This dissertation is an empirical study of the political benefits of decentralization. It examines the effects of decentralization on citizens’ evaluations of the political system. Despite the large number of empirical studies on the costs and benefits of decentralization, most studies focus on economic benefits (typically in terms of fiscal efficiency) and pay little attention to potential political benefits. This dissertation seeks to fill these gaps by explicitly modeling the role decentralization plays in shaping citizens’ attitudes toward a political system. Drawing on work in political behavior and decentralization, a theoretical framework is developed to explain the manner in which citizens’ attitudes are shaped by election outcomes and their post-electoral win-loss status in multi-tier government. This dissertation not only offers a general argument with which to understand how a decentralized political structure may lead to greater stability in a democratic regime, but also offers guidance to policymakers on whether decentralization should be pursued as an option for institutional reform.

To date, little research has documented the prevalence of anti-gay behaviours on Canadian university campuses or directly explored heterosexual mens and womens self-reported reasons for holding negative attitudes toward gay men and engaging in anti-gay behaviours. Consequently, the purpose of the current study was to: (1) assess the prevalence of anti-gay attitudes and behaviours on a Canadian university campus using the Attitudes Toward Gay Men Scale (ATG) and the Self-Report Behaviour Scale Revised (SBS-R); (2) describe heterosexual mens and womens lived experiences as perpetrators of homonegativity; and (3) explore how heterosexuals find meaning in their homonegativity within personal and social contexts. A mixed-methods approach was used wherein a quantitative questionnaire was administered to 286 university students in the first phase of the study. The majority of the participants scored below the midpoint of the ATG and they most often reported engaging in subtle behaviours directed toward gay men. In the second, qualitative phase of the study, open-ended interviews were conducted with eight individuals (four men and four women) who held negative attitudes toward gay men and had engaged in anti-gay behaviours. The interviews were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The participants lived experiences of homonegativity were primarily characterized by their feelings of discomfort upon observing gay men display affection and their perceptions that gay men are feminine. For the most part, participants used their religious beliefs, negative affective reactions toward homosexuality, and their beliefs that homosexuality is wrong and unnatural to understand their homonegativity. Further, the participants indicated that they had only engaged in subtle anti-gay behaviours, such as joke-telling, social distancing, or avoidance. Many of the participants were concerned about being perceived as prejudiced and, consequently, monitored the behaviours they directed toward gay men. Limitations of the study and directions for future research concerning anti-gay behaviours are also presented.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of gender and reasoning ability on the 8th grade students&rsquo / understanding of ecological concepts and attitude toward science. All 8th grade students from public elementary school in Tosya participated in the study. Students&rsquo / understanding, attitude toward science and reasoning ability were also measured by means of the Test of Ecology Concept (TEC), the Attitude Scale toward Science (ASTS) and the Test of Logical Thinking (TOLT) respectively. In order to investigate students&rsquo / understanding deeply, interview was conducted. Results of the TEC and interview show that students have many misconceptions concerning ecosystem, population, community, decomposers, food chain, food web, energy pyramid and energy flow. Students&rsquo / understanding for the first tier (M= 55.8), combination of first two tiers (M= 27) and combination of all three tiers (M= 21.2) were calculated according to TEC results. Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) conducted to determine the effect of gender on students&rsquo / understanding of ecological concepts and attitude towards science when reasoning ability was controlled. The results indicated that there was significant gender difference in favor of girls with respect to students&rsquo / understanding of ecological concepts and attitude towards science when reasoning ability was controlled (Wilks&rsquo / Lambda=0.97 / p=.00).

This study aimed at investigating the attitudes of English language teachers in Turkey toward computer technology and the extent to which they use technology in language instruction. The data were collected from a sample of English teachers working at public schools all throughout Turkey. In order to ensure triangulation and complementarity, mixed methods research was used combining both quantitative and qualitative research methods. A questionnaire and semi-structured, face-to-face interview were used in order to collect the data. Both descriptive and inferential statistics as well as content analysis were conducted so as to analyze the data. The results of the data analysis yielded positive findings regarding English teachers

The purpose of this study was to investigate scientific epistemological beliefs, perceptions of constructivist learning environment, attitude towards science, prior knowledge and gender as determinants of students&rsquo / approaches to learning. This study was carried out in 2005-2006 Spring Semester. One thousand, one hundred and fifty two eighth grade students from seven public schools in &Ccedil / ankaya, a district of Ankara participated in this study. Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire, Constructivist Learning Environment Scale, Learning Approaches Questionnaire and Attitude towards Science Scale were administered to students in order to determine their scientific epistemological beliefs, their perceptions of constructivist learning environments, approaches to learning and attitudes towards science respectively. Descriptive statistics were used in order to explore the general characteristics of the sample. Paired samples t-test was used in order to evaluate the mean difference iv between the scales of the actual and preferred learning environments. Pearson Correlation Analyses and Multiple Regression Analyses were conducted to see the relationships among the variables and the variables that contribute to students&rsquo / meaningful and rote learning approaches. Results of the paired samples t-test showed that the actual learning environments of the students did not adapt their preferences. In fact, students preferred more constructivist learning environments where they have more opportunity to relate science with the real world, communicate in the classroom, take role in the decision making process of what will go on in the lesson to be more beneficial for them, question what is going on in the lesson freely and experience the formulation of scientific knowledge. Pearson correlation analyses, however, showed that students who had meaningful learning orientations had tentative views of scientific epistemological beliefs, positive attitudes towards science, high prior knowledge and perceived their learning environments as constructivist. On the other hand, students who had rote learning approaches had fixed views of scientific epistemological beliefs, positive attitudes towards science and low prior knowledge. In addition, the rote learners perceived their environments as constructivist in all scales except shared control scale. Multiple Regression Analyses by using actual learning environment showed that attitude towards science is the best predictor of both meaningful and rote learning approaches.

This study aims to explore preschool teachers&#039 / attitudes toward science teaching and its impact on classroom practices through the frequency of science activities provided in the classroom. In addition, attitudes of preschool teachers&#039 / toward science were investigated in terms of affecting factors such as age, educational level, years of teaching experience, undergraduate course work on science, number of children in classroom, and the age group they work with. The present research was conducted with 292 preschool teachers who work in public and private schools in different districts of Ankara during the second semester of 2006-2007 academic years. The data were collected by administering Early Childhood Teachers&#039 / Attitudes toward Science Teaching Scale (ECTASTS). Analysis of the data indicated that there is a statistically significant relationship between preschool teachers&#039 / attitudes toward science and the frequency of science activities that they provide in the classroom. Also, all factors were found highly related with the teachers&#039 / attitudes toward science teaching and the frequency of science activities except for age and in-service training.

The aim of this thesis was to investigate the relationship of ambivalent sexism toward women and men and system justification with understanding of honor and attitudes toward violence against women for protecting honor. 351 undergraduate students from METU, Ankara and Gazi University participated in the study (180 females and 166 males). Participants&amp / #8217 / ages ranged from 17 to 30 (M=21.56). Data was collected by a questionnaire consisting of Understanding of Honor Scale / Attitudes toward Violence against Women for Protecting Honor Scale / Ambivalent Sexism Inventory which has two subscales of Hostile Sexism (HS) and Benevolent Sexism (BS) / and Ambivalence toward Men Inventory which has two subscales of Hostility toward Men and Benevolence toward Men (BM) / and Economic System Justification Scale and demographic information. Seperate linear regression analyses for males and females were performed in order to compare their responses. Results showed that among males, higher levels of HS and BM / and lower levels of HM / and among females, higher levels of BM and system justification predicted higher tendency to relate honor with women&amp / #8217 / s virginity and holding men responsible for protecting it. Regarding attitudes toward violence against women for protecting honor, males&amp / #8217 / scores were positively associated with BM, whereas females&amp / #8217 / scores were positively associated with BM and ESJ scores. The thesis aims to contribute to the literature by (1) investigating the concept of honor which has not been delt with in psychology literature / (2) introducing two newly developed scales: Understanding of Honor Scale and Attitudes toward Violence against Women for Protecting Honor Scale / and (3) making use of ambivalence toward men and women, and system justification theory while investigating the topic.

The international and national assessment results indicated that Turkish students&rsquo / conceptual understanding in science and basic inquiry skills are far behind the expected levels. The reason of low achievement could be attributed to many sources such as family background characteristics, students&rsquo / attitudes, and teaching methodologies. The low socioeconomic environment in the school and crowded classrooms are important facts that should be somehow considered by the educational researchers. The way a teacher teaches in a crowded classroom is important to help students&rsquo / understanding of concepts and development of inquiry skills. The present study aimed to propose a methodology that helps teachers to enhance students&rsquo / understanding of concepts and develop inquiry skills in many schools with various socio-economic-status environments and large classrooms. The method proposed could be called as guided (teacher-directed) inquiry to develop concepts, skills, and affective characteristics of the students such as attitudes. This study was conducted with 168 sixth grade public elementary school students in Ankara in 2006-07 academic year. Repeated measures design was used in the study. Intact groups received either traditional or teacher-directed inquiry instructions. The students in both groups were measured with the unit achievement and science process skills tests, and attitudes toward science questionnaire before and after the instructions, and repeatedly after no treatment by a retention or delayed test. It was found that while the guided (teacher-directed) inquiry instruction made a difference on student achievement in the first unit (Reproduction, Development and Growth in Living Things), it could not make a difference on student achievement in the second unit (Force and Motion). The instruction also made a difference on students&rsquo / science process skills test performance and both the composite and individual attitude scores. It is concluded that guided (teacher-directed) inquiry instruction generally helps students&rsquo / understanding of science concepts and results with achievement in science. It helps students&rsquo / development of scientific skills with authentic experiences. Guided (teacher-directed) inquiry instruction also has an effect on students&rsquo / development of positive attitudes toward science and technology course, specifically on self-concept, anxiety, interest, career, enjoyment, and usefulness dimensions.

The main purpose of this study is to compare the effectiveness of case- based learning method instruction over traditional method instruction on eleventh grade high school students&rsquo / understanding of solubility equilibrium concepts. In addition, students&rsquo / attitudes toward chemistry as a school subject and students&rsquo / epistemological beliefs were investigated. Sixty-two eleventh grade students from two classes of a chemistry course taught by the same teacher in Atakent High School in 2007-2008 spring semesters were enrolled in the study. The classes were randomly assigned as experimental and control group. Experimental group students instructed by case-based learning method in which specific situations, generally real-life examples were discussed. On the other hand, control group students were instructed by traditional method. Solubility Concept Test was administered as a pre-test to both groups. Moreover, Attitude Scale toward chemistry and Epistemological Belief Scale about chemistry were administered as a pre- and post-tests to all groups. Solubility Equilibrium Concept Test and Open-Ended Solubility Equilibrium Concept Test were administered as a post-test to all groups. The results showed that case based learning instruction produced significantly greater achievement in understanding of solubility equilibrium than the traditional instruction. Also, there was a significant difference between the experimental and the control group with respect to their epistemological beliefs and attitudes toward chemistry as a school subject in the favor of experimental group. Results obtained revealed that students have several misconceptions related to solubility equilibrium. Case based learning was effective for remediation of misconceptions and enhancing students&rsquo / understanding in comparison to traditional method.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of conceptual change oriented instruction accompanied by computer-based interactive conceptual change text (CBICCT) on 11th grade students understanding of electrochemistry and attitude toward chemistry. The study was conducted in an anatolian high school in Ankara with two science classes with 66 students in May 2009. A quasi experimental design was used. The classes was assigned to groups / one as control group and the other as experimental group. While control group was given traditional instruction, experimental group was given conceptual change oriented instruction accompanied by CBICCT. Electrochemistry Concept Test (ECT) was administered before and after treatment and Attitude Toward Chemistry Scale (ATCS) was administered after treatment to collect data about students&rsquo / concepts about electrochemistry and attitude toward chemistry, respectively. To investigate possible covariates, Science Process Skills Test (SPST) was administered after treatment. The collected data were analyzed with two way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and two way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Gain scores of ECT was analyzed with two way ANCOVA when SPST scores controlled as covariate and the results showed that the experimental group developed significantly better understanding of concepts than control group. The results also showed that no mean difference between males and females, and no interaction effect between instruction method and gender were found. The analysis of ATCS showed that experimental group developed significantly more positive attitude toward chemistry than control group. However, no significant difference between males and females, and no significant interaction between method and gender in terms of attitude toward chemistry were found.