The purpose of this study was to investigate the high school students&rsquo / perceptions on effectiveness of their physics and mathematics teachers. For this purpose a 71-item questionnaire, with a reliability coefficient of 0.97, was developed and applied to 1237 9th grade students in Ankara. 30 Physics teachers and 33 Mathematics teachers were evaluated by student ratings in 13 regular high schools and 6 Anatolian lycees. As a result, 17 % of physics teachers and 27% of mathematics teachers found to be considered effective by their students. In addition to this, it is found that specific effective teacher characteristics about teaching ability and interpersonal relationships are possessed in low amounts by most of the physics and mathematics teachers.

The main purpose of this study was to develop a three-tier test for assessing tenthgrade students&rsquo / difficulties about kinematics graphs. In a three-tier test, first tier is classical multiple-choice question, the second tier is also classical multiple-choice question but presents reasons for answers given to the first tier and the third tier asks existence of confidence about the first two tiers. To develop a three-tier test, Turkish translation of the Test of Understanding Graphs in Kinematics (TUG-K) developed by Beichner (1994) was used. One more essay type question of asking students&rsquo / reasons of their answers and blank alternatives to write any suggestion different from choices were added to the each item of Turkish translation of this test translated by Delialioglu (2003). Finally, Kinematics Graphs Test Requesting Reasoning (KGTRR) was developed and administered to 253 students. To determine the distracters of the second-tiers of the Kinematics Graphs Three-Tier Test (KGTTT), answers on each item in KGTRR were categorized according to similarities in their meanings. Considering the frequency of these categories, the KGTTT was developed and administered to 495 students. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to determine the validity of the KGTTT. A positive correlation coefficient was calculated between student scores for the first two tiers and confidence levels for the third tiers. Also, percentages of false positives and false negatives were estimated. Cronbach alpha reliability coefficients of correct answers and difficulties of the students for all three tiers together were calculated as 0.84 and 0.69, respectively.

This study investigates the effect of methods of instruction (inquiry-based versus lecture instruction) and their interactions with students&rsquo / cognitive styles (field-dependent, field-mixed, and field-independent) and with other independent variables on 11th grade students&rsquo / physics achievement in and attitude toward electric circuits concepts in central district of Aydin. Lesson plans, instructional materials were developed for the inquiry-based instruction. Teachers&rsquo / regular classroom practices were accepted as lecture method. Physics achievement test, physics attitude scale, observation checklists, and GEFT were used as data collection instruments. Treatment was implemented to 298 11th grade students in central district of Aydin. Physics achievement test and physics attitude scale were administered to the students as pre and post tests while GEFT was administered only as pre test. MANCOVA was used as statistical analysis method to analyze data. The dependent variables of this study were the achievement (PSTACH) and attitude (PSTATT) scores of the students. The covariate and gender were used to statistically equalize the students&rsquo / characteristics. Group membership with respect to two groups (inquiry or lecture groups) was named here as &ldquo / MOI / methods of instruction&rdquo / (2 level categorical) and used as fixed factor of this study with the other group membership variables, students&rsquo / physics achievement pretest scores (PREACH), physics attitude pretest scores (PREATT), School, previous physics course grades (PPCG), cognitive style (CoS, 3 level categorical), and the interaction terms of MOI*PREACH, MOI*PPCG, PREATT*MOI*PPCG*CoS, MOI*PPCG*CoS, PREACH*School, and PREACH*PREATT. In general, inquiry instruction was effective than the lecture instruction with respect to PSTACH in electric circuits subject. However, there was not a significant difference in effectiveness of both methods in improving students&rsquo / attitudes toward electric circuits subject. In essence, each method of instruction was not effective on improving students&rsquo / attitudes toward electric circuits subject. Although, this study could not find any statistically significant interaction effect of MOI and other independent variables on students&rsquo / PSTATT scores, practical significance was investigated for the interaction terms.

This study was aimed to provide insight about affective teaching practices that influence students&#039 / affective characteristics in physics lessons using mixed methodology. Affective characteristics consisted of attitudes and motivation. For this purpose Keller&#039 / s ARCS (attention, relevance, confidence, satisfaction) model was revised by adding Communication category. The Affective Teaching Practices Questionnaire, including these categories, was administered to 1,138 students and 31 physics teachers in Ankara. Moreover, the Affective Characteristics Questionnaire was administered to students to find out the relationship between students&#039 / affective characteristics and their perceptions about the teaching practices used by teachers. Four physics teachers, who were performing teaching practices frequently, were purposefully selected according to results of quantitative phase. In qualitative phase, observations were conducted in these teachers&#039 / classrooms to find out teaching practices used to enhance affective characteristics and their effects. Besides, interviews were conducted to support observations. The quantitative data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, while qualitative data were analyzed by cross case analysis. Results revealed that affective teaching practices are related to students&#039 / affective characteristics. Assisting comprehension and providing role models to students are effective for enhancing affective characteristics. Similarly, providing students concrete materials / arousing their inquiry / organizing what is taught from simple to difficult / attributing success to effort / relating topic to students&#039 / experience / stating clearly what is expected of students / providing feedback / using positive outcomes / giving enough time to students / using clear, understandable, fluent language in lessons / caring about teaching / being self-confident / caring about students / and providing an atmosphere suitable for learning are also effective.

The aim of this thesis is to get a better understanding of the role of practical work in physics education in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). The Lao PDR is one of least developed countries in the world with a weak base for science, and poor market opportunities for science graduates. The rapidly expanding educational system has many problems concerning quality of the infrastructure and staff competence. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods was used in the study in order to assure reliability of the results. Data was collected through questionnaires, interviews, video-recordings, and my own ethnographic experiences of working in the Lao educational system for more than thirty years. The study was informed and results analysed with help of curriculum perspective and Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT). The findings show that Lao physics education curriculum at all levels is dominated by very traditional forms of teaching with an almost total absence of practical. Official curricular documents have statements prescribing teachers to do practical work in high school and university courses. However, few institutions have functioning equipment and skilled teachers for organising practical activities. Therefore, the majority of Lao students come to university and even can finish university without experience of practical work in physics. This shows the gap that exists between intended and implemented curricula. The majority of the students understand the importance of having practical activities in physics. However, after being exposed to laboratory experiments in an introductory physics course, they expressed criticism about the quality of instruction and the process of the practical work organisation. The laboratory group work analysis showed that discussions were mainly focused on understanding the experimental procedures, manipulating equipment, and collecting data for the report rather than on the physics content (object of activity, in CHAT terms). Based on the research results, it is possible to suggest that a systemic approach is needed to stimulate the development of a new practical work culture in schools and universities. This approach should include training and incentives for science teachers, development of assessment strategies including practical work, maintenance structures for physics equipment, and technical support for the organisation of demonstrations and laboratory exercises.

The main purpose of this study is to compare the effects of the Multiple Intelligences based instruction versus traditional instruction on ninth grade students&#039 / physics achievement. MI inventory, Attitude Scale Toward the Content &ldquo / Coulomb&rsquo / s Law&rdquo / , Multiple Choice Physics Achievement test on the content &ldquo / Coulomb&rsquo / s Law&rdquo / , and MI based Physics Achievement rubric were used as measuring tools. The study was conducted with 268 ninth grade public high school students in Sincan district in the spring semester 2002-2003. There were two teachers and their eight classes in this study. MI inventory, Attitude Toward the Content &ldquo / Coulomb&rsquo / s Law&rdquo / , and Multiple Choice Physics Achievement test were administered as pretest to both experimental and control groups. Then, students in experimental groups were iv exposed to the MI based lessons. Students in experimental classes were grouped with respect to the students&rsquo / strongest intelligences in Verbal/Linguistic, Logical/Mathematical, Visual/Spatial, Interpersonal intelligence dimensions. In control groups, traditional teaching method was used. After three weeks treatment, all the students were posttested with the same tests. In experimental groups, students&rsquo / MI based physics achievement was measured on the last treatment week. The data were analyzed using SPSS by multivariate analyses of covariance (MANCOVA). According to the results of this study, multiple intelligences based instruction made significant effect on students&rsquo / physics achievement on the content &ldquo / Coulomb&rsquo / s Law&rdquo / with respect to the traditional method. However, multiple intelligences based instruction showed no significant effect on students&rsquo / physics attitude toward the content &ldquo / Coulomb&rsquo / s Law&rdquo / with respect to the traditional method.

This study was designed to identify ninth grade students&amp / #8217 / misconceptions about static electricity concept and to determine relationship among students&amp / #8217 / gender, socio-economic status, interest, experience with students&amp / #8217 / misconceptions about static electricity. For this study, Static Electricity Concept Test (SECT) and Socio-Economic Status, Interest and Experience Questionnaire about Static Electricity (SESIEQ) were developed to assess students&amp / #8217 / misconceptions related to static electricity and their socio-economic status, interest and experience about static electricity, respectively. This study was carried out during 2002-2003 spring semester with 1260 ninth grade students from 9 Anatolian and regular high schools in &Ccedil / ankaya and Mamak districts of Ankara. Findings of the concept test indicated that many students had misconceptions about static electricity. Negative and significant relationships among students&amp / #8217 / gender, socio-economic status, interest, experience and misconception scores were found. The difference between misconception scores of male and female students was significant in favor of males. However, when the data were analyzed using ANCOVA while controlling students&amp / #8217 / socio-economic status, interest in static electricity and experience about static electricity, no difference was observed between the misconception scores of male and female students.

This study developed the software named as &ldquo / Physical World&rdquo / which is a virtual laboratory program focusing on Newtonian Physics, which supports two modes called the &ldquo / studying by observation&rdquo / and &ldquo / studying by programming&rdquo / . In &ldquo / studying by observation&rdquo / mode, the motion is calculated due to equations known by the computer. And in &ldquo / studying by programming&rdquo / mode, students write equations of motion and the computer calculates motion due to those equations. A total of six high school second grade students studied force and motion concepts, using Physical World with assistance of one instructor, six hours each. Two of the students studied with &ldquo / studying by observation&rdquo / , two of the students studied with &ldquo / studying by programming&rdquo / , and two of the students studied with use of both of the modes. All students received a test with 10 items chosen from FCI as a pretest and received the same test as a posttest. Students&rsquo / test results were examined to find effects of Physical World&rsquo / s two modes and use of both of the modes over misconceptions about physics. Their actions and responds were examined to find Physical World&rsquo / s effects on scientific thinking for each of the three groups. Four specialists from related fields examined the software and filled evaluation forms and stated feedbacks. From the responds of students during the studies, evidence of positive effect of using the &ldquo / studying by programming&rdquo / mode on scientific thinking was found. And evidence of positive effect of using both modes on misconceptions was found.

The main purpose of this study was developing a three-tier test for assessing 11th grade students&rsquo / misconceptions about geometric optic. The accessible population was all 11th grade science students in Bayrampasa, Istanbul. While developing the test, interviews and open-ended tests were used to collect data to create the three-tier test. An interview questionnaire was developed based on the literature review. 15 11th grade students were interviewed by this questionnaire. Then, an open-ended test was created based on the interview results and also the literature review. It was applied to 114 11th grade science students. The responses of the students for each item were categorized considering the frequencies. Then, these categories were used in the development of the Three-tier Geometric Optic Misconception Test (TTGOMT). The categories were used as the distracters of the items in the TTGOMT. Besides, some of the distracters were extracted from the interview results and the literature review even if they had no frequencies in open-ended test results. The test was applied to the 141 11th grade high school students. A factor analysis was conducted to establish the content validity of the TTGOMT and five categories were found. Also, the proportions of the false positives and false negatives were estimated to establish the content validity and found 28.2 % for the false positives and 3.4 % for false negatives. The construct validity was established by estimating a correlation between the scores of the students for the first two tiers and confidence levels for the third tier. Two reliability analyses were conducted by using Cronbach alpha. One of the reliability analyses was estimated based on the correct answers of the students for all the three tiers together and found 0.55. The other one was estimated based on the misconceptions of the students and found 0.28. Moreover, item analysis was done for each item by using Iteman program.

The purpose of this study is to develop a three-tier test for assessing high school students&rsquo / misconceptions concerning force and motion. The first tier is a traditional multiple choice item, the second tier presents several alternatives addressing the reason for the response for the first tier, and the third tier asks if examinees are confident for their responses to the first two tiers. In the process of test development, Force and Motion Test Requesting Reasoning was developed and utilized to determine the alternatives of Force and Motion Three Tier Test (FMTTT). The test was administered to 207 students, but 19 students were removed from all analyses due to too many missing items. For checking validity of the FMTTT, correlation was investigated between confidence levels and student scores on the first two tiers, and also correlation between confidence levels and student misconception scores on the first two tiers was investigated. Factor analyses were conducted using scores and misconception scores / and percentages of false negatives and false positives were estimated. The percentages of false negatives and false positives were found to be 6% and 8%, respectively. The reliability coefficients were estimated for student scores and misconception scores as 0.48 and 0.62, respectively. In conclusion, using the FMTTT as an achievement test may not be as reliable as using it as a misconception test.