Attitude Toward Physics Teaching of Science Teachers: A Revised Scale and Analysis

The first aim of the study was to apply the revised version of the Dimensions of Attitudes toward Science Scale, namely Dimension of Attitudes toward Physics Teaching Scale (DAPT) with a sample consisting of 207 in-service science teachers in Turkey. The second was to determine the percentage distributions of in-service science teachers’ attitudes toward physics teaching in the confirmed seven sub-dimensions. The DAPT is a valid and reliable scale to measure Turkish science teachers’ attitudes toward physics teaching. Most of the teachers acknowledge the importance of physics subjects in science lessons and believe that they have self-efficacy in teaching physics subjects. Although a large number of participant teachers were female, they were not against gender stereotyping in their attitude towards physics teaching in science courses

Interaction between Students’ Motivation and Physics Teachers’ Characteristics: Multiple Case Study

This study identified the process of interaction between students’ motivation and characteristics of two physics teachers: one who exhibited effective physics teacher characteristics frequently and one who exhibited the characteristics rarely. The two case teachers were selected to predict contrasting and comparable results. The data gathered from the semi-structured interviews, follow-up interviews, direct observation, video recordings, and field notes were analyzed both by single case and by cross-case analysis to strengthen the findings from two case teachers. Findings indicated that teachers’ characteristics like enthusiasm and giving examples from daily life increased students’ motivation by increasing their attention and willingness to participate in the classroom discussion. Even though a teacher frequently exhibited the effective characteristics by providing every opportunity for their learning, students wanted a classroom environment where they could stay calm and be more passive. The students did not like to be constantly forced by the teacher to share their views. In the lesson of a teacher who rarely exhibited the effective characteristics, students demanded a classroom environment where they could be more active. The students were not satisfied when their teacher avoided asking questions or had difficulty in solving the problems. Students, in general, resisted the teacher’s behaviors or characteristics when the teachers exhibited inconsistent behaviors

Evaluation of the Life Skills of Students in Adolescence: Scale Development and Analysis

Adolescents have been the leading group for life skills (LS) education in the last decade. The primary purpose of this study was to develop a valid and reliable instrument for assessing the general LS of students in adolescence. In addition, the relation of adolescents' LS to gender, grade level, science/physics course scores, GPA, and socio-economic status variables was examined. This descriptive survey study included two data sets, one for the development of the scale part, including 692 students, and the other for confirmatory analysis and inferential statistics, including 887 students. LS were assessed using the Life Skills Scale (LSS), which consisted of 83 items in 10 sub-dimensions, and evaluated critical thinking, creative thinking, decision making and problem-solving, coping with stress and emotion, social responsibility, teamwork, self-esteem, self-awareness, empathy, and interpersonal relationship and communication skills of the students. The results of the exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and the reliability coefficient of the scale provided solid statistical evidence, which was coherent with the 10-subdimension model of the scale. The findings revealed that the LSS is a valid and reliable tool for adolescents to evaluate their LS. Students scored highest on empathy, self-awareness, and self-esteem, whereas they scored lowest on teamwork, coping with stress emotion, and critical thinking. There was a significant relationship between various sub-dimensions of LS and some variables such as GPA, grade level, gender, and science/physics course score. The results also indicated that the academically successful students were highly skilled in most LS sub-dimensions

Fizik öğretmenlerinin niteliklerinin öğrencilerin fizikteki motivasyonlarını nasıl etkilediği üzerine çoklu durum çalışması.

This study was aimed to explore the interaction between effective physics teacher characteristics, from teachers’ and students’ shared perceptions and students’ motivation. The thesis included two main parts. The first part was quantitative and the characteristics were identified. The second part was qualitative and the characteristics were used as criteria to select two case teachers and the interaction between their characteristics and students’ motivation was investigated. The questionnaire, in the quantitative part, was administered in 3 regions of Turkey and 3 cities for each region including 214 high school physics teachers. There were two different questionnaires, derived from the quantitative part, to select the two case teachers for the qualitative part. The qualitative data included interviews with the two case teachers and their students, field notes, and videos. The data in the quantitative part was analyzed by descriptive statistics. Findings revealed that there were 38 effective physics teacher characteristics affecting students’ motivation in physics within 8 categories as perceived by teachers and students. The characteristics were important in terms of students’ motivation as perceived by teachers more than as perceived by students. The teachers’ subject matter knowledge and their personal characteristics were the two categories that mostly affected the students’ motivation. The data in the qualitative part was analyzed by cross case analysis. The findings revealed that the positive characteristics increased students’ motivation, when the teachers exhibited them. When the teachers did not display the positive characteristics, the students’ motivation decreased. If teachers exhibited the negative characteristics in a positive way it was likely to increase students’ motivation. The qualitative part enhanced results of the quantitative part in that it enlightened the way that those characteristics affected students’ motivation and what would cause if those characteristics were not exhibited or were exhibited negatively.Ph.D. - Doctoral Progra

Exploring Seventh-Grade Students’ and Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Misconceptions in Astronomical Concepts

Pre-service science teachers’ conceptual understanding of astronomical concepts and their misconceptions in these concepts is crucial to study since they will teach these subjects in middle schools after becoming teachers. This study aimed to explore both seventh-grade students’ and the science teachers’ understanding of astronomical concepts and to diagnose the misconceptions of seventh-grade students and pre-service science teachers regarding some basic astronomy concepts derived from a three-tier test. The test was administered to 105 pre-service science teachers and 91 seventh-grade students. The best conceptual understanding was related to the properties of the Sun. The students and pre-service science teachers have some common misconceptions in astronomy. Pre-service teachers mostly have misconceptions not regarding complex concepts but instead in very basic knowledge of astronomy. There is a need to take serious measures to correct the misconceptions of the teachers, since under such circumstances it is optimistic to expect them to teach the subject correctly

Lise Öğrencilerinin Fizik Başarılarına Etki Eden Öğretmen Nitelikleri ile İlgili Algıları

Bu çalışmanın amacı öğrencilerin fizik başarısını etkileyen öğretmen niteliklerini ve bu niteliklerin öğrencinin fizik başarısına etkilerini araştırmak ve bunların bazı değişkenlerle ilişkili olup olmadığını araştırmaktır. Bu çalışma kapsamında, Türkiye’deki 3 bölgede ve her bölgeden 3 ilde, 9. sınıf seviyesinden 11. sınıf seviyesine kadar toplam 2177 devlet lisesi öğrencisi bulunmaktadır. Öğrencilerden toplanan veriler optik okuyucu yardımıyla bilgisayara girilmiş ve bütün betimsel istatistikleri, geçerlilik analizi ve ANOVA yapılmıştır. Sonuçlara göre; öğretmen nitelikleri, öğrencilerin başarısı üzerinde etkilidir. Öğretmenin ‘Alan/Pedagojik Bilgisi’ en etkili niteliklerin toplandığı kategoridir. Ayrıca, öğretmen nitelikleri ile bölge, öğrencilerin cinsiyeti ve sınıf seviyesi gibi değişkenleri arasında anlamlı düzeyde bir ilişki bulunmuştur. Bölge bazında Akdeniz bölgesindeki öğrenciler, cinsiyette kız öğrenciler, sınıf seviyesinde 11. sınıf öğrencilerinin algılamaları öğretmen niteliklerinin başarıyı en çok etkilediği yönündedir. Araştırmanın sonuçları öğretmen yetiştirme ve hizmet içi eğitim programlarında ve eğitim fakültelerinde kullanılabilir

Öğretmen Nitelikleri Çevrimiçi Anketi Sonuçlarının Analizi

The aim of the study is to investigate how often the participants’ physics teachers exhibit the characteristics of effective teacher and to determine the variation of these characteristics with regard to geographical region and school type. A questionnaire and an open ended question were directed to the participants to tell the characteristics of their physics teachers that they possess. The results, covered data of 1398 participants whose perceptions indicate statistically significant mean differences in score of exhibiting the characteristics of effective physics teacher. Physics teachers in private high schools exhibit the characteristics of effective teacher more often than teachers in general high, anatolian high and vocational high schools; physics teachers in science high schools exhibit them more often than teachers in general high schools. Almost 60 % of the participants indicate that physics teachers frequently exhibit the characteristics related to the categories of “personal characteristics” and “attitude toward discipline in the classBu çalışmanın amacı; Türkiye genelinde katılımcıların, etkili öğretmen niteliklerini kendi fizik öğretmenlerinin sınıf ortamında ne sıklıkla gösterdiğini ve bunların coğrafi bölge ve okul türü açısından değişkenliğini tespit etmektir. Katılımcılara yöneltilen anket ve açık uçlu soru ile bu nitelikler doğrultusunda kendi fizik öğretmenlerinin sahip oldukları nitelikleri anlatmaları istenmiştir. Sonuçlarda, 1398 katılımcının verisini içermekte, bunların algısına göre etkili fizik öğretmen niteliklerini sergileme ortalama puanında okul türleri arasında istatistiksel olarak anlamlı farklar bulunmuştur. Etkili öğretmen niteliklerini, özel liselerdeki fizik öğretmenleri genel lise, anadolu lisesi ve meslek liselerindeki öğretmenlerden; fen liselerindeki fizik öğretmenleri genel liselerdekinden daha sık göstermektedir. Katılımcıların yaklaşık %60’ı fizik öğretmenlerinin ‘Kişilik Özellikleri’ ve ‘Sınıf içi Disiplin Tutumu’ kategorilerindeki nitelikleri sınıfta sıklıkla sergilediklerini belirtmişti

Teachers' and Students' Perceptions of Effective Physics Teacher Characteristics

Problem Statement: What do teachers and students in Turkey perceive as the common characteristics of effective physics teachers