This is a Case Study Research done inside a poor community in Brazil. The main goal of the research is to facilitate this community to understand their problems and to overcome it. Therefore the researcher and the researched developed the following question ‘why NovaMosanta is not achieving its goals? The researcher wanted to work as a facilitator throughout the whole process of dialogue that aims to empower the community. Departing from that question and based on Freire’s ideas of education the research aims to build new knowledge from the interaction of academic and community knowledge. To implement this case study field research the researcher decided to use Participant observation and questionnaires. Surprisingly during the research the NGO called NovaMosanta faced the challenge of remodeling a public school without government help; otherwise the school would be closed. This NGO succeeded with the help of the New Zealand Government that gave NZ$15,000 to build two new classrooms in the school. Community members helped working in the remodeling and local commerce gave discounts to enable the remodeling. As a result the school will not be closed and the students will continue to study there. It also helped to increase community support and participation. Although not designed as a Participant Action Research, this thesis evolved to produce action and to change the community reality. It was an empowering process to the researcher and the researched. The community support increased and it also served s a catalytic event in the process of transformation and inclusion. Finally it clarifies the importance of producing fast results to maintain community support. You can check the research results in the links below that contain two local network reports about it. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz_FItXp3nM) & (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py5emCNXRlo)

The aim of the study is to investigate the effect of creative drama- based instruction on 7th grade students&rsquo / achievement in probability concept and their attitude toward mathematics. Another purpose of the study is to investigate the gender differences regarding mathematics achievement and attitude. The study was conducted with two 7th grade classes from a public school in the 2010-2011 academic year, lasting 17 lesson hours (six weeks). Twenty-two of the participants received Creative Drama Based Instruction (CDBI), and twenty-one received Regular Instruction (RI). Experimental design was used in which two different learning environments / creative drama based instruction and regular instruction was compared. In order to measure students&rsquo / mathematics achievement Probability Achievement Test (PAT) was used. The participants were given Mathematics Attitude Scale (MAS), in order to quantify the levels of attitude towards mathematics. These instruments were implemented before and after the treatment as pre-test and post-test. Independent samples t-test was performed on gain scores of PAT and MAS. Moreover, two way ANOVA was performed to examine the data. Two way ANOVA results yielded that there was a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of Experimental Group and Control Group in terms of achievement in favor of Experimental Group. Moreover, female students had significantly higher mathematics achievement scores than males. The results of mathematics attitude scale showed that the seventh grade students&rsquo / attitudes towards mathematics were not significantly different with respect to teaching method. Also, it could be stated that gender difference regarding of mean attitude scores was not statistically significant.

The aim of this study was to scrutinize perceptions, expectations and concerns of pre-service early childhood education (ECE) teachers before they start their careers and their challenges in their first year as they became beginning teachers. This study also focused on documenting public school contexts where beginning teachers have been either supported and given the opportunity to develop as successful teachers or discouraged and left alone with the challenges in their first year of teaching. In order to investigate this phenomenon, 16 pre-service early childhood education teachers studying at the same teacher education program were interviewed about their perceptions, expectations and concerns on their future profession immediately before their graduation. Participating teachers started to teach in public schools at different cities after their graduation. They were interviewed at the end of the first and the second semester they taught about their experiences and difficulties, and positive aspects of working in public schools. Moustakas&rsquo / s phenomenological analysis was utilized to analyze data from interviews in which beginning teachers reflected on their experiences in teacher education program and of being new teachers in public school context in Turkey. Findings have revealed that pre-service teachers were aware of many difficulties in public schools and ready to contend with those difficulties, yet some of the challenges they faced were beyond their initial anticipation. All those challenges were originated from teacher education program, Ministry of National Education&rsquo / s system itself, and local condition where beginning teachers were appointed. Suggestions for teacher education programs, Ministry of National Education, and administrators were proposed.

The purposes of this study were to investigate sixth grade students&rsquo / understanding of multiplication of fractions in terms of the Pirie&ndash / Kieren Model of Understanding in the light of use of multiple representations and to improve mapping feature of the current theory to increase depicting power of the maps produced. One of the qualitative research methods, case study design was used. This study was conducted with two sixth grade students at a public school in Etimesgut, Ankara in the spring semester of 2009-2010. Students learnt fractions. They completed activity sheets during the lessons. They completed self-evaluation forms and wrote journals just after the instruction. After that semi- structured interviews were conducted with two students in order to analyze their understanding about multiplication of fractions. The data collected from interviews were used to reveal understanding maps of each student. Moreover, the data from activity sheets, student journals, observations, and self-evaluation forms were used to strengthen the findings from the interviews. This study showed that there was a relationship between students&rsquo / preference on the use of different type of representations and attained understanding level of multiplication of fractions. It was also found that establishing connection between multiplication of fraction concept and real life usage of these concepts and extending whole number multiplication to the multiplication with the fractions were acted as an obstacle for understanding the multiplication of fractions. In the current study, it was seen that there was a relationship between question type and students use of representations. Moreover, teachers should use different type of representations in their classrooms more frequently in order to help students to reach higher level of understandings. Teachers should also connect new ideas to what the students have already learned for deeper understanding of them.

This study aimed to compare 6th grade students who used learning objects and did not use learning objects in their social studies lessons in terms of their academic achievement, attitudes toward the lesson and engagement in the lesson. Further it investigated the teachers&rsquo / and students opinions about using learning objects in the instructional process. To achieve the aforementioned aims, both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to collect data throughout the spring semester of 2011-2012 academic year. The participants of this study were 137 students studying at the 6th grade in a public primary school in Bolu. An experimental study was conducted to compare students&rsquo / achievement, their attitudes toward social studies lesson, and their engagement in the social studies lesson with and without using learning objects. Using the survey method, students&rsquo / evaluations of their learning objects were examined. Students were observed in the classroom environment during the experimentation in order to reveal how they used the learning objects. Teachers and students were interviewed to elicit their opinions about using learning objects in the instructional and the learning process. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as mean and variance, and inferential statistics like paired-samples t-test, independent samples t-test, Mann Whitney U-test, Wilcoxon signed rank test for paired samples test and Spearman&rsquo / s rho test. On the other hand, qualitative data were analyzed through content analysis. The quantitative findings of the study showed that experimental group students&rsquo / scores were significantly higher than those of the control group students in the social studies achievement test, attitude scale and course engagement scale. Students in the experimental group had positively evaluated the learning objects of the study. In addition, positive correlation was identified between the achievement and course engagement, and between the achievement and learning object evaluation scores. The qualitative results of the study indicated that the characteristics and design principles of learning objects influenced the course achievement, attitude and engagement of students. These emerging results and the discussion have some important implications for teachers and instructional designers. The study contributes to a well-grounded understanding of learning objects approach and provides a basis for further empirical studies on learning objects.

The main aims of the current study are five fold (1) to develop a valid scale for measuring beliefs about education for sustainable development, (2) to adapt the values on sustainable development scale to the context of Turkey, (3) to explore elementary teachers&rsquo / familiarity with and understanding of sustainable development, (4) to determine the elementary teachers&rsquo / values on sustainable development, (5) to investigate their beliefs about education for sustainable development. In addition, the barriers elementary teachers have perceived regarding education for sustainable development, teaching strategies they have used in education for sustainable development and the possible relationship between barriers they have perceived and their beliefs about education for sustainable development was examined. The data of this study obtained from 211 elementary teachers who enrolled in the Green Pack and the Eco-Schools projects via direct administration and web-survey data collection methods in May to September 2012. The results revealed that Turkish elementary teachers lack of sufficient understandings of sustainable development. On the other hand, elementary teachers have favorable beliefs about education for sustainable development and favorable values on sustainable development. In addition, lack of the knowledge about sustainable development and lack of the knowledge about teaching sustainable development were relatively common barriers for these elementary teachers. Lastly, negative correlation between elementary teachers&rsquo / beliefs about education for sustainable development and barriers they have perceived was found.

The purpose of this study was to examine elementary teachers&rsquo / and elementary mathematics teachers&rsquo / perceptions of mathematically gifted students in terms of teachers&rsquo / gender, year of experience and area of teaching. The data were collected from 176 elementary teachers and 90 elementary mathematics teachers from 60 state elementary schools in the center of Trabzon, in the fall semester of 2011-2012 academic year. In order to determine teachers&rsquo / perceptions of mathematical giftedness, the instrument called as Teachers&rsquo / Judgments of Gifted Mathematics Student Characteristic (TJGMSC) was used. The results were evaluated in terms of three dimensions of TJGMSC: school smart mathematics student, mathematics perspective for the real world and creative problem solver. Besides, in order to analyze the data, one-way MANOVA was conducted. The results of the study illustrated that there were no significant differences among teachers&rsquo / TJGMSC scores, in terms of their gender and year of experience. However, a significant difference was found between elementary teachers and elementary mathematics teachers in terms of their TJGMSC scores for only the dimension of school smart mathematics student. To illustrate, elementary teachers&rsquo / scores regarding this dimension were higher than those of elementary mathematics teachers.

This quantitative study examined state and local funding and district spending patterns for English language learning (ELL) students in Texas. The purpose of this study was to examine the vertical equity of the state public school funding system from 1997-2007 for purchasing educational resources for ELL students. Vertical equity was operationalized through a research-based framework that places ELL students at risk of academic failure. Regression analysis examined vertical equity through (a) the extent to which the quantity of ELL students within districts predicted the TPSFM funding output for ELL students in districts over 10 years and (b) the extent to which, when districts are grouped by like-sized populations of ELL students within each of the 10 years, the quantity of ELL students within districts with like-sized populations of ELL students predicted the TPSFM funding output for ELL students. The findings revealed that from 1997-2007, the ELL student funding component was not found to be a statistically significant predictor for district spending on ELL students in any given Texas district. The present study therefore concludes with a discussion of policy implications and recommendations for further study. Within the current punitive culture for student assessment results and annual yearly progress measures, these findings indicate that programs serving ELL students may be constrained to produce results in areas where they are not equitably funded to be able to do so. In the daily life of school operations, teachers and administrators may be well aware that the state's mechanism does not supply adequate funding for the education of ELL students, therefore the results of this study may serve policy makers to clearly see the elephant of inequitable funding standing in the classroom.

The aim of this study was to investigate the elementary school students&rsquo / motivational traits (achiever, curious, conscientious and social) in science. More specifically present study examined the effects of gender, grade level and location of the school on elementary school students&rsquo / motivational traits. The data in the main study was collected by Motivational Pattern Questionnaire from randomly selected 8 classes of randomly selected 15 schools in five districts of Ankara. A total of 3685 students (1927 females and 1748 males), about 230 students per school, were participated in the study. The questionnaire was administrated to 6th (n=1291), 7th (n=1177) and 8th (n=1207) graders in spring 2004-2005 semester. According to the obtained data, scores of the students are assigned to four percentile groups. Each student assigned to the motivational pattern according to the highest percentage. To find the effects of gender, grade level, and location of the school on students motivational traits, one- way MANOVA was used. Results of the statistical analysis revealed that gender, has a significant effect on students&rsquo / motivational traits and girls are more achiever, curious, conscientious and sociable than boys. Furthermore, grade level has a significant effect on students&rsquo / motivational traits and 6th graders are more achiever, curious, conscientious and sociable than 7th and 8th graders. It is also found that scores of the students related to the motivational traits decreases as the grade level increases. This means that 8th graders have lowest mean score while 6th graders have the highest mean score relate to motivational trait. While students from urban schools are more curious and more sociable than the students from rural schools, no significant difference between the mean scores of the students from urban schools and the students from rural schools with respect to achiever students and conscientious students dimensions was demonstrated.

The purpose of this study is to interpret observations of three 6th grade elementary mathematics classrooms throughout a unit in detail. Specifically, this study examined the patterns and traditions related with teaching practices in the context of teaching a unit, teaching a topic, and single lessons, and described frequently observed teaching features in mathematics lessons. This study presented a detailed description and analysis of teaching practices of three experienced mathematics teacher from three public elementary schools. The participated teachers were directly observed through teaching a different mathematics unit. The teaching and learning practices in each classroom was described and analyzed both separately and together. The results of this study indicated that teaching a mathematics unit could be described as the combination of separately taught topics where the sequences of topics are strictly determined by elementary mathematics curriculum. There was no specific practice aiming to construct relation between unit&rsquo / s concepts and other school subjects, other mathematics concepts, and among these concepts. Teaching practices throughout a topic showed explicit similarities so that a pattern for teaching a topic can be described as demonstrating the new content, practicing the new content, and assigning and doing homework. It was not possible to draw a pattern for teaching practices in elementary mathematics lessons by using single lesson periods as a unit of analysis. &lsquo / Practicing&rsquo / was the most occurred activity in elementary mathematics lessons. Based on the findings some suggestions for future research studies were proposed, and some implications for teachers, teacher educators and policy makers were delivered.