The aim of the study is to investigate the effect of creative drama- based instruction on 7th grade students&rsquo / achievement in probability concept and their attitude toward mathematics. Another purpose of the study is to investigate the gender differences regarding mathematics achievement and attitude. The study was conducted with two 7th grade classes from a public school in the 2010-2011 academic year, lasting 17 lesson hours (six weeks). Twenty-two of the participants received Creative Drama Based Instruction (CDBI), and twenty-one received Regular Instruction (RI). Experimental design was used in which two different learning environments / creative drama based instruction and regular instruction was compared. In order to measure students&rsquo / mathematics achievement Probability Achievement Test (PAT) was used. The participants were given Mathematics Attitude Scale (MAS), in order to quantify the levels of attitude towards mathematics. These instruments were implemented before and after the treatment as pre-test and post-test. Independent samples t-test was performed on gain scores of PAT and MAS. Moreover, two way ANOVA was performed to examine the data. Two way ANOVA results yielded that there was a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of Experimental Group and Control Group in terms of achievement in favor of Experimental Group. Moreover, female students had significantly higher mathematics achievement scores than males. The results of mathematics attitude scale showed that the seventh grade students&rsquo / attitudes towards mathematics were not significantly different with respect to teaching method. Also, it could be stated that gender difference regarding of mean attitude scores was not statistically significant.

The purposes of this study were to investigate sixth grade students&rsquo / understanding of multiplication of fractions in terms of the Pirie&ndash / Kieren Model of Understanding in the light of use of multiple representations and to improve mapping feature of the current theory to increase depicting power of the maps produced. One of the qualitative research methods, case study design was used. This study was conducted with two sixth grade students at a public school in Etimesgut, Ankara in the spring semester of 2009-2010. Students learnt fractions. They completed activity sheets during the lessons. They completed self-evaluation forms and wrote journals just after the instruction. After that semi- structured interviews were conducted with two students in order to analyze their understanding about multiplication of fractions. The data collected from interviews were used to reveal understanding maps of each student. Moreover, the data from activity sheets, student journals, observations, and self-evaluation forms were used to strengthen the findings from the interviews. This study showed that there was a relationship between students&rsquo / preference on the use of different type of representations and attained understanding level of multiplication of fractions. It was also found that establishing connection between multiplication of fraction concept and real life usage of these concepts and extending whole number multiplication to the multiplication with the fractions were acted as an obstacle for understanding the multiplication of fractions. In the current study, it was seen that there was a relationship between question type and students use of representations. Moreover, teachers should use different type of representations in their classrooms more frequently in order to help students to reach higher level of understandings. Teachers should also connect new ideas to what the students have already learned for deeper understanding of them.

This study aimed to compare 6th grade students who used learning objects and did not use learning objects in their social studies lessons in terms of their academic achievement, attitudes toward the lesson and engagement in the lesson. Further it investigated the teachers&rsquo / and students opinions about using learning objects in the instructional process. To achieve the aforementioned aims, both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to collect data throughout the spring semester of 2011-2012 academic year. The participants of this study were 137 students studying at the 6th grade in a public primary school in Bolu. An experimental study was conducted to compare students&rsquo / achievement, their attitudes toward social studies lesson, and their engagement in the social studies lesson with and without using learning objects. Using the survey method, students&rsquo / evaluations of their learning objects were examined. Students were observed in the classroom environment during the experimentation in order to reveal how they used the learning objects. Teachers and students were interviewed to elicit their opinions about using learning objects in the instructional and the learning process. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as mean and variance, and inferential statistics like paired-samples t-test, independent samples t-test, Mann Whitney U-test, Wilcoxon signed rank test for paired samples test and Spearman&rsquo / s rho test. On the other hand, qualitative data were analyzed through content analysis. The quantitative findings of the study showed that experimental group students&rsquo / scores were significantly higher than those of the control group students in the social studies achievement test, attitude scale and course engagement scale. Students in the experimental group had positively evaluated the learning objects of the study. In addition, positive correlation was identified between the achievement and course engagement, and between the achievement and learning object evaluation scores. The qualitative results of the study indicated that the characteristics and design principles of learning objects influenced the course achievement, attitude and engagement of students. These emerging results and the discussion have some important implications for teachers and instructional designers. The study contributes to a well-grounded understanding of learning objects approach and provides a basis for further empirical studies on learning objects.

The main aims of the current study are five fold (1) to develop a valid scale for measuring beliefs about education for sustainable development, (2) to adapt the values on sustainable development scale to the context of Turkey, (3) to explore elementary teachers&rsquo / familiarity with and understanding of sustainable development, (4) to determine the elementary teachers&rsquo / values on sustainable development, (5) to investigate their beliefs about education for sustainable development. In addition, the barriers elementary teachers have perceived regarding education for sustainable development, teaching strategies they have used in education for sustainable development and the possible relationship between barriers they have perceived and their beliefs about education for sustainable development was examined. The data of this study obtained from 211 elementary teachers who enrolled in the Green Pack and the Eco-Schools projects via direct administration and web-survey data collection methods in May to September 2012. The results revealed that Turkish elementary teachers lack of sufficient understandings of sustainable development. On the other hand, elementary teachers have favorable beliefs about education for sustainable development and favorable values on sustainable development. In addition, lack of the knowledge about sustainable development and lack of the knowledge about teaching sustainable development were relatively common barriers for these elementary teachers. Lastly, negative correlation between elementary teachers&rsquo / beliefs about education for sustainable development and barriers they have perceived was found.

The purpose of this study was to examine elementary teachers&rsquo / and elementary mathematics teachers&rsquo / perceptions of mathematically gifted students in terms of teachers&rsquo / gender, year of experience and area of teaching. The data were collected from 176 elementary teachers and 90 elementary mathematics teachers from 60 state elementary schools in the center of Trabzon, in the fall semester of 2011-2012 academic year. In order to determine teachers&rsquo / perceptions of mathematical giftedness, the instrument called as Teachers&rsquo / Judgments of Gifted Mathematics Student Characteristic (TJGMSC) was used. The results were evaluated in terms of three dimensions of TJGMSC: school smart mathematics student, mathematics perspective for the real world and creative problem solver. Besides, in order to analyze the data, one-way MANOVA was conducted. The results of the study illustrated that there were no significant differences among teachers&rsquo / TJGMSC scores, in terms of their gender and year of experience. However, a significant difference was found between elementary teachers and elementary mathematics teachers in terms of their TJGMSC scores for only the dimension of school smart mathematics student. To illustrate, elementary teachers&rsquo / scores regarding this dimension were higher than those of elementary mathematics teachers.

The aim of this study was to investigate the elementary school students&rsquo / motivational traits (achiever, curious, conscientious and social) in science. More specifically present study examined the effects of gender, grade level and location of the school on elementary school students&rsquo / motivational traits. The data in the main study was collected by Motivational Pattern Questionnaire from randomly selected 8 classes of randomly selected 15 schools in five districts of Ankara. A total of 3685 students (1927 females and 1748 males), about 230 students per school, were participated in the study. The questionnaire was administrated to 6th (n=1291), 7th (n=1177) and 8th (n=1207) graders in spring 2004-2005 semester. According to the obtained data, scores of the students are assigned to four percentile groups. Each student assigned to the motivational pattern according to the highest percentage. To find the effects of gender, grade level, and location of the school on students motivational traits, one- way MANOVA was used. Results of the statistical analysis revealed that gender, has a significant effect on students&rsquo / motivational traits and girls are more achiever, curious, conscientious and sociable than boys. Furthermore, grade level has a significant effect on students&rsquo / motivational traits and 6th graders are more achiever, curious, conscientious and sociable than 7th and 8th graders. It is also found that scores of the students related to the motivational traits decreases as the grade level increases. This means that 8th graders have lowest mean score while 6th graders have the highest mean score relate to motivational trait. While students from urban schools are more curious and more sociable than the students from rural schools, no significant difference between the mean scores of the students from urban schools and the students from rural schools with respect to achiever students and conscientious students dimensions was demonstrated.

The purpose of this study is to interpret observations of three 6th grade elementary mathematics classrooms throughout a unit in detail. Specifically, this study examined the patterns and traditions related with teaching practices in the context of teaching a unit, teaching a topic, and single lessons, and described frequently observed teaching features in mathematics lessons. This study presented a detailed description and analysis of teaching practices of three experienced mathematics teacher from three public elementary schools. The participated teachers were directly observed through teaching a different mathematics unit. The teaching and learning practices in each classroom was described and analyzed both separately and together. The results of this study indicated that teaching a mathematics unit could be described as the combination of separately taught topics where the sequences of topics are strictly determined by elementary mathematics curriculum. There was no specific practice aiming to construct relation between unit&rsquo / s concepts and other school subjects, other mathematics concepts, and among these concepts. Teaching practices throughout a topic showed explicit similarities so that a pattern for teaching a topic can be described as demonstrating the new content, practicing the new content, and assigning and doing homework. It was not possible to draw a pattern for teaching practices in elementary mathematics lessons by using single lesson periods as a unit of analysis. &lsquo / Practicing&rsquo / was the most occurred activity in elementary mathematics lessons. Based on the findings some suggestions for future research studies were proposed, and some implications for teachers, teacher educators and policy makers were delivered.

This study aimed at investigating the effect of an extended teacher wait time on student participation in primary school context. The main purpose of the study was to inquire whether primary level students would participate in the lesson more when they are given extended wait time after questions than those lessons in which they received average wait time. Students&rsquo / attitudes towards receiving extended wait time and teachers&rsquo / opinions about and experiences in applying it were also explored. For this purpose, two fifth grade classes at ihsan Dogramaci Foundation Bilkent Primary School participated in the study. Pre-test and post-test results and first part of the teacher and student questionnaires provided the quantitative data of the study. The qualitative data came from the second part of the questionnaires that were given to the teachers and the students. The analysis of the quantitative data indicated that students who received extended wait time participated in the lesson more than the students who received average wait time. Analysis of the results of student questionnaire indicated that the students were aware of the positive outcomes of being allowed extended wait time. The results of the teacher questionnaire showed that although extending wait time strategy and its outcomes are known by the teachers, it is not widely used in the classrooms.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of 5E learning cycle on sixth grade students&rsquo / understanding of cell concepts, their attitude toward science and their scientific epistemological beliefs In this study the data were collected using &lsquo / Epistemological Belief Questionnaire&rsquo / developed by Conley, Pintrich, Vekiri and Harrison (2004), the &lsquo / Cell Concept Test&rsquo / developed by researcher and &lsquo / Science Attitude Questionnaire&rsquo / developed by Geban, Ertepinar, Yilmaz and Sahbaz (1994). The instruments were administered as pre-test &amp / post-test to a total of 160 sixth grade students in four intact classes of the elementary school which located in Izmit district of Kocaeli. Two classes were randomly assigned as control and experimental groups. Experimental groups (n = 80) received 5E learning cycle instruction and control groups (n = 80) received traditional instruction. The data were analyzed using multiple analysis of covariances (MANCOVA). While a statistically significant treatment difference with respect to collective dependent variables / understanding of cell concept and epistemological beliefs was found there was no significant difference on attitude toward science. The results indicated that students in the experimental group who were engaged in learning cycle instruction demonstrated significantly better performance over the control group students who were engaged in traditional instruction in students&rsquo / understanding of cell concepts and epistemological beliefs.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the relative effect of problem-based learning (PBL) and traditionally designed science instruction (TDSI) on students&rsquo / academic achievement and performance skills in the unit of genetics after controlling for students&rsquo / prior knowledge, prior performance skills, reasoning ability, and learning approach. The sample consisted of 192 eight grade students from a public elementary school in Ankara. Four classes instructed by two science teachers were randomly assigned as experimental and control groups. The experimental group students were taught the subject through PBL, while the control group students received the TDSI. Students in experimental group dealt with ill-structured problems based on real-life working in small groups and individually. On the other hand, students in control group received an instruction based on teacher explanations and textbooks. Genetics Achievement Test, Test of Logical Thinking, and Learning Approach Questionnaire were administered as pre-tests to students in both groups to determine their prior knowledge and prior performance skills, reasoning ability, and learning approach, respectively. After the treatment, Genetics Achievement Test was administered again as a post-test to compare the effectiveness of PBL and TDSI on students&rsquo / achievement and performance skills in Genetics. Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) was used to investigate the effect of problem based learning and traditionally designed science instruction on students&rsquo / academic achievement and performance skills in Genetics when students&rsquo / prior knowledge, prior performance skills, logical thinking abilities and learning approaches are controlled. Results of the study revealed that students in PBL classes had higher mean scores on Genetics Achievement Test developed to measure academic achievement and performance skills in the unit of genetics. Therefore, the PBL students appeared to be better compared to the TDSI students in terms of genetics understanding and at using relevant information in addressing the problem, articulating uncertainties, organizing concepts, and interpreting information.