Analysis of Turkish Prospective Science Teachers’ Perceptions on Technology in Education

Purpose of this study was to determine and analyze Turkish pre-service science teachers\u27 perceptions on technology in terms of learning style, computer competency level, possession of a computer, and gender. The study involved 264 Turkish pre-service science teachers. Analyses were conducted through four-way ANOVA, t-tests, Mann Whitney U test and one-way ANOVAs and the results showed there were one main effect for gender and one interaction effect between gender and computer competency level. The interaction effect pointed out that the male pre-service science teachers who were weak in computer competency held more positive perceptions toward instructional technology than their counterparts

An analysis of Turkish prospective teachers' perceptions about technology in education

La exitosa integración de la tecnología en la educación requiere profesores con una percepción adecuada de la tecnología. Teniendo en cuenta este hecho, el objetivo de este estudio fue analizar la percepción de la tecnología de futuros maestros turcos de primaria, en términos de competencia con el ordenador y los estilos de aprendizaje. El estudio se realizó con 591 futuros maestros de primaria. Como resultado del estudio se constató que existe un efecto principal significativo para el nivel de competencia informática, pero no hay efecto significativo para los estilos de aprendizaje ni interacción significativa entre el nivel percibido equipo de competencia y los estilos de aprendizaje.The successful integration of technology into education has been requiring teachers to have appropriate perceptions about technology. By considering this requirement, the aim of this study was to analyze technology perceptions of Turkish elementary prospective teachers in terms of computer competency skill and learning styles. The study was conducted with 591 elementary prospective teachers. As a result of the study, it was found that there is a significant main effect for computer competency level, but there is no significant main effect for learning styles and no significant interaction between perceived computer competency level and learning style

The effect of multiple intelligences theory (MIT)-based instruction on attitudes towards the course, academic success, and permanence of teaching on the topic of "Respiratory Systems"

WOS: 000257109400008Studies on the effective teaching of biology have been continuously increasing since the 1800s. New teaching approaches have been purposed and tried out along the way. The multiple intelligences theory (MIT)-based approaches which give more importance to individual in educational settings can provide alternatives for meeting this requirement. An experimental desing was used for the study. The study was conducted with loth grade high school students (Experimental N = 25 anf Control N = 25) who were enrolled in classes in Ankara Anatolian High School during the 2004-2005 spring semester. In conclusion, the MIT-based instruction had a statistically significant effect upon the academic success of students and the permanence of teaching process wheras there was no significant effect of the MIT-based instruction on the attitudes of students towards the course

DEVELOPMENT OF NATURE OF SCIENCE SCALE (NSS) FOR ADVANCED SCIENCE STUDENTS

Frequent use of open-ended questionnaire plus interview application for nature of science as a requirement for informed decision making has been criticized by many researchers and a need for an easily administrable and scorable instrument has been emphasized. At the same time, existing instruments were developed with the students out of advanced students. Therefore, the purpose of this study is development of a nature of science scale for advanced science students. The study was conducted with 224 advanced science students. Both confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis were done to collect evidence for validity of the scores on the instrument and it was found that both of the analyses approved appropriate validity of the scores. Cronbach alphas for subscales were found as from .55 to .77 as acceptable values. The implications and importance of the instrument will be discussed in this article

Revista electrónica de investigación y evaluación educativa

Resumen tomado de la publicaciónLa exitosa integración de la tecnología en la educación requiere profesores con una percepción adecuada de la tecnología. Teniendo en cuenta este hecho, el objetivo es analizar la percepción de la tecnología de futuros maestros turcos de primaria, en términos de competencia con el ordenador y los estilos de aprendizaje. La muestra del estudio se compone de 591 futuros maestros de primaria. Como resultado, se constata que existe un efecto principal significativo para el nivel de competencia informática, pero que no hay efecto significativo para los estilos de aprendizaje ni interacción significativa entre el nivel percibido, el equipo de competencia y los estilos de aprendizaje.ValenciaBiblioteca de Educación del Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte; Calle San Agustín, 5 - 3 planta; 28014 Madrid; Tel. +34917748000; [email protected]

Advanced Science Students’ Understandings on Nature of Science in Finland

Majority of NOS studies comprise of determination or assessment studies conducted with ordinary students. In order to gain further understanding on variation in NOS understandings among the students, there should be different research attempts focusing on unconventional students such as academically advanced students. The purpose of this study is to determine epistemological understanding of Finnish academically advanced science students concerning aspects of NOS. The study was a case study (N=39) conducted with qualitative perspective. Questionnaires on the students’ attitude toward science and motivation toward science learning plus a form for the teacher’s ideas and VNOS-C, were used as diagnostic tools and data collection instruments. The study revealed that the majority of the students were found to be naïve in aspects such as “empirical basis of science”, “observation and inference”, “subjectivity of scientists”, “social and cultural embeddedness”, “creativity in science”, “theories and laws” and “tentativeness”

Examining science teacher’s understandings of the NOS aspects through the use of knowledge test and open-ended questions

The nature of science aspects (NOS) are the most emphasized theme inmany curriculum and reform attempts. Teachers as a curriculumimplementer in the classroom play important role for policy, arrangementsand classroom experiences on NOS understandings of students. Researchersgenerally assessed the teachers’ NOS conceptions using open-endedquestions plus interview in limited samples. However, in the literature, therehave been some critics on this way of assessment. For that reason, this studyaims to assess elementary science teachers’ (N=47) NOS conceptions byusing “Open-ended questions” and “Knowledge test”. The results showedexistence of some misunderstandings on NOS and the participants’responses to knowledge test and open-ended questions gave similar patternin terms of ten aspects of NOS, except for three aspects

What Is Value Of Reform-Oriented In-Service Teacher Development Attempts On Inquiry Teaching For Pedagogically Discontented Science Teachers? An Expectancy-Value Perspective

In this study we investigated the value of reform-oriented inservice teacher development attempts about inquiry-based teaching, focusing on those teachers that experience some degree of pedagogical discontentment. For this purpose we used case study approach to research the problem in detail and we purposively selected three science teachers who experienced moderate level pedagogical discontentment. Six means of data collection were employed; four questionnaires and two interviews. Inductive qualitative data analysis and cross-case analysis were employed. The findings showed two of the participants found graduate coursework as effective, useful, interesting, important and cost-effective (effort and time) for improving teaching ability regarding inquiry-based teaching. However one of the participants suggested the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey programs as effective, interesting and useful attempts. For cost factor the participants underlined importance of long-term benefits of these attempts. One of the cases stated that scientific education congress, introduction meetings, on-line portals of Ministry of Education and written documents are cost-effective, but such efforts are not effective in engaging teachers in considering inquiry.WoSScopu

Revista electrónica de investigación y evaluación educativa

Resumen tomado de la publicaciónTítulo, resumen y palabras clave en inglés y españolTítulo en el sumario de la revista: "Análisis de la percepción de futuros profesores turcos sobre tecnología en educación"La exitosa integración de la tecnología en la educación requiere profesores con una percepción adecuada de la tecnología. Teniendo en cuenta este hecho, el objetivo es analizar la percepción de la tecnología de futuros maestros turcos de primaria, en términos de competencia con el ordenador y los estilos de aprendizaje. La muestra del estudio se compone de 591 futuros maestros de primaria. Como resultado, se constata que existe un efecto principal significativo para el nivel de competencia informática, pero que no hay efecto significativo para los estilos de aprendizaje ni interacción significativa entre el nivel percibido, el equipo de competencia y los estilos de aprendizaje.ValenciaES

The effect of explicit embeddedreflective instruction on nature ofscience understandings in advancedscience students

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of explicit-embedded-reflective (EER) instruction in nature of science (NOS) understandings of ninth-grade advanced science students. This study was conducted with 71 students, who were divided into three groups, by using non-equivalent quasi-experimental design. In the treatment groups, the EER teaching was conducted, while in the comparison group NOS instruction was carried out in the same time interval by lecturing, demonstration and questioning strategies. Views on Nature of Science Questionnaire-Form C and follow-up interviews were used for data collection. Categorisation of the participants' profiles on aspects of the NOS was used for data analysis. According to the results, participants had misunderstandings about scientific methods', laws and theories' and observation and inference', while they had expert views on the role of creativity and imagination' in the beginning of the study. For changing naive NOS understandings, the EER approach was found to be effective