The purpose of the present study was to investigate the predictive influences of epistemological beliefs, achievement motivation, learning approaches on sixth grade students&rsquo / achievement in classification concepts. The study was carried out in the fall 2006-2007 semester. One thousand forty one 6th grade students from twenty five randomly selected elementary schools in &Ccedil / ankaya district of Ankara participated in this study. In this study Turkish version of the Learning Approach Questionnaire, Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire, Achievement Motivation Questionnaire and Classification Concept Test were used as measuring instruments to collect relevant data. Multiple Regression Correlation Analyses was computed in order to find out the contribution of students&rsquo / learning approaches, epistemological beliefs and achievement motivation to their achievement in classification concepts. The results revealed that these variables explaining 14% of the variation in students&rsquo / achievement in classification concepts. Stepwise multiple regression analyses was conducted in order to find out which variable best predicted students&rsquo / achievement in classification concepts. Students&rsquo / learning approaches were found to be the best predictor of achievement explaining 12% of the variance. The remaining 2% of variance was explained by epistemological beliefs of the students. Achievement motivation, however did not contribute to students&rsquo / achievement in classification concepts. Results also revealed significant positive correlations between students&rsquo / achievement in classification concepts, their learning goal orientations, epistemological beliefs and learning approaches. Students&rsquo / performance goal orientations, and self efficacy beliefs, however, were not found to be related to their achievement in classification concepts.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of using a dynamic geometry environment together with open-ended explorations on sixth grade students&rsquo / performance in polygons and congruency and similarity of polygons. Two groups of sixth grade students were selected for this study: (1) An experimental group composed of 66 students whom 34 were boys and 32 were girls / and (2) a control group composed of 68 students whom 35 were boys and 33 were girls. While the students in the control group received instruction via traditional methods, the students in the experimental group studied the same topics by open-ended explorations in a dynamic geometry environment. Geometry Test (GT) and Computer Attitude Scale (CAS) were used as data collection instruments. All students had taken the GT as pre-test, post-test, and delayed post test. However, CAS was administered only to the experimental group at the end of the instruction. Furthermore, some qualitative data were collected through video-taped classroom observations and interviews with selected students. Pre-test scores showed no statistical difference between control and experimental group students in terms of their performances in polygons and congruency and similarity of polygons before the study. On the other hand, the results of the post and delayed-post tests which are analyzed by independent t test showed that experimental group achieved significantly better than the control group students. In addition, a statistically significant correlation between CAS and GT was observed. Those results were also supported by the qualitative data. In conclusion, the results indicated that dynamic geometry environment together with open-ended explorations significantly improved students&rsquo / performances in polygons and congruency and similarity of polygons.

This study compared the effect of the use of physical manipulative with self-metacognitive questioning versus manipulative without self-metacognitive questioning on the knowledge acquisition in polygons. Participants were 220 sixth grade students. A pretest, treatment and posttest two-group design was used. There were two treatment groups: manipulative with self-metacognitive questioning (MAN+META) and manipulative without self-metacognitive questioning (MAN) Three distinct knowledge tests were designed by the researcher: Declarative, conditional and procedural. Declarative knowledge test consisted of 18 multiple-choice questions. The conditional and procedural knowledge tests consisted of six and ten open-ended questions respectively. Mixed design analysis of variance results revealed that there is a significant effect for time but no group-by-time interaction effect suggesting that both groups responded equally well to treatment in the amount of change in their scores on the two outcome measures: pretests and posttests. A follow up analysis (paired t-test) was conducted to evaluate the impact of time on students&rsquo / pretest and posttest scores. The large effect size indicated that there was a statistically significant increase in scores of all three tests.

This study aims to measure the effect of designed environmental education lectures that is based on general environmental problems on primary school students&rsquo / attitudes toward environment. The participants of this study obtained from a governmental school in Y&uuml / z&uuml / nc&uuml / Yil districts of Ankara and consists of 51 (18 fourth grade and 33 fifth grade) students. In the study that is held in 2006-2007 education year students implemented to environmental education lectures for one month. The lectures included the &ldquo / sustainable development&rdquo / and &ldquo / ecological footprint&rdquo / concept, as well as the general environmental problems, their reasons and recycling as solution for reducing environmental problems, and student-centered teaching methods such as discussion, role playing, cooperative learning and questioning were used during the lectures in addition to the traditional teaching method. The data concerning the effect of the lectures was obtained by the environmental attitude questionnaire implemented to the students before and after the treatment as pre-test and post-test. Independent sample t-test and paired sample t-test were conducted for data analysis and the result of the study indicated that environmental education lectures increased the environmental attitudes of the students.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the relative effect of problem based learning with a non local perspective (PBL1), problem based learning with a local perspective (PBL2) and traditionally designed environmental education (TRD) lectures on elementary school (7th grade) students&rsquo / environmental attitude / specifically by the 3 dimensions as / general environmental awareness, general attitude toward solutions, and awareness of individual responsibility. The sample consisted of 95 7th grade students from a public elementary school in Nigde. Three classes instructed by the same science teacher are randomly assigned as control group and experimental groups. All the groups were taught the topic &ldquo / Why do ecosystems change?&rdquo / for four weeks. On the other hand, the control group was taught through TRD, one of the experimental groups was taught through PBL with a non local perspective, and the other experimental group was taught through PBL with a local perspective. Students in TRD group received an instruction based on teacher explanations and textbooks. On the other hand, the experimental groups dealt with ill- structured real life problems working in small groups. The problem of PBL1 group was selected as &ldquo / the declining environmental conditions of Manyas Lake&rdquo / and the problem of PBL2 group was selected as &ldquo / the declining v environmental conditions of Akkaya Dam in Nigde&rdquo / to create a non local / local difference between the experimental groups. Environmental Attitude Questionnaire (EAQ) was administered to all groups as pre-test to determine the prior environmental attitude. The worksheets, on the other hand, used by experimental groups in their group work were examined to reveal the quality of the process. After the treatment, EAQ was administered to all groups as a post-test to compare the effectiveness of PBL1, PBL2 and TRD on students&rsquo / environmental attitude. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was performed to investigate the effect of traditionally designed EE, Problem Based designed EE, and Problem Based with a local perspective designed EE on students&rsquo / general environmental awareness, awareness of individual responsibility and general attitude toward solutions when students&rsquo / prior general environmental awareness, prior awareness of individual responsibility and prior general attitude toward solutions are controlled. The results of the study revealed that, students in PBL2 group had significantly more positive environmental attitudes in general environmental awareness and general attitude toward solutions dimensions than TRD group and in all three dimensions of the questionnaire than PBL1 group. Moreover, TRD group had significantly more positive attitude than PBL1 group in students&rsquo / awareness of individual responsibility determined after the treatment.

The purposes of the study were to investigate the effects of visual treatment on students&rsquo / opinion in terms of thinking process and students&rsquo / opinion in terms of feelings in the spatial ability activities / to investigate the effects of visual treatment on student&rsquo / s spatial ability, spatial visualization and spatial orientation The study was conducted in Ankara with 21 sixth-grade elementary school students. One group pretest-posttest design was used. Two measuring instruments were utilized: Spatial Ability Test and Spatial Problem Attitude Scale. Spatial Ability Test, which was developed by Ekstrom, consists of paper folding and surface development tests measuring the spatial visualization ability and card rotation together with cube comparison tests measuring the spatial orientation ability. The tests were translated into Turkish by Delialioglu, (1996). Spatial Problem Attitude Scale was developed by researcher. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative research using a mixed method design. The researcher conducted 9 interviews with nine 6th grade students from the same class. The students were asked their opinion about the visual treatment in terms of thinking process and feelings in the spatial ability activities. Additionally, the class was observed during their activity time that continued 10 weeks and five hours per week.In order to analyze the obtained data, Friedman and Wilcoxon tests as well as one-way repeated measures Analysis of Variance were used. To analyze data obtained from interviews, the phenomenographic method was used. The results of the study indicated that there was a statistically significant change in students&rsquo / spatial ability, spatial orientation and spatial visualization scores across three time periods (pre treatment, post treatment and retention). All three scores were significantly different from each other. Test scores were significantly higher immediately after the visual treatment than those before the treatment. The test scores one month later were significantly lower than those immediately after the treatment, but significantly higher than the scores before the treatment. The findings suggest that visual treatment has positive effects on students&rsquo / spatial cognitive process and their attitudes toward spatial ability problems. Selection of the appropriate visual treatment should be based on students&rsquo / needs and their cognitive development level for providing better learning environment

This study examined seventh grade students&rsquo / perceptions about collaborative learning, peer and teacher support, project based learning, technology integration into Science and Technology lesson and forum. The research included the implementation of collaborative project-based learning during 10 weeks. Students as groups created educational web sites on Science and Technology subjects by working co9llaboratively in Information Technologies lessons. This research was an action research case study. The major purpose of the study was to enhance the collaborative skills of students by applying a new practice. Besides this, it was aimed that all students could use computer more comfortably and by discovering and could use their computer skills in other disciplines. Qualitative data were collected through student interviews, observations, web site evaluation rubrics, and forum archives. It was seen that students enjoyed project-based learning and they gained the habit of working together developed with the help of collaborative group work. Moreover, they started to appreciate peer support and learned to respect each other&rsquo / s ideas. According to results, aware of responsibility of both low-achievers and high achievers increased. The feeling of self-confidence they gained when they completed the project helped them to overcome their fear to use computer. Most of the students preferred using computer in their projects or homework from other disciplines.

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the contributions of spatial visualization and spatial orientation tasks regarding 2D representations of 3D objects and isometric drawing to the development of sixth grade students&rsquo / spatial reasoning. The study also aimed to investigate students&rsquo / performances on spatial tasks during the classes and to explore their views and feelings about the spatial tasks. Data were collected from 24 6th grade students in a private school located in Ankara. The design of the research was first person inquiry where the researcher was also the teacher at the same time. During five class hour the topic was covered with spatial tasks developed by the researcher.Spatial Orientation Test (SOT) and Achievement Test on 2D Representations of 3D Objects and Isometric Drawing (AT) were administered to the students before and after the taskto evaluate the effect of instruction. Wilcoxon signed rank test was run to test data. Statistical analyses revealed that there was a statistically significant difference in students&rsquo / spatial reasoning development between pre-test and post-test. Another finding of the study was related to the progress of students&rsquo / performances in the visual reasoning tasks. As the time passed, students got more successful in completing even the more advanced tasks.The findings of the study indicated that in order to develop students&rsquo / visual reasoning abilities teachers need to provide them opportunities to practice with the visual tasks supported with the effective use of manipulative. In addition to this, teachers should create activities and design their lessons in a way that where the students are the actors and actively participated in the class.

This study is aimed to explore the relationships among elementary students&rsquo / epistemological beliefs of science, perceptions of learning environments, learning approaches and science achievement. For this purpose, a model of the associations among these variables was proposed and tested by structural equation modeling. In this model, it was hypothesized that a) students&rsquo / perceptions of their learning environments would directly influence their epistemological beliefs of science and learning approaches, b) students&rsquo / epistemological beliefs of science would directly influence their learning approaches and science achievement, c) students&rsquo / learning approaches would directly influence their science achievement. A total of 2702 students from 139 public elementary schools from istanbul, Ankara, izmir, Diyarbakir, Van, Antalya, Afyon, EskiSehir, and Samsun were administered three instruments to assess their epistemological beliefs of science, perceptions of learning environments, and learning approaches. Students&rsquo / previous year final report card grades were used as the indicator of their science achievement. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to determine the structure of students&rsquo / epistemological beliefs of science, perceptions of learning environments, and learning approaches. Although multidimensionality of epistemological beliefs of science was supported, a different factor structure was obtained for Turkish elementary school students compared to the theoretically proposed structure for the instrument. The results of the structural equation modeling generally supported the proposed hypotheses. The final model obtained in the study revealed that students&rsquo / perceptions of the classroom environments directly predicted students&rsquo / epistemological beliefs and learning approaches. Students&rsquo / epistemological beliefs predicted their learning approaches and science achievement, and students&rsquo / learning approaches influenced their science achievement.

The main purpose of this study was to determine preservice science teachers&rsquo / (PSTs) epistemological beliefs regarding the nature of knowledge and learning in the domain of environment through comparing with the domains of biology, physics, chemistry, and mathematics. A total of 12 PSTs voluntarily participated in the study. The sample of this study was consisted of senior elementary PSTs who registered for an elective course titled &ldquo / Laboratory Applications in Science and Environmental Education&rdquo / in the fall semester of 2008-2009 at a public university, in Ankara. The major data of this study was collected by using a semi-structured interview protocol, developed by Schommer-Aikins (2008). The data of this study were analyzed through descriptive statistics and Miles and Huberman approach (1994). The data analyses of this study were presented along with five dimensions of epistemological beliefs. The analysis of omniscient authority indicated that the PSTs less trust in environmental experts&rsquo / opinions, give more importance to informal education in the acquisition of environmental knowledge, and believe that environmental knowledge is justified more on the basis of direct observation. The analysis of stability of knowledge revealed that the PSTs conceived of environmental knowledge as more uncertain. The analysis of structure of knowledge pointed out that the PSTs consider environmental knowledge as more complex. The analysis of control of learning revealed that the PSTs believe that the large percentage of ability to learn can be acquired after the birth more in environment. The analysis of speed of learning indicated that the PSTs believe that much of learning takes less time in the domain of environment. This study provided evidence that epistemological beliefs are multidimensional and domain-specific. Moreover, this study highlighted that the nature of environmental knowledge and learning are also an important issue to be addressed in environmental education.