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In this study, it was aimed to determine the opinions of pre-service science teachers about the planned trip to the sugar factory. This study was carried on phenomenology method which is one of the qualitative research methods. The study was carried out with the fourth year students of pre-service science teaching in Erciyes University in 2018-2019 academic year.The data were obtained with semi-structured open-ended questions. The document analysis used in the research was controlled by a science teacher and a science education expert. Codes were generated from the pre-service science teachers' views using content analysis. In the study, it was concluded that out-of-school learning environments have positive effects on science learning and these trips provide permanent and meaningful learning when included in the program. In addition, it was found that out-of-school learning environments concretize knowledge, and discovering new places increases students' desire for science. As students gain experience and make inferences by making observations in out-of-school learning environments, excursions related to courses should be organized. Keywords: Informal learning environments, Kayseri Sugar factory, phenomenology, pre-service science teacher

The study aims to examine the relationship between perceived self-efficacy in science teaching and disposition towards reflective thinking in pre-service science teachers based on different variables. For this purpose, the Perceived Self-efficacy Scale for Science Teaching and Disposition Towards Reflective Thinking Scale were conducted in 619 pre-service science teachers attending four public universities in Turkey. The research results suggest a positive significant relationship between perceived self-efficacy in science teaching and disposition towards reflective thinking at medium-level. While perceived self-efficacy in science teaching did not have any significant difference in respect to gender, grade level, type of education, status of giving private lessons or type of high school, the difference based on the universities and sense of academic success of pre-service science teachers was found to be significant. Disposition towards reflective thinking is not significantly different based on grade, type of education, type of high school or status of giving private lesson, whereas significant differences are observed in respect to gender, universities and sense of academic success. A regression equation was devised for the variables that predict disposition towards reflective thinking. The implications were discussed.

The present study investigated the relationship between pre-service science teachers’ epistemological beliefs andperceptions of a constructivist learning environment. The Turkish version of Constructivist Learning EnvironmentSurvey and Schommer’s Epistemological Belief Questionnaire were administered to 531 pre-service science teachersattending seven public universities in Turkey. For data analysis, the Statistical Package for Social Sciences 20 programwas used and correlation analysis was conducted to investigate the relationship between the participants’epistemological beliefs and perceptions of a constructivist learning environment. Also, descriptive analysis wasconducted to determine their epistemological beliefs and perceptions of a constructivist learning environment. Theresults showed that the more sophisticated epistemological beliefs the participants have, the more constructivistlearning environments they prefer, and positive/negative relationships were found among subscales of the two scales.Moreover, the results revealed that pre-service science teachers have relatively sophisticated epistemological beliefs,and generally prefer more constructivist learning environments. The implications were discussed.

It was aimed to determine science teachers’ views on the design and application of experiments and the learning process. This qualitative study has a phenomenological design. Data were collected from three science teachers in the fall of 2014-2015 academic year. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data. Descriptive analysis was conducted, and codes and themes were generated based on the findings Based on the results, science teachers stated that academic achievement of students increased when experiments were applied in the science lessons. They also said that students were eager to conduct experiments when they had sufficient material and time. Moreover, teachers stated that meaningful learning occurred when experiments were applied in the science classes. Students should be made active in the science lessons using daily materials., Bu araştırmada, öğretmenlerin, fen bilimleri derslerindeki deneyleri tasarlama, uygulama becerileri ve öğrenme sürecine ilişkin görüşlerinin saptanması amaçlanmıştır. Çalışmada nitel araştırma yöntemlerinden olgu-bilim deseni kullanılmıştır. Araştırma verileri 2014-2015 eğitim öğretim yılında fen bilimleri öğretmenliği yapan üç öğretmenden toplanmıştır. Veri toplama aracı olarak yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme formu kullanılmıştır. Veri analizinde ise betimsel analiz kullanılmış ve bulgular doğrultusunda uzman görüşü de alınarak kodlar-temalar oluşturulmuştur. Araştırmanın sonuçları, fen dersinde deneylerin uygulanmasının öğrencilerin akademik başarılarını artırdığı, öğrencilerin uygulama konusunda çok istekli olduğu fakat okullarda malzeme eksikliğinin olması ve uygulamaların çok zaman almasının deneyleri uygulamada ve tasarlamada önemli ölçüde problem oluşturduğu yönündedir. Ayrıca öğrencilerin matematiksel işlem becerilerinin olmadığı durumlarda da konu anlaşılsa bile sonuca doğru ulaşamadıkları için anlamlı öğrenmenin sağlanamaması araştırmanın bulgularındandır. Deneylerle beraber yürütülen fen bilimleri dersi konunun daha iyi anlaşılmasını sağlayacağı için, araç-gereç sıkıntısı olsa bile günlük hayattan kolay ulaşılabilecek malzemelerle derslerde öğrencileri aktif kılacak uygulamalara yer verilmesi önerilmiştir.

World Conference on Educational Sciences -- FEB 04-07, 2009 -- Nicosia, CYPRUS WOS: 000275580400459 Problem solving is a part of thinking. There are several steps of problem solving. The first thing which is necessary for solving personal and organizational problems is the knowledge of problem solving process. Students who have learned problem solving process can be successful in every stage of their lives by using these skills in finding solutions to the encountered difficulties and problems. In this study, the effect of students' problem solving skills on achievement in the chemical reaction rate and the effect of temperature and concentration on the reaction rate subjects is investigated; students are from several different departments. Quasy experimental design was used in this research. SPSS 11, 5 packet program was used to evaluate the data. Independent sample t-test was used to compare the post test scores of groups and it was not found a statistically meaningful difference. One-way ANOVA analysis is used to find out whether there is a difference in results of post-test, aimed to measure students' problem solving skills, with regard to departments where students are studying. According to the result of ANOVA test there was statistically significant difference in control groups' post-test scores considering the departments of students whereas there was not significant difference in the post-test scores of experimental group. Additionally, the effect of problem solving skills on achievements of female and male students was investigated and a situation in favor of females students was observed. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

The science teaching program in Turkey is restated with the effect of constructivist approach and science textbooks are prepared in accordance with this new program. Furthermore, reflective diaries using many techniques have started to be used in the teaching process. Reflective diaries have also started to be used in science education. The basic purpose of this research was to determine whether the use of reflective diaries changes eighth grade secondary school students’ views towards the science course or not. The method used in this study was that of qualitative research. Also, phenomenology was used as the design of the study. Thirty eight students from a secondary school in Kayseri participated in this study. Data were collected by using document analysis and semistructured interviews. Data were analyzed by using content analysis. Codes, themes, and categories were used during data analysis. The results were discussed by means of codes, themes, and categories. According to our findings, reflective diaries have changed participants’ views towards the science course positively. It was observed that all participants achieved meaningful learning on the stages of mitotic division and the importance of this division for organisms. The implications were discussed.

The aim of this study is to examine the change in the cognitive structures of elementary school students in respect to the concept of science through word association test in a constructivist approach based project. The study was conducted with 50 students attending to 6 th and 7 th grades who participated in a project supported by The Scientific and Technologic Research Council of Turkey in 2014-2015 academic year. Students were applied a 90-minute activity in scope of the training on science, scientist and scientific knowledge under the project that lasted for 5 days. A word association test that included the concepts of science, scientific knowledge, scientific method, scientist, research, project, experiment and laboratory was applied at the beginning (pre-test) and at the end (post-test) of the project. While word association test was applied, the students were asked to write down the words which were constructed in their minds by the given concepts. A frequency table which consists of concepts of word association test and response words were prepared in data analysis. According to the obtained frequency table, concept networks that revealed the cognitive structures of students were drawn. Upon reviewing the frequency table of the pre-test and post-test of students, and the concept networks, it was observed that the cognitive structures in the relevant concepts of students changed positively. Accordingly, it was concluded that word association tests prove an effective method for revealing the cognitive structures of students. Study findings were discussed in comparison with the studies in the literature, and recommendations were given.

3rd World Conference on Educational Sciences (WCES) -- FEB 03-07, 2011 -- Bahcesehir Univ, Istanbul, TURKEY, WOS: 000466750602092, The aim of this study is to develop an Astronomy Concept Inventory (ACI) to assess undergraduate students' conceptual understanding of moon phases, moon and earth motion. ACI consists of 25 multiple choice questions with four distracters. The inventory was administered to 262 undergraduate students who took introduction to astronomy course. The data were analyzed by ITEMAN software program. The difficulty indices ranged from .45 to .92, and discrimination indices ranged from .21 to .59. The mean P value as difficulty index was found to be .66 for the test while alpha value for whole test was found as .80. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd., Ankara Univ, Near E Univ

The present study intended to assess students' knowledge on an ecology test which consists of two parts, multiple choice and open ended section. It also aimed to find out the effect of school, gender and grade level on the student performances in the test. This study employed a survey approach. The sample was consisted of 212 seventh and eighth grade students attending four elementary schools in Kirikkale city, Turkey. In this study, a previous data (Oner Arma an, 2006) were re-analysed. The analyses of independent T-test, Mann-Whitney U test, and ANOVA with SPSS revealed that there were some differences between schools and gender groups on the parts of the test. On the other hand no differences were found within grade levels. When the multiple-choice section of the test was considered, the mean scores of the male students were significantly higher than the females; in open-ended section of the test the mean scores of the female students were significantly higher than their counterparts. (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

World Conference on Educational Sciences -- FEB 04-07, 2009 -- Nicosia, CYPRUS WOS: 000275580400102 One of the basic subjects that chemistry students have difficulty is chemical equilibrium. Learning of the particulate nature of matter can increase students' achievement in this subject. In addition to this, students' interest, belief and attitude towards chemistry or the nature of matter are factors effecting achievement. In this study the effects of understanding nature of matter and attitudes on university students' achievement in chemical equilibrium subject were investigated. Moreover the effects of gender and department on students' achievement were also examined. It was found that students' attitudes effected their achievement in chemical equilibrium; on the other hand attitudes affected students' comprehension of nature of matter. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

The aim of this study is to determine the misconceptions with the work sheets which are prepared for “Force and Motion” unit for 8th grade students. 12 worksheets, which were prepared by researchers in line with the learning outcomes of Force and Motion unit and relevant literature, were used in the research. Developed worksheets were delivered to 25 8th grade students for 3 weeks as the specified period in the curriculum. Content analysis method was employed in data analysis so as to determine misconceptions. As a result, the misconceptions of students about the concepts in Force and Motion unit were determined. “The quantity of liquid affects ascending force,” “the ascending force affecting a floating object is greater than that object’s weight” and similar misconceptions could be given as examples to the misconceptions included in the study findings. It is believed that this study will be a useful guide for teachers and researchers who aim for determining the misconceptions in force and motion subjects. ÖzetBu çalışmanın amacı; 8. sınıf öğrencilerinin “Kuvvet ve Hareket” ünitesi için hazırlanan çalışma yaprakları ile kavram yanılgılarını belirlemektir. Araştırmada Kuvvet ve Hareket ünitesinin kazanımları ve ilgili alan yazın doğrultusunda araştırmacılar tarafından hazırlanan 12 adet çalışma yaprağı kullanılmıştır. Geliştirilen çalışma yaprakları 25, 8. sınıf öğrencisine programda belirtilen süresinde 3 hafta boyunca uygulanmıştır. Verilerin analizinde kavram yanılgılarını belirlemek amacıyla içerik analizi tekniği kullanılmıştır. Sonuç olarak Kuvvet ve Hareket ünitesindeki kavramlarla ilgili öğrencilerdeki kavram yanılgıları belirlenmiştir. “Sıvı miktarı kaldırma kuvvetini etkiler.” “Yüzen cisimlere etki eden kaldırma kuvveti, cismin ağırlığından büyüktür.” gibi kavram yanılgıları, çalışma bulguları arasında yer alan yanılgılara örnek olarak gösterilebilir. Bu çalışmanın kuvvet ve hareket konularındaki kavram yanılgılarını belirlemeyi hedefleyen öğretmen ve araştırmacılara yol göstereceği düşünülmektedir.

The purpose of this study was to determine the overall effectiveness of conceptual change texts (CCTs) on academic achievement and to find out if effectiveness was related to some characteristics of the study. It followed up a Meta-analysis research approach. 42 published and unpublished studies, published between 1995 and 2010, and 42 experiment groups’ effect sizes were tested in this study. The overall effect size for CCTs was calculated as 1.18. This is a large effect size according to Cohen’s criteria. It was found that CCTs have been quite successful in promoting the students’ academic success. However results showed that there was no publication bias in respect to publication status. Moreover, no statistically significant difference was found on the nature of assessment instrument, study origin, subject matter, type of instruction, school level, sample size, type of instrument, publication date and duration of treatment. Moreover statistically significant difference was found for instruction effect. The effects of the research results are discussed.