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The main purpose of the current study was to develop and validate a scale of perceived attributes of the interactive whiteboard (IW) for the mathematics class. Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations Theory served as the theoretical framework. Two groups of participants in Turkey were employed in this study. The first group consisted of 350 middle school students (177 female, 173 male). The second group consisted of 557 high school students (288 female, 269 male). The results of confirmatory factor analysis supported construct validity. However, not enough evidence was available to support its convergent and discriminant validity. The results of multigroup analysis supported measurement invariance across two schools--one middle school and one high school. The perceptions of students toward IW were generally positive. We believe that the scale developed for this study can be used in schools in which IW has been implemented and may contribute to educational technology reform efforts by providing metrics for the degree of success in implementing IW specifically and possibly other forms of instructional technology.

Various inquiry approaches have been promoted in science classrooms as a way for students to engage in, and have a deeper understanding of scientific discourse. However, there is a paucity of empirical evidence to suggest how children's actions and engagement in these approaches, or "practical epistemologies" (Sandoval, Science Education 89(4): 634-656, 2005), may contribute to the development of their "personal epistemologies", or their views about the nature of knowledge and knowing and the nature of learning. This paper puts forth the conceptualization and development of the Practical Epistemology in Science Survey (PESS) instrument, a 26-item Likert-scale self-assessment which measures how students view their individual and social participation in the classroom scientific community. Data were collected from 4th-6th-grade students (n = 1019) in the USA and a psychometric evaluation of the reliability, validity, and dimensionality of the instrument was conducted. The Cronbach's alpha value indices for all subsets of items of the PESS suggest a strong reliability of the instrument (a = 0.80). The development of the PESS may be useful in science education research to (a) detect changes to students' beliefs about knowledge and knowledge development; (b) identify dispositions and beliefs which may or may not be in line with the aims and values of various pedagogical approaches; (c) monitor the process of change, e.g., time it takes for students to change their approaches and beliefs with respect to teacher practice; and, (d) overall, to provide an understanding of how students' formal epistemologies are developed and informed by the affordances in science classrooms.

The main purpose of the current study was to develop a 50-item personality scale in Turkish and Spanish based on Big Five Model of Personality and to assess its construct validity and reliability. We also compared the personality of pre-service teachers enrolled in the department of elementary education in Turkey and Spain. The participants were 555 pre-service teachers enrolled in elementary education programs at a Turkish university (280) and at a Spanish university (275). Results of confirmatory factor analysis supported the construct validity of the scale in both samples. However, 10 items had low factor loadings in their respective dimensions. Thus, they were removed from the scale. Findings regarding the comparison of Turkish and Spanish pre-service teachers revealed that they share similar personality traits; however, significant personality differences between Turkish and Spanish pre-service elementary school teachers emerged. Results of "t" tests on each dimension of personality revealed that the Turkish pre-service teachers' Openness and Neuroticism scores were statistically higher than the Spanish pre-service teachers. On the other hand, the Spanish pre-service teachers' Conscientiousness score was found to be statistically higher than that of the Turkish pre-service teachers.

Using Program for International Student Achievement (PISA) 2009 data we study the transfer of knowledge among reading, mathematics, and science among Turkish students. Both Science and Reading are significant predictors of Mathematics scores, although clearly Science is a much stronger predictor; the transfer from Science to Mathematics is much greater than is the transfer from Reading to Mathematics. SCHOOLID is the single strongest predictor of Mathematics outcomes, likely reflecting the importance of socioeconomic and regional or urban/rural differences in the quality of education available to students. Both Mathematics and Reading are significant predictors of Science scores, although Mathematics is a stronger predictor; the transfer from Mathematics to Science is greater than is the transfer from Reading to Science. SCHOOLID is a weaker predictor of Science outcomes than are Mathematics scores, suggesting that the importance of socioeconomic and regional or urban/rural differences in the quality of education available to students may have slightly less consequence for Science outcomes than does the transfer effect from Mathematics to Science. Both Science and Mathematics are significant predictors of Reading scores, but the transfer from Science to Reading is much more robust than the transfer from Mathematics to Reading. SCHOOLID and Science are nearly identically strong predictors of Reading outcomes, suggesting that the importance of socioeconomic and regional or urban/rural differences in the quality of education available is on a par with the Science transfer to Reading. Implications of these findings are discussed.

In a cluster-randomized study, we investigate the impact of an argument-based approach to teaching science in elementary school on science learning and critical thinking skills. Forty-eight schools participated in the study, with data on 9,963 students across the 2 years of the intervention. Annual standardized tests assessing science content knowledge were used to evaluate the effect of the intervention on science using a hierarchical linear model. To assess critical thinking abilities, scores for the Cornell Critical Thinking instrument were assessed for the 2,353 students in fifth grade using a multilevel model. While no statistically significant gains were found for science content, there was statistically significant evidence that the intervention was associated with an improvement in critical thinking scores (p < 0.05, ES = 0.167). In particular, the strongest gains were for students in the following groups: individual education plan, free and reduced price lunch, and English language learners.

The Next Generation Science Standards call for the adoption of many aspects of scientific inquiry in the classroom. The ways in which classroom talk and classroom environment change as students and teachers learn to utilize inquiry approaches are underexplored. This study examines the frequency with which linguistic markers related to access and power appear in student and teacher speech in the elementary science classroom. As teachers begin to implement argument-based inquiry methods, teacher and student use of these markers changes significantly. These changes indicate that students whose teachers utilize argument-based inquiry have greater access and power in the science classroom. In this paper, the mechanisms by which teachers afford their students access and power are explored from a quantitative perspective.