The Effect of Creative Drama Method on Pre-service Classroom Teachers’ Writing Skills and Attitudes towards Writing

The aim of the study is to explore the effect of the creative drama method on pre-service classroom teachers’ writing skills and attitudes towards writing. Additionally, the views of the pre-service teachers concerning the creative drama method were also investigated in the study. The participants of the study were 24 pre-service teachers studying at Karadeniz Technical University Fatih Faculty of Education. The participants were asked to write activities with using creative drama method. The design of the study is mixed in that it included both qualitative and quantitative methods of research. The writings of the participants at the beginning and end of the study were evaluated through “Writing Skill Evaluation Form”. Their attitude towards writing was analyzed through “Writing Attitude Scale” again at the beginning and end of the study. Interviews were conducted with the participants to reveal their views on the creative drama method. The findings of the study suggest that the creative drama method improved the participants’ writing skills and attitudes towards writing. It is also found that the participants have positive views on the creative drama method

AN INVESTIGATION OF LEARNING APPROACHES AND LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES: ARE THEY RELATED?

In related research, learning approaches and learning strategies have been reported as important variables influencing the quality of student learning. The aim of the present study is to investigate the relationship between the learning approaches and the language learning strategies of higher education students. The research was conducted with the participation of 493 freshmen (M=257, F=236) attending various departments at Balikesir University in Turkey. For research purposes, the Turkish versions of Strategy Inventory of Language Learning (SILL) and the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST) were used. After the reliability of both instruments was computed, descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze data. The findings showed that students’ learning approaches were associated with their learning strategy use. The results provided further evidence that gender and field of study might have an impact on learning approach adoption and language learning strategy use. One of the more significant findings to emerge from this study was that engineering students had the highest total mean scores in deep and strategic approach and made use of learning strategies the most.  Article visualizations

Which noncognitive features provide more information about reading performance? A data-mining approach to big educational data

The purpose of this study is to discover which noncognitive variables provide more information about reading performance. To answer this question, data mining based on information gain, decision tree and random forest methods were utilized in the study. The participants of the study consisted of 606,627 15-year-old students (49.8% female) in a total of 78 countries or economies, 37 of which are OECD members. Reading performance and plausible values of reading, the Student, ICT Familiarity, Financial Literacy, Educational Career, Well-Being and Parent Questionnaire data in PISA 2018 were analyzed to answer the research questions. When 108 features were analyzed as independent variables, it was found that SES (home possessions, cultural possessions, and ICT resources at home), metacognitive skills (assessing credibility and summarizing), and liking/enjoying reading were major variables predicting reading performance. The path analysis revealed that these variables explain 53.3% of the variability in reading performance. It is also remarkable that the decision tree model has a 74.61% accuracy value in estimating the reading performance

The Problems And Suggestions Encountered During The Implementation Of The Sound Based Sentence Method

The purpose of this study is to determine the problems encountered during the implementation of the sound based sentence method regarding classroom teachers' views and to explore the suggestions of those teachers to overcome these problems. The research has descriptive characteristics. The datas related with research were gathered by a qualitative survey method. The research was conducted with classrom teachers assigned at the central schools in province Ankara. At the result of the research, the problems encountered during the implementation of the sound based sentence method and the suggestions which were made to overcome these problems by teachers were revealed. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reservedWoSScopu

The Effect of the Instruction Based on Van Hiele Model on The Geometrical Thinking Levels of Preservice Elementary School Teachers

The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of the instruction based on Van Hiele Model on preservice teachers' the geometrical thinking levels. This study has been carried out with senior students attending to the Elementary School Teaching Program. There were eight classes of senior preservice teachers, two of them were randomly assigned as experimental groups which were instructed with Van Hiele Model and the other two were randomly assigned as control groups which were instructed with traditional instruction. Based on the analysis of the data, findings will be discussed and some recommendations will be presented. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.WoSScopu

Problem-Based Learning in Teacher Education: Its Promises and Challenges

Problem-based learning has been in use in the education of medicine, law, and engineering students. The aim of this study is to put forth that PBL could be used equally successful in the education faculties, hence to analyze the effects of problem-based learning on academic achievement and self-regulated learning skills together, and to undertake self-peer assessments that have been long neglected in PBL studies. Senior students (treatment=36, control=21) of Middle East Technical University Faculty of Education Department of Foreign Language Education took part in the study. An achievement test, an open-ended-application exam, a scale on self-regulation in learning, and self-peer assessment forms were developed and used to gather quantitative data. Statistical procedures like independent samples t-test, ANOVA for repeated measures, and Pearson correlation technique were administered to quantitative data. The quantitative results revealed that PBL was effective on students' academic achievements, but it had no significant effects on self-regulated skills. Students were consistent in their self and peer assessments, but their self-assessments were lower than their peer assessments. Suggestions parallel to findings are given in the end. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd