Innovation and Education

We are living in a world that is changing rapidly and becoming more globalized. Especially the changes in the areas of science, technology and economy are becoming effective in the areas like education and health that are closely related to human life. We are experiencing a quick process named "globalization" that changes economic, social and political structures of the world and that no one can predict the outcome. These changes create new opportunities while opening new challenging areas. In order for countries to compete with each other, they need to be creative in all areas and they also need to be reformist to cope with domestic, national and global problems. In this study, the innovations in the area of education throughout the world will be examined and the place of Turkey compared to other countries in educational innovations will be analyzed. Also the concept of "˜Charter Schools" as acceleration in educational innovation in the United State of America, who is the leader in terms of innovation in the World, will be analyzed. This study will also analyze the Charter Schools in the USA and discuss whether the concept can be implemented in Turkey and bring dynamism to education or increase the quality of education. While looking for the answers of these questions, the researcher conducted a literature review and also used the data he gathered while staying in the USA for nine years for pursuing his MA and PhD degrees

Teachers' Attitudes Toward the Use of Technology in Social Studies Teaching

Technology integration in education is one of the most popular topics in the last decades. Many countries have invested millions of dollars to equip classrooms with technological devices. As well as developed countries, Turkey has conducted several projects to provide technological devices and educational materials to classrooms. Technology has the potential to increase the quality of learning and teaching process. However, having technological devices in classroom alone will not cause the increase of the quality of education. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine teachers' attitudes toward the use of technology in social studies teaching. Understanding social studies teachers' attitudes is essential because it is a way to figure out how they integrate technology and define barriers. The authors applied quantitative survey method and used cluster sampling to choose participants. The sample of the study consisted of 155 social studies teachers who are currently teaching at middle schools. The use of technology in social studies teaching attitude scale was used to collect data. The findings revealed that teachers have positive beliefs and attitudes toward the use of technology. Also, the findings showed that teachers who are working at private schools have significantly high attitudes than others who are teaching at public schools. Moreover, teachers who took educational technology and teaching material course and attended in-service training have more positive attitudes than others

A Prediction for Teacher Commitment; Effects of Managerial Style, Burnout and Demographics

The Purpose of this study is to determine the effects of managerial style, teacher burnout and demographics on teacher commitment. In accordance with this aim, a quantitative casual research design was implemented. Data of the research were gathered from 280 primary school teacher, by a questionnaire including managerial style, teacher burnout, teacher commitment and teacher demographics forms. For each research questions, Hierarchical Linear Regression analysis was carried out. According to the findings, task oriented behaviors of principal, emotional exhaustion level of the teacher, self-inadequacy feelings of teacher, marital status and work time spending at the same school predicts teacher commitment significantly. On the other hand, human orientation, isolation level from work environment, physical burnout level, vocational burnout level, gender, professional experience, educational level and working status variables does not predicts teacher commitment

Civic Education in United States: A Multiple Regression of Civic Education Scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress

Social studies teachers instruct their students through a variety of instructional pedagogies. Social science education researchers have called for K-12 teachers to transition away from a traditional lecture format and move towards a format that encourages critical thinking. Classroom debates of controversial issues are a common method by which teachers engage students in higher-order thinking. This research study utilizes the 2010 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 12th grade civics assessment (n = 9,800) to identify instructional techniques that improve student’s score. Utilizing the NAEP Data Explorer online statistical analysis tool, a linear regression was conducted examining the effects of race, socio-economic status, instructional pedagogies, and access to newspapers and computers on student performance. Results show that discussing current events, at any frequency, increases student performance. Students who participated in classroom debates once or twice a month or less also improved. African-American and Hispanic students scored lower, as did students who qualified for free and reduced lunches. This study suggests that the inclusion of current events should be encouraged civics classes