This study aimed to determine the effects of drama based learning on seventh grade students&rsquo / achievement (angles and polygons, circle and cylinder), attitudes and thinking levels in geometry compared to the cooperative learning. The study was conducted on four seventh grade classes from two public elementary schools in the same district in the 2006-2007 academic year, lasting seven and a half week (30 lesson hours). The data were collected through angles and polygons (APA) / and circle and cylinder achievement (CCA) tests, the van Hiele geometric thinking level test (POSTVHL), geometry attitude scale (PRE-POSTGAS). The quantitative analyses were carried out by using Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA). The results showed that drama based learning had a significant effect on students&rsquo / angles and polygons achievement, circle and cylinder achievement, van Hiele geometric thinking level compared to the cooperative learning. However, attitude findings regarding the attitudes revealed that there is not a significant difference according to the geometry attitudes of drama group and cooperative group after treatment. Both the two instructional methods supported active participation, created cooperative working environment, included daily life examples and gave the chance to classroom communication. On the other hand, drama group students&rsquo / significantly better performance was attributable to the make belief plays and improvisations of daily life examples included in drama activities.

The purpose of the study was to investigate relationships among 7th grade students&rsquo / personal goal orientations, perceptions of classroom goal structure, and learning related variables of efficacy, self-handicapping strategies, cheating behavior, and science achievement. This study was carried out during 2006-2007 spring semester at 12 public elementary schools in Ke&ccedil / i&ouml / ren, Ankara. A total of 1950 seventh grade students from 62 classrooms participated in the study. Data were collected through Patterns of Adaptive Learning Scales and Science Achievement Test. Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) analyses were conducted due to the nested structure of data. Results revealed that students who demonstrated high efficacy, high science achievement, low cheating behavior, and low self-handicapping strategies, which were all adaptive learning patterns, had higher mastery goal orientations. Findings regarding performance-approach goal oriented students, focusing on demonstrating their ability, however, were not as straightforward. Performance approach goals were associated with high efficacy and high demonstration of cheating behavior. Class level analyses, on the other hand, revealed that students&rsquo / perception of the classroom goal structure was a significant predictor of personal goal orientations they adopted. While learning environments emphasizing understanding of the material and self-improvement promoted students&rsquo / adoption of mastery goals / learning environments focusing on performance and relative ability of students promoted students&rsquo / adoption of performance-approach goals. The current study, thus, demonstrated the influence of goal structure of the learning environment on students&rsquo / personal goal orientations which in turn found to be related with various learning related variables.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the computer software Frizbi Mathematics 4 on 4th grade student&rsquo / s mathematics achievement, retention, attitudes toward mathematics and attitude toward computer assisted learning. Two groups (experimental and control) of primary school students from &ldquo / Sht. Osman Ahmet&rdquo / primary school in Gazimagusa, North Cyprus were used in this study. Control group was taught using a lecture-based traditional instruction and experimental group was taught using educational software, namely Frizbi Mathematics 4. The control group consisted of 26 students where the experimental group consisted of 29 students. The groups were compared on achievement of mathematics, retention, and attitude toward mathematics and computer assisted learning. The study was conducted in spring semester of 2006-2007 academic year and included three units, Multiplication of Natural Numbers, Division of Natural Numbers, and Fractions. Scores on achievement tests were collected three times / at the beginning of the study, immediately after the intervention, and 4 months later. Mathematics attitude scale and computer assisted learning attitude scale were administrated only two times / at the beginning of the study and immediately after the completion of the study. A series of ANOVAs for repeated measures revealed significant difference between the groups on the post achievement tests and attitude scales in favor of experimental group. However, statistically significant differences in favor of treatment group, on the retention tests was attained on the multiplication and division units but not on fractions. The evidence indicates that Frizbi Mathematics 4 for learning and teaching mathematics at the primary school level in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) is an effective tool.

The aim of the study was to investigate how well the geometry achievement is explained by field dependency/ independency cognitive styles, spatial orientation, spatial visualization and attitude toward geometry. The sample of the study was composed of 378 ninth grade students (183 male and 195 female) from five different lycees in EskiSehir. The types of schools participating in the study were General High School, Anatolian High School, Commercial Vocational High, and Anatolian Fine Art High School. The data were collected by using four instruments, which were Group Embedded Figure Test ( GEFT ) , Spatial Ability Tests, Geometry Achievement Test (GAT) and Geometry Attitude Scale (GAS). GEFT developed by Witkin, Oltman, Raskin and Karp ( 1971 ) was used to determine students&rsquo / cognitive styles. Another test, The Spatial Ability Test developed by Ekstrom and colleagues (1976) was composed of four sub-tests. Two of them were aimed to measure spatial orientation, which were Cube Comparison and Card Rotation test. The others were developed to measure spatial visualization, which were Paper Folding and Surface Development tests. The Turkish version of the tests translated by Delialioglu (1996) used in the study. In order to measure geometry achievement, GAT was developed by researcher. GAS developed by Bulut, iSeri, Ekici and Helvaci (2002) was used to measure the dimension of like/dislike geometry, usefulness of geometry and anxiety about geometry. The data conducted from the research sample through the tests and scale was analyzed by using regression analysis. The multiple regression analysis indicated that students&rsquo / cognitive styles were the most significant variable in explaining their geometry achievements. The other predictive variables also made statistically significant contribution in explaining the variance in geometry achievement. Four predictive variables of the study were entered the regression model, and explained the % 47 of the variance in geometry achievement. The findings of the study suggested that students&rsquo / field dependency/ independency cognitive style had high importance in learning geometry / and it should have taken into the consideration in teaching geometry.

The aim of this study was twofold: first, to investigate the effect of grade level on students&rsquo / motivational beliefs (self-efficacy, intrinsic value, mastery goals and performance goals) in science, and second to examine the relationships between students&rsquo / motivational beliefs and their science grades. The Turkish version of the Approaches to Learning Instrument (mastery goals and performance goals) and the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (self-efficacy and intrinsic value) were used as data collection instruments. The Turkish version of the Approaches to Learning Instrument (ALI) was adopted into Turkish and pilot tested with 390 elementary school students. The main study was applied to 900 elementary school students in Grades 6 through 8 from 5 randomly selected schools in Bolu. The data obtained from the measuring instruments were analyzed by using Multivariate Analyses of Variance (MANOVA) and correlation analyses. Results of the analyses revealed that grade level has a significant effect on students&rsquo / motivational beliefs and as grade level increases student motivation in science declines. Accordingly, 6th grade students are found to be more self-efficacious in science and they show more intrinsic interest in science and study science course for the reasons of learning and mastering as well as showing their abilities to others compared to 7th grade and 8th grade students. Concerning the motivational level of 7 and 8 graders, results also showed that 7 graders&rsquo / motivational beliefs are more favorable than 8 graders. Moreover, results revealed significant positive relationships between all motivational belief variables and science grade in all grade levels except for the performance goal orientation. Additionally, significant positive relationships were found among all motivational belief variables.

This study examined the integration of Small Basic as a new technology in computer courses of elementary schools in Turkey and investigated the perceptions of students and teachers of elementary school about the use of Small Basic in their computer courses in terms of its effects on their perceived motivation, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Also, information from teachers about advantages and disadvantages of this technology, and the suggestions of teachers about the use of this technology and the content was gathered. A case study was conducted in the form of an action research / that is, this study used components of case study by action research. The data were collected from 4th and 5th grade students of Plevene Elementary School by using a questionnaire. Also, interviews were conducted with the teachers. Descriptive statistics, frequency distributions and descriptive analysis methods were used to analyze the results. The findings of the study showed that Small Basic is accepted by students and all teachers as a new technology. Also, students and teachers stated that using this technology affected students&#039 / perceived motivation towards computer courses positively. Moreover, the students and the teachers perceived that Small Basic is a useful and easy to use technology. Moreover, it was stated that the students and the teachers are satisfied with advantages of the use of this new technology in their learning environment.

The main purpose of the study was to investigate pre-service elementary mathematics teachers&rsquo / personal efficacy beliefs and outcome expectancies about using concrete models in teaching mathematics. Data were collected from the pre-service teachers in the middle of the spring semester of 2008-2009. Pre-service teachers were junior students enrolled in elementary mathematics teaching program at a public university. Six instructional sessions based on using concrete models in teaching mathematics were carried out during a three week period. In this study, the researcher was also the teacher of the instruction at the same time. A survey on pre-service mathematics teachers&rsquo / efficacy beliefs about using concrete models was administered to the students before and after the instruction to evaluate the contribution of the instruction on pre-service teachers&rsquo / efficacies. After the instruction, semi-structured interviews were conducted. The present study demonstrated that the instruction based on using concrete models had positive contributions on the pre-service elementary mathematics teachers&rsquo / self-efficacy beliefs and outcome expectancies about using concrete models in teaching mathematics. In addition, results revealed that pre-service elementary mathematics teachers had confidence in themselves about using concrete models both as learners and as teachers. Moreover, they believed that using concrete models in teaching mathematics would have positive consequences in teaching process and students&rsquo / learning. However, the interview data indicated that, pre-service teachers had relatively low personal efficacies and outcome expectancies about classroom management, when the concrete models were involved in the instruction.

The purposes of this study were to explain the development and validation of a new instrument for assessing elementary students&rsquo / views of the Nature of Science (NOS) and to investigate student and school level factors that help to explain the difference in NOS views. The sample included 3,062 elementary students elementary schools located in &Ccedil / ankaya. Different from these students, 782 elementary students were the sample for the first focus of this study. The Nature of Science Instrument, Learning Approach Questionnaire and Achievement Motivation Questionnaire were administered to the students. Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) was selected as a modeling technique because of the nested structure of the data sets. This study provides an instrument for measuring elementary student views of the NOS regarding four dimensions. In this study, students had different views regarding each dimensions, therefore, many variables have been shown to relate to different dimensions of NOS. This study has established the importance of student socio-economic background with varying learning approaches, self-efficacy, and motivational goals in forming their NOS views. Findings revealed that quality of the physical infrastructure of schools and quality of educational resources in school, parent educational levels, student achievement, self efficacy, experience with meaningful learning, and learning goal orientation are positively related to student NOS views in many different dimensions. Additionally, performance goal orientation and rote learning approaches have negative relationship with different dimensions of student NOS views.

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of creative drama based instruction on seventh grade students&rsquo / achievement in ratio and proportion concepts and their attitudes toward mathematics. Another purpose of this study was to investigate students&rsquo / self-reported views related to creative drama based instruction. The study was conducted in a public school in K&ouml / rfez-Kocaeli with a total of 58 seventh grade students, lasting 12 lesson hours (three weeks). Thirty of the participants received Creative Drama Based Instruction (CDBI), and twenty-eight received Traditional Instruction (TI). The data were collected through Ratio and Proportion Achievement Test (RPAT), Mathematics Attitude Scale (MAS), and interviews. The RPAT and MAS were administered as both pretest and posttest. In addition, interviews were conducted with the ten randomly selected students. The quantitative analyses were carried out by using One-Way Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) with covariate preRPAT and dependent variable postRPAT at the significance level 0.05. Moreover, independent samples t-test was performed on gain scores of MAS. The results of the study indicated that there was a statistically significant mean difference between the students who received creative drama based instruction and traditional instruction in terms of achievement in ratio and proportion concepts and in terms of gain scores of attitudes toward mathematics, in favor of CDBI. Furthermore, according to the interview responses of the experimental group students, significantly better performance of the experimental group students was attributable to the potential of the creative drama based instruction to provide actively involvement, work with friends and collaboratively and providing selfawareness.

This study aimed to investigate the antecedents and consequences ofachievement goals. While self efficacy, task value, fear of failure, perceived parents&rsquo / and teachers&rsquo / achievement goals were investigated as antecedents of achievement goals in science, students&rsquo / metacognition and coping strategies were examined as consequences of achievement goals in science. In this investigation, a model of the potential associations among these variables was proposed and tested by using path analysis. 977, 7th grade, elementary students participated in the study. According to the results, students&rsquo / higher levels of task value, perceived parents&rsquo / mastery goals, and perceived teachers&rsquo / mastery goals were positively related to mastery approach goals. Additionally, students&rsquo / higher levels of perceived parents&rsquo / mastery goals, fear of shame and embarrassment, fear of devaluing one&rsquo / s self-estimate were positively related to mastery avoidance goals. Concerning to performance goals, the model suggest that higher levels of self efficacy and perceived parents&rsquo / performance goals were positively related to performance approach goals. Furthermore, students&rsquo / higher level of task value, perceived parents&rsquo / performance goals and fear of upsetting important others were positively related to performance avoidance goals. The path model also suggest that students who adopt mastery approach goals tend to use more adaptive coping strategies, and less maladaptive coping strategies than others. Besides, students who adopt mastery avoidance goals tend to use maladaptive coping strategies when they face an academic failure in science. Moreover, students&rsquo / performance approach goals are related to both adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies. Lastiy students&rsquo / performance avoidance goals positively associated to metacognition.