The purposes of this study were to explore students&rsquo / perceptions of the extent to which constructivist approaches are present in chemistry classes at high school level in Turkey, to assess students&rsquo / perceptions of their chemistry teachers&rsquo / communication behaviours in their classroom learning environments and to investigate the learning strategies of students in chemistry classes considering school type, gender, and grade level differences. In this study, the Constructivist Learning Environment Questionnaire (CLES), the Teacher Communication Behaviour v Questionnaire (TCBQ) and the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) were used as measuring instruments. In addition, the questionnaires included some questions for demographic characteristics of participants. The study was conducted in conveniently selected two schools (private and public) in Ankara with a total of 994 ninth and tenth grade students in the second term of 2006-2007 semesters. Data obtained from the administration of measuring instruments by using the analysis of multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) The results of the study indicated that school type, gender and grade level of the students had significant effect on perception of classroom learning environment, teacher&rsquo / communication behaviour and perceived use of learning strategies. For instance, students in private schools perceived their classroom-learning environment more constructivist than student in public school. In addition girls rated that, their learning environment and teachers&rsquo / communication behaviours more favourably than did boys. The study also showed that students use rehearsal-learning strategy mostly in their chemistry classrooms.

The purpose of this study is to examine the factors that are related to scientific literacy of 15-year old students in Turkey in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data. Two groups of variables were considered for the analyses. In the first group / number of books at home and attendance to preschool, attitudes towards school, student-teacher relation, feeling of loneliness, remedial study and homework and attending out-of-school courses were taken as variables that are related to scientific literacy. In the second group, basically, variables that are related to computer literacy and usage were considered. These variables are: frequency of using internet, frequency of using computer, basic computer skills, advanced computer skills and attitudes towards computer. The results indicated that quality of student-teacher relation, the number of books at home and attendance to preschool education, use of internet and basic computer skills are positively related to scientific literacy measures of the students. As expected, student feeling of loneliness has negative impact on literacy skills. Remedial classes conducted by schools and homework assignments have positive effect on school related attitude, but they cannot contribute scientific literacy skills of the students. Outside school private courses has positive relation with the scientific literacy, but this effect rather seems coming from family background characteristics. Use of internet and basic computer skills might have positive relation with both attitudes towards computer and scientific literacy, but use of software programs and advanced computer skills indicated negative relationship with the scientific literacy measures of the students.

The two purposes of this study are first, to provide an evaluation of an after-school basic mathematics program at the Demonstration School for the Deaf Junior Secondary School (DemoDeaf) in Mampong-Akuapim, Ghana. Second, it provides an ecological discussion exploring why DemoDeaf students do not have access to quality education. I designed and piloted the math program in 2005 and 2007 as an action researcher and volunteer with the Non-Government Organization (NGO), Signs of Hope International. The program was developed after finding six students in one JSS class could not count to one-hundred and all other students struggled with addition and/or subtraction. The program has been shown quantitatively and qualitatively to have statistically significant and positive effects on DemoDeaf students. In 2007, the number of students proficient in counting increased from thirty-four to forty-four. An analysis of the addition achievement test results indicate students advanced a total of twenty-nine levels; four students learned to add single-digit numbers together, eleven students learned how to add double-digit numbers together, and fourteen students learned how to add triple-digit numbers together. An analysis of the subtraction achievement tests indicate students advanced a total of nineteen levels; six students learned to subtract single-digit numbers, eight students learned how to subtract double-digit numbers, and five students learned how to subtract with triple-digit numbers. Sample-t-tests showed that the increase of students proficient in counting, addition, or subtraction (except for triple-digit subtraction) was statistically significant at the p-value of < .01 or < .05. The stigma and negative stereotypes embedded in the normative culture in Ghana and the majority/minority relations and power dynamics between hearing and deaf groups influence the socializing institutions of the family and deaf schools. The normative hearing culture influences the language choice parents/guardians give their deaf child and how they treat them. The perspectives and values of hearing educators and administrators influence deaf school design and create a hidden curriculum for deaf students. These separate forces meet in the classroom and not only prevent students from receiving a quality secular education, they also reinforce the low status ascription of deaf students in Ghana.

The purpose of the present study is to gain a more complete understanding of the impact of human and physical resource allocations and their interaction on students&rsquo / mathematical literacy skills across Turkey, member and candidate countries of European Union through the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2003. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) techniques were used separately for three different cultural settings using the database of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2003. The results indicated that students in Turkey, member and candidate countries of European Union who performed higher on the mathematical literacy assessment tended to have the following characteristics: (1) enrolled at higher grade levels, (2) more educational resources at home, (3) higher levels of mathematics self-efficacy, (4) lower levels of mathematics anxiety, (5) more positive self-concept in mathematics, (6) less preferences for memorization strategies, and (7) more positive disciplinary climate in mathematics lessons. As the performance of schools were considered, the higher average mathematics self-efficacy of students, the higher the mean school mathematical literacy performance. The influence on mathematical literacy assessment varied from school to school with respect to grade level and disciplinary climate in mathematics lessons in Turkey and European Union countries, with respect to grade level, mathematics self-efficacy, and disciplinary climate in mathematics in European Union candidate countries. Moreover, school size and mathematics student-teacher ratio at school influenced the disciplinary climate in mathematics lessons in Turkey / academic selectivity of the school influenced the grade level and mathematics self-efficacy in the candidate countries of European Union.

This dissertation focuses attention on the trends in secondary school education globally, with the Zambia backdrop providing a platform for a comparative study of the global scenario. Research results reveal that analysis of education planning and the process of policy formulation may be hinged on different ideological, economic, technological and social premises. Shifts in regimes and ideologies have often left behind paradigm shifts and discontinuities in the educational sectors of countries. The processes of globalisation and internal accommodation of national forces have conjoined to impact heavily on educational policies. Be it in commandist Russia or neo-liberal USA, there. has always been the felt need to use education planning as a leverage to score multiple points, including the gaining of national competitive advantage on the frontiers of knowledge and intelligence. There is strong evidence in this dissertation to suggest that exhaustive policy analysis is cardinal to the successful implementation of education policies in Zambia, more especially in this post-modern age of information sharing / Public Administration and Management / M. Admin. (Public Administration)

This dissertation focuses attention on the trends in secondary school education globally, with the Zambia backdrop providing a platform for a comparative study of the global scenario. Research results reveal that analysis of education planning and the process of policy formulation may be hinged on different ideological, economic, technological and social premises. Shifts in regimes and ideologies have often left behind paradigm shifts and discontinuities in the educational sectors of countries. The processes of globalisation and internal accommodation of national forces have conjoined to impact heavily on educational policies. Be it in commandist Russia or neo-liberal USA, there. has always been the felt need to use education planning as a leverage to score multiple points, including the gaining of national competitive advantage on the frontiers of knowledge and intelligence. There is strong evidence in this dissertation to suggest that exhaustive policy analysis is cardinal to the successful implementation of education policies in Zambia, more especially in this post-modern age of information sharing / Public Administration and Management / M. Admin. (Public Administration)