TRADITIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE AND GIFTED STUDENTS AS TWO IMPORTANT SOURCES OF SOCIAL MEMORY: GIFTED STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE

Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) can be defined as cumulative knowledge, beliefs, and practices transmitted from generation to generation, related to people's relationship with the environment. This study aims to determine the attitudes of gifted students towards traditional environmental knowledge and to examine them in terms of various variables such as age, class and gender. The study group of the research consists of 120 gifted/talented students (67 girls, 53 boys) studying at Manisa Science and Art Center. “Traditional Knowledge Attitude Scale (TKAS)” developed by Ugulu (2013) was used in the study. The t-test and ANOVA test were used to determine whether students' attitudes towards science showed a significant difference in terms of independent variables of the study. According to the results of the research, when the average of the students' attitudes towards traditional knowledge according to their grade levels were evaluated, it was seen that the eighth-grade students' attitude scores were the highest. In terms of gender, it was concluded that the attitude scores of female students were higher than male students. As a result of the statistical comparison of the attitude scores of the gifted students according to the independent variables of the study, it was concluded that the difference between the averages in terms of grade level and age variables was not significant, but there was a significant difference in favour of girls in terms of gender (p < 0.05).   Article visualizations

DETERMINATION OF THE SATISFACTION LEVELS OF PROSPECTIVE TEACHERS REGARDING THE E-LEARNING APPLICATION DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

Due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, schools and universities around the world had to interrupt their education and switched to online education. In this study, it is aimed to determine the satisfaction levels of prospective teachers who have to take their courses with web-based distance education due to the pandemic towards e-learning. The satisfaction scale regarding the e-learning process developed by Gulbahar (2012) was used to collect data. The study was conducted at a state university in Turkey with 520 university students (prospective teachers). In this study, it was determined that prospective teachers were generally satisfied with the e-learning process. Students stated their level of satisfaction with the sub-dimensions of "Communication and Usability", "Teaching Process" and "Teaching Content" mostly as "often" and "always" on a Likert-type scale. While the students mostly answered "rarely" and "often" questions about the interaction of the "Interaction and Evaluation" sub-dimension, they answered "often" and "always" to the questions about Evaluation. In addition, a positive significant relationship at the level of 0.01 was found between four sub-dimensions in the study. Article visualizations

QUANTITATIVE EVALUATION OF PROSPECTIVE TEACHERS' VIEWS ON INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

In this study, pre-service teachers' views on inclusive education were evaluated from a quantitative research perspective. The survey model, one of the quantitative research designs, was used. The sample of the study consists of 482 prospective teachers studying at the same state university. The "Opinions Related to Mainstreaming Scale" was used to evaluate the views of pre-service teachers about inclusion. In the study, frequency and percentage values for each item were calculated for the data obtained from the study. In addition, Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated to determine whether there was a relationship between the sub-dimensions of the scale depending on the data collected. Although the results of the research are generally positive, the opinions of the pre-service teachers about inclusive education are inconsistent with each other, indicating that the knowledge and skill levels of the pre-service teachers about students with special needs are insufficient. It is important for a qualified inclusive education that teacher candidates who will start working in schools in the future develop positive attitudes towards inclusive education and have high levels of knowledge and skills.   Article visualizations

Heavy Metal Accumulation in Goosefoot (Chenopodium album L.) Irrigated With Wastewater

Wastewater sources contain enormous amounts of nutrients for plant growth. This study aimed to define the metal accumulation in the goosefoot plant (Chenopodium album L.) of wastewater use in agricultural irrigation and to evaluate the risks of this accumulation to human health. The present research was performed in field conditions in Khushab, Pakistan. The Cd, Cu, Cr, Fe, Zn, Ni, and Mn concentrations were determined with the analysis performed using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer-AAS. Heavy metal concentrations in goosefoot samples irrigated with groundwater (GWI), canal water (CWI) and sugar mill water (MWI) ranged from 0.84 to 1.08, 0.55 to 0.78, 0.23 to 0.70, 2.09 to 5.56, 2.84 to 13.53, 0.53 to 1.13 and 0.32 to 0.39 mg/kg for Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Zn, and Mn, respectively. According to the statistical analyses, wastewater applications had a non-significant effect on Cr, Cu, and Zn concentrations in C. album samples collected from three sites, and a significant effect on Cd, Fe, Mn, and Ni concentrations (p>0.05). The results also showed that the health risk index value of cadmium was higher than 1. According to these results, long-term consumption of C. album samples grown in the study area may cause an accumulation of Cd in the human body and diseases in many tissues and organs

Assessment of Human Health Risk of Zinc and Lead by Consuming Food Crops Supplied with Excessive Fertilizers

For the study of heavy metals impact on human beings, areas in Sargodha city that were supplied with various types of fertilizers were chosen. The three industrial areas; (Bhalwal, Sillanwali, and Sahiwal) of this city were explored for research reasons. The researchers wanted to know how much heavy metal was in the soil, food crops, and human. Excess fertilizer use contributes to global pollution. Farmyard manure, urea, and potassium chloride were used on Site 1; urea phosphate, manure, and ammonium sulphate were used on Site 2; and super phosphate, ammonium phosphate, and nitrate phosphate were used on Site 3. Samples of commonly used food crops, their respective soils and blood of residents who ingested the food crops of the studied area were collected. The zinc and lead levels in soil (8.30-16.80 and 1.80-12.71 mg/kg) and food crops (0.26-2.02 and 2.26-4.70 mg/kg) were far lower than WHO permitted limits. Blood mean concentration of both Zn (2.30-4.30 mg/L) and Ni (0.24-0.70 mg/L) were found maximum in residents of Site 3. The values of pollution load index, bioconcentration factor, enrichment factor for both zinc and lead were (0.18-0.37 and0.220-0.948), (0.027-0.138 and 0.316-1.705), (0.020-0.144 and 0.515-2.780), respectively. Daily intake of metal (0.004-0.008 and 0.001-0.002 mg/kg/day) and health risk index (0.0001-0.016 and 0.005-0.115) values were observed to be lower in individuals for Zn and Pb, respectively. In present work values of all pollution indices wereSo, there would be no human health hazard

Effects of Fertilizers on Copper and Nickel Accumulation and Human Health Risk Assessment of Vegetables and Food Crops

Despite the fact that fertilizers have been used for millennia for sustainable crop production, this high and considerable dependence on fertilizers heightens environmental concerns with the indirect human exposure due to accumulation of toxins in food chain via soil contamination. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the application of fertilizers to the soil and their effect on the accumulation of copper and nickel in spinach (Spinacia oleracea), garlic (Allium sativum), wheat (Triticum aestivum), maize (Zea mays), and barley (Hordeum vulgare); as well as potential health concerns associated with consuming vegetables cultivated on this contaminated land. Samples of available soil, food crops, and human blood were collected from three different Tehsils: Bhalwal, Sahiwal, and Silanwali and were regarded as site 1, site 2 and site 3 respectively. Urea, farmyard manure, and potassium chloride were delivered to Site 1; urea phosphate, manure, and ammonium sulphate were delivered to Site 2; and superphosphate, ammonium phosphate, and nitrate phosphate were delivered to Site 3. Data was subjected to statistical analysis for computing out ANOVA and correlation. Analysis revealed that minimum copper concentration was found in the soil of T. aestivum grown at Site-1 while the inhabitants of Site 3 had the highest concentration of Cu in their blood. The highest level of HIR was found in the human beings that ate the S. oleracea grown at Site 3. It is strongly advised that fertilizers be used sparingly, as their excessive use can cause human health risks

Determination of Heavy Metal Accumulation in Plant Samples by Spectrometric Techniques in Turkey

Heavy metals are significant and extremely persistent environmental pollutants and their toxicity is a problem of increasing significance for ecological, nutritional, and environmental reasons. Biomonitoring methods are gaining more importance because they allow for prediction, detection, and control of potential environmental hazards caused by heavy metal pollution. The objective of the present study was to collect and analyze research on heavy metal accumulation in plant samples using spectrometric detection techniques in Turkey published between 2003 and 2013. Five main criteria were predetermined to limit the study and better portray the studies on heavy metal accumulation using plant samples in Turkey. These criteria were as follows: studies aiming to determine heavy metal accumulation levels, studies sampling plant species growing at various localities in Turkey, studies using spectrometric detection techniques, studies published as journal articles, and studies undertaken between 2003 and 2013. Consequently, 47 studies that satisfied all criteria were considered and selected for this investigation. A content analysis method was used for the review and analysis of the selected studies. The results of the review analysis were grouped under three categories and the findings obtained in this scope were presented

Development and validation of an instrument for assessing attitudes of high school students about recycling

Recycling and its applications are growing significantly due to the great potential for solving a range of environmental problems in society. Nevertheless, there are currently very few instruments that can provide valid and reliable data on students' attitudes toward recycling. In this regard, this article focuses on the development and validation of Recycling Attitude Scale (RAS). The items in the RAS were developed initially from the responses to three open-ended items by 53 tenth and eleventh grade students and literature review on recycling attitude. This initial form was pilot tested with 356 tenth and eleventh grade students and then subjected to exploratory factor analysis. Subsequently, the revised version of the scale was administrated to 694 tenth grade students, and the results were subjected to confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analysis. The RAS consists of 21 items in three subscales, with responses recorded on a four-point Likert scale, options ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient () of the scale was found to be .87. The results indicate that the RAS a potentially valuable tool for both instructors and researchers in Turkey for the assessment of the attitudes toward recycling held by students in secondary education

A quantitative investigation on recycling attitudes of gifted/talented students

Uncontrolled industrialization process since nineteenth century and the trend towards consumer society have resulted in an enormous amount of waste materials. As a result of this problem, management and safe removal of urban waste has become one of the most important environmental issues of today. Recycling projects that have been developed to solve this problem will reduce waste materials, recycle discarded materials and save energy, money and time. Therefore, recycling applications and related researches are significantly growing due to their enormous potential to solve many environmental problems of society. In this perspective, the aim of this study was to determine the recycling attitude levels of gifted/talented students. Also, gifted/talented students' recycling attitude levels was compared according to some independent variables, such as age, gender and grade. For these purposes, single scan model was performed in the present research. As a means of data collection, Recycling Attitude Scale (RAS) and the personal information form were used. The RAS was applied to 122 gifted students enrolling in Science and Art Center in Manisa Province of Turkey in 2012-2013 academic years. Gifted/talented students' ages ranged from 10 to 13 and, also, the 11-year-old candidates, who participated in the study, were majority. Statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS 17.00) programme was utilized to analyse the obtained data. The analysis results showed that gifted and talented students had fairly well recycling attitude level and there were no significant difference between gifted and talented students in terms of gender, age and class

Research on students' traditional knowledge about medicinal plants: Case study of high schools in izmir, Turkey

Documentation of the traditional knowledge is important for the conservation and utilization of biological resources and should be carried out before such rich heritages are lost due to various anthropogenic and other natural causes. In this reason, the aim of this study is to determine students' current knowledge level and their conceptualisation of medicinal plants used in their surrounding social environment. The research was carried out in two stages. First, semistructured- tape-recorded interviews were administered to 156 students to gather their information about medicinal plants used in Izmir. Second, students' traditional knowledge about medicinal plants were evaluated conceptually, by asking them the sources and their ideas about the usefulness of such knowledge. According to data obtained from high school students in Izmir, 23 taxa of medicinal plants are used for phytotherapies by the community. However, it was seen that the knowledge and conceptual understanding about medicinal plants is not sufficient for continuity of traditional knowledge