Psycho-Educational Research Reviews

Investigating the Mediation Effect of 21st Century Skills between Teachers' Decision Making Styles and Professional Autonomy

2023-05-26T09:27:21+00:00

This correlational research design study aims to examine the mediation role of 21st century skill between teachers' decision making styles and their professional autonomy, based on the theoretical framework. The population of this study consists of 910 teachers working in the Nazilli district of Aydın province in the 2021-2022 academic year. In the study, the maximum diversity sampling method was used and responses were received from 435 teachers through ‘Personal Information Form’, ‘Multidimensional 21st Century Skills Scale’, ‘Teacher Autonomy Scale’ and ‘Decision Making Styles Scale’. Inferential statistical calculations were made and construct validity and mediation tests were conducted. As a result, it was seen that the direct effect of teachers' decision making styles on their professional autonomy was 0.55; when 21st century skills were included in the model as a mediation variable, this effect decreased to 0.40 and this value was still statistically significant. In this respect, it was determined that there was a partial mediation role between teachers' 21st century skills, decision making styles, and professional autonomy. In addition, the Sobel Z test was applied to examine the mediation role and it was determined that the mediation effect was statistically significant (z=3.91; p<.05). In light of these findings, the fact that the effect of decision making style decreased after 21st century skills were added to the model, but this effect was still significant, showed that 21st century skills were a partial mediation variable in this relationship. Teachers with the high 21st century skill were found to be able to act professionally autonomous enough in decision making situations. It is expected that determining the direction and roles of the relationship between these variables and presenting them as a model will contribute to the literature, serve as a source for teachers and researchers, and provide inspiration for new studies.

Effective Use of Distance Education Tools in Higher Education During Covid-19 Pandemic in Türkiye

2023-03-24T07:42:22+00:00

In this study, it was aimed to determine the attitude of students at state universities towards the effective use of distance education tools during the COVID-19 pandemic in Türkiye. This study was conducted within the scope of the Technology Acceptance Model by using a relational survey design. The sample consisted of 4.118 undergraduates from different public universities. The results showed that technology acceptance scores (TAS) of undergraduate students were higher than associate degree students. In addition, TAS increases as the duration of distance education use increases. A strong positive correlation was found between university students’ perceptions of experience, enjoyment, and self-efficacy and the perceived benefit and ease of use of distance education. Perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are determinants of the intention to use and attitude towards using distance education systems. The research also identified that university students’ intention to use the system and their attitude towards using it have positive effects on behavior during actual use. In conclusion, it may be asserted that, distance education is an indispensable system in terms of providing quality education services and developing human resources in times of crisis.

Types of Feedback in Inquiry Science Learning Classroom in Secondary Education

2023-07-06T09:46:46+00:00

Although an inquiry-based approach has been adopted in science lessons in recent years, the characteristics of this approach have been ignored in determining teacher feedback. In this study, it is aimed to determine teacher feedback by considering the cognitive and affective components inherent in inquiry. This study, based on qualitative research, was conducted with an instrumental case study design. The types of verbal feedback given by the teacher were followed during the inquiry-based science lessons. With the content analysis of the collected data, the feedback was classified according to their method and function. In this study, the place of the feedback types determined in the environment where inquiry-based learning is taken into account, in the literature is discussed by comparing them with the existing feedback types.

Aggression and Life Goals in Adolescents: Mediating Effect of Visions About the Future and Moderating Effect of Gender

2023-07-12T06:52:36+00:00

Aggression can be considered as a problem for a long time in Türkiye, especially among adolescents in schools. Although few previous studies have confirmed the negative effects of life goals on aggression, the mechanism of how life goals affect aggression and whether this varies with gender difference is still unknown. To address this research gap, we tested the mediating effect of visions of the future and the moderator effect of gender. The study group consisted of 516 high school students in Turkish. The students completed Adolescents' Life Goals Scale with Respect to Positive Psychotherapy, the Visions about Future Scale, and the KAR-YA Aggression Scale. Structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed the indirect impact of life goals on aggression through visions about future. In addition, the conditional process analysis results showed that this indirect effect was moderated by gender.

The Effect of STEM-Based Activity Designed for Gifted Students on Students' Scientific Creativity and Cognitive Achievement

2023-04-09T20:14:01+00:00

This research aimed to determine the effect of STEM-based activity designed for gifted students on students' scientific creativity and cognitive achievement. Depending on this purpose a simple experimental method, which is one of the quantitative research approaches, was preferred. While the "Scientific Creativity Scale" was used to determine the effect of STEM-based activity designed for gifted students on students’ scientific creativity, the "Academic Achievement Test" developed in the field of preferred subject matter was used as part of the research to determine the effect on cognitive achievement. SPSS 25.0 package program was used to analyze quantitative data collected in the form of pre-testing and post-testing. When evaluating the effect of STEM-based activity for gifted students on scientific creativity; the post-test scores obtained by the research group from the scientific creativity scale differed significantly from the pre-test scores. It has been concluded that the nature of STEM-based activity and the steps involved in the engineering design process have an impact on the relevant skill in making a meaningful difference in scientific creativity. When the effect of STEM-based activity developed for gifted students on cognitive achievement is evaluated; it was concluded that the post-test scores obtained from the cognitive achievement test of the research group differed significantly from the pre-test scores. In making a meaningful difference in cognitive achievement, STEM-based activity directs the student to research and question and provides meaningful-lasting learning.

Development and Validation of the Professional Development Needs Scale: Evidence from Turkish School Principals

2023-08-01T09:57:18+00:00

This study aims to develop a Professional Development Needs of School Principals Scale (PDNSP) to measure in-service training needs of school principals in Turkiye. The Turkish Ministry of National Education launched a new plan called Education Vision 2023 in November 2018. The Plan has emphasized the importance of supporting both administrative and leadership skills of school principals. The PDNSP was developed based on this policy reform and the current study presents validity and reliability evidence of the scale. The PDNSP was developed based on this policy reform, and the current study presents validity and reliability evidence of the scale. The exploratory, confirmatory factor analysis, and reliability analysis were conducted to evaluate the psychometric properties of the scale. The results suggest that the PDNSP is a reliable and valid tool to assess the professional development needs of school principals. Furthermore, the findings show that the Turkish school principals require professional development in specific areas such as financial management, leadership capacity, and vision and values.

The Mediator Role of Emotional Stability in the Relationship Between the Psychological Adjustment and Cyberostracism of University Students

2023-08-08T21:05:15+00:00

Today, one of the environments where most of the people interact with other people is virtual environments. In these environments, some individuals may be exposed to ostracism by others. This state of exclusion can also have some adverse effects on the psychological adjustment of individuals. In this context, the purpose of the current study is to investigate the mediator role of emotional stability in the relationship between university students’ problems of psychological adjustment and cyberostracism. The study employed the relational survey model. The study group of the study is comprised of 320 undergraduate students in the 2021-2022 academic year. In the analysis of the collected data, Pearson Moments Correlation Coefficient analysis was conducted in SPSS-22 and the mediaton analysis was conducted. As a result of the analyses conducted within the context of the current study, it was found that the cyberostracism of the university students negatively and significantly predicted their emotional stability, while it positively and significantly predicted their psychological adjustment problems. In addition, it was determined that emotional stability played a mediator role in the relationship between university students’ problems of psychological adjustment and cyberostracism. The findings of the study were discussed in relation to literature and suggestions were made.

Educational Research and Development Policies and Institutional Structures of Turkish Educational System

2023-06-01T09:44:50+00:00

This research aims to determine the current situation, expectations, problems, and solution suggestions regarding the structure and operation of the Provincial Directorates of National Education (PDoNE) R&D units. It was designed as a case study based on qualitative research. Data were collected from documents, and interviews with 14 teachers assigned in Türkiye’s PDoNE R&D units using semi-structured forms. It was found that merit should be given importance in selection. Moreover, there is a title-authority imbalance and a lack of internal and inter-institutional cooperation and coordination. Only responsibilities are defined in the Ministry of National Education R&D Directives. Turkish Ministry’s Educational R&D policies were carried out with scattered policy legislation and applications. It is recommended to rearrange the R&D Directive in the medium term and to combine the educational R&D units/departments in comprehensive legislation in the long run.

The Prediction Level of the Students’ Conflict Resolution Skills and Their Demographic Characteristics on Their Global Citizenship Perceptions

2022-11-21T11:38:47+00:00

In today’s world, individuals are expected to be vigilant for many problems in the world, such as environmental problems, war, migration, and poverty and take an active role in solutions to these problems. This responsibility expected of individuals is related to the concept of global citizenship, and for individuals to acquire global citizenship skills, they need to acquire many skills related to conflict resolution. The aim of this study is to first determine the global citizenship perceptions and conflict resolution skill levels of fourth-grade primary school students, and then, to determine to what extent conflict resolution skills and some other variables predict global citizenship perceptions. This is a predictive and correlational study. The quota sampling method was used in this study. The sample of the study consisted of 320 fourth-grade primary school students. A personal information form, the Global Citizenship Perception Scale, and the Conflict Resolution Skills Scale were used to collect the data. In the analysis of the data, Pearson’s product-moment correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis were used as well as descriptive statistics. As a result of the analyses, a significant relationship was found between the global citizenship perceptions of the participants and their scores of resorting to reconciliation and violence. Moreover, all the predictive variables used in the multiple regression model were significant, and they collectively explained 20.6% of the total variance in the global citizenship perceptions of the participants.

Influential Factors on Mathematical Literacy of Turkish Students: An Educational Data Mining Study Using PISA 2015 Data

2023-04-10T09:13:56+00:00

This study aims to classify students as successful and unsuccessful regarding mathematical literacy on Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015 database through data mining methods. The sample consists of all Turkish students who participated in PISA 2015. While data mining methods such as Support Vector Machine, Multi-Layer Perceptron, and J48 were used in data analysis, the data set was evaluated with 10-fold Cross-validation. The evaluation criteria included F-measure, Precision, Recall, Matthews Correlation Coefficient, and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC). In the classification of successful and unsuccessful students, analyses were conducted with 13 statistically significant variables according to Chi-SquareAttributedEval, GainRatioAttributeEval, and InfoGainAttributeEval methods. The results showed that the most important variables for classifying successful and unsuccessful students were learning time per week in total, and father’s education level. The highest ROC value was 0.720. When comparing the precision values, the lowest classification value for the Multilayer Perceptron method was 0.645. There was no single method that performed best for all criteria. Researchers should use at least two methods to obtain more accurate results.