in this study, an inquiry skills scale was developed for preservice teachers. In the process of developing the scale, the literature was reviewed and an item pool was prepared through evaluating the views of preservice teachers on “inquiry” according to their writings. The item pool was examined by experts and after making the necessary corrections, it was applied to the sample. The sample was formed of 425 seniors in Science, Class and Social Sciences Teaching Departments. According to the factor analyses results, the scale was formed by 14 items and 3 factors which are all named in regard to the theoretical framework. After the explanatory factor analyses, the confirmatory factor analyses were done and scale’s factor structure was confirmed. Results revealed that model is coherent. The confirmatory factor analyses were repeated by spliting the group into two and model’s coherence is supported. The inquiry skills scale is a valid and reliable scale which is comprised of 14 items and 3 factors and it measures preservice teachers’ inquiry skills Keywords: Inquiry Skills, Preservice Teacher, Scale

Number 1, 2013

1-8
THE EFFECT OF LABORATORY PRACTICES ON LEARNING OF SHAFT CRITICAL SPEED SUBJECT IN MACHINERY DYNAMICS CLASS

Authors: Hamit SARUHAN, Fuat KARA, Abdurrahman KILIÇ

Abstract

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Number of views: 439

In the present study, the effect of a laboratory practice on learning of shaft critical speed subject in Machinery Dynamics class was investigated. The focus group of research consists of 20 undergraduate senior students in Mechanical Design Division at the University of Düzce, Turkey. The qualitative research method is used in this study. Semi-structured interview form was used for data collection. Interview was carried out as focus group discussions. The students were divided into three groups for interview. Data were collected performing the group interview before and after laboratory practice. Interviews were recorded by video-camera together with an educational scientist and a specialist questioner involved directly to group meeting. Then, the video-camera recording was converted to written document form for analysis. Then these documents were subjected to content analysis. Obtained concepts were classified on the base of interview questions. It has been observed that the teaching of the critical speed subject with laboratory practices besides the lecture has provided that the successes of the students have increased at a significant level. Based on the fact that the students cannot visualize the information they have been provided theoretically, it has been concluded that the practice should not only be performed during the lesson with mathematical calculations but also in real laboratory medium, personally. It is a fact that laboratory practices have been effective on the increase of general success of the critical speed subject and that the real medium of the performed practices have effected learning positively (Kılıç, Kara and Çiçek 2009; Kılıç, Kara and Çiçek 2010). With this study, it has been recognized that only lecture does not provide the realization of total learning. Based on the reality that the students cannot fully visualize in their minds the information that is taught to them in theory, it has been concluded that the practice should not only be performed in the lesson with mathematical calculations but within the real laboratory medium personally. Keywords: Critical Speed, Laboratory practices, Lecture, Machinery Dynamics

9-19
THE INVESTIGATION OF CANDIDATE TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS ENVIRONMENT

Authors: Murat GENÇ, Tülin GENÇ

Abstract

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Number of views: 520

The purpose of the study is to determine the candidate teachers’ attitudes towards environmental problems with respect to some variables. The descriptive survey method has been used in the research. This research was gone through with 45 candidate teachers who attend to the department of class teaching in Education Faculty. In this research, “Environmental Attitude Scale” is used a way of data collecting. Inner consistency is found α=.82. Five-likert scale was used for the survey. p<.05 meaningfulness level was taken into consideration for the test of meaningfulness of groups. The maximum grade which can be taken from the scale is 105, and the minimum is 21. For the analysis of the data was used percentage, mean, standard deviation, Anova statistics and t test to determine whether the candidate teachers’ attitude change meaningfully according to various differences. The surveyed students were 64.4% girls (n = 29) and 35.6% men (n = 16).. Students' "Environmental Attitude Scale mean score was 85.11 ± 8.92. Students were received the high points from scale items “The people who drop litter or spit must be obstructed (4.49)”, "in the ozone layer thinning all the people are threatening (4.40", “Meetings which protesting technology products that harm the ozone layer should be held (4.33)” and the low scores were determined of the items " Malnutrition in underdeveloped countries is a result of environmental problems (3.53)”, “the United Nations, including any corporations or institutions must not involved to country of its natural resources as they wish to use (3.67)", “Use of natural gas at home and offices cannot contribute to the solution of the air pollution problem ( 3.73)”. Consequently, what is confirmed is that the candidate teachers’ attitude towards the environmental problems do not show a meaningful difference according to gender, education level of mother and father, economic situation of the family, neighborhood where they lived the longest, whether they smoke or not. However, it was found that significant differences according to home where they live during their training. Key Words: Environmental education, candidate teachers, attitude towards environment.

20-29
DEVELOPING A KNOWLEDGE TEST ABOUT TALENTED STUDENTS FOR ELEMANTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS: RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY STUDY

Authors: Feyzullah ŞAHİN

Abstract

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Number of views: 451

The teachers are the primarily responsible people for the education of the students. The teachers’ Professional skills and personal characteristics influence the students’ academic, cognitive and emotional development. In this research, it is aimed to develop a knowledge test to assess elementary school teachers’ knowledge level in the identification of talented students. The research has been designed in the form of a descriptive patterns from scanning models. 2160 elemenraty school teachers who in general education schools in Tekirdağ province constitute the universe of this study . In this research, 54 teachers from 8 schools for the pilot study and 417 teachers from 59 schools for the main study could be provided. Content validity of the pilot form was provided by opinion from 4 experts. The data was obtained through a 5 point multiple-choice test of 32 questions. Item difficulty, item discrimination and the dstractor distribution were investigated during the test validity analysis. For reliable analysis, Kuder-Richard 20 formule was estimated. As a result of the research 19 item test with .79 reliability co-efficient has been developed. When the findings about the Knowledge Test About Talented Students are analysed, it can be expressed that the distribution is negatively skewed because of the arithmetic mean is = 10.23 and the coefficient of skewness is -.41 while kurtosis is slightly low depending on the .87. Thus, test success and test difficulty are at a medium level. Test standart error was determined as 4.30. It is unlikely to claim that = 10.23 is high depending on a 32-question-test which was applied to 394 participants. In this study, it is determined that participants achievement level is %53.84. This finding indicates that the teachers’ readiness level is not high. According to the results of the research, it can be concluded that the teachers should be provided with in-service education on the characteristics of talented students, theories of intelligence and assessment tools the teachers can use. Key words: Identification of talented students, knowledge test, elementary school teachers, teacher education.

30-41
COMPULSORY EDUCATION APPLICATIONS IN TURKEY AND IN EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRIES

Authors: Süleyman GÖKSOY

Abstract

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Number of views: 742

The main purpose of this study is to analyse the applications in Turkey and in European Union countries about compulsory education and the duration of compulsory education by comparing them. These topics have been argued densely in recent years by all parts of society, especially by politicians. This study includes historical developments of compulsory education, the duration of compulsory education, different phases of compulsory education and sample applications in various countries. European countries are making reforms in prolonging the duration of education to age 18 in order to provide their citizens the basic knowledge, skills and abilities, improve the quality of human resources and secure the national future. They are also encouraging the students about having a basic education certificate. 12 year full-time compulsory education applications are seen as an appropriate attempt for Turkey to participate in the race of improving the qualities of human capital in countries. As a result of the research about compulsory education, it is emphasized that 8-year compulsory education process in Turkey were less than the one in European countries and Turkey fell behind European countries in terms of compulsory education even in 2006. Extending the compulsory education process to 12 years will increase the quality of vocational and technical education. In order to provide more efficient and more qualified education, more material and human resources should be devoted and conditions should be improved qualitatively and quantitatively. It is also emphasized that necessary measures in 12-year compulsory education should be taken in advance in order not to encounter with the infrastructure problems which have been experienced in 12-year compulsory education. Thus, in order to provide Turkey's participation to the race of countries which aims to improve the quality of human capital, 12-year compulsory education applications are seen as appropriate and even belated attempts. In this context, Ministry of Education is holding some regulations, such as providing necessary infrastructure, physical place, educational material and equipment, training educational staff, adapting and improving educational programs. As long as these regulations, completions and restorations go on at the current speed, expected features in our children can increase. Key Words: Education, school, scmpulsory education.