The risk factors caused by exams used for student selection and placement into higher education on the academic performance

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between the risk factors caused by exams used for student selection and placement into higher education (the YGS, the Transition to Higher Education Exam; and the LYS, the Undergraduate Placement Exam) and the academic performance of students continuing their education in 10(th), 11(th) and 12(th) grades of secondary education, and also to investigate the causes behind this relationship. Evaluation of data obtained from the quantitative aspect of the study demonstrated that the theoretical model developed by the researcher could be verified and confirmed with the data obtained from 10th, 11(th) and 12(th) grades students; however, this evaluation also revealed that good consistency values could not be obtained for 10(th) grade students. When data obtained from the qualitative aspect of the study were evaluated, it was observed that students' interest in school classes as well as the time they spent on social activities decreased as their grade increased. in addition to this, it was determined that the students' communication with their family and friends with regards to the discussions they had on exam preparations did not change according to the students' grade; however, it was observed that students with high academic performance communicated less with their family and friends and spent more of their time studying and solving tests as their grade level increased. Furthermore, it was observed that as the students' grade increased, they placed more pressure on themselves and felt greater responsibility towards their families due to the expenses made for the exam preparations. Most students described that classes such as physical education, music and drawing were not sufficiently covered in school, and that, as result, these classes did not assist them in discovering their own skills

Factors affecting the listening skill

AbstractListening skill constitutes the basic structure for all the courses in primary education. So in people's lives, it is indispensable for them to be able to understand what they listen effectively. Improving students’ listening skills effectively is strongly related to being aware of the factors which have an effect on their listening performance. The purpose of this study is to define the factors that affect fifth grade students’ listening skills. In this study in order to collect data, Listening Comprehension Test, Students Characteristics Questionnaire, In-class Listening Tasks Scale, Out-of-class Listening Tasks Scale, and Students’ Views on Listening Skill Scale were used. At the end of the study it was found out that “number of juvenile books at home”, “number of books at home”, “time spent reading books”, “time spent reading newspaper” and “time spent listening to radio” have significant effects on fifth grade students’ success in their listening performance

Elektronik Portfolyo Uygulamalarının Ortaokul 6. Sınıf Öğrencilerinin Araştırma Becerilerine Etkisi

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of electronic portfolio applications on 6th graders’ research skills. Exploratory design, one of the mixed methods in which qualitative and quantitative techniques are both used, was employed in the study. Whilepretest-posttest paired control group design, one of the the quasi-experimental designs, was used for the study’s quantitative dimension; case study, one of the qualitative research designs, were used for the study’s qualitative dimension. The study group was made up of 64 6th graders attending two different public middle schools during the second semester of 2014-1015 academic year. Participants numbered 34 in the experimental group and 30 in the control group. During the process, Research Skills Teaching Program (RSTP), developed by the researcher, was administered to experimental and control groups to develop research skills. While electronic portfolio applications were carried out with the students in the experimental group, no other application was carried out with the students in the control group. The application was carried out for 10 weeks and a total of 21 periods for both of the groups. Used for the research, the electronic portfolio portal was developed by web design specialists after the researcher defined the process. While the study’s quantitative data were collected by Research Skills Test qualitative data were collected by Semi-Structured Interview Form. The data obtained from the study’s quantitative dimension were analyzed with Independent Samples T-Test and Paired Samples T-Test. For the qualitative dimension of the study, the data obtained through interviews were analyzed using content analysis method. The quantitative findings obtained at the end of the study reveal that RSTP increased the research skills of students in the control group. In addition, research findings reveal that research skills education based on electronic portfolio applications increased the experimental group students’ level of using research skills significantly compared to control group students. Qualitative findings obtained at the end of the study support the quantitative findings. Qualitative findings showed that electronic portfolio applications were effective on development of students’ research skills and students’ attitudes and interests towards research.Bu araştırmanın amacı, elektronik portfolyo uygulamalarının ortaokul 6. sınıf öğrencilerinin araştırma becerileri üzerindeki etkisini incelemektir. Araştırmada, nitel ve nicel tekniklerin kullanıldığı karma yöntemlerden “Açıklayıcı Desen” kullanılmıştır. Araştırmanın nicel boyutunda yarı-deneysel modellerden ön test - son test eşleştirilmiş kontrol gruplu modelden, nitel boyutunda ise nitel araştırma modellerinden biri olan durum çalışmasından yararlanılmıştır. Araştırmanın çalışma grubunu, 2014-2015 eğitim-öğretim yılının ikinci yarıyılında, iki ayrı devlet ortaokulunun 6. sınıfına devam eden öğrenciler oluşturmuştur. Araştırma deney grubunda 34, kontrol grubunda ise 30 öğrenci olmak üzere toplam 64 öğrenciyle yürütülmüştür. Deney ve kontrol grubuna süreç boyunca araştırma yapma becerilerini geliştirmek için araştırmacı tarafından hazırlanan Araştırma Becerileri Öğretim Programı (ABÖP) uygulanmıştır. Eğitim süreci boyunca deney grubunda yer alan öğrencilerle elektronik portfolyo uygulamaları yürütülürken, kontrol grubundaki öğrencilerle başka bir uygulama yapılmamıştır. Uygulama her iki grupta da 10 hafta ve toplam 21 ders saati olarak yürütülmüştür. Araştırma kapsamında kullanılan elektronik portfolyo portalı, araştırmacının süreci tanımlamasından sonra web tasarımı uzmanları tarafından geliştirilmiştir. Araştırmanın nicel verileri Araştırma Becerileri Testi ile nitel veriler ise Yarı Yapılandırılmış Görüşme Formu ile toplanmıştır. Araştırmanın nicel boyutunda elde edilen veriler Bağımsız Örneklemler t-testi ve İlişkili Ölçümler t-testi, nitel boyutu için yapılan görüşmeler sonucunda toplanan veriler ise içerik analizi yöntemiyle çözümlenmiştir. Araştırma sonunda elde edilen nicel bulgular, ABÖP’nın kontrol grubundaki öğrencilerin araştırma becerilerini kullanma düzeylerini arttırdığını ortaya koymaktadır. Ayrıca araştırma bulguları elektronik portfolyo uygulamalarına dayalı araştırma becerileri eğitiminin deney grubundaki öğrencilerin bu becerileri kullanma düzeylerini kontrol grubunda bulunan öğrencilere göre manidar düzeyde arttırdığını ortaya koymaktadır. Araştırma sonucunda elde edilen nitel bulgular da nicel bulguları destekler niteliktedir. Nitel bulgular da elektronik portfolyo uygulamalarının öğrencilerin hem araştırma yapma becerilerinin gelişimi üzerinde hem de araştırma yapmaya yönelik tutum ve ilgileri üzerinde etkili olduğu sonucuna ulaşılmıştır

Ekonomik Bakımdan Dezavantajlı Öğrencilerin Akademik Yılmazlık Düzeylerinin Bazı Koruyucu Faktörler Açısından İncelenmesi

The main aim of this study was to investigate whether certain variables namely school attachment, perceived social support, cognitive flexibility and gender can predict the resilience of senior high school students that are economically disadvantaged. Another aim of the research is to reveal the relation between the level of academic resilience and gender variable. This study also seeks to examine the differences between academically resilient students with different levels of resilience in terms of the stated variables. For these purposes, a quantitative research method, a correlational research model, was used. The participants consisted of 304 senior students enrolled in 18 Anatolian High Schools during the 2014-2015 academic year in the three districts of the Ankara province, Turkey. Data was collected using ‘the Resilience Scale for Adults’, ‘School Attachment Scale for Children and Adolescents’, ‘the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support’, ‘Cognitive Flexibility Inventory’ and the student information form which was designed by the authors. To analyze the collected data, a Standard Multi Regression Analysis, a Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and a Chi-square Test were employed. The results of the Multi Regression Analysis revealed that cognitive flexibility and perceived social support significantly predicted the level of academic resilience of economically disadvantaged high school students. However, school attachment was not found to be a significant predictor. The three variables given above accounted for approximately 41% of variance in the resilience scores of the participants. Furthermore, the results obtained from MANOVA showed no difference between students with high and low academic resilience in terms of cognitive flexibility, school attachment and perceived social support. Moreover, there was a significant relationship between the two groups in terms of gender according to the results of the Chi-square Test.Bu araştırmanın amacı, yüksek akademik yılmazlık gösteren lise son sınıf öğrencilerinin yılmazlık özelliklerini okula bağlanma, algılanan sosyal destek ve bilişsel esneklik değişkenlerinden hangilerinin yordadığını ortaya koyarak; yüksek ve düşük akademik yılmazlık gösteren öğrenciler arasındaki farklılıkları ilgili değişkenler açısından belirlemektir. Araştırmanın bir diğer amacı ise akademik yılmazlık düzeyi ile cinsiyet değişkeni arasındaki ilişkiyi ortaya çıkarmaktır. Araştırma ilişkisel tarama modellerinden korelasyonel araştırma türündedir. Araştırmanın çalışma grubunu, 2014-2015 eğitim-öğretim yılında Ankara ilindeki üç ilçede bulunan 18 Anadolu lisesinin son sınıfında okuyan 304 öğrenci oluşturmaktadır. Araştırma verileri, “Yetişkinler İçin Psikolojik Dayanıklılık (Yılmazlık) Ölçeği”, “Çocuklar ve Ergenler İçin Okula Bağlanma Ölçeği”, “Çok Boyutlu Algılanan Sosyal Destek Ölçeği”, “Bilişsel Esneklik Envanteri” ve araştırmacılar tarafından hazırlanan bilgi formu ile toplanmıştır. Elde edilen verilerin çözümlenmesinde Standart Çoklu Regresyon Analizi, Çok Değişkenli Varyans Analizi (MANOVA) ve Ki-Kare Testi kullanılmıştır. Yapılan Çoklu Regresyon Analizi sonucunda ekonomik bakımdan dezavantajlı yüksek akademik yılmazlık gösteren öğrencilerin yılmazlıklarını, bilişsel esneklik ve algılanan sosyal destek değişkenlerinin manidar olarak yordadığı belirlenmiştir. Bununla birlikte belirtilen bu üç değişkenin yüksek akademik yılmazlık gösteren öğrencilerin yılmazlık puanlarının yaklaşık %41’ini açıkladığı görülmüştür. Yapılan Çoklu Varyans Analizi sonucunda ise yüksek akademik yılmazlık gösteren öğrenciler ile düşük akademik yılmazlık gösteren öğrenciler arasında bilişsel esneklik, okula bağlanma ve algılanan sosyal destek değişkenleri açısından manidar farklılık görülmemiştir. Yapılan Ki-kare Testi sonucunda ise akademik yılmazlık ile cinsiyet değişkeni arasında kızlar lehine manidar bir ilişki belirlenmiştir

Ergenlerin Üniversite Sınavına İlişkin Kaygıları

The purpose of this study is to determine the source and extent of anxiety suffered by those taking the university entrance examinations. The data was collected using the “Scale for Anxiety Resources for the University Entrance Examination", which was developed for this purpose. The scale consists of 22 items. It was administered to the students of the Mathematics-Science branch of a private high school in Ankara. The population consisted of 158 students and the results placed 0,29 of the group at the high anxiety level, 0,33 of the group at the low anxiety level, and 0,38 of the group at the anxiety-free level. Correlation between the data obtained through the scale and the “Student Selection Examination" (ÖSS) grades was also examined. The fact that most of the students obtained high grades in the ÖSS even though they presented a low level of anxiety in respect of the items on the scale is taken as an indication of this correspondence.Bu çalışmanın amacı, üniversite sınavına giren öğrencilerin, hangi kaygı kaynaklarından ne düzeyde etkilendiklerini ortaya koymaktır. Araştırmanın verileri, bu amaç için geliştirilmiş “Üniversite Sınavı Kaygı Kaynakları Ölçeğinden toplanmıştır. 22 maddeden oluşan ölçek, Ankara'daki bir özel okulun, Matematik-Fen kolunda okuyan lise öğrencilerine uygulanmıştır. Ölçekten elde edilen verilerin genel dağılımına bakıldığında, çalışma grubunda yer alan 158 öğrenciden 0,29'unun yüksek kaygı, 0,33'ünün düşük kaygı, 0,38'inin ise kaygı dışı düzeylerinde toplandıkları gözlenmiştir. Çalışmada ayrıca, ölçekten elde edilen verilerle, öğrencilerin ÖSS puanları arasındaki tutarlılığa da bakılmıştır. Birçok öğrencinin ölçekte yer alan maddeler açısından düşük kaygılı görünmesine karşın, ÖSS'den yüksek puan alarak tercihlerine yerleşmiş olmaları bu tutarlılığın bir işareti olarak kabul edilmiştir

Changes in students' social interactions between the period prior to and the period of preparation for the university entrance exam

The purpose of this study is to compare selected elements of students' social interactions during the period prior to beginning preparation for university entrance examination and during the period of preparation for that examination. Data was collected from 300 freshmen students at the Ankara University Faculty of Educational Sciences. The researchers developed and prepared the survey instrument. The findings of the study demonstrated that the level of students. social interactions were changing in terms of selected variables in the period prior to preparation for taking the university entrance examinations and during the preparation period for that examination. The students. relationship with their families, their engagement in school activities and participation in social activities decreased significantly

Utility of dermatoscopy in the diagnosis of acanthosis nigricans

We have read with great interest the review article by Das et al, which was recently published in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology.1The authors provided a comprehensive and updated review of cur-rent knowledge on acanthosis nigricans (AN) with particular empha-sis on diagnostic testing strategies. They pointed out that AN can imitate many different clinical entities, including epidermal nevus, psoriasis, fungal infections, atopic dirty neck, confluent and retic-ulated papillomatosis, Hailey-Hailey disease, and terra firma-forme dermatosis. The authors also underlined the importance of proper history, physical examination, and histopathological evaluation in the differential diagnosis.1 Here, we would like to briefly discuss the role of dermatoscopy as an adjunctive diagnostic tool that will facil-itate the diagnosis of AN..