What does geometry do? A review of the Harun Reşit Kocacan’s narrative

This article deals with the story of Harun Reşit Kocacan, one of the most important educators of the Republican period, who wrote about his experiences in Geometry lessons during his student years. The research conducted with the narrative research method. The data collection tool of the research is Kocacan's article titled "How did I love geometry?" published in 1924. Before analyzing the data, the researcher and a math education specialist read the story first separately and then together. In the analysis phase, the conditions and educational understanding of that period were also taken into consideration. Basically the data analysis was based on the interpretive hermeneutic approach and thematic content analysis. The prominent themes in the story are Harun Reşit's geometry lessons, his geometry teacher's approach to him and other students, and his journey to discover "what does geometry do?". Harun Reşit explained that he was afraid of his geometry teacher, that geometry teaching was not associated with daily life, the process of understanding what geometry was for and the pleasure he felt when understood. In the findings section, excerpts from Kocacan's story are given and in the discussion section, it is tried to compare today's geometry teaching with this example in our history.&nbsp

PowerPoint Öğretim Materyalleri ile Somut Öğretim Materyallerin Öğrenme Etkililiği Açısından Karşılaştırılması

The purpose of this study is to compare the 6 th grade learning environments of Mathematics courses in which PowerPoint materials and concrete materials are used. More specifically, this research aims to determine whether there is a difference between employing the above mentioned material types in terms of students’ learning levels. An experimental model with pretest-posttest comparison group was used and randomly formed three independent groups were compared with respect to learning levels. A total of 92 sixth grade elementary students participated in the study in the 2010-2011 academic year. The concrete teaching materials in the study included number scales and equation models that are specific to mathematics education and materials that are used in daily life such as sugar cube, purse, crackers or screws that are not specific to mathematics education. PowerPoint materials, on the other hand, included representations such as drawing, picture and animation and also presentations involving verbal information. Two tests that are composed of multiple-choice and open-ended questions were administered in order to measure students’ learning levels. After 10 hours of instruction, there were statistically significant increases in students’ learning in all the three groups. However, no significant difference was found among the groups in terms of their learning levels.Bu araştırmayla ilköğretim 6. sınıf matematik dersinde somut materyallerin kullanıldığı öğretim ile temsili gösterimlerin yer aldığı PowerPoint materyallerinden yararlanılan öğretim arasında, diğer taraftan sözü edilen materyal türlerinin birlikte kullanıldığı öğretim ile sadece birinin kullanıldığı öğretim arasında öğrenme düzeyi açısından farklılık olup olmadığının belirlenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Araştırmada, öntest-sontest karşılaştırma gruplu deneysel model kullanılmış ve materyal türlerinin etkisini ortaya koymak için rastlantısal olarak oluşturulmuş üç bağımsız grup öğrenme düzeyleri açısından karşılaştırılmıştır. Bu araştırmaya 2010-2011 eğitim-öğretim yılında bir ilköğretim okulunun altıncı sınıflarına kayıtlı 92 öğrenci katılmıştır. Araştırmadaki somut öğretim materyalleri, matematik öğretimine özgü olan sayı pulları ya da eşitlik modelleri gibi materyalleri, ayrıca matematiğe özgü olmayan ancak öğretim materyali olarak kullanılabilecek şeker, kese, kraker ya da vida gibi günlük yaşam gereçlerini kapsamaktadır. PowerPoint öğretim materyalleri ise resim, çizim ve animasyon gibi temsili gösterimler ile sözel bilgilerin yer aldığı sunular olarak hazırlanmıştır. Araştırmada öğrencilerin öğrenme düzeyini ölçmek amacıyla çoktan seçmeli ve açık uçlu olmak üzere iki ayrı test uygulanmıştır. Araştırmanın üç farklı öğretim ortamında materyal kullanımına dayalı olarak yürütülen 10’ar ders saati sonucunda öğrenme düzeyi açısından gruplarda istatistiksel olarak anlamlı bir artış belirlenmiştir. Ancak deney grupları arasında öğrenme düzeyi açısından istatistiksel olarak anlamlı bir farklılık bulunmamıştır

Flexural Strength Design Criteria for Concrete Beams Reinforced with High-Strength Steel Strands

This paper summarizes the result of a study investigating the flexural behavior of concrete beams reinforced with high-strength prestressing strands. Thirteen concrete beams reinforced with either conventional reinforcing bars or high-strength strands were fabricated and load tested in the experimental part of the study. No distinct difference was detected between the experimentally obtained cracking patterns of the two groups of beams. For the same reinforcement amount, beams reinforced with high-strength strands exhibited slightly smaller service stiffness than those reinforced with conventional reinforcing bars. A comparison of the measured and numerically predicted response of beam specimens indicated that the cracking load, peak load, and the deformation capacity of concrete beams can be accurately determined by a sectional analysis procedure for both types of reinforcement. The level of ductility present in concrete beams reinforced with high-strength strands is evaluated using the parameter called "displacement deformability ratio." Using the numerically determined maximum reinforcement limits for concrete beams reinforced with high-strength strands, an expression was proposed to be used at the design stage

Teaching Profession and the Quality of Teacher Education Programs from the Perspective of Preservice Middle School Mathematics Teachers

Bu çalışmanın amacı ilköğretim matematik öğretmeni adaylarının olmak istedikleri matematik öğretmeni profilini ortaya koymak ve bu doğrultuda lisans eğitimlerine ilişkin değerlendirmelerine yer vermektir. Bu amaçla araştırmaya 2012-2015 yılları arasında Okul Deneyimi dersini almış olan Karadeniz Teknik Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi son sınıf öğrencilerinden toplam 50 öğretmen adayı katılmıştır. Araştırmanın yöntemi durum çalışması olup, veri toplama aracı olarak iki açık uçlu sorudan oluşan bir form kullanılmıştır. Ankette öğretmen adaylarına "Nasıl bir öğretmen olmak isterdiniz?" ve " Üniversitede aldığınız eğitimin iyi bir öğretmen olmanıza katkısı nedir?" şeklinde sorular yöneltilmiştir. Elde edilen veriler içerik analizine tabi tutulmuştur. Verilerin analizleri sonucunda öğretmen adaylarının olmak istedikleri öğretmen profili ile ilgili "Bilgi", "Değerler", "Liderlik", "İletişim", "Rehberlik", "Matematik" ve "Kültür" olmak üzere yedi farklı tema ortaya çıkmıştır. Öğretmen adaylarının lisans eğitimlerine ilişkin verilerin analizi sonucunda da cevaplar "Öğretmen Yetiştirme Programı", "Akademisyen", "Mesleki Boyut", "İletişim" olmak üzere dört ana tema altında toplanmıştırThe aim of this study is to present pre-service mathematics teachers' opinions of what kind of mathematics teacher they want to be and in this regard to examine their view about the quality of the teacher education program. The research was conducted with 50 senior undergraduate students taking school practice course in the Department of Elementary Mathematics Teacher Education Program at Faculty of Education in Karadeniz Technical University. Case study method was used in this research and the data were collected through a questionnaire composed of two open-ended questions.In the form, "What kind of teacher you want to be?" and "how teacher education program in your university effect you to be a good teacher?" questions were posed to these preservice teachers. A qualitative research analysis method, content analysis was utilized to analyze the data. As a result of the analysis of the data, seven different themes appeared about the teacher profile: “"Information", "Values", "Leadership", "Communication", "Counseling", "Mathematics" and "Culture".As a result of analyzing the data about preservice teachers' view of their undergraduate program, the answers were collected under four main themes as "Communication". "Teache

Examining Preservice Teachers' Criteria for Evaluating Educational Mobile Apps

Recent interest in integrating mobile apps into teaching will continue growing. There remains, however, a pressing need to develop methods and resources to support and educate preservice teachers about the use of these technologies. This case study aimed to examine preservice teachers' criteria for evaluating educationalmobile apps. Nineteen fourth-year preservice teachers, who studied math, science, English, and computer education at a public university, participated in the research. During the usability tests, the preservice teachers were asked to evaluate the affordances and limitations of selected educational mobile apps from their particular subject domains. Their interactions with and evaluations of the mobile apps were collected through think-aloud sessions and interviews. Qualitative analysis revealed preservice teachers' evaluation criteria in five categories such as pedagogy, technical usability, content, connectivity, and contextuality. The results point to recommendations for future research on evaluating the capabilities of existing mobile apps with key players such as in-service and preservice teachers

An examination of the article “Arithmetic (Mathematics) courses in primary schools” within the context of knowledge of mathematics teaching: Arithmetic (Mathematics) courses in primary schools

This research aims to give an idea of the approach of mathematics teaching in primary schools in the early years of Republic of Turkey and compare it with the current approach of teaching within the context of Mathematics Teaching Knowledge (MTK). Therefore, the sample of the study was the article entitled “Arithmetic (Mathematics) courses in primary schools” published in 1927 in one of the most influential education journals of Atatürk period – “Education Journal”. In the study, document analysis method was adapted. In the data collection process, initially, the article was translated from Ottoman Turkish to modern Turkish language. Later, the article was analysed through descriptive and content analysis in relation to the components of MTK. The results revealed that teachers were provided with recommendations referring to MTK components, namely association of mathematics with everyday life, use of materials, knowledge of conceptual relationships, level-appropriate teaching, and active student learning. It was also determined that the article put forward some other recommendations to primary school teachers addressing to the importance of improving advanced-level of thinking skills among students

Integrating technology into an engineering faculty teaching context: examining faculty experiences and student perceptions

The main purpose of this study was to examine a case in the context of a Faculty Technology Mentoring (FTM) program that provided customised technology integration support to faculty members in different disciplines. The FTM was implemented as a university-wide professional development model to enhance faculty members’ adoption of technology into their teaching practices. Following the embedded-case design method, this study investigated a one-to-one mentoring process within the program using TPACK as a framework for the analysis. The analysis of faculty experience revealed that the mentoring project had a positive influence not only on the teaching strategies of the instructor whilst delivering the content, but on the attitudes towards technology utilisation in general within the higher education context

Explanations of prospective middle school mathematics teachers for potential misconceptions on the concept of symmetry

This study is an explanatory study, which follows a qualitative methodology and aims to reveal the explanations of prospective mathematics teachers for the potential misconceptions of secondary school students in relation to the concept of symmetry andthe correction of such misconceptions. The study group consisted of a total of 26 prospective middle school mathematics teachers, who were senior students. The data of the study were obtained from the open-ended test prepared by the researchers. Following the data analysis, it was found out that the majority of the participants failed to identify the mistakes of students and suggested the ways to “letter the corners of the shape and measure the distance based on the axis of symmetry” in order to correct these mistakes. Moreover, the study notably observed that the participants adopted practical solutions such as the use of a mirror, paper folding, and the use of unit squares more in teaching the concept of symmetry. It may be stated that the prospective teachers, in this way, overlooked the developmentof conceptual knowledge in students

Öğretmen Eğitiminde Mobil Uygulamalar: Öğretmen Adaylarının Mobil-TPAB Bilgisinin Araştırılması

Önerilen BAP projesi öğretmen eğitiminde en kritik dönem olan hizmet öncesi öğretmen eğitimi sürecinde yeni çağın gerektirdiği öğretmen bilgi ve becerilerini mobil teknolojiler ve uygulamalar bağlamında incelemeyi hedeflenmektedir. Bu projenin amacı, öğretmen eğitimciler için öğretmen eğitimi programlarına mobil uygulamaları etkili bir biçimde entegre ederek öğretmen adaylarına mobil-TPAB bilgisi kazandıracakları yöntem ve müfredat kaynaklarını araştırmak ve geliştirmektir