Makale Koleksiyonu

RESEARCH ON THE PSEUDO-SCIENTIFIC BELIEFS OF PRESERVICE SCIENCE TEACHERS: A SAMPLE FROM ASTRONOMY-ASTROLOGY

2020-02-24T13:29:24Z

RESEARCH ON THE PSEUDO-SCIENTIFIC BELIEFS OF PRESERVICE SCIENCE TEACHERS: A SAMPLE FROM ASTRONOMY-ASTROLOGY Öztuna Kaplan, Aysun The purpose of this study was to determine perceptions embraced by preservice science teachers on astrology, which is defined as a pseudo-science. It also aimed to reflect their abilities to distinguish between science and pseudo-science through the examples of astronomy - astrology. Twenty-nine grade 4 preservice teachers studying Science Education participated in the study. Among the qualitative research patterns, the phenomenological approach was used for the study. Data were collected through an open-ended question form, group discussion records, and research assignments, while individual interviews were conducted where necessary. Open coding was used for the evaluation of the data, and the validity of the study was obtained through verifications of preservice teachers on themes and theories during the interviews. The findings of the study showed that a vast majority of preservice teachers perceived astrology as a field of science or a subfield of astronomy. Quite a few preservice teachers expressed that astrology was a nonscientific field and that knowledge obtained through astrology could not be considered as scientific knowledge.

DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF AN INSTRUMENT MEASURING ANXIETY TOWARD BIOLOGY LABORATORY CLASSES AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

2020-02-24T13:29:24Z

DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF AN INSTRUMENT MEASURING ANXIETY TOWARD BIOLOGY LABORATORY CLASSES AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS Kurbanoğlu, Namudar İzzet University students' achievements in biology laboratory do not depend only on cognitive variables, but also on non-cognitive variables such as anxiety levels. The aim of this study was to develop a measurement tool assessing the anxiety levels of university students in a biology laboratory class. In this study, the Biology Laboratory Anxiety Scale (B-LAS) consisting of 15 items was developed, and analysed its validity and reliability. All items are positively worded to indicate increased anxiety. The sample consisted of 685 science teacher candidates (450 female and 235 male) who take Biology and/or Biology laboratory classes at three different Faculties of Education. The validity of the scale was first assessed by expert review. Exploratory factor analysis was performed to assess structural validity, and revealed a one-dimensional structure. The loading values of all 15 items varied between 0.61 and 0.80, and explained 53% of the total variance. Cronbach's alpha coefficient of internal consistency was calculated as 0.93 and the split-half test correlation was 0.85. According to these results B-LAS can be used as a valid and reliable instrument in science education.

Circadian Preferences, Sleep Quality and Sleep Patterns, Personality, Academic Motivation and Academic Achievement of university students

2020-02-24T13:29:22Z

Circadian Preferences, Sleep Quality and Sleep Patterns, Personality, Academic Motivation and Academic Achievement of university students Önder, İsmail; Beşoluk, Şenol; İskender, Murat; Masal, Ercan; Demirhan, Eda In the current study, the relationships among Circadian Preferences, Sleep Quality and Sleep Patterns, Personality, Academic Motivation and the Academic Achievement of university students are examined. 1343 university students (62.8% females and 37.2% males) participated in the study. Data was gathered from each participant using a Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Adjective Based Personality Test (ABPT), Academic Motivation Scale (AMS-C) and Descriptive Questionnaire, completed voluntarily. A regression analysis model revealed the following predictors: corrected Midpoint of Sleep, Academic Motivation, Social Jetlag, Conscientiousness, Intrinsic Motivation toward Accomplishment, Intrinsic Motivation to Experience Stimulation and Neuroticism, explaining 15.1% of the variance of Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA). Meanwhile, CGPA scores of earlier chronotypes were higher than those of later chronotypes. Corrected Midpoint of Sleep, global PSQI, Conscientiousness, Extrinsic Motivation-External Regulation and Intrinsic Motivation to Experience Stimulation, Social Jetlag, Extraversion, Intrinsic Motivation toward Accomplishment and Intrinsic Motivation to Know emerged as significant predictors of MEQ explaining the 26.7% of the variance. Conscientiousness, CGPA, Openness to Experience, Neuroticism and Social Jetlag were the significant predictors of AMS-C explaining 14.7% of the variance in Academic Motivation. Analysis in Sleep Quality presented that 13.4% of the variance was explained by chronotype preference, Average Sleep Length (ASL), Neuroticism, corrected Midpoint of Sleep and Extraversion. Moreover, in the female sample both Sleep Quality and Academic Motivation of morning type students were better than those of evening types and those of neither type. Meanwhile regression analysis shows that in all Personality traits Academic Motivation and sub-domains of Academic Motivation are significant predictors; and in some Personality traits, ASL, circadian typology and Academic Achievement emerged as significant predictors. These results suggested that Circadian Preferences, Sleep Quality and Sleep Patterns, Personality and Academic Motivation were interrelated and had a significant effect on Academic Achievement. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Investigation of the Relationships between High School Students' Chemistry Laboratory Anxiety and Chemistry Attitudes in terms of Gender and Types of School

2020-02-24T13:29:22Z

Investigation of the Relationships between High School Students' Chemistry Laboratory Anxiety and Chemistry Attitudes in terms of Gender and Types of School Kurbanoğlu, Namudar İzzet The aim of this study is to determine whether the level of anxiety of college students toward chemistry laboratory and the attitudes toward chemistry differed in gender and the type of the school. Participants were 372 high school 9th-grade (177 female, 195 male) students who attended Science High School, Anatolian High School, Vocation High School, and General High School in Sakarya. The relationships between chemistry laboratory anxiety and chemistry attitudes were examined using "Pearson Moment Correlation" Also, in order to determine whether there is a significant difference between the anxiety of students toward chemistry laboratory and the attitudes toward chemistry, ANOVA and "Independent Samples t-Test" were used. Results indicated that there was a significant and negative relationship between the attitude toward chemistry and anxiety toward chemistry laboratory. These results showed that there was significant difference between gender and the attitudes toward chemistry (p<.05); however, there was no statistically significant difference between gender and the level of anxiety of students toward chemistry laboratory (p>.05). Furthermore, it demonstrated that there was statistically significant difference between the level of anxiety of students toward chemistry laboratory and the attitudes toward chemistry in terms of the types of the school (p<.05).