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The aim of this study is to compare reading comprehension levels of two groups of students—an experimental and a control group—who read the same texts in course books using either augmented reality technique or traditional reading technique. Barrett's taxonomy, which proposes a classification of reading comprehension, consisting of literal comprehension, reorganization, inferential comprehension, evaluation and appreciation, was used to determine the reading comprehension levels of the students. The texts based on the augmented reality were produced with an augmented reality application developed by the authors using the Kotlin programming language. The participants of the study were 120 students aged 11–12 who attend a secondary school in Antalya (Turkey). In the pre‐test phase, both the experimental and control groups read the same texts from the course book and answered the comprehension questions. In the post‐test, the experimental group read the augmented reality texts using tablets while the control group read the texts in the traditional way. Then both groups answered comprehension questions. The results of the pre‐test revealed that there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of their total comprehension scores and their reading comprehension levels. The post‐test results indicated that the experimental group's overall comprehension scores were much higher than those of the control group. In terms of reading comprehension levels, no difference was found between the two groups in terms of literal comprehension levels. However, the experimental group is found to be much more successful in terms of the reorganization, inferential comprehension, evaluation and appreciation. These findings suggest that the augmented reality content may contribute to the students' reading comprehension performances. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic? There is limited research that augmented reality applications can support reading comprehension in general.Little is known about the effect of augmented reality applications on reading comprehension levels.In the researches examining the effect of augmented reality applications on the reading comprehension levels of students, the existing augmented reality applications were generally preferred.What this paper adds? This study aims to develop an augmented reality application that can be integrated into the textbooks used in schools.In this study, Barrett's taxonomy was used to reveal which levels of reading comprehension the augmented reality application could support.Augmented reality supported reading activity supports students' reorganization, inferential comprehension, evaluation and appreciation levels.Augmented reality supported reading activity does not make a difference in students' literal comprehension levels.Implications for practice and/or policy The developed augmented reality application can be used as a teaching tool in schools.The study provides an example of how augmented reality can be used in reading activity in schools.The data of this study can be used by teachers who want to support students' levels of reorganization, inferential comprehension, evaluation and appreciation comprehension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a critical and systematic review of 52 articles published from 2000 to 2012 about research conducted in Turkey concerning adolescents’ social and emotional learning needs. In correspondence with international research, articles were examined across three categories in which adolescent needs could be addressed by educational programmes. The categories examined were attitudes toward self and others, positive social behaviours, and social skills. In conclusion, we summarise several trends along with gaps that researchers need to address to derive stronger implications for policy-making and for curriculum development that links more directly with social and emotional learning in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Using Turkish Household Budget Surveys from 2003, 2007 and 2012, this paper investigates the determinants of household education expenditures within an Engel curve framework. In particular, we estimate Tobit regressions of real educational expenditures by income groups using a number of household characteristics (i.e. rural residence, employment status, age, educational attainment of the household head, household size, share of female students and primary school students in the household, and total number of students in the household) to examine if and to what extent the determinants of educational expenditures differ by income groups; income elasticities of educational spending evolves over time; and children from middle-class and poor families can benefit enough from educational opportunities. The estimated expenditure elasticities have lower values for the top- and the bottom-income quartiles while they have larger values for the middle-income quartiles. The results also show that for all income groups the expenditure elasticity of education increases over time, indicating that Turkish households allocates greater share of their budgets to education expenditures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research in history of mathematics gained momentum in the past two decades in Turkey. The present paper aims to describe the patterns in the history of mathematics research in Turkey and to analyse the research in Turkey using a mathematics education framework. The qualitative paradigm and a case study design are used in the study. The obtained data were analysed by using the document analysis technique with the help of a content analysis. The study group which is comprised of twenty-two postgraduate theses at master's or doctoral level were purposefully selected from the higher education council postgraduate theses database. Findings indicate a dearth of research in the area and that most of the theses are done in the area of mathematics education. Moreover, the focus, in general, was on attitudinal variables, and cognitive aspects seemed to be ignored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing from a range of secondary data sources, this paper succinctly overviews patterns of access to good-quality education in Turkey over the last 15 years. It also maps the policy context within which issues of access, quality and equity are examined. As a result of effective supply and demand side strategies, enrolment ratios beyond the primary level have also risen, with the average lower secondary enrolment currently standing at over 90%, and gender disparity has also been achieved at this level. Yet, educational expansion was less successful in the least developed eastern and southeastern regions of Turkey, particularly for girls. Turkey has also given a higher priority to the quality of education, in line with this global paradigm shift towards learning. However, learning levels remain low and largely unequal across regions, ethno-linguistic groups and socio-economic status. School segregation widens inequalities based on students’ socio-economic status, which should be taken into account in the aftermath of the new education reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effectiveness of private tutoring in Turkey. The authors introduce their study by providing some background information on the two major national examinations and three different kinds of tutoring. They then describe how they aimed to analyse whether attending private tutoring centres (PTCs) enhances Turkish students' academic performance. By way of multiple linear regression analysis, their study sought to evaluate whether the impact of private tutoring varies in different subject areas, taking into account several student-related characteristics such as family and academic backgrounds as well as interest in and perception of academic success. In terms of subject areas, the results indicate that while private tutoring does have a positive impact on academic performance in mathematics and Turkish language, this is not the case in natural sciences. However, as evidenced by the effect sizes, these impacts are rather small compared to the impacts of other variables such as interest in and perception of academic success, high school graduation fields of study, high school cumulative grade point average (CGPA), parental education and students' sociocultural background. While the authors point out that more research on the impact of further important variables needs to be done, their view is that school seems to be an important factor for determining students' academic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turkey, like many developing countries, is facing considerable problems in terms of low school attendance rates, late enrolment and early dropout of girls in particular. Numerous studies have already been conducted, both in Turkey and elsewhere, to determine the factors affecting school enrolment of boys and girls. Existing studies in Turkey, however, have focused extensively on the association between household-level factors and school participation, ignoring the role of the broader environment in which children live. Using a recent, large-scale and nationally representative data set, this paper investigates school participation at both primary and secondary levels in Turkey, giving specific attention to community- level factors. In taking into account socioeconomic context variables using the multilevel modelling method, this study contributes significantly to current school participation literature in Turkey. The author's findings highlight the importance of community/context factors in explaining low school enrolment in Turkey. The results of the study can help policy makers develop a systematic understanding of the relationship between socioeconomic context and school participation, and enable them to make more appropriate decisions for improving school participation across the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examined the relationships between the school administrators' leadership behavior and teachers' perceptions of organizational trust, and organizational justice. The sample of the survey model study consists of 271 high school teachers that working in the province of Kütahya in Turkey. Data is collected by "Organizational Trust Scale", "Organizational Justice Scale" and "Leadership Behavior Scale". Data is analyzed through descriptive statistics and Regression Analysis. The research findings show that teachers have positive perceptions about organizational trust, organizational justice and school administrators' leadership behaviors. There is a high correlation between school administrators' supportive leadership behaviors and teachers' perceptions of organizational justice and perceptions of trust to administrator. There is a moderate positive correlation between school administrators' supportive leadership behaviors and teachers' perceptions of organizational justice and trust in colleagues and trust in stakeholders. Supportive leadership and organizational justice are significant predictors of teachers' perceptions of organizational trust. Supportive leadership and organizational justice explain nearly two thirds of perception of trust to administrator, nearly one third of perception of trust in colleagues and nearly one fifth of perception of trust in stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a case study focusing on the subject matter knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and beliefs about science teaching of student teachers in Turkey at the start of their university education. The topic of interest was that of teaching chemical reactions in secondary chemistry education. A written test was developed which used the research literature on potential student misconceptions with regard to different aspects of chemical reactions. Thirty beginning science student teachers were tested, with an additional eight interviews from the student teachers in the same sample. The interviews focused on student teachers’ views about how to best teach chemical reactions in lower secondary chemistry classes. The results revealed deficits in the subject matter knowledge of the student teachers. It also became obvious that the teachers in this sample held very traditional and teacher-centred beliefs when it came to chemistry teaching at the secondary level. Their teaching attitudes were geared mainly towards the acquisition of facts by pupils, and often ignored the development of process-oriented skills. Implications for science teacher education are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores secondary school students' representations of a geological map. Ninety-two high school students (ninth graders - 15- to 16-years-old) participated in the survey in Turkey. The findings indicate that students have only a vague idea of how a geological map is constructed, and how the map is affected by the topography. The students' poor understandings are based on insufficient information supplied to them during their learning process, and on their need to see things clearly in order to describe or understand them. Since research shows that developing an understanding of how to make and use geological maps fosters the development of cognitive skills in general, the implication of these research findings is that all pupils would benefit from education in how to make and use geological maps. Thus national curricula should require training in geological map work, teachers should be trained in teaching the necessary skills and textbooks should include good coverage of this topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper begins with a historical overview of the Turkish educational system. We then use Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and econometric methods to evaluate the system''s efficiency. In doing so we identify scale diseconomies and relate them to underlying structural characteristics of the system. Selected suggestions on improving performance are offered. The roles of heterogeneity and centralization are also highlighted. Heterogeneity is modeled as an undesirable measure. The linkage between indicators of centralization and scale diseconomies was found to be statistically significant. The authors believe this to be the first study that investigates the impact of systemic characteristics such as heterogeneity and centralized structure on educational outcomes for Turkey. Since the country straddles the Middle East and the Balkans, culturally as well as geographically, it may be of interest to other countries in the region. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Like other countries of the world, plenty of studies have been conducted for improving geography education in Turkey. The goal of these numerous studies is to make students active in classrooms and make them understand the importance of geography in daily life like those in developed countries. Due to this, secondary geography curriculum was changed hi 2005. The main purpose of this new curriculum is to provide necessary skills and abilities to the students for gaining of geographic conscious about their environs and countries in order to better understand the World and also use them as an active in their future life. Another aim of this program is to emphasize that geography is just not the subject to memorize the places' names and also not to show where they are in the world. This change was the most comprehensive one in terms of content, names, hours and etc. With this program, region concept also has been changed in terms of its meaning and contents. Thus, region, sub-region, and precinct which accepted in 1941 have been totally left, and instead of these, new dynamic region concept which has no specific boundaries have adopted. According to new concept of region, it is possible to determine many regions starting from local to global scale. With this paper, previous and current region concepts will be discussed and similarities and differences between them will be addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information about several papers discussed at the 9th European Conference on Research in Chemical Education, which was held in Turkey on July 6-9, 2008. The conference was organized by Mehmet Mahramanlioglu of Istanbul University. Topics discussed include chemical education practice, teaching and learning in secondary schools, and history of chemistry.