Globalization and transformations in nation-state structures require developing a new social-political language that would allow a peaceful coexistence for various identities and interests. This entails revising the link between local histories and the "universal." Education can play a crucial role for developing this language. This paper examines the new curriculum and textbooks in Turkey on the basis of this problematic. The Ministry of National Education states that the new curriculum aims at preparing Turkey to the information age and the European Union. However, new textbooks still take an apologetic, essentialist, and nationalist stance toward Europe due to the historical-psychological background of Turkish modernity. Textbook authors reconstruct local history in the mirror of the West and imagine a homogenous 'Us' which is presented as the source of modern universal values. This stance is a manifestation of historical desire to break down the perceived hierarchy between Turkey and the West. It, however, reproduces such a hierarchy by placing the West ahead of Turkey along with a linear conception of history. The paper suggests a new frame for curriculum developers and textbook authors to recontextualize the link between Turkey, the West and modernity. This frame needs to be developed by taking a distance from both local experience and the West.

The purpose of this study is to compare the mathematical skills of first grade elementary students who had or had not taken preschool education. The sample of the study consists of 150 elementary students, those with and without preschool education, who were enrolled in seven randomly chosen elementary schools located in Sivas (downtown). A questionnaire was used for data collection. The results of the study show that students with preschool education have higher mathematical skills compared to those with no preschool education.

Although there are many empirical studies on the functions of school uniform, studies which focus on the origins of school uniform are neglected. Purpose of this study is to reveal historical origins of black smock and white collar. To achieve this purpose, a qualitative research method was adopted. As a result of the research, it was determined that the origins of black smock and white collar lie in the university and charity school uniforms in England. In France and England, school uniforms have mostly been aff ected by the religious tradition. Western educational system was a model for Turkey. Notre Dame de Sion and Saint Joseph which were founded in the middle of the nineteenth century in Istanbul were probably the first models of black smock and white collar in Turkey.

The outcomes which cannot be generalized are specific for a sample but are unable to be refl ected to the rest of the population. The parameters that are reached at the end of the statistics that are scarce in sample arise doubts in the aspect of generalization. In these cases, parameter estimation may not be very stable and outlier values can produce false outcomes in the model. The situation that there is sample size is not adequate enough in numbers, reliability and generalizations that are reached at the end of restricted sets of data necessitate questioning with a dubious approach. Some statistical methods test the confidence intervals of the parameter values of the samples and the generalization of the parameter estimation values of the samples. Th ese methods are known as "resampling" or "domestic-self copying." Jackknife is one of these methods. The sample in this study is composed of 18 students. The status of the "self-respect" of individuals in making decisions has been tried to be determined for the sample by the application of the Melbourne Decision-making Scale I. In this research, the dependent variable was determined to be the total item score related to the self-respect manners of individuals whereas independent variables were determined to be the academic success averages of the students (acdave), the financial income of their families (economy) and the number of siblings (sibling) they have. It has been seen that the academic success independent variable has a considerable eff ect at a significance level of .05 on the dependent variable of self-respect dependence of decision making (p < .05) and Jackknife has confirmed this generalization.

The purpose of this study is to determine the degree of instructor' assessment practices in the realization of the learning-teaching process in its various stages, in the identification of expected outcomes and various other practices in the same context by taking student views into account. The study was undertaken with 243 students attending Abant İzzet Baysal University Department of Education in the 2008-2009 academic year. The questionnaire used as data collection tool in the study was developed by the researcher. The results collected by means of student views showed that the majority of the instructors did not completely accomplish the tasks that they were supposed to do at the beginning of or during the teaching process in the framework of assessment. Also, in a similar manner, it was determined that the tasks that were expected from the instructors in the framework of performance-based assessment were not fulfilled by the majority of the instructors. The study presents important information to decision makers who create policies related to assessment in educational institutions.

The general purpose of the present study was to determine the preparatory skills of children with developmental disabilities based on the opinions of teachers and the literature. It was aimed to determine the highest priority and secondary level priority preparatory skills based on the opinions of the pre-school teachers. In order to reach this purpose, a survey was developed and administered to the preschool teachers working in schools. After completing the surveys, a literature review was conducted and the preparatory skills in the literature were determined. The similar skills mentioned by the teachers and found in the literature were grouped. The preparatory skills found in this study were similar to those found in the literature.

A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a high performance computer-aided chain of software which enables us to understand, interpret, capture, update, map, and display natural and human-originated events on Earth and allows us to bring out such phenomena in a form of synthesis. Therefore, a GIS is an important information system in which graphical and non-graphical information, which are based upon spatial observations, are accumulated, saved, processed, and presented to the users in unity. A GIS is known to be one of the devices employed in the application of spatial analysis of geography, a scientific field that makes an analysis of the reciprocal interaction between human and the natural environment in a sustainable framework. It does not seem to be very easy to draw as much benefit as would be expected from a geography lesson in which no atmosphere of sharing and discussing is available for students, memorization is given a good deal of emphasis and only the descriptive aspect of geography is laid emphasis upon. However, a geography lesson supplied with a GIS appears to make it possible for students to access whatever information is being sought at the desired level. It also off ers some very good advantages to not only students but also to teachers who may still be teaching geography in the conventional way. It is also possible to feed into a GIS every single device, numerical data, technical knowledge, and equipment used in geography teaching, as well as analysis or application of all this stuff . Therefore, if functionality of a GIS can be increased through the incorporation of various programs into it, the teaching of geography may well be easier and more productive. Besides, the enthusiasm of students for learning geography could be furthered even more, thus maximizing the level of the benefit to be drawn from teaching geography. The present study aims to encourage teaching geography with the help of a GIS in not only secondary and high schools but also in universities. With this in mind, a sample lesson on "Internal Migration" was presented. The method used in this lesson was based upon the contributions that a GIS could make to the teaching of this geography lesson so that the eff iciency of a GIS in learning geography could be appreciated.

Dewey is an important representative of the libertarian education movement, which has its roots based on the values of the enlightenment. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between "Turkish modernization" and education from Dewey's perspective. In the paper, the place and effect of Dewey in the Turkish pedagogical vision was analyzed within a wider historical context such as the "modernization problematic." The characteristic of the "Turkish modernization," which, at the same time, comes out as a tendency to become an education project, constituted the reason for this approach to the issue. This analysis relating to the "Turkish modernization" from the perspective of Dewey, who is a democracy philosopher, was inevitably regarding how much room this project gives to libertarian and democratic values in education. In the study, it was concluded that there was an irreconcilable conflict between the values that "Turkish modernization" is based on which also constitutes the reference framework of the education system and the libertarian and democratic values Dewey advocates.

This study aims to analyze the attitudes of elementary school teachers, school psychologists and guidance research center personnel regarding developing an individualized educational program (IEP) process as well as challenges faced during the related process, according to several variables. The study included 201 participants who were working in several districts of Ankara province. The Attitudes towards IEP Development Process Scale and the Challenges during the IEP Development Process Scale were used in this study. The scales were developed and the validity and reliability of them have been investigated by the researchers. Results have shown that, with the exception of age variable, attitudes with respect to the IEP development process and challenges faced varied according to the post as an elementary school teacher, school psychologist or guidance research center personnel as well as to variables such as the institution the participants worked in, previous involvement in in-service training and previous participation in IEP development. While terms of in-service training sessions did not lead to a significant difference in attitudes, it proved to be a variable causing significant differences in terms of the challenges faced. Findings regarding attitude differences across the variables revealed that gender [t(201) = .29; p < .07] and participation in in-service training programs [t(78) = 1.83; p < .07] did not lead to a significant difference on attitudes whereas age [F(2-198) =7.67; p < .01], occupational status [F(2-198) = 8.72, ; p < .01], type of institution [t(199) = 3.43; p < .01], participation in in-service training on IEP development [t(199) = 4.05; p < .00] and involvement in the IEP development process [t(197) = 2.93; p < .01] led to significant differences. Findings regarding challenges faced across the variables revealed that gender did not lead to a signifi cant difference on attitudes [t(201) = .07; p > .09], whereas age [F(2-198) =3.78; p < .05], occupational status [F(2-198) = 19.78; p < .05], type of institution [t(199) = 4.98; p < .01], participation in in-service training on IEP development [t(199) = 6.32; p < .001], term of in-service training programs [t(78) = 2.26; p < .05] and involvement in the IEP development process [t(199) = 4.46; p < .01] led to significant differences.

The aim of this study is to reveal the perceptions of primary school teachers on the concept of inspection with the help of metaphors. The data were obtained from randomly selected students of 20 primary schools in the center of Gaziantep. 418 questionnaires were evaluated. The measurement instrument consisted of 31 metaphors and one open-ended question, which reads like "the inspector is like... because..." Statistical mean and dispersion, percentage, and frequency were studied. As a result of the study, the metaphors related to how inspectors were perceived and the answers to the items of the questionnaire were commented. 123 metaphors were developed. The developed metaphors mainly consist of negative metaphors. In the study, 76 negative, 20 both positive and negative, and 8 metaphors indicating that there is no need for the inspectors were determined. Only 12 metaphors that had positive meanings were found. Anything was stated for seven metaphors or they were used with similar meanings.

The purpose of this study is to explain prospective science and technology teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) about the cell. Lesson preparation, laboratory plan, interview with teacher candidates, and concept mapping were used to collect the data for prospective teacher's PCK. The study was conducted with six prospective science and technology teachers in the spring of 2006-2007 in Pamukkale University-Turkey. We aimed to identify the content and structure of the PCK for a topic on cell, describing the PCK in terms of relations between four diff erent aspects: Knowledge about science and technology curriculum, belief about subject matter knowledge, knowledge about students' understanding; knowledge about assessment of students. According to the result of the study, pre-service teacher's knowledge inaccurate special teaching methods, they used a teacher-centered approach, and also they have a high belief of subject matter knowledge. Based on the result of this study, which were discussed in the light of national and international literature, we have suggestions for further researchers, curriculum developers, and science and technological teacher educators.

The purpose of this study is to establish a vision to improve teacher education standards by way of examining the views of prospective teachers from Turkey, Germany, and Denmark. The study was carried out in three countries during the 2007-2008 academic year. The qualitative results of the research were obtained through studying the wievs of 150 prospective teachers and carrying out interviews with 16 students. The result of the research showed that all three countries had an applicable development program. On a more negative note, "complicated theory" was found to be emphasized. The need for more practice was strongly stated as being essential for a good teacher training program. The completion of the research took place through the discussion of quality standards in teacher education.