The aim of this research is to determine the middle school students' interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) field. Descriptive survey model, which is one of the quantitative researches, was used. A scale named ‘’The Development of the STEM Career Interest Survey (STEM-CIS)’’ was applied to the middle school students who were studying in public schools in two different central districts of Ankara. 271 (51.7%) female and 253 (48.3%) male student attended to the research. The reliability coefficient of this questionnaire was calculated as 0.902. The findings show that self-efficacy, personal goals, expectation of results, interest in science, contextual support and individual inputs are effective in STEM career interests of middle school students. STEM career interest has been found to be disproportionate to gender, but it is proportional to class level. In order for students to develop their career plans, the content which is specific to the STEM fields can be combined with the course content itself.

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of robotic design with Arduino on students' attitudes towards programming and on their perceptions of self-efficacy in programming. The study group consisted of 25 sophomore students attending the Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technologies in a state university located in the south of Turkey. The study lasted 12 weeks and the participants performed robotic design activities with Arduino throughout the process. Firstly, participants prepared a prototype and then programmed it for 8 weeks, and they created their own designs in the remaining 4 weeks. The Computer Programming Attitude Scale and Computer Programming Self-Efficacy Scale were utilized as the data collection tools in this pretest-posttest experimental study. The findings revealed that robotic design activities with Arduino significantly improved the participants’ attitudes towards programming and programming self-efficacy. In addition, according to the participants’ views, the factors that cause this improvement can be listed as activities’ being enjoyable, facilitating and concretizing the process, being interesting and practical.  Moreover, these robotic design activities were found to contribute to students’ understanding of finding bugs and the logic of programming.

The main purpose of the current study is to determine whether there is a relationship between the burnout syndrome which is related to many organizational factors and the person-organization fit which refers to the quality, value and structure compatibility between the person and the organization, and whether this relationship, if any, differs significantly based on various demographic variables. Within the framework of this aim, a scale was applied to 393 academics working in higher education institutions located in Istanbul. The data collection tools used in the study are “Person-Organization Fit Scale” developed by Cable and Judge (1997), and “Maslach Burnout Inventory” developed by Maslach and Jackson (1981). During the analysis of the data gathered through scales, arithmetic mean, frequency, and descriptive values such as standard deviation were used as well as t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and regression. The results of the research showed that the person-organization fit levels of academicians working at foundation or state universities in Turkey were high, the levels of burnout were low in the emotional exhaustion and depersonalization sub-dimensions of burnout, and the level of personal accomplishment sub-dimension of burnout was moderate. In this study, it was found that the person-organization fit levels of academics differ significantly in terms of gender and weekly course load variables. According to the results of the research, a significant difference was obtained at burnout levels of academics in terms of their weekly course load, academic titles, whether they have any administrative duties and gender variables. In addition, there is a significant relationship between academics' person-organization fit and burnout levels.

Today, digital technologies are used extensively in all areas of life, so education has important role to raise individuals who are researching, questioning, and constructing the knowledge. Digital storytelling; Written, visual, audio tools that work together, providing information in a digital environment is a method that allows students to learn with fun.The aim of the study is to compile the studies related with digital story (2005-2019) in Turkey. Descriptive scanning model was used in the study which is one of the qualitative research methods. The studies were examined in terms of their population, sample, years of publication, their universities, the indexes of the journals, their findings and the courses and disciplines that they are preferred most. Also, by including recommendation of the studies, the researchers aims to help teachers to shape their teaching process, experts to to improve program features, Ministery of National Education to develop projects on digital storytelling. As a result of the study, it was found that 2017 is the year that the most thesis were published whereas this situation is valid for 2018 in articles. Qualiative methods were preferred in articles generally, and in theses, researchers used quantitative methods. In sample choice, students were the most included group in the studies. When we look at the findings, the most encountered ones were “digital storytelling increases students' motivation, creative and critical thinking skills and problem-solving skills”. The recommendations of the studies were generally was “digital storytelling can be used in different areas and disciplines", “digital stories can be applied to students in different level and examine different variables”. As a result, the study revealed the increasing importance of digital storytelling with the digital age. Also, it display that digital storytelling enables students learn actively by exploring, help to develop creative and critical skills, and give opportunity to learn by doing.

The aim of this research is to examine the occupational burnout levels of preschool teachers’ work in terms of working in the eastern and western parts of Turkey, voluntariness, gender, working location and age. In accordance with the general aim of the study, “Maslach Burnout Inventory” and “Personal Information Form” (prepared by the researcher) were filled by 72 preschool teachers working in the eastern provinces of Turkey and 82 preschool teachers working in the western ones: a total of 154 preschool teachers, 133 females and 21 males. ANOVA and t-test were used in the evaluation of the data. It was determined that the part of Turkey where teachers work, east or west, did not cause any difference in their occupational burnout. However, preschool teachers who inadvertently chose their profession experienced greater emotional exhaustion and decreased sense of personal achievement compared with preschool teachers who chose their profession voluntarily. Also, preschool teachers who worked in the west at the age of 31-40 years and at over 40 years experienced higher emotional exhaustion levels than those who worked in the east at the age of 31-40 years and at over 40 years. Further studies should be conducted with more teachers from all the cities in the seven regions of the country. 

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between mathematics thinking sub-dimensions (higher order thinking, reasoning, mathematical thinking and problem-solving) and critical thinking disposition. In addition, this study investigated whether mathematical thinking sub-dimensions are significant predictors of critical thinking disposition. This research was designed as a correlation type relational survey model. The study group consisted of 181 (73 female and 108 male) pre-service mathematics teachers studying at the Faculty of Education of a state university in the South East Anatolia Region of Turkey. Data were collected through personal information form, “mathematical thinking scale”, and “California critical thinking disposition inventory”. The analysis of data was made with multiple regression analysis. As a result of the study, it was found that there is a significant relationship between critical thinking and higher order thinking, reasoning, mathematical thinking skills and problem-solving sub-dimensions. In addition, the predictors of critical thinking disposition were found to have reasoning, mathematical thinking skills and problem-solving sub-dimensions. Results also illustrated that reasoning; mathematical thinking skills and problem-solving sub-dimensions was a significant predictor of critical thinking dispositions. In this context, the study was discussed in the context of the development of critical thinking of pre-service mathematics teacher. Research results were discussed in the context of the development of mathematical thinking and critical thinking dispositions of pre-service mathematics teachers.

The integration of children's literature in mathematics teacihng and learning has important pedagogical benefits, but many factors are effective in integrating children's literature into mathematics education. These factors include teachers’ perspectives, knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and eagerness to implement it. It is thought that if teacher training programs cover courses on the use of children’s literature books or other products, it would positively affect their attitudes towards such a practice. The aim of this study is to examine the opinions of preservice primary school teachers about the integration of children's literature in mathematics teacihng and learning. The views of the participants were collected before and after the use of a course outline based on the integration of mathematics with children’s literature. The study was designed in a qualitative research design, and the opinions of the preservice teachers were evaluated extensively through the case study. The participants identified by convenience sampling method are 98 pre-service teachers who were studying in the last year of the teacher training program at a public university. The data of the study were obtained through mathematics lesson plans and open-ended questionnaires developed in relation to children's literature. The items in the first form were concerned with the experiences of the preservice teachers about integration of children’s literature in mathematics, their views on the selection process of children's books and their expectations and evaluations regarding the practice. In the second form aimed to share the experiences of the participants following the implementation and to get their opinions about the teaching process which reflected the relationship between children's literature and mathematics. The data were analysed by using the descriptive statistics. The findings indicate that the views of the participants’ are grouped into following four dimensions: book selection criteria and process, pedagogical effect, integration process, possible barriers and limitations. It is found that the participants have difficulty in choosing children’s books that provide children opportunities for learning mathematics. Following the implementation, they emphasized the pedagogical benefits of the practice such as increasing children’s motivation and interests in learning mathematics. During the integration process they mostly made use of the context of the books. Some of the participants employed the books for the purposes of teaching mathematical concepts and skills. However, the books were mostly used to get attraction, make courses more fun and increase student motivation. The participants stated that they had difficulties selecting and relating the books with mathematics subjects, and finding enough time for implementation. In order to use children's books as an effective tool to support conceptual understanding in mathematics teaching process, preservice and inservice teachers should be provided with necessary training and experience.  

The purpose of the current study is to determine the trends in M.A and Ph.D. theses on socio-scientific issues. To this end, thesis studies completed between 2008 and 2018 on socio-scientific issues were analyzed in terms of the year of thesis and publication type, the university where the thesis is done, the purpose of the thesis, research methods and designs, study groups and their size, data collection tools and the socio-scientific issues preferred for investigation. The thesis studies analysed in the current study were reached from the Higher Education Council Thesis Search Centre Database in Turkey. As a result of the current study, it was determined that such thesis studies started in 2008, the great majority of them are master’s theses, the quasi-experimental design, one of the quantative research methods, was frequently used, documents were generally used as the data collection instruments and pre-service teachers were used as the study groups in most of them.  Moreover, in these thesis, the effect of instructional applications directed socio-scientific issues on the related variable (mostly argumentation skill/quality/ability and decision-making skills) has been frequently investigated and the most popular socio-scientific issues selected in these theses were found to include global warming, climate change and nuclear energy. In light of the findings of the current study, suggestions were made for future research and applications to be conducted on socio-scientific issues.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the applying the cooperative learning model and the modeling based teaching method together in teaching the subjects “Matter and Heat” and “The Particle Structure and Properties of Matter” on students’ academic achievement and science process skills. A quasi-experimental design with a pretest-posttest comparative group was used. In the sixth grade, the learning together (LT) method was applied with control group, the learning together and modeling-based teaching methods (LT-MBT) together was applied with the study group. In the seventh grade, the group investigation (GI) method was applied with the control group, and group investigation and modeling based teaching methods (GI-MBT) together was applied with study group. 72 sixth-grade students and 64 seventh-grade students of a public secondary school took part in the research. Data was collected for prior knowledge tests, module tests, academic achievement tests, science process skills, the cooperative learning view scale, and the method views form. According to the results obtained, students applying the GI-MBT method in seventh grade learned better and showed greater improvement in their science process skills than students in other group. Students applying LT-MBT methods in sixth grade were better than students applying the LT method in the module tests. According to the results obtained, it can be said that the modeling based teaching method made positive contributions to the cooperative learning model. It should be applied together with MBT with different methods of cooperative learning model in science education.

The purpose of this study is to determine the third and fourth grade primary school students’ metacognitive awareness and perception of their decision-making skill and the relationship between them. The study employed the relational survey model. The population of the study is comprised of the third and fourth grade primary school students attending at the state schools in the Marmaris province of the city of Muğla. The sample was randomly determined and included 143 students. As the data collection tools, “The Teacher Form to Determine Primary School Students’ Metacognitive Awareness” and “The Scale of Third and Fourth Grade Primary School Students’ Perception of Decision-Making Skill” were used. The findings have revealed that the primary school students’ metacognitive awareness and perception of their decision-making skill are high. It was concluded that the third and fourth grade primary school students’ metacognitive awareness and perception of decision-making skill do not differ significantly in terms of the gender and grade level variables. Moreover, a positive and weak correlation was found between the students’ metacognitive awareness and perception of decision-making skill and their metacognitive perception was found to predict their perception of decision-making skill. It can be argued that during the primary education, when teachers get students engaged in activities to develop their metacognitive awareness, their decision-making skill can also be developed.

In this study, the questions asked by 5 preschool teachers during the “question of the day” practice at the beginning of the day and the characteristics of the answers given by 240 children of 4-5-year-old were investigated. Language interactions between teachers and children through 198 questions asked during the “question of the day” practice at the start of the day activity and 2048 answers were transcribed and then teachers’ questions were analyzed using the coding scheme comprised of four defined abstraction levels, and the answers of the children were analyzed according to three defined abstraction levels. The results revealed that teachers' questions were predominantly preference (31.3%) questions and likewise, the majority of children's answers were personal preference (46.3%) answers. Also, it was concluded that; (a) asking creation questions that allow children to express their original thoughts was least preferred by the teachers; (b) children often preferred to answer recall, inference and creation questions at the realistic level, and preference questions at the personal preference level; (c) children mostly gave creative answers to the creation questions of the teachers; and (d) 5-year-old children prefer to give more creative answers to teachers' questions than 4-year-olds.

The purpose of this study is to determine the curriculum design approach preferences of pre-service teachers who have been receiving pedagogical training. The sample of the study consists of 138 pre-services teachers who took the curriculum development course in pedagogical formation education. In the study, “Teachers’ Curriculum Design Orientations Preference Scale” developed by Baş (2013) was used to determine the pre-service teachers' curriculum design approach preferences. The scale consists of 30 items and 3 factors: subject-centered design, problem-centered design and student-centered design. Research data have been analysed via arithmetic mean, independent samples t-test. As a result of the analyses related to the three sub-dimensions of the scale, the teacher candidates responded to the learner-centered and problem-centered curriculum design approaches at the level of “agree”. The sub-dimension called subject-centered curriculum design approach was found to be at the “undecided” level. According to these results, it can be put forward that the prospective teachers prefer learner-centered and problem-centered curriculum design approaches. In the study, whether the pre-service teachers' curriculum design approach preferences differed according to gender and department was investigated. As a result of the analysis, it was found that teacher candidates’ gender and department were not significant variables in their curriculum design approach preferences.

The present study sought to examine mathematical performance of students with different learning preferences in traditionally taught first semester calculus as well as its relationship with learning preference, spatial ability, and verbal-logical reasoning ability. Data were collected from 86 students enrolled in two sections of first semester calculus at a large state university located in the Southeastern U. S. Although the study was too small to enable generalizations, the results suggest that mathematical performance is not related to learning preference, and students do not differ in their calculus performance due to a mismatch between the instructional mode and their learning preference.

This study aims to explore whether there is a statistically significant difference in pre-service teachers’ perceptions of professional ethics in teaching according to gender, major and academic achievement. The data was collected from 541 conveniently sampled pre-service teachers from seven different majors and four state universities using a 43-item scale developed by the researchers. The data was analyzed using Linear Regression Analysis in R.  The results indicated that gender was a significant predictor of pre-service teachers’ perceptions of professional ethics in teaching, and that females held significantly more ethical perceptions about the teaching profession compared to the males. The results also indicated that pre-service teachers’ majors did not seem to have a significant effect on their ethical perceptions about the teaching profession with the sole exception of classroom teaching. The results further revealed that academic achievement was not a significant predictor of pre-service teachers’ perceptions about their profession. However, when gender was used as a covariate, the analysis indicated that teachers’ majors were a significant predictor of pre-service teachers’ perceptions of professional ethics in teaching. The results further indicated that academic achievement was not a significant predictor of pre-service teachers’ perceptions about their profession even when the pre-service teachers’ gender and major were controlled.

The NTC (Nikola Tesla Center) system of learning is an activity program designed to promote the development of motor skills and cognitive abilities in preschool and school-age children. This research aims to investigate the activity-based learning process prepared by NTC system of learning approach. In this qualitative research, case study design was used. The research group consisted of 34 fourth-grade students and four female teachers from a public primary school in the 2018-2019 academic year. Data were collected by using semi-structured interview and observation techniques. The research data was collected after 12 lessons on 8 Flags Themed activities based on the NTC system of learning approach within the Social Studies class prepared by the researchers. Descriptive analysis method was used to analyze semi-structured interviews with teachers, and the content analysis method to analyze semi-structured interviews with students. According to research results, students described the flag-country matching, classifying flags according to their characteristics, learning colors, shapes, and emblems on the flag, and learning the capitals and national anthems of the countries as activities they liked. Research suggestions include implementing them at different levels of education, and structuring them mainly for musical and motor skills development.

With this research, it is aimed to evaluate professional teaching knowledge courses considering the opinions of the academic instructors and pre-service teachers. Phenomenology was used in the research designed in accordance with the descriptive research method. The study group of the research was determined by criterion sampling method. The main criteria were Nomenclature of Units for Territorial Statistics, the establishment dates of the universities and the availability of four common departments in the universities. Based on those criteria, 116 academic instructors and 328 pre-service teachers participated in the research. Semi-structured interview form was used. Content analysis was made for the data gathered. On the basis of findings obtained from the research, it was determined that the objectives of professional teaching knowledge courses were different and those courses attained the objectives at knowledge and comprehension level in general. Besides that, findings related to the content of professional teaching knowledge courses were emerged from the data, with titles such as the currency of content, new course subjects proposed to be added, and the relationship of the course to the PPSE (Public Personnel Selection Examination). It was determined that professional teaching knowledge courses were usually delivered by the presentation of courses for teaching-learning process through the method of teaching strategy and lecturing. Additionally, it was seen that the pre-service teachers gave a lecture in some courses. It was also realized that the process of measurement and evaluation of professional teaching knowledge courses were generally managed with the consideration of result-oriented measurement and through multiple-choice measurement instruments.

Keywords: Professional teaching knowledge, teacher training programs.

Animal love holds an important role in the emotional and social development of children. The ability of children to form an attachment to and to take responsibility for an animal, and the development of sensitive behaviors towards animals emphasize the importance of animal love in the personal development of children. This study was conducted to examine the views of primary school students about sensitivity to animals. The phenomenology design, among qualitative research methods, was used in the study. Based on criterion sampling and maximum variation sampling methods, 120 primary school students attending the 3rd grade of 3 distinct public schools with low, middle and high socioeconomic levels in Afyonkarahisar provincial center were determined as participants. The data of the study were obtained by using a semi-structured interview form. The data obtained in the study were analyzed with descriptive analysis technique, and students' responses were examined in-depth, and results were tabulated using descriptions and supported with direct quotations from the views of primary school students. According to the findings, the ability of students to empathize with street animals, to give examples from their own lives on the protection and improving the living conditions of animals, and to use emotional statements like "'I feel sorry for the animals left to the street', 'The animal's life is so precious', 'They are living beings, too and like members of my family'" reveals that students have sensitivity to animals.

Use of algorithmic thinking in education has received significant attention as it is grounded on thinking and performing the necessary action in line with a clearly defined purpose. The current study aimed to probe prospective classroom teachers’ views on algorithmic thinking skills and use of these skills in education. The research data were collected from 36 undergraduate students attending a state university in Turkey through an interview form developed by the researcher. Their responses to the interview questions were examined through content analysis and converted into themes and codes. The participants reported that teachers with well-developed algorithmic thinking skills tend to teach gradually, to follow a process that facilitates learning, to encourage students to be well-planned and neat and to help them develop/ improve their algorithmic thinking skills. They also suggested the use of such techniques as discovery learning, problem-solving, induction, brain-storming, concept mapping, games, discussion, fishbone and case study that require students’ active involvement in the learning process in order to improve their algorithmic thinking skills. The study discusses further findings in detail and concludes with practical implications developed in the light the findings reported here and the existing literature.

This study aims to offer a detailed foresight on organizational justice concept and define organizational justice from the perspective of women, female lecturers specifically, to unveil the views on the concept of organizational justice. The research was patterned after one of the qualitative research models namely phenomenologic method. Research population comprised of 10 volunteering female lecturers currently teaching in 2 state universities. In data analysis, descriptive analysis technique was employed. Findings of the research pinpointed that female lecturers defined organizational justice as securing interpersonal equality and added that in the absence of organizational justice this failure would render a negative effect on their personal happiness, job satisfaction, motivation and performance. Moreover they claimed that there was prevailing gender discrimination in organizations. For suggestions the next studies can be conducted to raise the awareness of all employees of the organization on organizational justice. This study, carried out for participants from different universities, can be developed and applied to measure the perception of organizational justice in a single organization. In order to end the genderist perspective and bring women to the position where they should be important, women employees may be able to realize their power.

This study was aimed to determine the relationship between the attitudes of primary pre-service teachers regarding the initial reading writing teaching course and the self-efficacy perceptions of the initial reading writing teaching. The universe of the research is pre-service teachers studying at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University Primary Education Department in the spring semester of 2018-2019 academic year. The sampling of this research carried out in the relational screening model was determined by simple random sampling method. The results of the study show that the pre-service teachers' attitudes towards the initial reading writing teaching course are at a high level and their self-efficacy perceptions about teaching reading writing is high. In addition, it was determined that the pre-service teachers' self-efficacy perceptions regarding the teaching of reading writing differ according to the grade levels and grade point average and their attitudes towards the teaching of reading writing teaching did not differ according to these variables. It has been determined that there is no significant relationship between the attitudes of primary pre-service teachers towards the initial reading writing teaching course and the self-efficacy perceptions of the initial reading writing teaching.