Evaluation of creative writing products according to content and some variables

The aim of this study was to assess elementary school students' creative writing products in terms of "compliance with creative writing criteria" and content. Mixed-method approach was adopted in this study. The research was conducted with 4th grade students (n = 122) attending three primary schools in the fall semester of the 2017-2018 academic year. Scale for Evaluating Creative Writing Products (SECWP) developed by Beydemir (2010) and "and students’ creative writing texts" were used to gather data. During qualitative part of the study, students listened Chopin’s “Nocturne op. 9 No. 2” composition and they were asked to write about the color that they associate with the music and their feelings about this color.  According to qualitative findings of the study, it seemed that the participants associate Chopin's work with blue, purple and green colors which are cold colors, and they tried to explain this association with the concepts related to sky, forest, love, freedom, and thought.The aim of this study was to assess elementary school students' creative writing products in terms of "compliance with creative writing criteria" and content. Mixed-method approach was adopted in this study. The research was conducted with 4th grade students (n = 122) attending three primary schools in the fall semester of the 2017-2018 academic year. Scale for Evaluating Creative Writing Products (SECWP) developed by Beydemir (2010) and "and students’ creative writing texts" were used to gather data. During qualitative part of the study, students listened Chopin’s “Nocturne op. 9 No. 2” composition and they were asked to write about the color that they associate with the music and their feelings about this color.  According to qualitative findings of the study, it seemed that the participants associate Chopin's work with blue, purple and green colors which are cold colors, and they tried to explain this association with the concepts related to sky, forest, love, freedom, and thought

Öğretmen adaylarının eleştirel düşünmeye ilişkin tutumlarının çeşitli değişkenlere göre incelenmesi

Critical thinking is a way of thinking that is skeptical, analytical, logical and independent. As an crucial component of education system, qualifications of teachers in critical thinking is important. The purpose of this study is to investigate first and third grade pre-service teachers' attitudes toward critical thinking ability in terms of several variables. As a commonly used descriptive research method, this study is a survey aiming to measure pre-service teachers' attitudes toward critical thinking ability through quantitative analyses. The participants are first and third grade pre-service teachers studying Primary Education and Turkish Education. Sample has 691 pre-service teachers (394 female and 297 male) as participants. In this study, Critical Thinking Attitude Scale (CTAS) developed by Saracaloglu and Yilmaz (2011) was used to data collection instrument. This scale has four dimensions and 19 items. According to results of analyses, pre-service teachers' attitudes toward critical thinking is differ from their university, programme, grade level and region. On the other hand, their attitudes toward critical thinking seem to be higher, favourably in participants who reads 21 or more books in one year.Eleştirel düşünce şüpheci, analitik, mantıksal ve bağımsız düşünmedir. Eğitim sisteminin önemli bir yapı taşı olan öğretmenlerin bu konudaki yetkinlikleri oldukça önemlidir. Bu araştırmanın amacı 1. ve 3. sınıfta eğitim görmekte olan öğretmen adaylarının eleştirel düşünme becerilerine ilişkin tutumlarını farklı değişkenler açısından incelemektir. Araştırma öğretmen adaylarının eleştirel düşünmeye yönelik tutumlarını tespit etmeye yönelik olduğundan bu araştırmada, nicel araştırmada sıkça kullanılan betimsel araştırma yöntemlerinden tarama modeli temele alınmıştır. Bu çalışma 1. ve 3. sınıfta öğrenim görmekte olan sınıf öğretmenliği ve Türkçe öğretmenliği adayları ile yürütülmüştür. Araştırmaya toplamda 691 öğretmen adayı (kız=394, erkek=297) katılmıştır. Araştırmada Saracaloğlu ve Yılmaz (2011) tarafından geliştirilmiş olan “Eleştirel Düşünme Tutum Ölçeği (EDTÖ)” kullanılmıştır. Ölçek toplamda dört boyut ve 19 maddeden oluşmaktadır. Araştırmaya göre öğretmen adaylarının eleştirel düşünmeye ilişkin tutumları öğrenim gördükleri üniversiteye, öğrenim gördükleri programa, sınıf düzeylerine ve yaşadıkları bölgeye göre herhangi bir farklılık göstermemektedir. Diğer taraftan bir yılda okunan kitap sayısı değişkenine göre öğretmen adaylarının tutumları yılda 21 ve üzeri kitap okuyanlar lehine farklılık göstermektedir

Comparison of bilingual students' self-efficacy toward Turkish speaking skills with respect to socio-economic status

Equity in education refers to the accessibility of educational opportunities by the students from disadvantaged groups in the society as well as the other groups. Socio-economic status is evidently one of the most dominant factors defining advantaged and disadvantaged social groups. On the other hand, bilingualism may either be an educational advantage or a disadvantage in different conditions. This study is a causal-comparative survey aiming to investigate the relationship between bilingual students' self-efficacy toward Turkish speaking skills and the socio-economic status of their families. The study was conducted on 1763 bilingual students studying in middle schools located in several districts in Izmir where bilingual people commonly live. Participants' self-efficacy toward Turkish speaking skills was measured by Bilingual Students' Self-efficacy toward Turkish Speaking Skills Scale including 10 Likerttype items. Participants' socioeconomic status was measured by a series of items about their parents' educational and occupational status and family income. Data were analyzed by using Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA and the findings showed that there are significant differences in bilingual students' self-efficacy toward Turkish speaking skills between low and high socioeconomic status and between low and medium socioeconomic status