Scholarly Publications - Educational Sciences

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/11693/115556

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Supporting critical thinking skills needed for the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme: A content analysis of a national and two international education programs in Turkey
(Elsevier Ltd, 2022-11-29) Dulun, Ö.; Lane, Jannie Farber
Students need well developed critical thinking skills for future employment and to deal with real life problems. These skills involve reviewing, comprehending and analyzing sources of data to make informed decisions and to reflect on possible outcomes and consequences of these decisions. Fortunately, many education programs provide learners with activities and experiences to foster and develop their critical thinking skills. One well-known program is the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program for upper high school students. Given the challenges of this program, it is important to ensure that students are prepared before they enroll. Therefore, this study examined educational programs offered to Turkish students in grades 9 and 10 to learn about the objectives and learning experiences they receive to develop their critical thinking. A content analysis of three education programs was conducted, guided by a framework identifying dimensions of critical thinking. The three programs were the national program, the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme and Cambridge's International General Certificate of Secondary Education. For each program, four different subject areas were analyzed. The subject areas that addressed all the critical thinking components most thoroughly were the language courses (Turkish and English). The study also found that Approaches to Learning skills outlined by the International Baccalaureate provide strong guidance to ensuring critical thinking are integrated throughout the curriculum.
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Reimagining trainee teacher practicum experiences in Turkish K-12 schools
(Elsevier BV, 2023-06-09) Kırkgöz, Y.; O'Dwyer, John; Godfrey, T.; Üstünel, E.
The practicum is essential in forming a future cadre of K-12 teachers. This study explores experiences of two separate cohorts of students seeking qualified teacher status on teacher education programmes in three Turkish universities. The theoretical framework, using Langdon et al.’s (2012) 12 principles, connects delivery level concerns to systemic issues. Mixed methods gather trainee perceptions of practicum learning, mentoring and school support. School experiences were the least fulfilling; qualitative data evidence a variable picture in the provision of fit-for-purpose mentoring and school support. Findings argue for incentivising practicum delivery by linking macro-level providers - policy hubs, universities and schools - to school-based practicum needs.
Open Access
An investigation into high school mathematics teachers and inclusive education for students with visual impairments
(Sage Publications, Inc., 2023-05-16) Baykaldı, Gamze; Çorlu, M. S.; Yabaş, D.
Inclusive education strives to support all students, regardless of their differences, so no child is left behind. However, some teachers, especially those in high schools, may oppose inclusive education. This study aimed to examine the experiences and actions of high school mathematics teachers as they taught students with visual impairments to understand the challenges they faced and how these affected their willingness to embrace the inclusion of these students. Researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with eight mathematics teachers experienced in teaching students with visual impairments. The findings were organized into five themes: mathematics teaching practices, curriculum, material preparation, assessment practices, and beliefs about inclusive education and students with visual impairments. The results revealed that while mathematics teachers were conscious of not being adequately equipped to implement inclusive education, those with strong teaching efficacy beliefs were more inclined to teach rigorous mathematics to students with visual impairments.
Open Access
The innovative teacher within learning organisations: a leadership perspective
(Taylor&Francis, 2023-01) O'dwyer, John; Atlı, Hilal Handan
Open Access
Effect of instructional design based on cognitive load theory on students’ performances and the indicators of element interactivity
(Ekip Buro Makineleri A., 14-08-2023) Kala, N.; Ayas, Alipaşa
Thermodynamics is one of the most complex topics in chemistry. Cognitive Load Theory claims that the complexity of a subject is mainly due to element interactivity - how many elements an individual must organise simultaneously in her/his working memory to master a topic. The simultaneous processing of various chemistry and mathematics concepts to learn thermodynamics puts a strain on the working memory capacity of the learner. Accordingly, what kind of change occurs in a learner’s cognitive processes according to the level of element interactivity is an issue that needs to be investigated. The aim of this study is to reveal the basic indicators of element interactivity and investigate the effects of instructional design on understanding subjects with different element interactivity levels. With this objective in mind, educational software comprising eight distinct sessions for instructional design was developed in accordance with the Cognitive Load Theory. The sample consisted of 37 freshmen who were taking classes in the Chemistry Department of a public university in Turkey. The instructional design was implemented with the experimental group while the control group followed the lecturer's instructional design. The results indicate that, in terms of the cognitive load in the learning process, the study time and the learning at the retention and transfer level are among the basic indicators of the element interactivity. This study also determined that the instructional design that is developed according to Cognitive Load Theory can provide effective learning at the retention and transfer levels in subjects with high element interactivity. © (2023). All Rights Reserved.
Open Access
Navigating the Covid 19 turbulence in higher education: Evidence from Turkish faculty members
(Dokuz Eylul University, 2022-09-30) Örücü, Deniz; Kutlugün, Habibe Elif
Covid19 was the first pandemic of the modern era to strike with such virulence. We sought to understand this recent phenomenon and contribute to the empirical findings on the expectations from HEI leadership and management in Turkey. Drawing on the Turbulence Theory, we explored how the academic staff experienced the initial phase of the pandemic in Turkey and how they perceived the HE leaders’ navigation of the crisis at the selected universities. Within qualitative phenomonology, data from semi-structured interviews with a convenient sample of 10 academic staff in five public and five private universities in Turkey, was analysed through content analysis. Findings highlighted the opportunities and challenges of the pandemic for the faculty at personal and organizational level in an intersectional pattern. Moreover, the ways HEI leaders navigated the crisis created binaries in the form of experience vs. inexperience and trust vs. distrust. The challenges derived from the rapid but ineffective decision-making processes and the heightened surveillance mechanisms over the academic staff; which in some cases resulted in lack of trust. Hence, the turbulence level was shaped by how the universities and their leaders addressed it. In such cases, practices of building trustworthy connections, more distributive forms of leadership and robust communication; which would help the leaders to navigate the turbulence at times of crises are significant. Further recommendations are provided for research, policy and practice.
Open Access
No aspect of structure should be left behind inrelation to student autonomous motivation
(John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 2022) Mouratidis, Athanasios; Michou, Aikaterini
Background.Provision of structure in classroom settings constitutes one of the pillarsof conducive learning environments. However, little is known whether the particularelements of provided structure—namely, contingency, clear expectations, help andsupport, and monitoring—are equally important for student learning and motivation. Aims.In this cross-sectional study, we aimed to investigate to what extent students’autonomous motivation is linearly and curvilinearly related to their perceptions of theirteachers’ contingency, clear expectations, help and support, and monitoring. Sample.Participants were 12,036Turkish adolescent students (age range: 15–19 years;54.4% males) from 446 classes, nested into 24 public schools. Methods.Cross-sectional, based on student ratings of their self-determined motivationand their teacher structure provision and autonomy support. Results.Multilevel and ordinary least-squares polynomial regression analyses showedall the four perceived structure elements to predict autonomous motivation, withexpectations and contingency (especially when coupled with monitoring) being evenmore important predictors than the other elements. Response surface analyses alsoshowed strong positive relation between autonomous motivation and all the possiblepairs of the four elements of perceived structure along the line of congruence, suggestingan additive effect when teachers are thought to be contingent and helpful and supportive(or monitor their students, or clearly communicate their expectations).Conclusions.These findings imply the key role that teachers could play in enhancingtheir students’ autonomous motivation by providing all the elements of structure.
Open Access
Learner profile attributes in IB teaching: Insights from a continuum school in Turkey
(SAGE, 2022) Keser, Özlem; Altan, Servet; Lane, Jennie F.
This article presents findings from a case study of a K-12 school in Turkey where teachers shared perceptions of how the International Baccalaureate Learner Profile attributes related to their own practice. While discussing the interdependency of the attributes, teachers considered that being an inquirer is the most valuable attribute for effective International Baccalaureate teachers. Participants at all grade levels believed that being open-minded and reflective were important attributes. Despite the importance of inquiry, participants shared that they feel most capable of implementing the attribute of being knowledgeable. The conceptual framework developed for this study may be used by schools and teacher educators to develop attributes of teachers who can help students become global citizens with intercultural understandings.
Open Access
Establishing an institutional EAP teacher development scheme based on BALEAP's competency framework: A critical review of the competencies
(Elsevier Ltd, 2022-09-23) Aksit, Tijen; Aksit, Necmi
Open Access
The contribution of personal epistemological beliefs to uptake in in-service professional development: a case-study
(Routledge, 2021-04-22) Atlı, Hilal Handan; O’Dwyer, John
Formal in-service professional development programmes may help novice teachers or those new to a school adapt to targeted teaching approaches in their new workplace. However, the extent to which their practice changes in response to in-service learning may depend on prior beliefs. This longitudinal case study explored in-depth the personal epistemological beliefs of four pre-sessional English language teachers, international and national, in an English-medium university context in Turkey during a year-long, formal in-service teacher education course, and for 6 months after the course. It investigated changes in classroom practice and beliefs about knowledge and knowing, teaching and learning, and professional learning as a result of in-service learning. Interviews, classroom observations and reflective journals underpinned a hermeneutic analysis which compared informants’ beliefs and classroom practice over time using an existing theoretical model. Underlying patterns of change in epistemological beliefs show belief type, depth, and sophistication, as well as context, as major factors in the uptake and sustainability of targeted teaching approaches in this context. In-service educators’ knowledge of a teacher’s epistemological beliefs profile can lead to more effective and sustainable uptake in formal in-service professional learning through differentiated, practice-based interventions.
Open Access
Procrastination, perceived maternal psychological control, and structure in math class: The intervening role of academic self-concept
(John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2021-04-15) Selçuk, Ş.; Koçak, A.; Mouratidis, Athanasios; Michou, Aikaterini; Sayıl, M.
Do students procrastinate less when their parents psychologically press them to study? Or do they show procrastination when classroom environment lacks structure? In this study, we aimed to investigate to what extent perceived maternal psychological control and perceived classroom structure in math class relate to adolescents' academic procrastination in math via adolescents’ academic self-concept in math. Three hundred fifty-three adolescents (M age = 16.86 years, SD = 1.35) rated maternal psychological control, structure provided by their math teachers, their own academic self-concept in math, and academic procrastination in math. Results from structural equation model indicated that procrastination in math was positively predicted by achievement-oriented psychological control and negatively by perceived provision of structure by means of academic self-concept in math. Based on the current findings, we provided some suggestions for school counselors and other specialists.
Open Access
It is autonomous, not controlled motivation that counts: Linear and curvilinear relations of autonomous and controlled motivation to school grades
(Elsevier, 2020-12-07) Mouratidis, Athanasios; Michou, Aikaterini; Sayil, M.; Altan, Servet
Can controlled motivation contribute to desired educational outcomes such as academic achievement over and above autonomous motivation? No, According to Self-Determination Theory. Yet, some recent findings have shown that controlled motivation may not fully undermine motivated behavior when autonomous motivation remains high. In this study, we tested this possibility through two different samples of more than 3000 Turkish adolescent students. Through polynomial regression and response surface analyses we found only slim evidence that high controlled motivation can predict higher grades. Instead, a consistent finding that emerged was that higher grades were expected when high levels of autonomous motivation coincided with low levels of controlled motivation rather than high levels of controlled motivation. These findings highlight the usefulness of polynomial regressions and response surface analyses to examine pertinent questions which challenge the view that controlled motivation may not be as much detrimental as self-determination theory claims to be.
Open Access
Tutors’ beliefs about language and roles: practice as language policy in EMI contexts
(Routledge, 2021-09-06) Heron, M.; Dippold, D.; Akşit, Necmi; Akşit, Tijen; Doubleday, J.; McKeown, K.
It has been well established that for all students, but particularly second language (L2) English speaking students, academic English speaking skills are key to developing specialist terminology and disciplinary content in an English as a medium of instruction (EMI) context. However, what is less clear in many contexts is the institutional language policy necessary to guide and support both L2 English speaking students and disciplinary tutors. In this paper, we focus on disciplinary tutors’ beliefs of language and their roles with respect to language support to surface implicit and covert language policies. We argue that in the absence of explicit policy, showcasing the range of tutor perspectives and practice around language support can provide a way forward in explicating good practice and highlighting an approach in which all stakeholders take responsibility for supporting students’ academic speaking skills in an EMI context.
Open Access
A content analysis of Turkish national high school health education curriculum using the health education curriculum analysis tool (HECAT)*
(Ankara University, 2021-01-15) Serin, Volkan; Ateşkan, Armağan
Health education helps students to promote their mental, social and physical well-being. Health educators follow a specific curriculum for health promotion in the high schools of Turkey. This study compared Turkish national high school health education curriculum (HEC) which is delivered at grade 9 with the health education curriculum analysis tool (HECAT) used in the United States. Recommendations for possible new K-12 health education curriculum and for existing and further grade 9 curricula to improve was also given. Content analysis was used as a research method. In this research, an appraisal strength table was created which was adapted from HECAT in order to compare the curricula. Only 45 objectives in the national curriculum were found compatible with 1802 expectations of HECAT (correspondence rates: 6% for all grades and 7% for grades 9-12). Furthermore, the most represented level according to Bloom’s revised taxonomy cognitive domains was understanding, whereas applying was minimum represented level in HEC. The findings also indicate that health education delivery grades and contents should be expanded immediately in Turkey same as in the U.S. due to several reasons emerged recent years on health. Moreover, this research suggests to form Turkish national health education standards (TNHES) for K-12 education and draft TNHES were shared in this study.
Open Access
Talking about talk: tutor and student expectations of oracy skills in higher education
(Routledge, 2021-03-23) Heron, M.; Dippold, D.; Hosein, A.; Sullivan, A. K.; Aksit, Tijen; Aksit, Necmi; Doubleday, J.; McKeown, K.
Although participation in academic speaking events is a key to developing disciplinary understanding, students for whom English is a second language may have limited access to these learning events due to an increasingly dialogic and active higher education pedagogy which places considerable demands on their oracy skills. Drawing on the Oracy Skills Framework we explore disciplinary tutors’ and students’ expectations of oracy skills required for disciplinary study. An analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data found that disciplinary tutors placed importance on the cognitive dimension of oracy skills such as argumentation and asking questions, whilst students placed importance on linguistic accuracy. The findings also suggest that tutors and students lack a shared metalanguage to talk about oracy skills. We argue that a divergence of expectations and lack of shared terminology can result in compromising students’ access to valuable classroom dialogue. The paper concludes with a number of practical suggestions through which both tutors and students can increase their understanding of oracy skills.
Open Access
Week-to-week interplay between teachers’ motivating style and students’ engagement
(Routledge, 2021-03-15) Michou, Aikaterini; Altan, Servet; Mouratidisa, Athanasios; Reeveb, J.; Malmbergc, L.
Research has shown that teachers’ autonomy support and provision of structure relate to students’ agentic and behavioral engagement. Moreover, agentic engagement elicits higher teacher autonomy support. In the present 5-week diary study, we investigated the dynamic nature of this interplay between teachers and students through their cross-assessment of students’ agentic and behavioral engagement. We also considered the week-to-week student-reported teacher autonomy support and provision of structure as well as two student personal characteristics — proactive personality and situational autonomous versus controlled motivation. Two hundred fifty-seven Turkish middle school students and their teachers from 13 classes participated in the study. Multilevel analyses showed that students’ week-to-week perceived autonomy support and initial level of autonomous motivation positively predicted week-to-week agentic engagement (teacher- and student-reported). Students’ week-to-week perceived structure positively predicted week-to-week agentic and behavioral engagement (student-, but not teacher-, reported). These findings indicate the interplay between students’ situational engagement and teachers’ situational motivating style (i.e., autonomy support and provision of structure). They also suggest greater predictive power for students’ situational motivation over the personal trait of proactive personality.
Open Access
Demystifying computational thinking for teacher candidates: a case study on Turkish secondary school pre-service teachers
(Springer, 2021-09) Ateşkan, Armağan; Ortactepe Hart, D.
The present study is based on a teaching-module designed to introduce computational thinking (CT) to pre-service teachers pursuing MA degrees at a large-scale university in Ankara, Turkey. It aims to explore Turkish pre-service teachers’ perceptions and integration of CT in different disciplines through CT-based tasks. Pre- and post-attitude questionnaires were administered before and after the presentation of a CT module to find out about their self-efficacy of computer use in class, perceptions of computing and CT, and integration of CT into their classrooms and in other disciplines. Student lesson plans were analysed in order to explore the challenges they faced while integrating CT into their teaching. According to the results, the pre-service teachers in this study 1) gained an awareness that computing, and CT are more than using computers and technology but relate to the process of problem-solving, 2) developed a better understanding of how to integrate CT into their teaching, and 3) agreed that CT could and should be integrated into the teaching of other disciplines, and 4) integrated different CT vocabulary in lesson plans based on their specific subject area.
Open Access
Yes they can! Demystifying the effects of foreign language learning for students with special needs
(National Network for Early Language Learning, 2018) Regalla, M.; Peker, Hilal
This paper addresses the issue of integrating students with special needs into foreign language programs in the early childhood years. A partnership between a university and a charter school in central Florida began as a result of parent and teacher interest in providing a foreign language program for its prekindergarten students. Since 2014, prekindergarten students have been receiving French instruction twice per week in a typical foreign language exploratory (FLEX) program designed to introduce the French language and culture; however, this program is atypical because of the population of the charter school, United Cerebral Palsy (UCP). At UCP, approximately 50% of the students have special needs ranging from mild delays to significant physical and cognitive disabilities. Since the beginning of the French program, questions have been raised by various stakeholders (including some parents and other educational professionals) about students with special needs experiencing confusion in foreign language programs. The educators who started the French program designed a study to address questions raised about the suitability of foreign language programs for students with special needs. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of a French language program on the first language skills of an inclusive prekindergarten population. This article presents the preliminary results from the ongoing research study.
Open Access
Analysing school-museum relations to improve partnerships for learning: A case study
(Türk Eğitim Derneği, 2020) Ateş, Aysun; Lane, Jennie F.
Field trips to museums can improve student learning by providing them with opportunities to see first-hand concepts they learned in the classroom. Unfortunately, perceived and real barriers may discourage partnerships between schools and museums for education. The current paper describes how case study methodology was used to examine relations between a school and museums. Through this case study, a phenomenographic research approach was used to gain insights into museum educators and teachers’ perceptions and practices related to museum education. The research was conducted in Ankara, Turkey, involving teachers from a private school and seven staff from local museums. This study utilized quantitative data to support qualitative data. Through interviews, questionnaires, and an analytical framework, the results revealed the importance of identifying roles associated with museum education and strengthening pathways for communication. Based on the results of the study, the authors provide suggestions to improve partnerships between a school and local museums. One strategy is to identify a school staff member who serves as a liaison between the school and the museums, ensuring consistent communication and sharing of ideas. Future research ideas for consideration are identified
Open Access
A case study on the perceptions of professional development unit members at an EFL program
(2019) Peker, Hilal; Özkaynak, O.; Arslan, Z.; Tunç, H.
Prior research focusing on teacher training indicated that professional development is considered as a continuous process, and trainings are essential for teacher development. In this qualitative case study, researchers examined the perceptions of professional development unit (PDU) members regarding the training sessions they offered at a foundation university in Turkey. After ethical committee permissions were obtained, the data were collected through semi-structured interview questions besides note taking during the interviews. There were five PDU members as participants. Content analysis was utilized after all the notes and transcriptions were brought together. To carry out the content analysis, the researchers employed a modified van Kaam method as defined by Moustakas (1994). Thematically analyzed data indicated three main findings: continuous professional development, good rapport, and motivation. These themes are discussed as reflected by the participants and implications are provided for future professional development series.