Reconceptualizing and field testing the scientific literacy framework by exploring the aspect of scientific literacy in Turkish science curriculum

The aim of this research was twofold. The first aim was to revise the existing scientific literacy framework developed by Boujaoude in accordance with the current literature about scientific literacy. The second aim was to explore how the aspects of scientific literacy were reflected in the Turkish science curriculum using the revised framework. The impact of science and technology on environment resulted in the need for both scientifically and environmentally literate individuals and therefore, any framework examining scientific literacy should include the interaction between science, technology, society, and environment as an aspect. Moreover, a new aspect was suggested for the framework the affective side of science, considering the affective outcomes of science education. Finally, the science curriculum from grades 3 to 8 was analyzed using the revised framework. Results showed that the revisions on the framework resulted in a more rigorous framework which evaluates scientific literacy more precisely. Moreover, the results about the analysis of science curriculum indicated that the knowledge of science and the investigative nature of science were reflected in the objectives of the curriculum more than other aspects. The results and implications were discussed

How do sources of self-efficacy predict preservice teachers' beliefs related to constructivist and traditional approaches to teaching and learning?

Guided by Bandura’s theoretical construct of self-efficacy, in this study, we attempted to model the relationship between preservice elementary teachers’ sources of self-efficacy and their constructivist, and traditional beliefs related to teaching and learning by multiple linear regression analyses. Participants consist of 151 preservice elementary teachers at a state university. Results indicated that while mastery experience is significantly contributed to preservice elementary teachers’ constructivist teaching beliefs, physiological/emotional state made a statistically significant contribution to their traditional teaching beliefs. These results suggested that preservice elementary teachers hold more constructivist teaching beliefs as they gain experience with teaching based on the constructivist approach. Moreover, when preservice teachers have high anxiety, fear, or stress, they tend to be more traditional-oriented. The implications were discussed in terms of teacher education programs

Okul Öncesi Eğitime Katılım Fen Öz-yeterliğinin Gelişmesi Açısından Ne Ölçüde Önemlidir? PISA 2015 Verisine Dayalı Finlandiya, Singapur ve Türkiye Karşılaştırması

Preschool attendance rates have been increasing in recent decades yet there is some level of deviation throughout the participating countries in PISA. Finland and Singapore are the countries with a very high level of preschool attendance rates while the attendance rate in Turkey lags evidently behind the OECD average. In this study, we investigate the association between preschool attendance and science self-efficacy for these countries using the PISA 2015 data. PISA is an international survey study on 15-year-old students’ science, mathematics and reading literacies to evaluate the education systems in the participating countries. Regression analyses for each country have revealed that students’ preschool attendance is associated with their science self-efficacy scores to some degree in all three countries. The difference in self-efficacy seems to be getting larger as the preschool attendance increases. Singapore has the highest effect size while Turkey has the lowest one considering the magnitude of the association.Okul öncesi eğitime katılım oranlarında son yıllarda artış gözlenmesine rağmen PISA’ya katılan ülkeler arasında bu katılım oranları açısından belirli düzeyde farklılıklar bulunmaktadır. Finlandiya ve Singapur okul öncesi eğitime katılım oranının çok yüksek olduğu iki ülke iken Türkiye'de bu oran OECD ortalamasının belirgin bir şekilde gerisindedir. Bu çalışmada, bu üç ülke için öğrencilerin okul öncesi eğitime katılımları ile fen öz-yeterlikleri arasındaki ilişki PISA 2015 verisi kullanılarak araştırılmaktadır. PISA, 15 yaşındaki bireylerin fen, matematik ve okuma alanlarındaki okuryazarlık düzeylerini ölçerek katılımcı ülkelerin eğitim sistemlerini değerlendirmeyi amaçlayan uluslararası bir çalışmadır. Her bir ülke için yapılan regresyon analizleri, üç ülkede de okul öncesi eğitime katılımın fen öz-yeterlik puanını belirli ölçüde yordadığını ortaya koymuştur. Diğer bir ifadeyle, öğrencilerin okul öncesi eğitime katılım süreleri arttıkça fen öz-yeterlik puanlarının da arttığı göze çarpmaktadır. Bu iki değişken arasındaki ilişkinin büyüklüğü dikkate alındığında Singapur en yüksek etki büyüklüğü değerine sahipken, Türkiye etki büyüklüğünün en düşük olduğu ülke olarak dikkat çekmektedir

Türkiye’deki öğrencilerin fen okuryazarlığını etkileyen faktörler nelerdir? PISA 2015 verisine dayalı bir hiyerarşik doğrusal modelleme çalışması

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the student and school-level variables affecting Turkish students' science literacy using PISA 2015 data. In this way, we aim to build a hierarchical model of the variables predicting students' science literacy level. Particularly, when we consider the sharp decrease in Turkish students' success in PISA 2015, the implications of this study would be even stronger. Because of the nested nature of the data and a high intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) value (0.52), we performed hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analysis. As a result, we constructed a model including nine student-level and four school-level variables to predict students' science literacy scores. We classified the student-level variables into three categories as personal characteristics, variables associated with learning time, and variables associated with teaching-learning process. Similarly, we classified the school-level variables into two categories: school resources and learning environment in the school. While "weekly science learning time" is the most prominent variable at the student-level, "science specific resources", at the school-level, seems to be the most powerful predictor of students' success. One of the surprising findings in this study is that there is a significant negative correlation between "out-of-school study time" and science literacy scores.The main purpose of this study is to investigate the student and school-level variables affecting Turkish students’ science literacy using PISA 2015 data. In this way, we aim to build a hierarchical model of the variables predicting students’ science literacy level. Particularly, when we consider the sharp decrease in Turkish students’ success in PISA 2015, the implications of this study would be even stronger. Because of the nested nature of the data and a high intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) value (0.52), we performed hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analysis. As a result, we constructed a model including nine student-level and four school-level variables to predict students’ science literacy scores. We classified the student-level variables into three categories as personal characteristics, variables associated with learning time, and variables associated with teaching-learning process. Similarly, we classified the school-level variables into two categories: school resources and learning environment in the school. While “weekly science learning time” is the most prominent variable at the student-level, “science specific resources”, at the school-level, seems to be the most powerful predictor of students’ success. One of the surprising findings in this study is that there is a significant negative correlation between “out-of-school study time” and science literacy scores. Keywords: Science literacy, PISA 2015, hierarchical linear modelling (HLM), science educatio

Profiling preservice science teachers' early experiences, beliefs about teaching, and teaching practices

Background One of the most important, albeit ignored, issues in the process of curriculum implementation is teachers' beliefs; indeed, this is a vital issue since their beliefs about teaching and learning will in part govern their actions in the classroom. There is a substantial body of the literature that highlights how teachers' beliefs are important when ensuring that science education reforms are successfully carried out. Therefore, it is important to explore the beliefs of teachers and teacher candidates to support them in adapting these beliefs to be in accord with the goals of the reform. Purpose This paper presents the results of an investigation into the nature of preservice science teachers' (PSTs) beliefs about teaching, the congruency of their beliefs about teaching, their actual classroom practices, and the potential role of their early experiences as learners in shaping their beliefs and classroom practices. Sample At the outset of the study, there were 13 PSTs. Among them, four were recruited for the study by purposive sampling. They were all in the final year of their 4-year teacher education programme and will be able to teach middle school science classes after graduation. Design and methods This study employed a basic qualitative research method. The primary methods of data collection in this study were: 1) initial interviews to select participants in a purposeful manner; 2) classroom observation of each PST to identify how they taught science; and 3) final interviews with each PST to explore their beliefs about science teaching and their past experiences. Results We found that the PSTs who chose to participate in this study hold student-centred teaching beliefs while performing teacher-centred science teaching practices. The result was interesting in that the PSTs' teaching practices closely resemble those of their early science teachers

Fen bilgisi öğretmen adaylarının sosyobilimsel konularda muhakeme yeteneklerinin geliştirilmesi.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how preservice science teachers’ (PSTs) socioscientific reasoning changes in response to participation in a socioscientific issues-focused course. Socioscientific issues (SSI) are complex, uncertain, lack clear-cut solutions; require ongoing research and examining from multiple perspectives. Individuals should recognize the complexities associated with SSI, examine them from multiple perspectives and, appreciate the need for ongoing inquiry to negotiate and resolve them. For the purpose of this study, design based research with qualitative approach was used. A single group design was used to investigate the change in participants’ socioscientific reasoning before, during, and after SSI-focused course. A total of 33 PSTs enrolled in the Science-Technology-Society course were involved in the study. A semester-long course was designed with three phases. The course included teacher-led whole classroom discussions, teacher-guided group activities, and independent group activities. Data were collected through pre-post interviews, open-ended questions, reflection papers, video/audio recordings, and written reports. An initial analysis of interview data resulted in development of depth rubric to assess socioscientific reasoning in addition to the previous rubric. Results revealed that there was a significant improvement in PSTs’ socioscientific reasoning in terms of complexity, inquiry, and multiple perspectives before and after SSI-focused course. The results after first and second phases also revealed that PSTs’ socioscientific reasoning in terms of complexity, inquiry, and multiple perspectives developed gradually during the SSI-focused. The teaching and learning activities in SSI-focused course were discussed as potential source for the development of socioscientific reasoning among participants.Ph.D. - Doctoral Progra

Student and school-level factors to predict science literacy for two top-performing countries in PISA 2015: Finland and Singapore

Finland and Singapore are both top-performing countries in international assessments such as PISA. Finland has been consistently one of the high-achievers regarding not only students’ literacy levels but also educational equity. Similarly, Singapore has continuously shown outstanding performance in PISA. It outperformed all the other participants in all three literacy domains in PISA 2015. We believe exploring the factors affecting students’ science literacy in these two top-performing countries will provide the low-performing countries with a useful guideline. In this regard, we aim to build models including the student and school-level factors associated with the students’ science literacy in Finland and Singapore using PISA 2015 data. We conduct Hierarchical Linear Modeling to create these models. The sample includes 5882 students in Finland and 6115 students in Singapore. The resulting models explain about 43% and 40% of the within-school variance while they explain 62% and 71% of the between-school variance in science literacy in Finland and Singapore respectively. At the student level, students’ enjoyment and interest in science are the most influential predictors of science literacy while at the school level, schools’ economic, social, and cultural status is by far the most powerful predictor of science literacy in both Finland and Singapore