The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of instruction based on problem-based learning (PBL) on 7th grade students&rsquo / science achievement, attitude toward science course and scientific process skills. The study was conducted in May 2007 with 141 students and four science teachers from four middle schools in G&ouml / lbasi district of Ankara. A total of eight classes were participated in the study. Four of them were assigned randomly to control group and four of them were assigned randomly to experimental group. There are two different experimental groups. One of the experimental groups was given the PBL instruction through individual work (PBL-I). The other group took the PBL instruction by making group work (PBL-G). Two classes were assigned randomly to PBL-I group and the remaining two were assigned randomly to PBL-G. Before starting the treatments a needs analysis was conducted to develop scenarios so that they can address students&rsquo / interests. Moreover, a pilot study was conducted in the previous academic year for the instructional materials and instruments developed by the researcher. Treatments, given by the teachers, continued up to five weeks. The control group was given traditional instruction, whereas, the PBL-I group took the PBL instruction through individual work, the PBL-G group took the PBL instruction via group working. The dependent variables of the study were attitude toward the course, scientific process skills, and academic achievement. The collected data were analyzed through MANCOVA. The analyses yielded that there is no statistically significant mean difference between groups on the scores of attitude, scientific process skills and academic achievement. In addition, aptitude-treatment interaction analysis was conducted. This analysis indicated that effect of the PBL instructions differ with respect to covariates. In other words, the PBL instructions work well in some levels of the covariates, while in other levels, traditional instruction yields better results. Qualitative data were obtained through students&rsquo / self-evaluations and interviews made with students and teachers. Document analysis was conducted for the data collected through self-evaluation form. This analysis showed that PBL students mostly engaged with doing research, designing and making experiments. However, students in the control group usually, listened to their teachers, write down definitions, formulas, graphs from their teachers, and solved problems requiring mathematical operations. According to the interviews, students in general are enthusiastic about the PBL instruction.

ABSTRACT THE STUDY OF SCHOOL - FAMILY COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LEVEL ON THE BASE OF PARENTS&rsquo / PERCEPTIONS &Ouml / zdemir, Nesli M.S., Department of Early Childhood Education Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Zeynep B. Erdiller September 2009, 117 pages Home and school are two important living and learning environment for children. In this regard, parents and teachers share mutual responsibilities in children&rsquo / s life. The relationship between home and school is a significant point in improving quality and sustainability of children&rsquo / s education and development. Thus involvement of parents in their children&rsquo / s learning has significant value for education. Parents are important stakeholders in parent involvement process. Their ideas, and attitudes toward parent involvement determined their participation and parent involvement process. This study was designed to describe the current situation in public elementary schools in terms of parent involvement activities by bases on parents&rsquo / perceptions. First of all the types of parent involvement activities that are conducted by schools and their frequencies were defined. Then parents&rsquo / perceptions about family-school collaboration activities were analyzed. Participants were required to fill out the questionnaire, &ldquo / School- Parent Cooperation Activities&rdquo / . The questionnaire consists of 25 questions. Nine questions are related with demographic information about participants. Fifteen questions are measured parents&rsquo / perceptions about parent involvement activities. The sample of study included in parents with children who attend to public elementary schools in Ankara in 2008- 2009 academic year. The study consisted of first, second, third, fourth, and fifth grades. Five hundred and one parents from different public elementary schools in Ankara were constituted the sample of the study. The results of the study showed that most frequently used activities, conducted outside of school, is homework assignments that parents and child work together. Inside of the school, face to face meetings with teachers and prepared school boards are most frequently applied parent involvement activities. Parents emphasized that they participate parent involvement activities when they find time to do this. Parent- teacher meetings and teachers&rsquo / invitations were powerful factor for parents to come to school and involve in activities. Parents did not participate in activities when they do not have to do it. Also not getting permission from work was another barrier for parents. Parents want to be organized more often conferences and parent education activities, and more often parent- teacher meetings. Education of parent about the needed topics related with children development and education was most frequently marked by parents as the most important function of parent involvement activities. Also raising funds for school was seen as the purpose of practicing parent involvement activities. Parents thought that teachers allow enough time for them and welcomes them with smiling face. According to participants, effect of school- parent cooperation activities was to potentiate their child&rsquo / s education and contribute to their child&rsquo / s development. Parents ordered five factors for effective parent involvement activities from the most important to least important ones / teachers&rsquo / attitudes, availability of time of parent involvement activities for parents, administration&rsquo / s relationship with parents, personal experiences and opinion of parents related with parent involvement, and content and availability of school&rsquo / s parent involvement program. Parents believed that school- parent cooperation activities conducting in their child&rsquo / s school were partial enough. Also good communication between teacher- parents and child is mostly chosen by parents. Keywords: Parent Involvement, and Elementary Schools

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of instructional comics on sixth grade students&#039 / achievement in heat and temperature. The population of the study was all of the sixth grade students in public elementary schools in Y&uuml / z&uuml / nc&uuml / Yil district. The sample of the study was 113 sixth graders from three public elementary schools in Y&uuml / z&uuml / nc&uuml / Yil district. In the beginning of the matter and heat chapter of science and technology course, the implementation started with the pretest. Then, a series of comics were implemented to the students for two weeks. Then, the implementation ended with the posttest. Data were analyzed through MANCOVA where the independent variable is the treatment implemented to the students. The dependent variables are students&#039 / achievement in heat transfer, enjoyment of science and perception of success in science. It was statistically found that there is no significant effect of the treatment on the combination of the dependent variables. However, when the effects of the treatment on the dependent variables is investigated separately, it was found that students in the treatment group got significantly higher scores than the students in the control group. On the other hand, it was also found that there is no significant difference in students&#039 / enjoyment of science and their perception of success in science between the groups. In addition, it was observed that instructional comics increase the participation of reluctant students.

The main purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of instruction with concrete models on eighth grade students&rsquo / probability achievement and attitudes toward probability. Another aim was to examine students&rsquo / views about instruction with concrete models. The study was conducted in a private school in a big city in Central Anatolia Region with 12 eighth grade students. Both quantitative and qualitative research designs were used. The treatment was applied by the mathematics teacher for 4 hours per week throughout 4 weeks. Probability Achievement Test and Probability Attitude Scale were administered to collect data. In order to analyze the data, Friedman and Wilcoxon tests were used. Also, the interview was carried out with 11 students to determine their views about the instruction. It was found that there was a statistically significant change in probability achievement of eighth grade students participated in the instruction with concrete models across three time periods. In other words, it was found that there were statistically significant positive changes in students&rsquo / probability achievement from pre-intervention through post-intervention and from pre-intervention through follow-up. It was also found that there was no statistically significant change in students&rsquo / probability achievement from post-intervention through follow-up. The results also revealed that there was no statistically significant change in students&rsquo / attitudes toward probability across three time periods. Moreover, according to findings of the interview it was determined that most of the students had positive views about the effects of instruction with concrete models on their cognitive processes and on their attitudes toward concrete models and probability lessons.

The purpose of this study is to investigate teacher background indices and their relation to mathematics achievement. For this purpose, the data collected from 146 Turkish mathematics teachers and 4498 8th grade Turkish students with the instruments - mathematics teacher background questionnaire and mathematics achievement test in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS 2007) were analyzed by using the Pearson&rsquo / s Product Moment Correlation. The teacher background indices, constructed by TIMSS, were The Index of Teachers&rsquo / Reports on Teaching Mathematics Classes with Few or No Limitations, The Index of Teachers&rsquo / Emphasis on Mathematics Homework, The Index of Teachers&rsquo / Perception of School Climate, The Index of Teachers&rsquo / Adequate Working Conditions and The Index of Teachers&rsquo / Perception of Safety in School. The results of the correlation analysis yielded significant relationships except for the emphasis on homework. Students whose teachers characterized their school climate positive and their working conditions adequate got significantly higher scores. Moreover, for limitation to teach index variable, students having teachers who commented the related factors do not limit their instruction were found to be more successful than the other students. However, it is concluded that teachers in this study considered their school climate and working conditions as negative and thought there were lots of limitations to teach. On the other hand, although majority of the teachers reported that they feel safe in their schools, there were teachers who disagreed with the idea. This study includes some suggestions for further researchers to investigate the results of this study in detail and some implications to develop teachers&rsquo / perceptions positively.

In this study, the aim was to investigate the effects of the web-based internet search scaffolding tool (WISST) on the improvement of metacognitive skills of 7th grade students associated with their goal orientation. This study utilized a static-group pretest-posttest design. The first experiment group received web-based metacognitive scaffolding tool treatment / the second experiment group received teacher-based metacognitive scaffolding / and the control group had no scaffolding. The designed tool aimed to scaffold users throughout web searching by emphasizing certain metacognitive skills improvement. Three main instruments were used to gather data: metacognition inventory for Internet search (MIIS), patterns of adaptive learning scale (PALS), and achievement test. 76 7th grade elementary school students in Ankara, Turkey participated in this study. The data gathered from the participants were analyzed through quantitative and qualitative data analysis methods. The results of the study indicated that WISST tool helped students improve certain metacognitive skills including monitoring, planning, controlling, and strategy generation. Its unique effectiveness was on the improvement of controlling skills. Teacher scaffolding group was also successful in improvement of strategy generation skills. No effects of goal orientations on the improvement of metacognitive skills were found in the analyses. Within hierarchical regression models, only pre-MIIS scores significantly contributed to the model. Students having less improved metacognitive skills were found associated with less trials and less visits. Students having poor performance work grades were tended to copy-paste more, try less, and visit less. Task difficulty and task type was observed to influence the search patterns of students. Search patterns and reflections also indicated that scaffolded groups made positive difference in search patterns.

The aim of the study is two fold: (1) to determine middle grade students&rsquo / abilities in translating among representations of fractions concept and (2) to investigate the effect of grade level and gender on students&rsquo / abilities in translating among representations. In this study the &ldquo / Translations among Representations Abilities Test (TRAT)&rdquo / was developed and used as a measuring instrument. The study was conducted in 19 randomly selected public elementary schools throughout Yenimahalle and &Ccedil / ankaya districts of Ankara with a total of 1456 sixth, seventh, and eight grade students in 2005-2006 fall semester. Each student&rsquo / s responses which were considered as incorrect were examined according to their grade levels. Based on the findings, the most frequent incorrect response types, the easiest, and the most difficult items were identified. In addition to these findings, two-way analysis of variance model (ANOVA) was used in order to investigate the effects of grade level and gender on students&rsquo / total scores on the TRAT. To the results of the examinations of students&rsquo / responses, it was seen that students&rsquo / abilities in translating among representations of fractions were low. The most frequent incorrect responses were seen in translations which include number line models and region models representing improper fractions. The lowest mean score was belonged to the sixth graders / while the highest mean score was belong to the eighth graders. Results of the statistical analyses revealed that grade level had a statistically significant main effect on students&rsquo / abilities in translating among representations. Additionally, it was seen that, female students had higher mean scores on the TRAT than males.

Esta pesquisa tem como tema o trabalho do professor coordenador pedagógico (PCP) e objetiva contribuir para a compreensão da atuação desse profissional na escola. Para isso, realizou-se um estudo de caso de tipo etnográfico em uma escola estadual paulista. Os procedimentos de pesquisa incluem observação participante, entrevistas, análise de documentos e pesquisa bibliográfica. A pesquisa revela que o PCP participa de uma tendência histórica que atribui aos profissionais de coordenação pedagógica a tarefa de representar um agente de inovações no cotidiano das práticas pedagógicas. Essas inovações provém dos órgãos de planejamento técnico do sistema educacional e encontram, nos procedimentos cristalizados do cotidiano escolar e em suas condições concretas de funcionamento, grandes obstáculos. A função de PCP e as inovações que por seu intermédio se buscam implementar são apropriadas pelos sujeitos que compõem o cotidiano, definindo-as, na prática, como resultantes de uma complexa rede de relações institucionais. Esta rede é marcada por um emaranhado de conflitos, dos quais o PCP participa ativamente e simultaneamente o sujeitam, ocasionando facilmente a indefinição de suas funções em relação à determinação regulamentar de suas atribuições. O desenrolar dos conflitos leva a exercícios instáveis de poder e a estabelecimentos provisórios de aliança, em que freqüentemente a função educacional da escola é relegada. Isso faz com que o professor coordenador pedagógico acabe tendo muito pouco de professor, de coordenador e muito menos de pedagógico. / This research has as theme the work of the pedagogycal coordinator teacher (PCT) and has as object contribute to the comprehension of the action of this professional at school. To do so, there was a study of the etnographic type case in one state school from São Paulo estate. The procedures of this research include participative observation, interviews, documents analyses and bibliographical research. The research shows that PCT participates from one historical tendency that leads to the pedagogycal coordinator professionals the task of representing an agent of day by day inovations at the pedagogycal area. These inovations come from the educational system and they find at the procedures of the day by day, and its concrete conditions of funcioning, great obstacles. The function of the PCT and the inovations that by itself search to find are proper, as well as the principal, the coordinators and the teachers, defining them at the practice as the results of a complex web of institucional relationships. This web is also marked by conflicts, in which the PCT participates actively producing easily the undefine relations among them, according to the regular determination of their atributions. The developing of the conflicts leads to unistable exercises of power and the provisory alliances that frequently occurs at school. This problem makes the PCT to be small as a teacher as well as a coordinator and much smaller as a pedagogycal.

As pesquisas realizadas e os relatos de trabalhos de intervenção em Psicologia Escolar e Educacional demonstram que muito se avançou na direção de um posicionamento crítico que considere as dimensões históricas, sociais e culturais na constituição do fenômeno educativo. Este avanço centra-se em experiências de formação ou de pesquisa advindas do campo acadêmico, pouco se conhecendo como tem se dado a apropriação desse conhecimento por aqueles profissionais que se encontram na rede pública de Educação. Esta pesquisa visa, portanto, identificar e analisar concepções e práticas desenvolvidas pelos psicólogos da rede pública frente às queixas escolares, buscando compreender como comparecem elementos de criticidade, pertinentes às discussões recentes na área de Psicologia Escolar e Educacional em busca de um ensino de qualidade para todos. Realizamos: a) mapeamento dos serviços oferecidos pelos psicólogos nas Secretarias Municipais de Educação do Estado de São Paulo b) levantamento de livros na área pesquisada sobre a atuação do psicólogo no campo da educação; c) levantamento da atuação profissional na área da educação. Utilizamos dois procedimentos no trabalho de campo: questionários e entrevistas. Analisamos os questionários por meio do software Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, permitindo a construção de perfis dos participantes. Analisamos a produção da área de Psicologia Escolar e Educacional, no que se refere à atuação do psicólogo, de 2000 a 2007, e realizamosentrevistas em nove municípios para aprofundar as questões referentes à história dos serviços de atendimento, concepções do trabalho e como tem se dado essa atuação de psicólogos na rede pública de Educação. Analisamos 36 livros, sendo seis textos completos e 30 coletâneas, destacando-se a análise de 131 capítulos. Nesse período foram pesquisados 133 municípios do Estado de São Paulo - em 61 deles atuam psicólogos nas Secretarias Municipais de Educação - e participaram 108 profissionais. Destes, 96,4% são mulheres, na faixa etária de 40 anos, com a média de 8,7 anos no cargo. Encontramos variadas formas de contratação; a maioria é proveniente de universidades privadas e mantêm uma formação continuada, nas modalidades: especialização, cursos de atualização e supervisões. Atuam em todos os níveis de ensino e centram o trabalho com professores e alunos. Apresentam três modalidades de atuação: Clínica (15%), Institucional (30%) e Clínica e Institucional (55%). O acompanhamento das queixas escolares se dá, principalmente, no interior das escolas. As dificuldades enfrentadas para realização do trabalho: a) modalidade de contratação que não define claramente a função do psicólogo na educação; b) níveis salariais baixos; c) mudanças constantes de gestão; d) carga horária não condizente com a demanda da educação; e) representação clínica da profissão pelos educadores e profissionais da saúde. É importante ressaltar que os profissionais destacam que a Educação pode contribuir para odesenvolvimento e a melhoria da situação do país e de que esse seria o foco central de seu trabalho. Avaliamos este trabalho positivamente, pois denotou um movimento de avanço em direção à construção de práticas profissionais no campo da educação que anunciam uma apropriação, por parte dos psicólogos que estão na Educação Pública, dos conhecimentos que vêm sendo produzidos pela academia no que se refere a uma atuação que denominamos crítica em Psicologia Escolar e Educacional. Consideramos que essa pesquisa não esgota as possibilidades de investigação da complexidade do fenômeno em questão, mas contribui para a compreensão da constituição das práticas profissionais da Psicologia no campo da Educação / Studies and reports of intervention work in School and Educational Psychology demonstrate that much progress has been achieved toward a critical position that considers the historical, social and cultural dimension in the constitution of educational phenomenon. This advance is centered on training experiences or research coming from the academic field and little is known about how such knowledge was acquired by those professionals who are in the public education system. This research, therefore, aims at identifying and analyzing the concepts and practices developed by psychologists of public school in face of school complaint, in order to understand how innovative and relevant elements appear in recent discussions in the area of Educational and School Psychology in search for a good education for everybody. We have done: a) a mapping of the services offered by psychologists in the Municipal Educational Offices of the State of São Paulo b) a survey of books, in the area studied, about the role of psychologists in the field of education, c) a survey of professional practice in education. We used two procedures in the field work: questionnaires and interviews. We have analyzed the questionnaires using the software Statistical Package for Social Sciences, allowing the construction of profiles of the participants. We have also analyzed the publications in the area of Educational and School Psychology, in relation to the psychologist´s work, from 2000 to 2007 and conducted interviews in nine cities in order to explore the issues relating to the history of assistance services, conceptions of work and how this psychologist practicing has occurred in public education... We took 36 books, six full texts and 30 collections, highlighting the analysis of 131 chapters. During this period, 133 municipalities of Sao Paulo were surveyed, knowing that in 61 of them there are psychologists working in the Municipal Departments of Education, 108 professionals participated. Of these, 96.4% are women, around 40 years old, with an average of 8.7 years in office. We find several forms of recruitment; the majority is from private universities and maintains a continuous education, in the forms: specialization, updating courses and supervision. They work at all levels of education and focus the work on teachers and students. They present three modes of operation: Clinic (15%), Institutional (30%) and Clinical and Institutional (55%). The monitoring of school complaints takes place mainly inside the schools. The difficulties faced in carrying out the work are: a) type of contract that does not clearly define the role of psychologist in education, b) low salary levels, c) constant change in management, d) workload is not adequate to the demands of education;) clinical representation of the profession by educators and health professionals. It is Important to mention that the professionals point out that education can contribute to the development and improvement of the country situation and that this would be the central focus of their work. We evaluate this work positively, because it revealed a forward movement toward the construction of professional practices in education that announce an appropriation, by the psychologists who are in Public Education, of knowledge that has been published by scholars, relating to a practice which we call ―critical‖ in School and Educational Psychology. We believe that this research does not exhaust the possibilities of investigation of the complexity of the phenomenon in question, but contributes to the understanding of the constitution of professional practices in the field of Educational Psychology

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