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An in-service training programme was used as an accelerator that scaffolded teachers in four school units in Lappeenranta, Finland, the aim being to find a shared understanding and shared practices, or 'praxis', in terms of promoting student participation. In this study we examine the practices that either supported or prevented participation from the perspective of the teachers. We also examine how the arrangements of the practice architectures -- cultural-discursive, material-economic and social-political -- appear in the teachers' accounts of student participation. The data consists of 22 diamond-ranking forms made by 86 teachers, and an audio-recorded and videotaped group interview. The teachers in the school units found praxis both in the support of student participation (emphasising the students' role in school councils and giving them a recognised role in everyday practices) and in the challenges (turning participation into pedagogical practice). The arrangements of the practice architectures were identified in the group interview.

Virtual three-dimensional (3D) anatomical models have become popular in the education of students in graduate and undergraduate-level anatomy courses, including anatomy and physiology. There is a need for more research on the effectiveness of these models on student learning, especially in anatomy and physiology, and on the validation of the models implemented in anatomy education. This study focuses on the development of a list of criteria for validating 3D models of the pelvis, using a four-round Delphi method. The Delphi method successfully confirmed the validity of the final list of pelvic criteria, each item with an item content validity index (I-CVI) = 0.83. The average scale content validity index (S-CVI/Ave) of the entire list was calculated to be rigorously valid (0.92). These valid pelvic criteria will be used in future studies to inform additions to an existing virtual 3D model of the pelvis and validate completed virtual 3D pelvic models.

In this research, teachers' opinions are determined based on human resources management functions in a private school. The research determined study groups with a purposive sampling method which is conducted with a qualitative research design, in the academic year, 2016 to 2017. Six teachers who work in a private school in Famagusta in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) participated in the study. The research data were collected by using a structure interview form and analyzed by content analysis and qualitative descriptive model. Two different researchers looked at the data and found out similar key words, and then themes were formed. The similarity index for inter-rater reliability was found as 90%. This is acceptable for qualitative research between five-seven categories. According to the research, Human Resources Management Functions include employee (personal selection/staffing, training and development, planning, evaluation, rewarding) and functions for the organization. All these functions are valid in educational institutions. Human research functions are successfully applied at this school where teachers reflect positive feeling towards their works and behaviors. Besides, research scope can be expanded with principals, students and parents in the scope of the subject.

This study aims to determine the opinions of teachers about the innovation level of their schools. The sample of this research includes 471 teachers working in primary and secondary schools in Sinop, a city in Turkey. "Innovative School Scale" developed by Aslan and Kesik (2017) was used in order to collect data in this study. Percentage, frequency, mean, standard deviation, T-test and one-way ANOVA were performed to determine teachers' opinions about the innovation level of their schools according to the demographic variables. The findings show that the opinions of teachers about the innovation level of their schools are quite high with a level of "often" in the dimensions of innovative atmosphere, administrative support and the overall scale and with a level of "sometimes" in the organizational impediments. While the teachers' opinions indicate no significant differences regarding their genders, they show significant differences regarding their subject areas, years of teaching experience and teaching level of school. According to findings, branch teachers, teachers working in secondary schools and teachers having 21 or more years of teaching experience were found to have a higher level of opinions about the innovation level of their schools. The findings and suggestions obtained by the results are expected to contribute to the discussions and literature about increasing innovation level of schools.

In Turkey, preservice social studies teachers take history education courses such as Revolution History and Kemalism I-II, Ancient History and Civilization, Pre-Islamic Turkish History and Culture, History of Turkish Education, History of Medieval Age, Ottoman History and Civilization I-II, New and Contemporary History, Contemporary World History, and History of Turkish Republic I-II during their undergraduate education. The purpose of this study was to reveal preservice social studies teachers' opinions regarding how these courses were taught. Within this scope, their perceptions of how these courses were taught and their opinions regarding how history courses should be taught were tried to be determined. The participants of this study involved 125 third and fourth-year undergraduates studying social studies education of a faculty of education at a state university. One of the qualitative research designs, phenomenology was used in this study. The data were collected using a semi-structured interview form. During the interviews, the participants were asked to respond three questions: "What is instruction?," "How are history courses taught in your department?," and "how should the history courses be taught?" The data were analyzed using descriptive analysis technique. Direct quotations were used and the emerging themes were presented under some categories in Findings section.

Introduction: Whether Wikipedia is to be considered a trusted source is frequently questioned in France. This paper reports the results of a survey examining the levels of trust shown by young people aged eleven to twenty-five. Method: We analyse the answers given by 841 young people, aged eleven to twenty-five, to a questionnaire. To our knowledge, this is the largest study ever published on the topic. It focuses on (1) the perception young people have of Wikipedia; (2) the influence teachers and peers have on the young person's own opinions; and (3) the variation of trends according to the education level. Analysis: All the analysis is based on ANOVA (analysis of variance) to compare the various groups of participants. We detail the results by comparing the various groups of responders and discuss these results in relation to previous studies. Results: Trust in Wikipedia depends on the type of information seeking tasks and on the education level. There are contrasting social judgments of Wikipedia. Students build a representation of a teacher's expectations on the nature of the sources that they can use and hence the documentary acceptability of Wikipedia. The average trust attributed to Wikipedia for academic tasks could be induced by the tension between the negative academic reputation of the encyclopedia and the mostly positive experience of its credibility. Conclusion: Our survey demonstrates significant differences between the levels of education, both for Wikipedia use and its representation. This variable should be included in studies related to information behaviour by the young to avoid generalisations that deny the disparities between ages.

The purposes of this study were first to investigate the effects of the project-based learning (PBL) method and project exhibition event on the success of physics teacher candidates, and second, to reveal the experiment group students' views toward this learning method and project exhibition. The research model called explanatory mixed method, in which both quantitative and qualitative research methods were used. The findings obtained from the research show that there was a significant difference in favor of the experiment group among the point averages of the achievement post-test of the groups. When the findings regarding the questions posed to prospective teachers were examined, it was seen that while they stated that there were a few disadvantages of PBL and project exhibition event, there were many advantages. The results obtained from the quantitative and qualitative data of the research showed that PBL contributed positively to the teaching process and learning characteristics in many aspects.

This study aims to analyse opinions of social studies prospective teachers towards out-of-school learning. It was conducted with 12 prospective teachers who were at their final year at Kafkas University Education Faculty, Social Studies Teaching Department. In this qualitative study, phenomenological design was adopted, and the data was collected with semi-structured interview form which was developed by the researcher. To explain qualitative data and to find relationships, explanatory and inferential codes during analysis were adopted. Based on the results obtained from this study, prospective teachers expressed that they had inadequate knowledge about out-of-school learning, and out-of-school learning may present advantageous to learning process such as learning with doing-experiencing, permanence of subjects, and materialisation of information. Additionally, regarding out-of-school learning, prospective teachers expressed that there may be problems with time and incorrect learning practices. Recommendations were presented for these results.

This research intended to determine the alternative assessment methods used by the preschool teachers and their opinions, knowledge and competencies related to these methods. The research group of the study comprised of 10 kindergarten teachers working in Konya province during the 2017-2018 academic year in Turkey. The data obtained through the semi-structured interview form were evaluated by descriptive analysis. As a result of the research, it has been understood that preschool teachers have benefited from play-based assessment in order to gain concrete information in recognizing and evaluating the children through play. In the portfolio assessments, they have different opinions and applications in using the information and activities in the portfolio. In the program-based assessment, teachers assess children within the framework of training plans through a variety of forms, but teachers claimed that it is not effective to use the program-based approach to assess the aims and achievements of the program and the development of students. Moreover, it has been stated that the dynamic assessment approach is a new and unknown approach to the teachers, and the applications on this approach are limited. Teachers have found themselves unsatisfied in implementing alternative assessment approaches, but it has been understood that teachers are willing to develop themselves. [This study has been presented as an oral representation paper Globets 2018 (An International Conference Education, Technology and Science) in Serbia, 6-9 May, 2018.]

The purpose of this study is to determine the cognitive constructs of teachers on democratic education in schools. For this purpose, the study was modelled as a case study. The study group was 20 teachers and determined by using maximum variation sampling method. Repertory grid technique was used to collect data. Data were analyzed using descriptive analysis technique. The participants produced 200 valid cognitive constructs related to the democratic education in school. The most frequently mentioned cognitive constructs were respectively: (1) motivation increases, (2) confidence/self-confidence, (3) job satisfaction increases, (4) tolerance, (5) participative management, (6) employees feel precious, (7) organisational commitment, (8) new opinions, (9) human rights, and (10) freedom of ideas/impressions. The cognitive constructs were classified considering functionality and the similarity of them. As a result of classification, 14 main groups were determined according to the 200 valid cognitive constructs. Democratic participation should be encouraged by the school administrators. Besides, school society should display democratic attitudes for democratic education. In addition, the school administrators should appreciate students, teachers and parents in terms of success of school they manage.

The objective of this study was to examine the impacts during the pre-school period of Special Olympics activities on the attitudes of children with special needs as well as the families of normal developing children along with the teacher candidates who are likely to work with disabled children in the future (volunteers). The study group was comprised of the parents of 45 special athletes from 6 different cities who have participated in the Young Athletes Project and whose opinions have been asked during the pre-test along with the parents of 60 partner athletes along with 119 volunteer partners, parents of 46 special athletes and 51 partner athletes as well as 107 volunteer partners. Children with special needs and normal developing children were placed in an 8 week sports and game program within the scope of an integrated approach. Qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques were used in the study. The study results set forth that Young Athletes project has a positive impact on the opinions of the families of children with special needs and normal developing children as well as the opinions of volunteer partners.

This research aims to describe the process of student cognition in constructing mathematical conjecture. Many researchers have studied this process but without giving a detailed explanation of how students understand the information to construct a mathematical conjecture. The researchers focus their analysis on how to construct and prove the conjecture. This article discusses the process of student cognition in constructing mathematical conjecture from the very beginning of the process. The process is studied through qualitative research involving six students from the Mathematics Education Department in the Ganesha University of Education. The process of student cognition in constructing mathematical conjecture is grouped into five different stages. The stages consist of understanding the problem, exploring the problem, formulating conjecture, justifying conjecture, and proving conjecture. In addition, details of the process of the students' cognition in each stage are also discussed.

The present study aimed to determine views the middle school students' located a province of Turkey towards the Class Dojo education technology used in mathematic courses. A questionnaire based on expert opinions was used for the collection of research data. The participants of the study consisted of 206 students; 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grade students who have used Class Dojo Education technology. The study is conducted survey model. Descriptive statistical methods, independent samples t test, one way analysis of variance were used for the analysis of research data.Findings of the research revealed that middle school students generally had a positive opinion on the application of Class Dojo training and that the opinions of the students did not vary according to the gender factor and that the students in the lower grades expressed more positive opinions than the students in the upper grades. As a conclusion that suggestions have been made to teacher and teacher candidates, how to use this education technology that enables classroom management to continue outside the school and pros of application.

The aim of the study is to determine the opinions of teachers and students in a Vocational High School about performance tasks. This study was carried out with 17 vocational high school students and 13 teachers. This study was conducted through qualitative research design by analyzing the records of the individuals who shared their own interviews, observations and documents. The data were analyzed through content analysis. The first codes were generated for each question and the collected data were arranged in an inducible approach by determining appropriate themes for these codes. All the codes and themes were checked by second researchers. Moreover, the consistency in coding was determined. In addition to the interviews, observations and document analysis were performed. The results of this study demonstrate that both the students and the teachers do not have sufficient knowledge about what the performance task is and how it is carried out. Therefore, the performance tasks carried out do not reach their goals. Performance tasks should measure higher order thinking, and they should be related to real life situations. The results of the study show that performance tasks do not demonstrate these features. In addition, students should have knowledge and understanding of the subjects in order to complete their performance tasks. On the other hand, they are supposed to perform a performance task about a subject which they mostly do not understand or they do not know. This may be the reason why performance task does not reach its goal.

The purpose of this study was to reveal the thoughts of the students who were studying at 4th grade in a primary school related to the classroom environment in their dreams. In the study, it was envisaged that the opinions of the students about the physical and emotional environments in the classroom give an idea about the desire and expectations of the students to create a more appropriate classroom environment. 114 students who were studying at 4th grade in public school in Istanbul were involved in the study. The compositions of the students about what kind of classroom environment they want constituted the data of the study. With the data analysis, the items related to the classroom environment that students desire were organized under two main headings: Physical expectations and Emotional expectations. According to the findings, it was seen that a single study table, a private locker, an interactive smartboard, colorful furniture and design, fancy bulletin boards, a tidy environment and a clean environment were the general physical expectations of the students from the classroom environment whereas positive social relations with friends, positive communication with the teacher and the sense of success were the general emotional expectations of the students. In addition, it was observed that the students expressed a variety of opinions on technological possibilities, emergency measures, security and discipline.

The aim of this study was to determine opinions of a group of prospective Turkish primary school teachers about what teaching methods and techniques are more suitable to teach science. In addition, their perceived competence in selection of teaching methods and techniques was explored. In Turkey, primary school teachers offer various courses in the first four years of primary education. Their ability to benefit from teaching methods and techniques suitable for subjects and courses is considered important in terms of realization of learning. The study was also directed towards examining whether third-year university students having taken courses for methods and techniques used to teach different subjects felt competent about selection of suitable methods and techniques. This is a case study using both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Quantitative data were gathered with Perceived Competence Scale for Selection of Teaching Methods and Techniques for Prospective Teachers, developed by Durdukoca et al. (2017). Qualitative data were collected through an open-ended question "What teaching methods and techniques do you think you want to use in the future". All the participants answered this open-ended question and completed the scale. Data obtained through the open ended-question were analyzed with content analysis. The study sample included 96 third-year students studying in the Department of Primary Education in Buca Education Faculty of Dokuz Eylül University in the spring term of the 2017-2018 academic year. Quantitative data were analyzed with SPSS v. 22 and t-test. The prospective primary school teachers were found to plan to use student-centered methods and techniques and to have high perceived competence concerning selection of teaching methods and techniques. Their perceived competence did not differ between genders and students with different academic performance. Only having a positive perception of competence significantly differed between branches of students.

We are living in an age where knowledge is rapidly produced and consumed. In this period, the future of the individual and the society depends on accessing, using and producing information. This situation requires a qualified education and first literacy teaching which is the foundation of it. Primary school is the foundation of everything; likewise, the first literacy learning is the foundation of learning (Gunes, Uysal and Tac, 2016). First literacy is to create a new communication and interaction channel for the individual by teaching the symbols of humankind that it created in ten thousand years. Education performs a great miracle by making a seven-year old child comprehend this script that humankind developed in ten thousand years within a seven- or eight-month period (Guleryuz, 2001). It is desired for and expected of the children who start the first grade in primary school at the level of illiteracy to reach the level of basic literacy with qualified first literacy education under the supervision of an effective program, equipped teacher (Sagirli, 2015). Education in cursive handwriting in our country has started in Ataturk era. Ataturk demonstrated examples of the New Turkish Latin Letters on the blackboard with the cursive handwriting. Elderly and young people of the generation of Ataturk era have learned the cursive handwriting very well and used for many years. Many documents of that period such as diplomas, identity cards, registry of deeds etc. have been prepared with cursive handwriting in a clear, cursive and aesthetic form (Gunes, 2006). In our country, it has been decided to start the first literacy education with the cursive handwriting under the scope of the 2004 draft program. For nearly thirteen years, our students are becoming literate with cursive handwriting. There are many studies in literature that examine the opinions of teachers, students, and parents about the cursive handwriting. The aim of the concerned study is to express the view from the perspective of the parents of the gifted and talented students on the practice of cursive handwriting in first literacy education. Within the scope of the research, interviews were conducted with the parents of the gifted and talented students and their opinions were taken about starting the first literacy with the practice of the cursive handwriting. All of the parents are the parents of gifted and talented children who are attending primary school. The data collected during the 2016-2017 academic year have been obtained by face-to-face interviews. The answers of the parents are recorded and then reported. Screening model is used in the study that is designed by content analysis. The research is a qualitative study. Recommendations are brought at the end of the research.

The study aimed to determine students' opinions about their ninth grade biology textbook that had been created in accordance with the constructivist learning approach. On the basis of a detailed literature review of studies on textbooks; questionnaires used for assessment of textbooks; and constructivist learning approach, a questionnaire was created and administered to 751 students from 9 schools located in the city of Trabzon. The questionnaire was classified into the following sections: contents, learning-teaching activities, assessment and evaluation activities, and physical design. The Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient was 0.94, and the data were analyzed using SPSS 15.0. Multiple findings pertaining to each section were obtained. Overall, it was found that the students were satisfied with their ninth grade biology textbook. While the existence of various visuals was being appreciated by most of the students, some aspects of the textbooks should be developed in order better to support constructivist learning in classrooms. The study also revealed that the questionnaire developed might be used to evaluate textbooks in terms of their appropriateness to constructivist learning theory. The findings of the study are expected to contribute to improving design for future textbooks.

The current research is mainly conducted to explore the pragmatic functions of English rhetoric in public speech. To do this, methods of close reading and case studies are adopted. The research first reveals that the boom of public speech programs helps reexamine the art of utterance, during the delivery of which English rhetoric plays an indispensable role in shaping and expressing a speaker's opinions, and then, with Emma Watson's "HeForShe" as a case study, concludes the specific pragmatic functions of English rhetoric: parallelism helps strengthen opinions; irony shows dissatisfaction, disapproval or rejection; rhetorical questions invite no answers, but call for emphasis and sense of urgency; contrast describes difference(s) so as to show preference. Use of proper English rhetoric devices in public speaking as well as in daily life improves communicative effect and efficiency.

With this study, it was aimed at drawing attention to the troubles and problems encountered by the teachers in the presence of various variables regarding the teaching of the history topics in the 7th grade social studies course. At the same time, in order to offer solution suggestions for teaching history topics effectively, we have tried to reach a conclusion by asking teachers' opinions in order to help to the teachers. A semi-structured interview method was used in this qualitative study. In the analysis of the data, descriptive analysis technique was used. When the findings obtained from the research are examined, it is concluded that the social studies curriculum has deficiencies in the teaching of history topics, that the history topics are disjointed, that the chronological order is not paid enough attention, and that there is no integrity between the topics, and the teaching hours of social studies are not sufficient. At the end, the research was concluded with the suggestions such as the history topics in the 7th grade social studies course should complement one another, should not wander off from one topic to another, and should be presented in a certain chronological order and form integrity.

The aim is to reveal the views of the sixth grade Matter and Heat Unit on the technique of the students who work with the station technique. Qualitative method was used. The study group of the study was 25 students in the sixth grade who attended Ataturk Secondary School in the Cinar district, they were in the second year of the 2016-2017 academic year. They worked with the station technique. The application was applied in a total of 16 lessons including the Matter and Heat Unit. The researcher conducted the implementation process. Five stations including poetry, story, picture, song and slogan were created and worksheets and workbooks were used. Semi-structured interview form consisting of five questions was applied to 25 students to get opinions of the students about the station technique. Their answers were categorised and the percentages and frequencies were found. Research results determined that the students enjoyed the station technique and they wanted to use this technique in the other subjects of the Science course and in the other courses.

University students constitute an important cohort for the supplement of voluntary blood donation considering their age and dynamism. With this study, it is aimed to find out Turkish university students' positive and negative opinions towards blood donation in addition to interpreting their motivators and barriers to this issue. For this reason, a qualitative study was conducted with a total of 141 students studying in one of the governmental universities in the west part of Turkey. Data were collected with the help of a semi-structured interview form which involved 10 questions and analyzed by means of content analysis. As a result, it was determined that university students possessed insufficient knowledge and misconceptions related to blood donation. Also, more than half of the students were found to not donate blood before. Being sensible was the most frequent reason stated by the students for donating blood. On the other hand, anemia was the main reason of not donating blood for females and fear was the main reason for males. In the light of the findings, it is thought that focusing on factors such as Red Crescent blood collection vehicle, blood collection stands at the university campuses and positive effects on health might play important role to turn university students into voluntary regular donors.

Schools are at the forefront of the institutions that need to be in close relations with the social environment. In this regard, practices of the public relations are prominent. This obligation is also responsibility of the school principals, as there are no public relations units in public schools. The purpose of this research is to reveal the opinions of school principals about public relations practices at school. Research is a case study in which qualitative data is used. Semi-structured interview form created by the researcher were used as data collection tool by reviewing the literature and taking expert opinions. This data collection tool was implemented by the researcher to 13 school principals working at different levels of education. As a result of the interviews it is revealed that school principals had enough awareness about public relations, statements of public relations were correctly understood by the school principals, but routine activities had carried out rather than planned activities. School principals are warmly committed to having a unit of planned and specialized people on public relations in their schools. In this direction, it is suggested that the schools should be supported by public relations units or public relations specialists so that they can carry out activities related to the people in a more qualified and planned way.

The purpose of this study was to determine the opinions of the physical education teachers about the effect of peer education and physical activity cards' usage on the student skills. Physical education teachers used a questionnaire to follow the students through observation. One-hundred-twenty secondary school students in 2015-2016 semester in Elazig participated to the study. The students in the sample group were divided into two 30-person groups and control group and experimental group were constituted. The formed groups were taught lessons by means of Physicak Activity Cards for 4 weeks. At the end of the four-week course period, opinions about peer education were obtained through individual and focus group interviews with the experimental and control group students. In addition, "Skill Learning Observation Forms" prepared by researchers and experts were also applied. In the analysis of the data, for qualitative dimension, descriptive analysis, for quantitative data, percentage, frequency, for repetitive measurements, t test and one-way variance analysis were used. The SPSS 22 package program was used for the analysis of the quantitative data. The quantitative data were explained through tabulation. Again, the data obtained from observation forms were presented in the form of tables with their frequency and percentage values. Themes were obtained by coding the qualitative data. When the influence of the physical activity cards on the students' attitudes toward the class is considered, a significant difference was attained in the common effect of the experimental group. According to this result, the education received by the students in the experimental and control groups led to a significant difference in favor of the last-test at the pre-and post-program attitude levels. However, it was determined that being in different groups did not lead to a significant difference in students' attitude scores. When we examined the student opinions about the cards, the most of the students expressed the opinions that teaching lessons through cards created difference in the classes and increased their participation in the class. It was also enhanced their exercise skills and self-confidence. They did not have difficulty while applying the cards, they led them to act in coordination, and they rendered the class more enjoyable.

In this study, it is aimed to discover childhood fears of 60-72-month-old children through the opinions of preschool children, preschool teachers and mothers. Study group of the investigation consists of 52 participants; 18 children aged 60-72 months, 16 teachers and 18 mothers with preschool children, in Istanbul. An "Interview Form" which consists of 9 questions, was developed by the researchers. According to the findings, there are not significant differences in fear types among preschool children in different socioeconomic levels. In general, the most common fear types among all children are animals, robbery, natural events and nightmares. According to the mothers in lower and middle socioeconomic levels, children are mostly afraid of the dark and loneliness and to the mothers from upper socioeconomic level, they are afraid of strangers and unfamiliar settings, animals and loneliness. According to the teachers working in lower socioeconomic level schools, children are mostly afraid of animals; to the teachers from middle socioeconomic level schools, children are mostly afraid of the dark, strangers and unfamiliar settings; and according to the teachers working in high socioeconomic level schools, children are mostly afraid of separation, strangers and unfamiliar settings and loneliness.

This study aims to understand the opinions of middle school and high school students about language learning and studying other content in an additional language in the school settings where English is used as the medium of instruction to teach more than 50% of the curriculum. For this end, 261 students from three different schools were administered a questionnaire. Results indicate students generally have very positive opinions about learning languages and studying content in their non-native language. There is no statistically significant difference between the students' opinion and their school level, and the years that they have been learning a language and studying content in an additional language. However, the students who have a negative opinion about the school have negative opinions about learning languages and studying content in an additional language. The possible reasons for these were evaluated from the perspective of language learning context but further study would be needed to establish causality.

Teaching is a sacred profession performed by self-sacrificing individuals with high responsibilities who are aware of their roles, have undertaken the task of raising future generations, make easier individuals' process of becoming citizen in a way to ensure the peace and welfare of the communities, and allow them to learn knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors. By Ataturk's saying, "Teachers are the most devoted and respectable factors of human society all over the world." In hadiths, the sanctity of teaching is expressed as, "Only those two people are admired enviously: The person who uses up and consumes the goods bestowed by Allah on him in the right way, and the person who properly rules over by the wisdom to him by Allah and who also teaches it to others." From early childhood to puberty, the person studying in public institutions establishes a spiritual association with his/her teacher. The psychical aspect of teaching is also quite predominant. The role of teaching is sometimes mixed up with the roles of mother, father, sister, and brother. There are many students who keep fresh their relationships with teachers for many years although their education and training activities do not continue. Based on these, the starting point of the study is about which characteristics the teacher must have to become an ideal teacher. This study was carried out to determine the characteristics of an ideal teacher in line with the opinions of the participants of the faculty of education and pedagogical training program in a University in Istanbul. The research was carried out in the screening model. The research data were collected through semi-structured interview technique to find out student opinions in a clearer way. The study group of the research was established in accordance with the voluntary basis from among the students from the psychological counseling and guidance department, Turkish teaching department, gifted children teaching department and English teaching department and the students who are enrolled in the pedagogical training certificate program in a University, in Istanbul, in the 2015-2016 academic year. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with each participant in the researcher's working office for half an hour on an average. At the beginning of the interview, students were asked about their genders and the graduated university, department, and faculty. Within the context of the interview, the question of "what are the characteristics of an ideal teacher for you" was posed to participants. The personal and professional characteristics that an ideal teacher should have were determined according to the opinions of teacher candidates. The discussion section was structured by the research findings in the literature, and the study was finalized with suggestions. [This paper was presented orally at the 2nd International Conference on Social Sciences and Education Research (ICSSER) held in Istanbul between November 4 and 6, 2016.]

The aim of research is to reveal prospective teachers' opinions on prospective teacher training program which began to be applied in Turkey in 2016 and their suggestions towards improving quality of this program. Phenomenology pattern, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the research. Research data was collected from 13 prospective teachers with semistructured interviews, data was analysed using content analysis. Consequently, it was found out in the research that most prospective teachers considered the prospective teacher training program useful in terms of their professional development. It was determined that prospective teachers gained experience towards management of education, classroom management, functioning of school, also duties to be undertaken in schools as teachers and administrators. Some of the prospective teachers attending the study evaluated the program as 'contributed partially' or 'not contributed'. Prospective teachers gave suggestions including the fact that the forms about increasing quality of the program which they filled in should be arranged according to their branches, application of these forms in different schools and classes should be ensured, prospective teachers and practitioners should be informed about the scope and duration of the program, execution of program should be supervised, and the program should be provided in cities where prospective teachers are assigned.

The study aims to determine the opinions of school principals on decentralization in education. Phenomenological research design was used in the study. The purposive sampling methods of convenience and criterion samplings were used together. The study group was composed of six volunteer principals. The data were collected through individual face-to-face interviews using a semi-structured form. Descriptive analysis and inductive content analysis were used. In conclusion, from a holistic perspective, most of the participants found the concept of decentralization to be close to full autonomy which is usually perceived as dangerous in terms of the unitary state structure. Therefore, they have more centralized attitudes towards educational processes other than financing and infrastructure support regarding decentralization in education. This is indeed an indication that concerns regarding decentralization in education are high. The participants think that decentralization will not harm our national identity and the national education structure is beneficial.

This study aims to determine the opinions of teacher candidates about using history of mathematics (HoM) in the instruction of mathematics. Research data was collected from elementary mathematics education 4th grade students through semi-structured interviews conducted for the purpose of collecting their opinions about using HoM in the instruction of mathematics. The data of this study conducted with qualitative approach was collected from six teacher candidates. The review of semi-structured interviews revealed that teacher candidates believe that using HoM in the instruction of mathematics may be useful for both teaching and learning purposes. Their concerns about using HoM in the instruction of mathematics are another outcome revealed by the study. Regarding the results, it is suggested to teach the courses of elementary mathematics education's undergraduate program that are related to educational content knowledge along with the activities of HoM.

Students accepting evolution are likely to rely on science as cognitive authority (i.e. science textbooks and science teachers). In contrast, those not accepting are likely to rely on religion as cognitive authority (i.e. religious texts and religious leaders). A thematic analysis based on existing quantitative and qualitative studies has been carried out in order to propose a theoretical framework for a range of reasons contributing to students' acceptance and rejection of evolutionary theory. This article urges that instruction of evolution is more than the matter of delivering scientific contents. It also deals with personal worldviews influenced by different forms of cognitive authority. It is therefore important to put more emphasis on developing students' learning skills to critically evaluate which source of information is scientifically appropriate, with full respect to religious belief of individuals.

The purpose of this study is to determine teachers' opinions on unethical conducts of education administrators and on individual or organizational reflections of such behaviours in terms of various independent variables. The study is a qualitative study with a holistic multiple-case pattern. The study group of the study consisted of 10 teachers who were employed in official training-education institutions located in Kepez District, Antalya Province and voluntarily participated in the study. Interview data were attempted to be analysed using descriptive and content analysis methods. It was determined as a result of the study that education administrators were in unethical conducts. Furthermore, it was found out that unethical conducts of education administrators had negative effects on organizational structure and functioning and that ethical conducts of education administrators increased organizational and academic success and positively affected organizational commitment.

This study investigates science teachers' concerns about how to achieve effective classroom management, with particular reference to classroom communication, student motivation, physical environments and unwanted student behaviors. A qualitative research method is used in this research. The semi-structured interview form is developed by the researchers as a data collection tool. The study group consists of fourteen science teachers who are working in Mugla province of Turkey, in the academic year of 2015-2016. According to the research findings, participating teachers have linked effective classroom communications to such aspects as student participation and a democratic and sincere classroom environment. In addition, they have also stated that effective classroom management are linked to the following: proper material usage, asking questions, feeling the importance of lessons, physical environment, laboratory environment, a U-shaped seating plan, use of an interactive whiteboard, verbal warnings to correct undesirable behaviors, trying to understand the causes of problems, giving responsibility, establishing eye contact, proper punishments, interviewing parents, guiding teachers and sending students to principal's room.

The statistics of the Ministry of National Education (MEB) show that the number of students who are pursuing their education in general education environments in scope of inclusion programs is increasing every year. It is observed that the number of special needs students who continue their secondary education after primary education is increasing with the regulation that makes it mandatory to have 12 years of education. While directing special needs (SN) students towards secondary education, families and experts prefer vocational high schools where these students can learn functional skills. This is why the opinions of teachers who work at vocational high schools are important. The purpose of this study is to investigate the opinions of technical teachers working at vocational high schools, school counsellors, culture course teachers and special education teachers providing support education to students on the processes of vocational counselling, training and employment of special needs students. Towards this purpose, semi-structured interviews were held with a total of 59 teachers using a form prepared by the researchers. The findings indicated that the opinions of technical teachers at vocational high schools on inclusion and continuation of SN students in vocational high schools were more negative in comparison to those of culture course teachers and school counsellors, and there were significant shortcomings in the professional training of SN students. It was also seen that special needs teachers were not sufficiently informed about the job prospects and employment of SN students, and they used limited opportunities for their students.

The aim of this study was to determine secondary school students' choice of design features for digital textbooks. As a part of the research--which was conducted using a mixed technique--a literature review was carried out to source points to consider in the designing of digital textbooks and experts' opinions were obtained. Based on the results, an 88-question survey was then developed to elicit the preferences of secondary school students with regard to design features for digital textbooks. Also, in this study, three digital textbooks with different design features--but with the same content--were developed to be used by the students. The students were then informed about digital textbook technology by researchers and the digital textbooks were made available to them. Finally, the survey was administered in four separate sessions, and the results were revealed by analysis of the data collected. The findings showed that students would rather see digital books with a front page, back page and bookplate. They also pointed out that elements for switching between pages are necessary along with the table of contents, index, glossary and search tools. Lastly, they expressed a desire for images in digital textbooks, especially three-dimensional lifelike drawings, videos and animations.

In this research, opinions of preservice elementary teachers on science fiction films are investigated in terms of gender, academic success and department. The survey research method was used in this study. In this descriptive study, a relational screening model was used from survey method to determine the current situation. The relational screening model is a type of research model that aims to determine whether there is a relationship between two or more variables and to determine the degree of the relationship. Likert type attitude scale developed by Çemrek et al (2005) was used for gathering data in this research. The data were gathered from 142 students at the department of elementary science teacher and classroom teacher education at Hacettepe University during the 2014-2015 academic year. The collected data has been analyzed and interpreted with the help of SPSS statistical programme and recommendations were given in the light of results gathered at the end of this analysis.

This study was aimed to make a historical review by collecting and comparing teachers' opinions on target-behaviors/learning-objectives outcomes, content, plans, activities, practices and assessment of the Ministry of National Education (MoNE), Turkey 2002, 2006, and 2013 preschool education curricula (PEC) in six categories. The sample group of the study was selected by easily accessible technique from eight districts of Ankara province. This includes a total of 40 teachers. The data collection tools of the study were semi-structured "Teacher Interview Form" and teachers' "Personal Information Form". In this study, content analysis was carried out by using interview technique from qualitative research methods. As a result of the study, it was determined that preschool teachers tend to regard preschool education curricula as becoming more effective, child-centered, easier to implement, teacher-guided, with active participation of the children. In the vast majority of teacher opinions on MoNE 2002 PEC, it is reported that the objectives of curriculum are appropriate for children and these objectives can be acquired by children. The practice category of the MoNE 2002, 2006 and 2013 curricula recommends that the practices are child-centered, the teacher serves as a moderator during activities, the activities are implementable and easy, and it is an actively participated curriculum.

The purpose of this study is to draw attention to the concepts of "formula" and "rule" in mathematics, thereby revealing the views of pre-service teachers relating to these concepts by exploring their knowledge in, and their capacity to exemplify these concepts. The study is important in that it would reveal how pre-service teachers see the concepts of "formula" and "rule", and to what extent they associate these concepts with mathematics, and further contribute to the field as there is currently no similar study in the literature. For this purpose, researchers prepared a diagnostic test consisting of ten questions. Nine (9) of the questions were open-ended, and 1 was multiple-choice. With this diagnostic test, pre-service teachers were expected to explain the concepts of formula and rule, reveal the formula and rule that first come to their mind, express the formulas and rules they learned during secondary and high education, describe what sort of a mathematics without formula and rules would be, and finally answer the question "is mathematics without formula and rules possible?" The sample of the research was composed of a total of 159 pre-service mathematics teachers including Grades 1, 2 and 3 students in Kars. The data were analysed by qualitative analysis and results were tabulated to indicate frequency and percentage values. It has been concluded that pre-service teachers associate the concepts of formula and rule with mathematics, they mathematically internalize and correctly interpret these concepts, they are accustomed to and familiarized with these concepts, and they believe mathematics without formulas and rules is not possible. Mathematics without formula and rule would be meaningless and difficult, take long time to study, and would not be possible, and mathematics can only be implemented through solving with individually proven concrete concepts and describing the rationale behind them.

Storytelling is a popular instrument used in every domain of natural and social interaction for human communication and commonly used in classrooms to enrich the learning experience. With the use of technological tools in every field of our daily lives, its use in educational environments has become inevitable and in parallel with the development of these tools, digital stories have started to replace traditional storytelling. Digital storytelling offers advantages such as providing diverse applications in the classroom environment, personalizing the learning experience, being interesting, helping difficult subjects explained, addressing real-life-related situations, supporting active learning, allowing for the creation of costless learning environments, and improving motivation and achievement. Materializing a course such as mathematics in which abstract concepts are given, helping students use the learned information with stories and associate it with daily life, developing activities to make learning environments enjoyable when learning and applying by taking students away from the traditional understanding of instruction are considered some of the most important duties of teachers in this process. In accordance with the related considerations, this study aims to investigate the effects of mathematics courses instructed by association with digital storytelling on 8th-grade students' academic achievements and the teacher and student opinions on the application process. The study using the quasi-experimental method was conducted with 58 students. The Achievement Test, written opinion forms to receive student opinions and interview form for teacher were prepared by the researchers to this end. At the end of the study, although no statistically significant differences were found between the groups in the posttest and the delayed-posttest in terms of academic achievement score averages of the students in the experimental group were found to be higher than the score averages of the students in the control group. The results achieved in this study show that digital storytelling is a powerful instrument to create more interesting and enjoyable learning environments which facilitate association with daily life, allow for effective learning and participation. It was also stated that the students and the mathematics teacher had positive opinions on use of digital stories in the courses and its contribution to the courses.

Single-case experimental designs (SCEDs) are a useful tool for evaluating the effects of interventions at an individual level and can play an important role in the development and validation of evidence-based practices. Historically, researchers relied on visual analysis of SCED data and eschewed statistical approaches. Although researchers increasingly include quantitative analysis in SCED research, it does not appear as though there is a consensus in the field regarding the role of quantitative analysis of SCED data. Using a survey of researchers with published SCED studies, this study provides preliminary evidence of the range of researchers' opinions about quantitative analysis of SCED data. The results suggest that there is a broad range of opinions regarding the role of quantitative analysis of SCED data among active SCED researchers. Some of the differences may be attributable to field of study and years of experience.

For some time now, chemistry has not had a good reputation in society. The population identifies this discipline with industries and pollution, while its positive contributions are usually ignored. This fear of chemistry may affect the opinion of society toward not only science, but also the scientific work itself. To assess the prevalence of this social phenomenon among them, a group of 351 pre-university students was surveyed and the answers provided were analyzed based on their characteristics (age, sex, and location). The results support the usefulness of the developed questionnaire and show that there already exists a tendency to reject everything "containing chemicals" or that "is not natural" at these ages. An influence of the students' sociocultural environment and years of schooling is noticed concerning the ideas they manifest. In light of this situation, the potential implications for the learning and teaching processes of chemistry are commented on.

As deviations from what is expected, anomalies are typically seen as an obstruction to making good predictions or an impulse to revise the predictive framework. Here, we consider a different possibility--that anomalies, particularly those related to cognitive processing, may be a valuable source of diagnostic information. More specifically, we hypothesize that the extent to which the prechoice information search has been atypical (anomalous) can be used to reverse-infer important latent features of the decision process. For instance, based on atypicalities in how juries examine courtroom evidence, can we infer if they were biased by media reports; or if financial traders browsed public stock market data in a way sufficiently unusual to indicate access to insider information? In our preregistered experiment, participants viewed expert opinions about financial stocks, before deciding whether to invest and get paid according to the subsequent market return, adjusted by an independent random amount. We used eye-tracking and machine-learning dimensionality reduction and anomaly detection techniques to measure the extent to which eye-movements while viewing opinions were idiosyncratic/anomalous. We found that nudging participants by disclosing the return adjustment value beforehand (thus giving them "privileged information") made their patterns of subsequently viewing opinions more idiosyncratic. With those idiosyncrasies as potential markers of top-down attentional control, we demonstrated a reverse-inference of motivation and prior knowledge from attention, predicting if people were nudged in a particular direction based on how idiosyncratically they then searched for information.

This study examined the effect of choice on EFL learners' task engagement. Twenty-four Thai university students completed two opinion-gap tasks. In one, they discussed and agreed on three items among given options (+constraint). In the other, they discussed and agreed on three items among the options they generated (-constraint). Spoken interaction and questionnaires were analyzed for behavioral (time on task, words produced, turns), cognitive (negotiation of meaning and form, self-repairs), social (overlaps and turn completion, backchannels), and emotional engagement (anxiety, enjoyment), based on Philp and Duchesne's multifaceted model. The -constraint task had positive effects on all the cognitive engagement measures, but only one of the behavioral measures (turns) and one of the social measures (overlaps). Learners reported higher anxiety and enjoyment in the -constraint task. The findings highlight the interrelated multidimensional nature of learner task engagement while suggesting pedagogical implications and avenues for future research.

The topic of homework is constantly brought into discussion, not only by researchers or curriculum designers, but also by students, teachers and parents, its importance for learning quality being generally recognised. The present study aims to identify the views of a sample of 30 students from a high school with a vocational profile (economic). Their opinions are related to some aspects referring to the Geography homework: attractiveness, content (the types of tasks), the usefulness of homework in learning Geography, time spent by students in doing their homework, working methods, etc. Data were collected using a 30-item questionnaire. The responses received from the students acknowledge the importance of homework in the process of learning Geography.

Due to the introduction in 2013 into the new Framework Plan for the primary education of the integrated Mathematics and Environmental Exploration (MEE) subject, of new textbooks and auxiliaries, we considered it necessary to find the the teachers' opinions regarding the way in which the curriculum documents facilitate the study of the MEE subject. The present article is based on a research performed using a survey carried out voluntarily and anonymously by 131 teachers for primary education. Through the responses to the questionnaire, we identified several important issues. Regarding teachers' sources of documentation, we found out that they prefered online sources (websites, blogs) and specialized forums, which was surprising because these sources did not have the reliability of correct information. Only on the next places were placed the official documents or those elaborated by specialists. Teachers assigned scores of about four (out of a maximum of five) to the clarity of all components of the school curriculum. In terms of textbooks and auxiliaries, respondents scored better auxiliaries across all the indicators considered. The biggest benefit of introducing the MEE subject identified by respondents was that activities were more attractive or motivating for learning. At the opposite end, the smallest benefits related to ensuring the rigour and learning durability of both Mathematics and Environmental Exploration. Regarding the limitations, disadvantages or problems of studying the MEE subject, the lack of support materials was the first reported by the respondents. On the next places were placed the need for specific lessons with mathematical content or the heavy design of thematic units and lessons.

The purpose of this study was to reveal the objectives of values education in Turkey, values education-related activities performed in schools, and preferred approaches to values education according to the opinions of social studies teachers. This qualitative study used a phenomenological pattern. The participants of the study were selected from social studies teachers working in the province of Istanbul. Because data triangulation was used in the study, separate participants provided qualitative data and quantitative data. The qualitative data were collected using a semi-structured interview form applied to a total of eight participants, 4 female and four male, selected by purposive sampling. Expert opinion was solicited for the development of the semi-structured interview form used in interviews. Quantitative data were collected using a questionnaire, which was found to have a Cronbach's Alpha value of 0.820, applied to a total of 120 social studies teachers selected via clustering. The data collected using these measurement tools were classified and analyzed, and showed that the participants had ideological approaches and taught values that enabled basic humanitarian values and social structures to be maintained. However, values education activities performed in schools were found to be inadequate, and teachers mostly preferred the infusion approach in values education.

The aim of this study is to determine the realization levels of values education implementations in teaching Turkish by taking the opinions of Turkish teachers. The sample of this study conducted in the survey model comprises 108 Turkish teachers employed at different secondary schools in Erzurum, Bayburt, Gümüshane and Trabzon in the Spring semester of 2015/2016 academic year. "Teachers' opinions on the implementation of values education in teaching Turkish scale", which consists of 21 questions in the form of a 5-point Likert-type scale allows responses of "always, often, sometimes, rarely, never," and it was prepared by considering the "Values Education Yearly Plan" published jointly by Erzurum Governorship and Provincial Directorate for National Education in accordance with the aim of this study, and receiving opinions of Turkish educators, Turkish teachers and domain experts. The data were evaluated by performing frequency analysis in the SPSS 18 package program. Validity and reliability of the scale were found to be 0.81 as the Cronbach's Alpha value as a result of analysis, and 0.649 as the test statistic as a result of the KMO (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin) test. This result shows that the scale applied in the study is valid and reliable. As a result of the study, it was found that Turkish teachers implemented the cleaning value always; salutation and smile, tolerance, determination and stability, helpfulness, compassion and grace, friendship values often; love and respect, patience, apologizing and forgiveness, empathy, gift giving, and fidelity values sometimes; saving, responsibility, sacrifice, fairness, generosity, reliability values rarely in values education in teaching Turkish.

Introduction: Opinion mining has been receiving increasing attention from a broad range of scientific communities since early 2000s. The present study aims to systematically investigate the intellectual structure of opinion mining research. Method: Using topic search, citation expansion, and patent search, we collected 5,596 bibliographic records of opinion mining research. Then, intellectual landscapes, emerging trends, and recent developments were identified. We also captured domain-level citation trends, subject category assignment, keyword co-occurrence, document co-citation network, and landmark articles. Analysis: Our study was guided by scientometric approaches implemented in CiteSpace, a visual analytic system based on networks of co-cited documents. We also employed a dual-map overlay technique to investigate epistemological characteristics of the domain. Results: We found that the investigation of algorithmic and linguistic aspects of opinion mining has been of the community's greatest interest to understand, quantify, and apply the sentiment orientation of texts. Recent thematic trends reveal that practical applications of opinion mining such as the prediction of market value and investigation of social aspects of product feedback have received increasing attention from the community. Conclusion: Opinion mining is fast-growing and still developing, exploring the refinements of related techniques and applications in a variety of domains. We plan to apply the proposed analytics to more diverse domains and comprehensive publication materials to gain more generalized understanding of the true structure of a science.