The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of concrete materials on fourth grade students&rsquo / geometry achievement. The secondary purpose was to investigate their opinions and feelings about instruction with concrete materials. The study was carried out in a private school in Ankara with 32 fourth grade elementary school students. One group pretest-posttest design was used. Geometry Achievement Test was administered to collect the necessary data. The instruction with concrete materials was applied by the researcher five hours per week in 10 weeks. The data were analyzed by using one-way repeated measures analysis of variance. Also, an interview was conducted with 11 students to determine their opinions and feelings about instruction with concrete materials. The results of the study revealed that there was a statistically significant change in geometry achievement of fourth grade students who participated in the instruction with concrete materials over three time periods. In other words, there were statistically significant positive changes in students&rsquo / geometry achievement across pre-intervention and post-intervention and across pre-intervention and followup. Moreover, there was no statistically significant change in students&rsquo / achievement across post-intervention and follow-up. The other results can be deducted from the study: most of the students enjoyed the class more when concrete materials were used / some of the students became anxious when they first saw the questions in preintervention / most of the students stated that questions become easier after instruction with concrete materials / cubes and the geoboard were the most useful and most liked as perceived by the students.

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of eco-school application on elementary school students&rsquo / environmental literacy levels. Besides, effects of the application on students&rsquo / views about environment were explored. The study was carried out during the spring semester of 2008&ndash / 2009 academic year. Data of the study were gathered from 316 students (grades six to eight) enrolled to two elementary schools. One of the schools was determined as experimental group (n = 156) and students attending this school received eco-school application. The other school was set as control group (n = 160) and students enrolled to this school received traditional school application. Environmental Literacy Questionnaire with four subscales / environmental knowledge, attitudes, uses and concerns, was used to determine students&rsquo / environmental literacy before and after the eco-school application. Also, students&rsquo / views about environment were clarified with a draw-and-explain task. At the end of the treatment, interviews were conducted with some eco-school students and teachers to determine their views about the application. The results revealed that there were significant differences between control and experimental groups of different grade levels in terms of the all subscales of Environmental Literacy Questionnaire in the favour of experimental group. Additionally, students&rsquo / pre- and post- drawings showed that elementary school students&rsquo / views about environment mainly focus on three major themes / clean, polluted and both clean and polluted environment. The Chi-Square analysis revealed that there were significant associations between treatment groups and their views about the environment.

The purpose of this study was to investigate sixth grade students&rsquo / conceptual and procedural knowledge and word problem solving skills in the domain of length, area, and volume measurement with respect to gender, previous mathematics achievement, and use of materials. Through the Conceptual Knowledge test (CKT), the Procedural Knowledge Test (PKT), and the Word Problems test (WPT) and the Student Questionnaire, the data were collected from 445 sixth grade students attending public schools located in four different main districts of Ankara. Both descriptive and inferential statistics techniques (MANOVA) were used for the data analysis. The results indicated that the students performed relatively poor in each test. The lowest mean scores were observed in the WPT, then CKT, and PKT respectively. The questions involving length measurement had higher mean scores than area and volume measurement questions in all tests. Additionally, the results highlighted a significant relationship not only between the tests but also between the domains of measurement with a strong and positive correlation. According to the findings, whereas the overall performances of students on the tests significantly differed according to previous mathematics achievement level, gender did not affect the students&rsquo / performance on the tests. Moreover, a wide range of mistakes were found from students&rsquo / written responses to the length, area, and volume questions in the tests. Besides, the results indicated that use of materials in teaching and learning measurement was quite seldom and either low or non-significant relationship between the use of materials and the students&rsquo / performance was observed.

The purpose of this qualitative case study is threefold: (1) to examine the implementation of current Life Sciences curriculum in a selected primary school from the perspectives of teachers, students and administrators / (2) to investigate the degree to which teachers&rsquo / , students&rsquo / and administrators&rsquo / perceptions were embedded in the classroom practices / and (3) to identify whether the implementation of the curriculum was conducive to principles of constructivist pedagogy. An elementary school was chosen as a single case in an outer district of Ankara. The participants of the study were the school administrator and 2 co-administrators, 4 classroom teachers and 87 students from different 2nd and 3rd grades classrooms. The data were collected through document analysis, observations in the Life Sciences classes, semi-structured interview with administrators, stimulated recall interview with teachers, and creative drama with students. Content analysis was used to analyze the data. The findings indicated that the suggested Life Sciences Curriculum was conducive to the principles of constructivist pedagogy in terms of its content / teaching and learning processes / instructional methods / assessment methods / and teachers&rsquo / and students&rsquo / roles. However, the acquisitions of the LSC were not conducive to the constructivist approach. The findings on the teachers&rsquo / , students&rsquo / and administrators&rsquo / perceptions about the Life Sciences curriculum indicated that in Life Sciences lessons the teachers seemed to have a role of knowledge transmitter to a group of passive students. According to the findings, the most frequently used teaching methods were lecturing, question-answer and demonstration through using textbooks, workbooks, and white boards. In addition, the most frequently used assessment methods were essay and oral exams, classroom observations and self-assessment. Overall it can be concluded from the findings that although the suggested Life Sciences curriculum was prepared in line with the principles of constructivist pedagogy, the way it was implemented had some deficiencies regarding the actualization of goals suggested by a constructivist curriculum.

The purpose of the study is threefold: (1) to examine students&rsquo / attitudes toward mathematics in terms of cognitive, affective and behavioral components, (2) to examine the relationships among students&rsquo / perceptions of their mathematics teacher&rsquo / s teaching profession, their mathematics teacher&rsquo / s and parents&rsquo / attitudes toward and expectations from them as learners of mathematics, some affective variables students have and the time they spent on mathematics at home and (3) to examine the relationships between students&rsquo / perceptions of their mathematics teacher&rsquo / s teaching profession, their mathematics teacher&rsquo / s and parents&rsquo / attitudes toward and expectations from them as learners of mathematics and three components of attitude toward mathematics, namely, cognitive, affective and behavioral components. The subjects of the study consists of 1960 7th grade students enrolled in 19 different public elementary schools in Istanbul. The study was carried out during the fall semester of 2009-2010 academic year. Structural equation modeling techniques were used to test the hypothesized relationships. The significant level was set to 0.05. Major findings revealed that (1) Attitude toward mathematics is identified with the three factors namely, cognitive, affective and behavioral, (2) Students&rsquo / perceptions of their mathematics teacher&rsquo / s teaching profession, their mathematics teacher&rsquo / s and parents&rsquo / attitudes toward and expectations from them as learners of mathematics statistically and significantly explain their confidence in learning mathematics, beliefs about the usefulness and importance of mathematics, liking for mathematics, mathematics anxiety, behaviors toward mathematics and the time they spent on mathematics at home, and (3) Students&rsquo / perceptions of their mathematics teacher&rsquo / s teaching profession, their mathematics teacher&rsquo / s and parents&rsquo / attitudes toward and expectations from them as learners of mathematics statistically and significantly explain three components of attitude toward mathematics.

The science and technology program developed by the Ministry of National Education of Turkey aims at training students as science and technology literates. In order to achieve this, method implemented by teachers should enhance science process skills, increase achievement and actualize differentiation in the conceptual structure of students. The present study aims to investigate the effectiveness of guided inquiry experiments over traditionally designed experiments on the acquisition of science process skills, content knowledge achievement and differentiating conceptual structure of 8th grade students about floating, sinking, buoyancy and pressure subjects. Guided inquiry laboratory manuals were developed for the experimental group. Traditional confirmation type laboratory manuals were developed for the control group. The study was conducted with 55 eighth grade students at a private elementary school in the Bah&ccedil / elievler district, Istanbul. In this quasi-experimental study, two of the three intact groups assigned as experimental group, while the control group. Unit achievement test (UAT), science process skills test (SPST) and two-tiered test for determining differentiation in conceptual structure (DDSCT) were used as data collection instruments. All of these instruments were administered to the students as pre-test and post-test. It was found that guided inquiry experiments were effective than traditional confirmation type experiments in differentiation of students&rsquo / conceptual structure about floating, sinking, buoyancy and pressure. However, there was not a significant difference in the effectiveness of both inquiry and traditional methods on enhancing the students&rsquo / science process skills and their achievement at the unit of force and motion.

The purpose of this study was to trace the reflections of critical issues, such as neo-liberalism, cultural differences based on social class, gender stereotyping, and nationalism in the elementary mathematics education in Turkey. Critical discourse analysis was conducted to examine these possible reflections. By researching mathematics education from a critical perspective, this study aimed to contribute constructing a starting point for socially responsible mathematics education. There were four main data sources in the study: elementary mathematics curriculum, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade elementary mathematics textbooks, workbooks and teacher&rsquo / s guide books, 7th grade mathematics classroom observations, and pre- and post-interviews with participant teacher. The discourse analysis of mathematics education contexts implied that elementary mathematics discourse: (i) oriented students to use their mathematical abilities and skills for the benefit of private corporations instead of public welfare / (ii) replaced the &lsquo / real life&rsquo / in mathematics problems with the life of middle and upper middle classes / (iii) included sexist expressions / and (iv) fostered nationalism via ignoring ethnic and non-Muslim groups living in Turkey. It appeared that teachers might not be aware of such discourse. Findings have addressed that policy makers and textbook writers should consider these critical issues in order to reach all students and teachers&rsquo / awareness should be increased. Future research should clarify these issues in a broad sense including pre-service teachers, teachers, students, and mathematics instruction in schools.

The purpose of this study was to investigate eighth grade students&rsquo / perceptions of their mathematics teachers&rsquo / interpersonal behaviors. The study also investigated mathematics teachers&rsquo / perceptions of their own interpersonal behaviors as well as relationships among students&rsquo / perceptions of their teachers&rsquo / interpersonal behaviors, attitudes towards mathematics, mathematics achievements, student gender, teacher gender, and socio-economical background. Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI) scale and a mathematics attitude scale were used for data collection. Data were collected from a sample of 1317 eighth grade students in public elementary schools in the following provinces: istanbul, Ankara, izmir, Adana, Bursa, and Hatay. Statistical analyses revealed that the Turkish version of QTI translated and adapted by the researcher had an acceptable degree of validity and reliability. Results showed that Turkish students perceive their mathematics teachers as displaying high levels of leadership, helpful/friendly, understanding, and displaying strict behaviors rather than uncertain, admonishing and dissatisfied behaviors. The results also indicated that students&rsquo / perceptions of their mathematics teachers&rsquo / interpersonal behaviors were associated with their attitudes towards mathematics and their mathematics achievement. While the leadership, helpful/friendly, and understanding behaviors had positive correlations with attitude scores of students, the uncertain, dissatisfied, admonishing and strict behaviors had negative correlations. Similarly, students who perceived their teacher as displaying leadership, helping/friendly and understanding behavior had higher achievement levels than the ones who perceive their teacher as strict, uncertain, admonishing and dissatisfied. Students with higher cultural and economical background perceived their teachers more favorably. The MANOVA results indicated that girls generally perceived their mathematics teacher more cooperative than boys did. Also students perceived their male teachers display more leadership, helping/friendly, and strict behaviors than their female teachers. Results also indicated that teachers generally perceived themselves in a more favorably manner than their students did.

The purpose of this study was to identify the relative predictive influences of prior knowledge, meaningful learning orientation, formal reasoning ability and mode of instruction on understanding in photosynthesis and respiration in plants concepts. Two hundred thirty three 8th grade students from six classes of one elementary school in Ankara participated in this study. The study was carried out during the 2004-2005 Fall semester. Students in the experimental group (N=117) received conceptual change instruction, and the students in the control group (N=116) received traditional instruction. Two-tier multiple choice diagnostic test, &ldquo / Photosynthesis and Respiration in Plants Concept Test&rdquo / developed by Haslam and Treagust (1987), was used to determine students&rsquo / understanding of photosynthesis and respiration in plants concepts. The test was administered to the sample prior to the treatment as pre-test, and after the treatment as post-test. The pre-test scores were used as prior knowledge of students. Students&rsquo / reasoning abilities were measured by the &ldquo / Test of Logical Thinking&rdquo / and their learning orientations were measured by &ldquo / Learning Approach Questionnaire&rdquo / . The results of the study indicated that students held several misconceptions concerning photosynthesis and respiration in plants concepts. Significant differences between the experimental group and control group with respect to understanding of the concept were found in favor of experimental group. The main predictor of achievement in the experimental group was students&rsquo / prior knowledge, while it was reasoning ability in the control group. Meaningful learning orientation accounted for a small amount of variance in the experimental group but it did not contribute to understanding on post-test scores in traditional group.

Críticas à atuação tradicionalmente individualizante do psicólogo na área de Educação iniciaram no Brasil um intenso movimento de revisão das concepções desse trabalho e de busca por novas alternativas de exercê-lo. A compreensão de que as queixas escolares são multideterminadas e produzidas na escola levou à necessidade de construir práticas que tenham como foco a instituição escolar, de forma a intervir no processo de produção dessas queixas. Portanto, esta pesquisa visa identificar práticas de psicólogos desenvolvidas na rede pública de educação, em abordagem institucional, de modo a caracterizá-las, compreender as concepções que as embasam e analisar suas contribuições para a Educação. Com isso, pretende-se oferecer subsídios para o estabelecimento de uma atuação crítica na rede pública de ensino, comprometida com uma educação de qualidade. O método baseou-se na abordagem qualitativa de tipo etnográfico, e os procedimentos adotados foram observações do trabalho de psicólogos de duas equipes, pertencentes às Secretarias de Educação de dois municípios do estado de São Paulo, e a realização de entrevistas semiestruturadas com as equipes. É possível destacar que a inserção de psicólogos se dá tanto em equipes uniprofissionais quanto multiprofissionais, com a tentativa de integrar ações entre profissionais de diferentes áreas e setores em ambos os casos. A participação no dia a dia da escola, o atendimento a público-alvo amplo, o trabalho direto com os educadores e propostas de intervenção junto a grupos mostram a tendência de atuação institucional, embasada na concepção de que, para agir na produção das queixas escolares, é necessário intervir na instituição escolar. Por outro lado, práticas como encaminhamentos para avaliação psicológica e neurológica e para atendimento clínico, pautadas no entendimento de que as dificuldades escolares são decorrentes de transtornos, déficits cognitivos ou culturais, problemas emocionais e falta de estrutura familiar, revelam a propensão de atuar de forma clínica. Ambas as tendências são expressas na atuação dos psicólogos, que, no entanto, elegeram a tendência institucional como norte, e intentam superar a tendência clínica. O atendimento às queixas escolares é uma das principais frentes de trabalho dos psicólogos e consiste em investigar a participação dos diferentes atores escolares e de determinantes sociais e institucionais na produção das dificuldades de escolarização. Contudo, os psicólogos percebem que o atendimento a casos individuais de alunos aumenta a quantidade de encaminhamentos e procuram formas de suplantar isso. Uma dessas formas são projetos, cujo foco é a escola ou a rede de ensino como um todo, nos quais procuram atuar no âmbito coletivo. Identifica-se que uma das principais contribuições da atuação dos psicólogos tem sido a mudança de concepção das escolas sobre o fracasso escolar. O enfrentamento a explicações individualizantes, ações medicalizantes, estereótipos e preconceitos sobre os estudantes pobres e suas famílias tem surtido efeito ao alterar a maneira como a escola se coloca diante das queixas escolares: em vez de delegar ao psicólogo a resolução do problema do aluno, assume sua parte de responsabilidade nesse processo e estabelece uma parceria com o psicólogo para, juntos, criarem estratégias de enfrentamento aos desafios presentes no cotidiano escolar / Criticism towards the traditionally individualizing action of psychologists in the educational field has triggered, in Brazil, an intense movement of revision of this works conceptions, as well as the search for new alternatives to its practice. The understanding that school complaints are determined by multiple factors and produced within the school led to the necessity of building practices that focus on school as an institution, as to intervene in the process of production of such complaints. Therefore, this research intends to identify psychologists practices in the public school system, according to an institutional approach, in order to characterize them, understand the conceptions on which they are founded, and analyze their contributions to Education. The objective is to offer subsidies committed to high quality education for the establishment of critical action in the public school system. The methodology was based on ethnographic research, and the procedures undertaken were the observation of the work of psychologists from two teams from the Departments of Education of two cities within the State of São Paulo, as well as carrying out semi-structured interviews with these teams. Its possible to highlight that psychologists are inserted in teams of both one or multiple professions, with an attempt to integrate actions of professionals from different areas and sectors in both cases. Participation in school routine, assistance to a large target audience, direct work with educators, and group intervention proposals show the trend of institutional action, founded on the conception that, to act on the production of school complaints, its necessary to intervene in the school institution. On the other hand, practices such as referrals to psychological and neurological evaluation and to clinical treatment, based on the understanding that school difficulties result from disorders, cognitive or cultural deficit, emotional problems and lack of family structure, reveal the propensity of acting from a clinical perspective. Both tendencies are expressed in the psychologists action, that have elected, however, the institutional tendency as a guideline, and try to overcome the clinical tendency. Assistance to school complaints is one of the psychologists main work fronts and consists on investigating the role of different social actors at school and of social and institutional determinants in the production of difficulties in schooling. However, psychologists notice that assistance to students individual cases increases the amount of referrals, and so they seek ways of supplanting this. One of these ways is proposing projects that focus on the school or the school system as a whole, and in which they try to act in the collective sphere. Its been identified that one of the main contributions of psychologists action is the change in schools conceptions about school failure. The facing of individualizing explanations, medicalizing actions, and stereotypes and prejudice about poor students and their families has been achieving results by altering the way schools face school complaints: instead of delegating to psychologists the resolution of a students problems, they take their share of responsibility in this process and establish a partnership with the psychologist, so that, together, they can create strategies to confront the challenges of everyday life at school