Through the ages dissatisfaction with his environment has provoked man to envision the ideal or "utopian" setting which would be more to his liking. The discontent of today's youth with the world it has inherited echoes the complaints of past generations and yet is of particular significance and relevance to the twelfth grade student soon to enter the college community where protests are becoming increasingly more articulate and effective. Established institutions and behavior codes are challenged with impunity although critics charge that such dissent is irresponsible and unsupported by positive, alternative proposals for improvement.

CONTRIBUTION OF SOME FACTORS TO EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS&rsquo / SCIENCE ACHIEVEMENT IN TURKEY: TIMSS 2007 KORKMAZ, Fettah M. S., Department of Secondary Science and Mathematics Education Supervisor: Prof. Dr. &Ouml / mer GEBAN September 2012, 120 pages The purpose of this study is to determine some of the factors that affect science achievement of eighth grade students in Turkey based on data results of Trends in International Science and Mathematics Study (TIMSS 2007). The present study investigated the relationship between the students&rsquo / achievement in science and certain factors such as student centered activities perceived by students, teacher centered activities perceived by students, students

The factors related to mathematics and geometry achievement were modeled in this study. It was based on the data obtained from the Student Assessment Program carried out by Ministry of National Education. Mathematics achievement tests and student questionnaires of each grade were analyzed by using principal component analysis to obtain different dimensions that are expected to be related with student achievement. Before the principal component analysis, a content based evaluation of the content of the mathematics achievement tests was actualized and the items were grouped as mathematics and geometry. Regarding the student questionnaire socio-economic status, perception of success and interest toward mathematics and science, student-centered activities and teacher-centered activities in the classroom were identified as factors through the principal component analysis. Thereafter, three models were designed and tested by structural equation modeling technique (SEM) using LISREL 8.54. Path analysis with latent variables was used for testing the models. The following results were obtained in the study. In all of the models, socioeconomic status had a positive impact on the mathematics and geometry achievement of the students for all the grade levels examined. Teacher centered activities were found to be positively related with the students&rsquo / success of mathematics and geometry. On the other hand, student centered activities intended to have a negative relation with mathematics and geometry achievement. As the other variables were considered, an increase on the mathematics and geometry scores of the students&rsquo / was observed in all grade levels with the increase in the perception of success and interest toward mathematics and science.