The main purpose of this research is to evaluate the effects of a constructivist instructional design on a group of students and their teacher. The sample consisted of 26 students and one teacher. The research was conducted at Istanbul Technical University, School of Foreign Languages, English Preparatory Program. The instructional design based on the constructivist learning principles that is developed by the teachers together with the class teacher was applied to the sample group. The data were gathered using quantitative data collection techniques, analyzed and interpreted. The findings emphasize that, in general, constructivist instructional design has a positive effect both on the students and the teacher. On the other hand, because most schools in Turkey have an exam-oriented system, constructivist ins tructional design does not appeal to some students.

The aim of this study is to determine and compare the views of primary school teachers on the implementation and effectiveness of the new primary school mathematics curriculum. For that aim, a 32-item Likert-type Mathematics Curriculum Scale was developed. The reliability of the scale was tested through Cronbach Alpha (.98), Spearman-Brown (.93) and Guttman split half (.93) and the scale was found to be reliable. The scale includes four sub-scales. The population includes 792 classroom teachers working in 64 pilot schools where the new primary school mathematics curriculum was in trail in İstanbul, Ankara, İzmir, Kocaeli, Van, Hatay, Samsun, and Bolu. The data were analyzed in terms of city, classroom, gender, teaching experience, education level, and student number variables. Independent samples t- test, Kruskal Wallis H test, variance analysis, Mann Whitney U, Scheffe, and LSD tests were used to analyze the data. Statistically significant differences were found between the views of the teachers in terms of city, classroom, gender and student number variables. It was determined that the learning attainments, content and teaching-learning activities in the new mathematics curriculum were found to be effective by the teachers. But the evaluation part of the new curriculum was not found to be effective in practice. Teachers are advised to have systematic and effective inservice seminars to learn and use the evaluation techniques aimed at the new primary school mathematics curriculum.

The purpose of this research is to study the effects of cooperative, individual concept mapping, and traditional teaching methods on learning strategy use. One of the experimental groups was taught by cooperative concept mapping, and the other by individual concept mapping. Traditional method was implemented in the control group. Fifth graders (52 females, 70 males) enrolled in an elementary school in Aegean district, Turkey participated, in this research. “Sound and Light” unit was covered during a 35-hour treatment. Experimental groups were provided with training about concept mapping strategy and cooperation skills. Data were collected by the Learning Strategy Inventory and in-depth interview protocols with the participants. The findings showed that cooperative and individual concept mapping conditions

Scoring rubrics are useful to serve performance assessment for learning and assessment because they can be created for a variety of subjects and situations. Rubrics look like more suitable and effective tools for summative and formative evaluation because they include qualitative description of the performance criteria. In recent years, rubrics have been accepted as most popular performance-based assessment tools. It has been recomended that rubrics can be used in the new educational program in Turkey which was revised and re-organized in the scoop of constructualism. It has also been stated at annual meeting of Ministry of Education that rubrics should be preferred for all lectures when implementing an effective performance-based assessment. But it is not an easy procedure to develop an effective rubric. Many of educational scientists have studied rubrics and thier properties. This article examines the guidlines and principles from the educational literature that are related to scoring rubrics. The purpose of this article can be summarized as follows: (1) Describe what is a scoring rubric and the different types of scoring rubrics. (2) To put forward the principles of consistent and successful scoring rubrics. (3) To discuss it's instructional design from the point of view of educational literature. (4) To contribute to rubric developers and educational literature aimed at improving the design of classroom assessment rubrics. At the same time, applications, considerations, and suggestion are given with clear examples and templates.

The Turkish education program amendment for the first five grades of primary education initiated in the 2005-2006 academic year is much more than an ordinary program amendment: it promises a truly holistic transformation that would radically change education applications. The amendment proposes giving up the traditional education system in favor of a constructivist education system. With constructivist learning, the emphasis shifts to learning through construction of one's own knowledge base instead of a passive transfer of existing information. Thus the base of constructivist learning is formed by the student, making the role of teacher crucial as a guide and leader. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the importance of teachers' roles in a constructivist learning approach as well as the sufficiency of current teachers to comply with the constructivism-based education system implemented in the 2005-2006 academic years. 712 students from elementary school teacher education programs at a Turkish university were selected as a sampling group. The scale for measurement included 149 articles, written in Likert. This scale was tested on the sample group using 3 different methods: (i) factor analysis, (ii) total matter correlation and (iii) matter distinctive. The sufficiency criteria for teachers was formed by (i) Aspects related with the students, (ii) Aspects related with curriculum planning, (iii) Aspects related with the education process and (iv) Aspects related with measurement and evaluation. The structure validity of the scale is between 0.37 and 0.73 and the total article correlations are between 0.24 and 0.68. Article distinguishing specification is found as the µ=0.05 level. Internal consistency level of the scale is Cronbach Alpha 0.79, and the invariability level according to the time is 0.81.

It is argued that a traditional approach to religious education is not sufficient to meet the necessities of contemporary world. For this reason, pluralistic approaches to religious education receive a particular attention in the recent years. In line with the other school subjects, the curriculum of secondary religious education was changed in Turkey. It is stated that the new curriculum was prepared taking the constructivist learning theory into consideration. The new curriculum may be accepted as a response to the demand for change in religious education. In this article, the following three issues related to pluralism are examined in terms of the new religious education curriculum: (i) Religious education and constructivist approach, (ii) the teaching of Alawism and (iii) the teaching of non-Islamic religions. An analysis of the curriculum indicates that some improvements have been made in line with pluralism.

Studies on the effective teaching of biology have been continuously increasing since the 1800s. New teaching approaches have been purposed and tried out along the way. The multiple intelligences theory (MIT)-based approaches which give more importance to individual in educational settings can provide alternatives for meeting this requirement. An experimental desing was used for the study. The study was conducted with 10th grade high school students (Experimental N = 25 anf Control N = 25) who were enrolled in classes in Ankara Anatolian High School during the 2004-2005 spring semester. In conclusion, the MIT- based instruction had a statistically significant effect upon the academic success of students and the permanence of teaching process wheras there was no significant effect of the MIT-based instruction on the attitudes of students towards the course.

This study investigated the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS). The sample of the study consisted of 590 university students, 121 English teachers and 136 emotionally disturbed individuals who sought treatment in various clinics and counseling centers. Factor loadings of the scale ranged from .39 to .88. Findings from discriminant validity showed that the DASS discriminates the normal and clinical population. Concurrent validity coefficients were found to be high (.87 and .84, respectively) . Cronbach internal consistency of the entire scale was .89. Item-total correlations ranged from .51 to .75. Test- retest and split-half reliability coefficient scores were .99 and .96 respectively. These results demonstrate that the DASS is a valid and reliable instrument.

The present study examined what teaching strategies are used by junior high school students and the ways students make history classes meaningful. The sample of the study was randomly chosen 346 students from three secondary public schools affiliated with the Ministry of National Education and located in the district of Uskudar, Istanbul. The study used both quantitative and qualitative research methods. In quantitative part, a pilot study was conducted and a questionnaire was prepared with the help of an expert group. In qualitative part, students' learning strategies were determined through personal interviews (n = 13). According to the findings, nearly half of the students stated that they liked history courses in every condition but they did not know how to study for this class. It was found that 19.7 % of the students got bored with the course because they did not know how to study for it and 73.13% of the students were trying to learn this class by themselves. When studying history courses, the most used learning strategy is repetition and the least used strategy is giving meaning.

The aim of this study is to determine whether a social skill instruction program, prepared according to the cooperative learning method, is effective for children with hearing disability in learning the basic social skills, starting and continuing a relationship, conducting a work with a group, and the generalization of these skills. Nine learning groups, that is, three groups for each three different skills, are formed because the three target social skills should be applied on different students. To determine the teaching efficiency, multiple probe model with probe conditions across subject is used. Result showed that this program is affective for hearing impaired students who can learn some social skills.

It is important to understand causes and consequences of procrastination that is appeared common among general and academic population. Procrastination affects people in various domains of life such as academic, professional, social relationships, and finance management. A person with high procrastination may lose his/her work, drop out from school, or may endanger his/her marital life. Similarly, High procrastinators might increasingly experience psychological distress related to lack of sense of personal control, self- worth and lack of sense of self-perceived personal ability as deadlines approach. The purpose of this study presents theoretical and conceptual frames of procrastination that is an important variable of individual difference and common in general and academic population.

In this research, it was aimed to develop an instrument for determining problematic internet usage of university students. Factorial structure of the data collected from 1658 university students revealed three factors. Of these, the first factor is called negative consequences of the internet and accounted for 25.36% of the variance, the second factor is called social benefit / social comfort and accounted for 14.62% of the variance, and the third factor is called excessive usage and explained 8.98 % of the variance. All three factors consisting of 33 items accounted for the 48.96% of the total variance. It was found that the scale was able to discriminate problematic internet use with respect to the time spent on the internet and individuals' perception of themselves as the internet addicts. The correlation between the scale and the Davis's Online Cognitive Scale-Turkish adaptation (Keser Özcan ve Buzlu, 2005) was found as 0.61. Internal consistency coefficient of the scale (.) was found to be 0.94. Item total correlations ranged between 0.31 and 0.70 (p<.001). Test-re-test reliability coefficient was found to be 0.81 and split half reliability coefficient was found to be 0.83. Thus, the scale called as “the Problematic Internet Usage Scale” was developed.

In order to achieve its goals, the Social Studies course should convey social events, which took place within or out of the school context, into the classroom environment. Current events can be very beneficial so as to transfer the social events into classroom environment in the Social Studies courses. In this study, semi structured interview method was employed in order to figure out the circumstances of current events in the classroom by Social Studies teachers. The researcher interviewed 20 social studies teachers from low, mid and high socio-economic level schools. The data obtained from these interviews were analyzed using descriptive analysis and presented. Findings of this study showed that social studies teachers believe the importance of using current events in the classroom environment. Results also showed that teachers use current events in their classrooms in various times through different sources like newspapers and television. Additionally, results indicated that teacher use different methods and techniques during teaching current events such as question-answer, investigation tasks, discussion, and role playing. According to the findings, teachers face problems in teaching current events.

The derivative is not only an important subject for mathematics but also is an important subject for engineering, physics, economy, chemistry, and statistics. Especially, mathematics depends on strongly preceding learning and the subject of derivative will be used in university education by all students. Therefore, it is one of the most important subjects. This study's purpose is to explore student mistakes and errors in derivative and determine the areas in which students have probable misconceptions. For this purpose, 7 questions were chosen from “the Student Placement Test” (OSS). These questions were transferred into open-ended questions. The results of the study took place at sixth form college are described and discussed. The test administered to 53 students from Balikesir Fatma Emin Kutvar Anatolian High School in the fall-term of 2005-2006. Determining the possible misconceptions should help teachers when they teach this subject. The study findings showed that students could not understand derivative definition that depends on limit, make mistakes in composite functions and trigonometric functions, and establish wrong relations between tangent's slope, and normal's slope. Teachers need to be able to find errors and misconceptions in students' solutions. Teachers also need to be applying meaningful learning strategies such as concept maps, worksheets about derivative (e.g. Appendix B, Appendix C).

The aim of this study is to introduce a goal programming based on a holistic approach for the evaluation of 'early childhood development support project', which was applied in some cities in Turkey. Like in many other areas, statistical methods are widely used in research on pre-school education. According to the literature, very few studies were found concerning the multi-objective methods and no other study was found using goal programming method as a multi-objective method on pre-school education. In this study, the data were used to construct a goal programming model as a part of the scope of Early Childhood Development Support Project which was applied to low socioeconomic level children living in shanty houses and have rural origin. Results of the model indicate that the group of children who lives in shanty houses in satisfactory conditions with 4-6 people is the most successful group. Moreover,results demonstrate that the goal programming method can be used as a complementary tool to statistical methods for the evaluation of preschool educational programs.

Investments relevant to the first years of life are directly connected to the future of societies. It can be argued that investments for early childhood development and education are one of the best ways of decreasing social inequality caused by adverse environments which hinder development in early ages and tackling poverty by reducing the rate of infant and child deaths, increasing the attendance rate to school, decreasing the rate of failure and drop-out rates in schools and the percentage of crime rates. In this article, the effects of alternative early childhood education programs on children and their parents were investigated. These programs were developed as an alternative to institutional programs, had lesser costs, intended to support children who carried developmental risks by providing them with education, health, and nutrition/nourishment. These programs were supported by the World Bank in developing countries.

This article covers the characteristics that are supposed to be present in the practicum of school-based counseling in Turkey. In the light of the related literature, 11 characteristics are determined. These are the place of practicum, the importance of official permission for the school, the characteristics of practicum schools and its school counselors, supervisory meetings and supervisors, the time of the applications and the institutions that the practicum will take place, developing a counseling program, the administration of self-report techniques, group and classroom guidance activities, career guidance, consultation and assessing the counseling program. The last section includes the results and the suggestions for further research.

This study is an action research based both on quantitative and qualitative research techniques carried out with a group of fifth grade students in K¨r¸ehir during the 2003-2004 education year. In the study, the main purpose was to improve historical time concept and chronology perceptions among fifth grade students. Students' interests, reactions to educational methods and materials (e.g., time tables, photographs, old household tools, collections, and so on) were used. In addition, the contributions of educational methods and materials on children's academic achievement levels related to the subject were studied. A success test were used in a pre-and-post-test design. The class times were recorded by a tape recorder and the learning products gained during the class were collected. Data evaluation included statistical analyses such as charting the pre-test and post-test scores on the attitude and achievement scales and the analyses of class process from voicerecorded data. In addition, student evaluation forms related to lectures and learning products and lesson evaluation compositions were analyzed. In interpreting the quantitative data, t-tests, ANOVA, percentage distributions and correlations were computed by SPSS. On the other hand, qualitative data were analyzed separately by evaluating voice record analysis and content analysis. According to the findings,preparing historical timelines by the help of individual timelines, old photographs, and examining old household tools not only attracted the interest of children towards history but also provided positive contribution in academic aspect on their historical time and chronology perceptions. At the end of this research, it is observed that historical time concept can be taught to children from the very early ages with suitable methods and approaches by using historical time tools.

The present study aimed to determine the obstacles in creating effective teamwork and generate suggestions for overcoming these obstacles. The study was designed on the basis of qualitative research approaches and used purposive sampling. Data were collected by semi-structured interviews from 52 teachers who were working at a primary school in downtown Şırnak during the autumn semester in the 2005-2006 academic year. Results showed that there were serious problems at every dimension examined except for the dimensions of different personal characteristics and applications. The following matters are counted for causing the problems: Inefficiencies in the educational system, ineffective operations of the administrators, communication and orientation problems among teachers, low levels of job satisfaction, and prejudicial attitudes. In order to resolve these problems, teachers suggested to create a team spirit, make the group more cohesive, arrange more social and cultural activities, resolve status conflicts among teachers, provide teachers with necessary resources, increase teacher motivation, accommodate norms in the school culture, and stabilize school structure.