This qualitative study was designed to introduce STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) activities to pre-service science teachers and identify their views about STEM materials. In this context, a competition was organized with 42 pre-service science teachers (13 male- 29 female) who took Instructional Technologies and Material Development course in Elementary Science Education Department in Siirt University. The competition consisted of 5 categories: balloon powered car, mousetrap car, water rocket, spaghetti bridge 1 (durability) and spaghetti bridge 2 (visuality). Structured interview form developed by researchers was used as data collection instrument. The results were analyzed with the conventional content analysis. Results indicated that participants (especially females) are more willing to use STEM materials in their future teaching life. Participants mostly believe that STEM materials facilitate learning, enhance retention and increase self-confidence. However, there are also pre-service science teachers who believe that preparation of STEM materials is difficult, takes too much time and not appropriate to students’ levels.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of creative drama as a teaching method on academic achievement and retention in social studies, students’ attitude towards social studies of 4th grade. The research is designed according to quasi-experimental model. The research was conducted with 4th year students in a public school in Adana in Turkey. There are 42 students in experimental group and 39 in control group. Creative drama activities were used to develop social studies achievement and attitude of students as a treatment for the experimental group. The treatment consisted of 15 hours, 40 minutes sessions that equal a class hour in school and 3 hours a week. Control groups had been taught by classroom teachers as the way they do traditionally. Data collection tools are “Attitude Towards Social Studies Scale” developed  by Gencel “Achievement Test” developed by the researchers.  Data were processed by using covariance analysis. Findings indicated that creative drama method has a significant effect on social studies achievement and students’ attitude towards social studies but not a significant effect on retention of social studies knowledge.

In this research, it was aimed to determine the views of mathematics teacher candidates about the technological tools that can be used in mathematics lessons. The research was conducted through qualitative research methodology. 120 teacher candidates who were educated in the mathematics teacher education program in Dicle University Ziya Gokalp Education Faculty took part to the research. The data of the study were collected through semi-structured interviews. The data collection tool used in the study is an interview form developed by the researcher, and it consists of open-ended questions. In the analysis of the data, descriptive analyses were used. As a result of the data analysis obtained from the research, it was determined that teacher candidates responded as “computer/computer software” at most for the questions about what technological tools could be used in mathematics lessons, what technological tools they would use when they were teachers, and which technological tools would be beneficial. In addition, teacher candidates stated that there were computers at most as technological tools in their faculties and the technological tools in their faculties were mostly used for visualization/concretization the subject.

This study attempts to reveal pre-service teachers’ conceptions, definitions, and understanding of quadrilaterals and their internal relationships in terms of personal and formal figural concepts via case of the parallelograms. To collect data, an open-ended question was addressed to 27 pre-service mathematics teachers, and clinical interviews were conducted with them. The factors influential on pre-service teachers’ definitions of parallelograms and conceptions regarding internal relationships between quadrilaterals were analyzed. The strongest result involved definitions based on prototype figures and partially seeing internal relationships between quadrilaterals via these definitions. As a different result from what is reported in the literature, it was found that the fact that rectangle remains as a special case of parallelogram in pre-service teachers’ figural concepts leads them not to adopt the hierarchical relationship. The findings suggested that learners were likely to recognize quadrilaterals by a special case of them and prototypical figures, even though they knew the formal definition in general. This led learners to have difficulty in understanding the inclusion relations of quadrilaterals.

This study explored in a sample of 560 high level education students their judgment formation to perceived self-efficacy to solve mathematical tasks. Students had to read 36 experimental vignettes describing educative scenarios to learn mathematics. Each scenario presented four manipulated pieces of information (learning modality, task difficulty, task relevance, and structure). After reading each scenario students were required to provide judgments regarding their believed self-efficacy to solve mathematical tasks described in the vignette by using a scale. Results showed that in regard to how students perceived their self-efficacy they could be grouped in two clusters (high and moderate). Most relevant factors to their judgment formation were task difficulty, task relevance and structure. Here, both groups used the same cognitive algebra mechanism to integrate factor information. Here, students valuated academic performance and feedback (e.g. difficulty and relevance) as most relevant even when they are conscious that learning is a primordial target. These and other results are discussed in the paper.

The state of mathematical thinking is considered to have an effect on the formation of anxiety regarding teaching mathematics. It is hypothesized that with the formation of mathematical thinking, the anxiety in teachers regarding teaching mathematics will be reduced. Since mathematical thinking is a skill acquired starting from the early years of education, the anxiety in form teachers in primary school regarding teaching mathematics is important. Within this context, the objective of this study is to investigate the effect of mathematical thinking states of form teachers on their anxieties regarding mathematics teaching. The sample group comprises 194 form teachers working in state schools of Bagcilar district, Istanbul province in the spring term of 2015-2016 academic year. As data collection tools, mathematical thinking scale and anxiety scale for the mathematics teaching anxiety of form teachers were used. To test the predictive power of mathematical thinking regarding the mathematics teaching anxiety, Multiple Linear Regression Analysis was used. It was found that the form teachers had high mathematical thinking scores and had low anxiety scores. A low degree, negative and significant correlation was found between the mathematical thinking and anxiety of form teachers regarding mathematics teaching. Moreover, it was found that mathematical thinking had an effect on the anxiety in form teachers regarding mathematics teaching.

Mathematics educators have reported on many issues regarding students’ mathematical education, particularly students who received mathematics education at different departments such as engineering, science or primary school, including their difficulties with mathematical concepts, their understanding of and preferences for mathematical concepts. This study aimed to investigate the opinions of primary-school teacher education students in terms of their perceptions of difficulty level of the mathematics courses, change in their achievement, if there is any, and interest in mathematics after completing these courses, and factors affecting their achievement and interest level in these courses. Being qualitative in nature, this study was a case study. The data were analyzed using the content analysis and descriptive methods. According to the results, most students stated that they faced mathematics course content with unexpected level of difficulty. After taking basic mathematics courses, the percentage of students with decreased level of interest and achievement in mathematics was found higher than the students who experienced an increase in their interest and achievement. Students underlined such significant factors for the change of their interest and achievement in mathematics as prior knowledge, lecturer(s), and content coverage. Finally, most of the students viewed mathematics courses as a beneficiary tool for their professional development.

The aim of this research is to determine the thoughts of the teachers about the concepts of "Smart Board", "Computer", "Internet" and "Social Media" from the Instructional technologies of the secondary school teachers with different branches through metaphors. In the research, a qualitative research model was used to identify teachers' thoughts in metaphor analysis from various branches about the use of instructional technologies in the national field. Within the scope of the qualitative research model, the phenomenology design was used. In order to find out what kind of thoughts teachers have about teaching materials from the participants "Smart Board / Computer / Internet / Social Media is like / similar to…..; Because ..." they were asked to complete their covenants. As a result of the research, 25 valid metaphors belonging to the concepts of smart board, computer, social media and 27 of internet concept were obtained from secondary school teachers. The most book (f = 4) metaphor for smart board concept, brain and memory (f = 2) metaphors for computer concept, most air (f = 3) and medicine, ocean, water (f = 2) metaphors for internet concept and the drug and virus (f = 2) metaphors related to the concept of social media. The metaphors of the concept of smart board are classified into 5 conceptual categories with common characteristics related to each other, 6 categories with common features related to computer and internet concepts, and 7 conceptual categories with social media concept related to each other. In the research, it was reached that the secondary school teachers expressed positive opinions about the concept of smart board and computer, partially negative about the concept of the internet but more negative opinions about the concept of social media.

The aim of this study was to explore the degree to which a professional development (PD) program designed using GeoGebra influences a group of Turkish middle school teachers’ beliefs in relation to mathematics and role of GeoGebra in mathematics education. In order to collect the required data, the PD course was established to provide six teachers with an opportunity to obtain practical experiences with and necessary knowledge about the use of GeoGebra in mathematics education. In this context, a multiple case study approach was utilized, in which mathematics teachers were observed and interviewed using a variety of procedures to expose qualitative data about their beliefs and the dynamics of their beliefs changes during the course. The main findings illustrated that teachers’ beliefs were transformed to some extent in favour of the use of GeoGebra, as well as using constructivist ideas in their mathematics teaching and learning can be attained through the GeoGebra based PD course. In fact, the relationship amongst stated beliefs and intended teaching practice is complex and the social issues were very influential on teachers’ pedagogical decisions. This research also introduces some suggestions for researchers who focus on professional development of mathematics teachers relative to their beliefs..

The purpose of this study is to examine the opinions of middle school mathematics teachers on the integration of mathematics course and social issues. For this purpose, qualitative research method was used in this study. As for determining the participants of the research, criterion sampling among purposeful sampling methods was used. Being a middle school mathematics teacher as an occupation was considered as a criterion for determining the participants. The participants of the research consist of 13 middle school mathematics teachers in Turkey. So as to collect the research data, the semi-structured interview form created by the researchers was used. The data analysis was performed according to the content analysis, and Nvivo 10 program was used for the analysis. As a result of this study, the themes of the situation and methods of the integration of mathematics course and social issues, the attainment of democratic values in mathematics course and the ways of its attainment, gaining awareness of social justice and equality in mathematics course and the ways of its gaining, the activities performed by teachers for social issues in mathematics course and the teachers’ suggestions for the integration of mathematics course and social issues were reached and the results were discussed within this frame.

This study investigated prospective mathematics teachers’ reflections on the experience of designing and conducting one-to-one clinical interviews with middle school students in the context of an elective course on use of video in teacher learning. Prospective teachers were asked to write about weaknesses and strengths in student understanding as well as their own performance as an interviewer in terms of asking questions and responding to student thinking in their reflections on conducting clinical interviews. Furthermore, prospective teachers were also asked to reflect on what they would do differently in order to conduct better clinical interviews.  Nature of prospective teachers’ reflections were analyzed by using existing frameworks (through constructs of reflection-on-action and reflection-for-action) and by using thematic analysis. Results of data analyses revealed that prospective teachers had more difficulties in providing meaningful reflection-for-action which was related to alternative decisions and planning for future similar interviews. Thematic analysis results revealed prospective teachers’ learning were grouped under three categories: conducting clinical interviews as part of being a teacher, complexity of conducting clinical interviews, and personal theories about middle school students. There are implications for both teacher learning and research.

It is important for pre-service teachers to know the conceptual difficulties they have experienced regarding the concepts of multiplication and division in fractions and problem posing is a way to learn these conceptual difficulties. Problem posing is a synthetic activity that fundamentally has multiple answers. The purpose of this study is to analyze the multiplication and division of fractions problems posed by pre-service elementary mathematics teachers and to investigate how the problems posed change according to the year of study the pre-service teachers are in. The study employed developmental research methods. A total of 213 pre-service teachers enrolled in different years of the Elementary Mathematics Teaching program at a state university in Turkey took part in the study. The “Problem Posing Test” was used as the data collecting tool. In this test, there are 3 multiplication and 3 division operations. The data were analyzed using qualitative descriptive analysis. The findings suggest that, regardless of the year, pre-service teachers had more conceptual difficulties in problem posing about the division of fractions than in problem posing about the multiplication of fractions.

Within the scope of restructuring the secondary education efforts of the Ministry of National Education, it has been decided to abrogate the secondary school level teachers' schools. The purpose of this study is to evaluate Turkey's teacher education practices and the quest for qualified teacher education through the perceptions of the graduates of these high schools. The study is a phenomenological research based on interpretation. Data were obtained through interviews. The data obtained were analyzed in the vetting of candidate teachers, the curriculum to be used in the education process and its accreditation, and whom to be certified as teachers. The main results of this study, conducted with participants from the secondary school level teachers schools’ graduates, show that, in terms of teacher education, teachers' high schools present various opportunities by enrolling successful candidates, educating them as leaders, preparing them for multi-cultural environments. In order to educate qualified teachers, the participants suggest teacher education programs should include individual and group activities, involve training, arts, basic science, and values education courses. In the selection and approval of tenure teacher, besides academic achievement and diploma, advanced communication skills, patience, confidence, and patriotism should be sought in the candidates.

The aim of this study is to determine the problem solving skills and science process skills of six year-old children who attended kindergarten and whether or not there is a difference in problem solving skills and science process skills of children receiving and not receiving the education with GEMS program. In the study using the experimental model with pre-test, post-test and control group, the sample group consisted of a total of 25 children including 11 children in experimental group and 14 children in control group who attended the preschool education. The “GEMS Program” was applied throughout a school year after applying pre-test to the children in the experimental group. In the scope of the study, “General Information Form” to obtain the data about the children and their families, “Parental Evaluation Form” including the evaluation of the parents about their children, “Problem Solving Scale in Science Education (PSSSE)” to determine the problem solving skills of the children and “Science Processes Observation Form (SPOF)” to measure the science process skills of the children were used. According to the results of the study, while a statistically significant difference was observed between the Problem Solving Scale in Science Education mean scores of the children in the experimental group who participated in the GEMS Education Program and of the children in control group, no statistically significant difference was observed between the mean scores obtained by the children in the experimental group from Science Processes Observation Form and the mean scores of the children in the control group.

The aim of this study is to explain and predict prospective preschool teachers’ academic achievements depending on goal orientations they adopt, their critical thinking dispositions and self-regulation skills. Research sample constitutes of 265 prospective preschool teachers attending the Faculty of Educational Sciences in Cukurova University. Research data were collected with the 2x2Achievement Goal Orientations Scale, Self-Regulation Questionnaire and Critical Thinking Disposition Scale. Demographical information about prospective teachers’ gender, age, grade level and academic grade point averages were obtained with the personal information form. For the analysis of research data, One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and discriminant analysis were used. In this study; it was concluded that prospective teachers with high level of learning approach orientation, critical thinking disposition and self-regulation skills had higher levels of academic achievement. However, it was determined that distinguishing variables among prospective preschool teachers with low, medium and high level of academic achievement included learning approach, performance approach goal orientation and critical thinking disposition and self-regulation skills. Correct classification percentage of distinguishing variables according to prospective preschool teachers’ levels of academic achievement was determined as 48.8%. Considering the fact that prospective teachers’ achievement-goal orientations, critical thinking dispositions and self-regulation skills may increase their academic achievement and shape their future teaching performances, it is suggested to implement programs that will contribute to the development of such skills and orientations among prospective preschool teachers.

This study aims to evaluate elementary school math teachers' self-efficacy beliefs about classroom management. With the aim of investigating elementary school math teachers' self-efficacy beliefs about classroom management, a classroom management self-efficacy scale was developed.  The 5 point likert scale is composed of 46 items. The scale was applied to 142 math teachers working at elementary schools in Diyarbakir central district. Data were analyzed in terms of gender, seniority, classroom population and weekly course load. To analyze the data, t-test, one way variance analysis (ANOVA), Scheffe and LSD tests were used. The results showed that the math teachers have a positive self-efficacy belief of classroom management and that male teachers are better at maintaining discipline in class. In addition, the research shows that teachers with more experience are better at course design and classroom management and that classroom population has an effect on math teachers' self-efficacy beliefs about classroom management.

The aim of this research is to evaluate the constructivist learning environments of physical education and sport teacher candidates. For this purpose, 928 students (523 male, 405 female) selected by the appropriate sampling method from the Physical Education and Sport Teaching Department of 17 universities consisted the sample of the research. In the study; "Constructivist Learning Environments Evaluation Scale" developed by Arkun and Askar (2010) was used in order to reveal the opinions of the students about the constructivist learning environment. The scale consists of 7 Likert type, 6 sub dimensions and 28 items. The Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient for this study was found to be .93. The lowest score that can be taken from the scale is 28 and the highest score is 196. Kruskal Wallis Variance Analysis and Mann Whitney U test were used because the obtained data did not show normal distribution (Kolmogorov-Smirnov), and the significance level was taken as 0.05. As a result of the research, the constructivist learning environments of 17th universities 3rd and 4th grade teacher candidates were evaluated in terms of age, gender and grade variables. According to this, there was no significant difference when the average scores of constructivist learning environments were compared in terms of age and class levels of physical education and sports teacher candidates. In comparison with gender, female teacher candidates were found to have a more constructive learning environment.

This research aims to complete Turkish adaptation, validity and reliability studies for the Math and Me Survey developed by Adelson and McCoach for use in determining the students’ attitudes towards mathematics in the transition from primary school to middle school. Within the scope of validity and reliability studies for the scale, data gathered from 1169 primary school students had item analysis, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis performed. In line with this, 18 items from the original scale were translated to Turkish and item equivalence between the original English and Turkish translation was ensured. During item analysis to determine the construct validity of the scale, an item with low item total correlation value was removed from the scale. The Cronbach alpha coefficient was calculated as .93. The Cronbach alpha coefficients from the scale subdimensions of Enjoyment and Self-Perception were calculated as .91 and .88. The confirmatory factor analysis results for the scale revealed perfect fit with the construct determined in the exploratory factor analysis results. Thus, the Math and Me survey can be said to be a valid and reliable tool for use in Turkish culture.

The study investigates the views of social studies teachers (SSTs) about the advantages and challenges of interactive whiteboard application in social studies lessons. Data was gathered using a questionnaire consisting of 58 items. The sample comprised 483 male and female SSTs from different governorates of Oman who were provided with three training programs about using Interactive Whiteboard (IWB). Data were analyzed by using: Means, T-test and One Way ANOVA.  The results indicated that they considered its effect to be significant in supporting students’ learning process by enhancing the quality of learning environment, excitement of use and importance of use in social studies lessons. It also showed that they used it widely in their lessons but they experienced moderate challenges, including related to technical support and the availability of IWB in all classes. The results also indicated that teachers’ gender and experience influenced their views. The study recommends the provision of more technical support to teachers.

It was aimed in this study to determine the teacher candidates' views on the augmented reality applications in education. It is a descriptive study to identify the present situation. Survey model, one of the quantitative research methods, was used in the research. The sample group of the study is comprised of 220 teacher candidates who are studying in the 2nd Grade of 8 departments in Mersin University Faculty of Education. Consisting of 4 sections, 22 items and an open-ended question, a questionnaire was used as a data collection tool in the study to determine the views of teacher candidates about the augmented reality applications in education. The findings obtained from the analysis of the data were shown in frequency and percentage. Qualitative findings obtained from the open-ended question were classified into codes and themes through content analysis method, and frequency and percentages of codes were given. It was found in the study that the teacher candidates did not know well enough about the augmented reality applications and that those who knew them found these applications very entertaining, motivating and facilitating learning, and were also of the same mind to use them widely in education.