Pre-school years are the most critical period of development in an individual’s life. The current study has aimed to seek an answer to the question of “what are pre-school teachers’ and administrators’ perceptions towards thinking skills instruction?”. The study was planned and carried out as a qualitative case study. Seven pre-school teachers and three administrators working in Yozgat city center were selected as the case. The study group was determined by maximum diversity sampling, a purposive sampling technique. Collected data was analyzed using content analysis. According to the findings, though participants think that thinking skills instruction can be given during pre-school years, a systematic thinking skills instruction has not been administered in these institutions. Participants are likely to perceive the term thinking skills instruction as teaching problem solving and creative thinking. They stress the importance of parents and child’s environment on such an education. Participants also think that thinking skills instruction in pre-school ages should contain various instructional methods and be flexible. Participant teachers emphasize the importance of self-development and do not perceive themselves as adequate professionals in carrying out such an instruction. They expect more flexibility and support from educational administrators.

Keywords: Thinking Skills, Pre-School Education, Pre-School Teacher, Educational Administrator
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Our country’s having underachieved repeatedly in the international examinations such as PISA, TIMSS etc., has made us consider that there are some problems related to our education system. The lowness of achievement levels might be affected by many factors such as the student, the program, and the teacher being in the first place. Of these factors, it is the teacher who is of great importance both because of being the person implementing this program and being the factor on the performance of whom measures can be taken easily. Starting from this point on, in the present study, the opinions of teachers about the lowness of students’ achievement levels on these exams were examined. To achieve depth in the investigation, first the questions having addressed to students in PISA implementations were asked to the teachers in written form and answers were received and then they were asked for their opinions. The study revealed that the teachers regarded the insufficiency of the contents of the program and that of the teachers’ accumulation of knowledge as the main reasons for students’ low achievement levels. It has been concluded that working on these two factors and including such kinds of questions within the exams carried out nationally are necessary to increase students’ achievement levels.

Keywords: Mathematics education, mathematics literacy, mathematics teachers, PISA, mathematics program, mathematics teacher education
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A multivariate investigation and comparison of the coping strategies used in dealing with stress and psycho-social factors among school administrators is the purpose of the current study. Personal and environmental independent variables were studied across 13 dependent variables. The participants were 214 school administrators who voluntarily responded to the Turkish version of the Coping Strategies Scales and a set of demographic questions. Results showed significant differences between men and women; among four age groups; and school type. Female administrators showed significantly higher preference for behavioral detachment; older administrators showed more preference for religion, whereas younger administrators preferred active coping and planning strategies. Those administrators who worked in middle schools scored higher on seeking instrumental and emotional social support compared to their colleagues who worked in elementary schools. Results are discussed in the light of current literature and suggestions were provided.

Keywords: Coping strategies, educational administrators, multivariate differences
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The main purpose of this study was to examine students’ roles and behaviors that take place under these roles in online learning environments. The research group consisted of 11 graduate students in a blended course (i.e., they received face to face instruction in the classroom and used web-based materials). Three hundred and ninety-one messages posted by students were analyzed. According to results, in an online learning environment, students act out two basic objectives: “developing group process and implementing group works”. Under two objectives, eight roles (supervisor, atmosphere constructor, reminder, information provider, instructor, opinion provider, trouble-maker, problem solver) and fifteen behaviors related to these roles has emerged. Of eight identified roles, the most common were opinion provider and atmosphere constructor. In addition, both in terms of participation status and collaboration behaviors, students were more active in the discussions that started by them.

Keywords: Online learning environment, social interaction, students’ online roles and behaviors.
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Foreign language education in Turkey has been criticized as being not entirely functional throughout the literature. Implementing effective teaching materials into the foreign language learning environments may serve as a solution to the problem. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of learning objects (LOs), cutting-edge materials, on the achievement of learners in web-based language learning environments. To this end, this study was conducted in English I Course at the Department of Computer Programming at a Turkish medium state university in 2010-2011 Fall Semester. Seventy LOs appropriate for a six-week long lecture program were integrated into the learning management system (LMS) of the institution. Achievement tests were administered as pre and post-test to the study groups consisted of 118 students and results were analysing using SPSS. The findings indicate that web-based language education supported by LOs has a significant effect on students’ achievement scores in the experimental group and LOs can be utilized in language education settings.

Keywords: Learning objects; distance education; web-based distance education; foreign language education
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This study examines how Science is taught in the secondary and high school levels in Romania. In order to identify how Science is taught, 82 teachers were assessed on their teaching methods, homework assignments and students’ evaluation in physics, chemistry and biology. Further, teachers were asked to mention what type of lifelong programmes they have attended. The major finding in this study is that teachers make little use of experiments and scientific investigations, in the favour of theoretical learning. One explanation can be the fact that the highest weight in continuous teacher training was assigned to psychology, pedagogy, educational management and computer assisted instruction and reduced attention was attributed to the didactic training in science subjects. This investigation raises questions about the effectiveness of teaching Science in secondary and high school levels in Romania, and proposes some recommendations regarding teaching science and science teacher training.

Keywords: Teaching science, teacher training, students‘ assessment.
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It is quite important for visually handicapped children to recognize the environmental sounds. This study was conducted to teach the sources of the environmental sounds to a visually handicapped and mentally retarded child. The purpose of the study was to teach visually handicapped student the names of the animals the sounds of which he/she hears in the near surrounding using the simultaneous prompting method. Three sets of animals which the child encounters in his/her near surrounding, but the names of which he/she doesn't know, were formed in order for the child to recognize them from their sounds. A multiple probe design across behaviors was used in the study. The subject included in the study was a 9 year-old visually and mentally handicapped girl. The names of animals were taught to the subject by holding sessions at the Unit for the Children with Developmental Disabilities in Anatolia University. At the end of the study, simultaneous prompting method was found to be effective in teaching the names of the animals based on the sounds.

Keywords: Training of people with multiple disabilities, functional skills teaching, teaching environmental sounds, simultaneous teaching
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The purpose of this study was to examine novice EFL teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning, and the relationship between their beliefs and classroom practices. Nine non-native novice EFL teachers teaching at a private university in Northern Cyprus participated in this nine month long study. Data collection consisted of semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, post-lesson reflection forms, and stimulated recall interviews. The findings of the study showed that novice teachers’ previous experiences as students’ have an impact on the formation of their initial beliefs about teaching and learning. The results also revealed that when teachers became aware of the incongruence between their beliefs and practices, they attempted to align their beliefs more closely with their practices. Lastly, the study found that due to students’ expectations, teachers were willing to perform certain practices which were contrary to their beliefs. Recommendations for future research and implications of the findings are discussed.

Keywords: Novice teachers, beliefs and practices
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Translator education, as most scholars agree, requires a detailed comprehension of linguistic rules and practices; hence the reason, why within the departments of translation and interpretation, extra importance is given to the discourse analysis course especially in the first two years of the bachelor’s programme. The view presented in this paper is that the linguistics based ‘discourse analysis’ course plays a significant role in translation and interpretation education by strengthening the curriculum and enabling the development of various skills necessary for the translator. To determine the extent and the impact that learning linguistics has on .translator education, eight courses were selected from upper grades (3rd and 4th years) and their relevance with the discourse analysis course was tested by applying a survey to the corresponding students at the end of the academic year. The findings based on the statistical analysis show that improving linguistic competence throughout translator education at the universities result in success in translation and a better understanding of the source text regardless of its type and context.

Keywords: Translator education, translation and interpretation, linguistics, discourse analysis, student attitude
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The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between schools' organizational health and teachers' job motivation. A total of 305 teachers employed in primary schools in Karabük participated in this correlational research. Organizational Health Inventory and Job Motivation Scale were used to gather data. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients and multiple linear regression analysis were performed to analyze the data. Results indicated that all subscales of independent variable, organizational health, were positively and significantly correlated with the subscales of job motivation. Results also mirrored that organizational health was the significant predictor of teachers' job motivation.

Keywords: Organizational health, job motivation, teacher.
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The aim of this study is to analyze the level of perceived social support and loneliness levels of the adolescents with and without high tendency towards violence. For this purpose, information has been collected from 899 high school students educated in state schools located in Adana. The data of the research have been obtained by using Violence Tendency Scale (VTS) developed by Haskan and Yıldırım (2012), UCLA Loneliness Scale developed by Russell, Peplau ve Ferguson (1978) and adapted into Turkish culture by Demir (1989) and Perceived Social Support Scale (ASDÖ-R) developed by Yıldırım (2004). Independent-samples t-test has been used in the analysis of the data. According to the results of the analysis, the students with a high tendency towards violence have been found to have less support from their families, friends and teachers and high loneliness levels.

Keywords: Adolescence, violence tendency, social support, loneliness
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A destructive earthquake happened in October 2011 in one of the cities at Eastern Region of our country and it caused big damages in the city. All educational system affected negatively and university in the city had to break down its education. It was even not possible to continue education because of huge damages and heavy weather condition at city. In order to solve this problem, it was decided to use Moodle to continue education at the university. All students and instructors except for the medical and dental faculties were obliged to use Moodle during 2011-2012 fall semesters. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the factors which might affect the intention to use Moodle by university students using Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) in case of earthquake. A survey method was used to collect data. Purposive sampling was used and 501 university students were participated in the current study. The data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics and the proposed model was tested by using structural equation model. The proposed model has seven constructs and nine hypotheses have been generated from the connections among these seven constructs. Except for the one hypothesis, the model supported the entire hypothesis proposed in the model. Implications and discussion are made in light of the results.

Keywords: Moodle usage, technology acceptance model, earthquake
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The purpose of this research was to determine how students use the unit square and area formula in different situations. Data were collected through one-on-one interviews with a total of 248 students from 4th, 6th, 8th, and 9th grades of 11 schools in 4 different cities in Turkey. The data collection tool consisted of problems related to unit square and area measurement. Based on their answers and strategies, it is sought to determine if the students accept the unit square as a unit of area measurement. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the data revealed that students from 4th through 9th grade do not accept the unit square as a unit of area measurement. Findings are discussed in light of different teaching approaches to area concept. Implications for teaching the area concept and its measurement in elementary grades are discussed.

Keywords: Unit square, area formula, measurement
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This research aims to determine the effect of learning method enriched with learning objects on students’ academic achievement and transferable skills in foreign language teaching. Another purpose of the study is to examine what the experimental group students ‘attitudes towards learning objects, the method and teaching process are. To obtain the data for the research, mixed research method, in which quantitative and qualitative research methods were used in combination, was applied. Experimental design to collect quantitative data and the semi-structured interview technique to collect the qualitative data were used in order to support and explain the results obtained from the qualitative data. For data analysis, Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used in order to determine the differences between the control and experimental groups.According to the findings of the study, it has been concluded that both of the methods of teaching English enriched with learning objects and traditional way of teaching English increased the success in a great deal. It has been realized that method of teaching English with Learning objects increased the level of transferable skills more than that of traditional one.

Keywords: Learning objects, english language teaching, educational technology, e-learning,
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Changing needs of society require higher education institutions to promote new forms of knowledge, skills and responsibilities. This requires a shift from teacher centered curricula to learner centered curricula which leads to a change in the roles of teacher and student, activities to be designed and the approaches to be implemented. This study aims to examine the pre-service teacher’s perceptions of student centered learning methodology based on their experiences in an elective course titled student centered education (SCE) through a metaphoric perspective. The study was done within qualitative research paradigm wherein an interpretive methodology was adopted. Phenomenology was used as the research design within interpretivism. Data were collected qualitatively within the format of using metaphors from 37 third year students in the Faculty of Education at Eastern Mediterranean University and analyzed through content analysis method. The study provided data regarding the importance of cooperative learning, teacher-student roles, self-regulation, autonomy and interaction in the student centered learning process. The contribution of student centered learning on the development of academic and social skills were underlined in the study. It can also be concluded from the study that student centered learning is effective due to the variety and diversity it provides in the ideas being exchanged and the strategies being developed.

Keywords: Autonomous learning, cooperative learning, student centered learning.
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The study focused on teachers’ emotional expressions in classrooms. Teachers’ emotions were observed by primary education students during their practical work experience. They used a scheme constructed for observing different aspects of emotions. Observations were done on 108 teachers in 93 primary schools from various regions in Slovenia. Data were categorised and analysed using the descriptive statistics and t-test for comparing the intensity of pleasant and unpleasant emotions. The results have shown that primary school teachers expressed various pleasant and unpleasant emotions, with the unpleasant ones prevailing. The intensity of expressed emotions was moderate, the pleasant emotions being more intense than unpleasant ones. Teachers expressed emotions non-verbally through facial expression, gestures and tone of voice. Joy and anger, as two of the most frequently expressed emotions, were analysed with regard to their verbal expressions by teachers’ and the pupils’ response to them. Compared to joy, anger had more forms of expression, and also pupil responses were more diverse. The teacher-pupils interactions were more functional for joy than for anger.

Keywords: Emotion, emotional expression, emotional functionality, teacher, pupil
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The aim of this research is to explore the relation between the reasons of absenteeism of the primary school 7th and 8th grade students and their grade level and gender. The universe of the research involves all the 7th and 8th grade students at primary school of which absenteeism mean is above the mean in Elazig in 2009-2010 teaching year, and the samples are 2600 students in this universe, according to the size of the 5 teaching areas, chosen with the proportional stratified sampling sharing approach. At the stage of data collection, with aim of determining the reasons of absenteeism among primary school students, a student absence survey which was developed by the researcher was used. In the process of the analysis of collected data, frequency, percentage and chi-squared tests were used. According to the results of the study there are differences between the grade level and gender in terms of the reasons of absenteeism.

Keywords: Absenteeism, primary school, student, statistic.
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This study aims to investigate the relationship between multidimensional perfectionism in predicting career decision making self- efficacy among high school seniors. The sample of the study consisted of 302 students from three different schools in Trabzon city center, Akçaabat and Yomra disctricts (General High School, Anatolian High School and Science High School). The distrubution of students by gender is in the form of 139 girls (46%) and 163 boys (64%). A demographic data form prepared by the researcher, Career Decision Making Self- Efficacy Scale and Multidimensinal Perfectionsim Scale were used to collect the data. Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the data. Findings of this study showed that, multidimensional perfectionism’ subdimensions “Organization” and “Personal Standarts” were found to be significant predictors of career decision making selfefficacy in significant levels among senior high school students. These results were discussed in light of relevant literature and some new direction were given to the further studies.

Keywords: Career decision making self- efficacy, multidimensional perfectionsim, senior students
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The purpose of the study is to determine the factors affecting the student gain in achievement in English classes and to determine the factors that are related with the student scores on English classes by using a computer assisted language-learning (CALL) software, called DynEd. More than 600 grade 4 to grade 7 students from 10 secondary schools were invited to take part in a pre-test, a post-test, and a student survey between fall 2009 and spring 2011. Two separate regression analyses were run to probe the research questions. It was found that being a student of grade 6 and grade 7 significantly matters in terms of achievement in English scores as well as possessing MS Word and MS Excel skills. Moreover, the DynEd-related activities had no impact on achievement scores at all. However, students who felt themselves comfortable in Excel performed worse in achievement.

Keywords: Achievement in English, computer use, gender, grade level, computer literacy, CALL
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This study aims to research the causes of faculty members’ silence and whether they differ significantly according to some demographic variables. The population of the study includes faculty members of Kocaeli University, Sakarya University and Namık Kemal University (except Faculty of Medicine), and the sample includes 459 faculty members. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test and ANOVA with the help of SPSS. In this study, we determined that faculty members remain silent due to organisational regulations, acquiescence, fear of damaging relations with co-workers, fear of damaging relations with supervisor, self-defense and lack of self-confidence respectively. Causes of faculty members’ silence were found to differ according to age, level of education, academic title and duration of employment in the organisation. Findings of the study showed that instructors, research assistants and lecturers are more silent compared to assistant professors, associate professors and professors. Instructors are the most silent while professors are the least silent.

Keywords: Faculty member’s silence, organisational silence, employee silence, faculty members
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This is a descriptive study conducted to examine problematic internet use in terms of gender, social anxiety and peer relations. The sample is comprised of a total of 682 students high school students (356 female (52,2%) and 326 male (47,8%) studying at the 9th, 10th, and 11th grades during the Fall semester of the 2012-2013 Academic Year in three different high schools in Çankaya, Etimesgut, and Mamak districts of Ankara. In order to determine students’ problematic internet use, ‘Problematic Internet Use Scale-Adolescent’ developed by Ceyhan and Ceyhan (2009), to determine their social anxiety levels, ‘Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents’ developed by Aydın and Tekinsav-Sütcü (2007) and adapted to high school students by the researchers, and to determine their peer relations, ‘Peer Relations Scale’ developed by Kaner (2002). In the study, t-test and hierarchical regression analysis were used to analyze the data. The result of the study showed that male high school students have a higher level of problematic internet use compared to female high school students. Hierarchical regression analysis results, explained that fear of negative evaluation sub-dimension of social anxiety and social avoidance and nervousness in general situations have an important effect (22%) on problematic internet use; moreover, it was also determined that opening oneself sub-dimension of the peer relations variable and loyalty variable meaningfully contribute (%6) to this.

Keywords: Problematic internet use, internet addiction, social anxiety, peer relations, adolescent.
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This study aims to evaluate children’s picture books for 0-3-year-olds on the market in Turkey with respect to their physical features, illustrations and content. A total of 146 children’s books for sale in Ankara and Istanbul bookshops were studied. Data were collected by using a five-part book check list designed by the researchers. The frequencies and percentages of these data were computed by using the SPSS16 statistical package. The results revealed that books for 0–3-year-olds generally reflect positive physical, illustration and content features listed in the literature but may be improved in several ways.

Keywords: 0-3-year-olds, children’s literature, children’s picture books, picture books’ features
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