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1. The focus of this study lies at the intersection of several research fields: Science Education, Educational Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, and Cognitive Science.
Source publication
A case study design was used to investigate in detail one female freshman college student's alternative conceptions, alternative framework and learning of force and motion during a short small group instruction and subsequent tutoring interviews. The researcher in this study acted as the teacher of the small group and the tutor for the interviews....
Citations
... As such, the acquisition and development of these skills by students are among the goals of all educational institutions (Şahin, 2004). Taşar (2001) defines SPS as skills that facilitate learning in science, help students learn ways and methods of researching, make students more effective, develop the sense of taking responsibility in students and increase retention. Besides PSS and SPS, students' learning styles are also important in terms of designing instructional and educational activities. ...
... Differences of gender, thinking abilities, cognitive styles, teaching styles, areas of intelligence, motivation styles etc. can be thought as individual differences. It is seen that there are many studies about cognitive characteristics which are among these individual differences and get special interest in the area of education (Witkin, Oltman, Raskin, & Karp, 1971; Witkin, Moore, Goodenough, & Cox, 1977; Witkin & Goodenough, 1981; Taşar, 2001; Aydın, 2009; Karaçam & Ateş, 2010). Cognitive styles (field dependence-field independence (Witkin & Goodenough, 1981), reflectivity-impulsivity (Kagan, 1965; as cited in Dinçer, 1993), leveling-sharpening (Klein, 1954; as cited in Dinçer, 1993)) and learning styles (Kolb, 1984; Biggs, 1987) etc. take place among these cognitive characteristics. ...
The aim of this study is to reveal whether there is relation between achievement motivations of teacher candidates according to their cognitive styles and motivation styles or not. This study was designed as a quantitative study due to collecting quantitative data and running statistical analyses. Both comparative and correlational survey methods were used because of the fact that it was aimed to determine cognitive styles, motivation styles and achievement motivation of the teacher candidates and to investigate the relationship between these variables. Findings revealed that achievement motivations of the teacher candidates did not differ significantly in terms of gender and cognitive styles. However, it was found that achievement motivations of the teacher candidates differed significantly in terms of their grade levels and motivation styles.
... Contrary to single case study designs (e.g. Tasar, 2001) the methodological design of this research study resembles that of Taylor's (2001), Yalvac's (2005), and Ruffus Doerr's (2010), and Saad and BouJaoude's (2012) in which multiple cases were investigated collectively to reach a holistic view of the problems investigated. Thus, in this research study, classroom practices of five science teachers were analyzed individually as separate case studies. ...
The purposes of this study were to investigate science teachers' nature of science (NOS) views so as to determine how their views influence their instructional practices. Seventy four science teachers and five teachers in a big city in Turkey were selected purposefully as the sample of this study. A sub-set of 18 relevant items from Views on Science-Technology-Society (VOSTS) Questionnaire were used to assess teachers' NOS views. Semi-structured interviews and class observations were conducted with these five "case" teachers in order to allow them fully express their views and instructional practices. The data analysis revealed that the participating science teachers held naïve views on many dimensions of the NOS. Furthermore, it was found that teachers' views did not directly influence their classroom practices. We also observed that the perceived curriculum, the high stakes examinations, expectations of school administrators, students, and parents were the most important factors influencing teachers' decisions regarding classroom practices.
... Word association test (WAT) is a method for investigating cognitive structure and many researchers have used the method for investigating of learners" cognitive structure (e.g. Taşar, 2001;Bahar et al., 1999;Cachapuz & Maskill, 1987;Gussarsky & Gorodetsky, 1988;Johnstone & Moynihan, 1985;Shavelson, 1974). ...
The purposes of this study were to investigate pre-service science teachers" cognitive structures and ideas about the nature of technology. The study was conducted with the participation of senior pre-service science teachers (N=41) in fall semester of 2007. The participants were enrolled in a science, technology and society course during data collection. Three instruments were used to gather data: a word association test (WAT), Views about Technology Questionnaire (VTQ) and an interview protocol. Participants" cognitive structures about technology were investigated by using WAT. Participants" ideas about the nature technology were also investigated by using VTQ and the interview protocol. The data triangulation provided a means of observing similar findings by using different instruments. The findings suggest that participants" cognitive structures about technology and their knowledge about definition of technology, ideas about the mutual interaction between technology and society, and ideas about social structure of technology were found to be at a lower level (naïve views). Notably, it was seen that the participants did not sufficiently discriminate between technology and science. In sum, they regard technology as a sub-discipline or output of applied science. They understand technology merely as computers, inventions and products of science, perhaps, due to their everyday experiences the way technology is presented news in mass media.
Z Lisansüstü öğrencileri sosyal bilimler alanında tez yazma sürecinde sıklıkla zorluklarla karşılaşmakta ve çalışmalarını nitelikli olarak raporlaştırma konusunda zorlanmaktadırlar. Bu araştırmada, sosyal bilimler alanında tez yazım sürecinde çalışmaları raporlaştırmaya yardımcı olabilecek teorik bilgilerin verilmesi amaçlanmıştır. Bu çalışma oluşturulurken ulusal ve uluslararası tez arşivinde yer alan 172 tezden, 19 kitaptan ve 23 makale ve rapor gibi diğer kaynaklardan yararlanılmıştır. Bu doğrultuda "Bir tezin problemi, araştırma soruları, amacı, önemi, sınırlılıkları ve varsayımları nasıl ifade edilir?" ve "Bir tezin bulgular (findings), sonuçlar (results), sonuçların özeti (conclusions), iddia (assertions), tartışma (discussion), doğurgu (implications), öneriler (recommendations) bölümleri nasıl ifade edilir? sorularına cevap verilmeye çalışılmıştır. Ayrıca nicel ve nitel yaklaşımlar bakımından her bir bölüm için ne tür farklılıkların olduğu da ortaya konulmuştur. Son olarak, her bir bölümü yazarken başvurulabilecek, nitelikli tez veya makale örnekleri verilerek okuyucuya yol gösterici açıklamalar yapılmıştır. Yazarlar bu çalışmaya eşit seviyede katkıda bulunmuştur. Bu çalışmanın yayım süreci esnasında elim bir hastalık nedeniyle aramızdan ayrılan ve yazarlardan biri olan Emine GÖK' ü rahmetle anıyoruz.
Microsoft PowerPoint™ has become the generic name used when describing slideware applications. This study analyzed the gender differences of participant attitudes and perceptions of various components of PowerPoint™ presentations. Preservice science teachers (none licensed, mostly undergraduates) viewing PowerPoint™ presentations of science content provided the data. The components of the presentations studied were: text, graphics, the combination of text and graphics, narration, and appropriate use of PowerPoint™ for teaching and learning science content. The affect of animations viewed in prior participant PowerPoint™ experiences was also ascertained. A Kruskal-Wallis test was calculated to analyze the differences between genders for the perceived effectiveness of aforementioned components of PowerPoint™. Results showed a significant difference (H<0.05) for the affect of graphics in PowerPoint™ on gender. Females found the integration of graphics in PowerPoint™ to be a more effective approach to learning science than did males.
Conceptual change researchers have made significant progress on two prominent but competing theoretical perspectives regarding knowledge structure coherence. These perspectives can be broadly characterized as (1) knowledge-as-theory perspectives and (2) knowledge-as-elements perspectives. These perspectives can be briefly summarized in terms of the following questions. Is a student's knowledge most accurately represented as a coherent unified framework of theory-like character (e.g., Carey, 1999; Chi, 2005; Ioannides & Vosniadou, 2002; Wellman & Gelman, 1992)? Or is a student's knowledge more aptly considered as an ecology of quasi-independent elements (e.g., Clark, 2006; diSessa, Gillespie, & Esterly, 2004; Harrison, Grayson, & Treagust, 1999; Linn, Eylon, & Davis, 2004)? In this review, we clarify these two theoretical perspectives and discuss the educational implications of each. This debate is important because these perspectives implicate radically different pathways for curricular design to help students reorganize their understandings. Historically, the research literature has predominantly supported knowledge-as-theory perspectives. After outlining both perspectives, this paper discusses arguments and educational implications that potentially favor the adoption of knowledge-as-elements perspectives.
Background
Today, for most of us, technology is a vital and inevitable part of our lives. Due to its widespread use, a great emphasis is being given to educating generations about technology. And, every individual has his/her own style of organizing and collecting information.
Purpose
The purpose of the present study is to identify the relationship between pre-service science teachers’ cognitive styles and their cognitive structures about technology.
Sample
The study was conducted with the participation of first and third grade pre-service science teachers majoring in Science Education in the Faculty of Education at Abant İzzet Baysal University in the spring semester of 2012–2013.
Design and methods
The study was designed as a case study and a qualitative research method was used. Students were administered two instruments: Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) and a Word Association Test (WAT).
Results
Results clearly suggested that the first grade participants with a field-dependent cognitive style were better at associating concepts when compared to those with a field-independent cognitive style. And, participants with a field-dependent style, could form more connections between the technology-related concepts. A comparison of the findings on the field-dependent participants by their grade demonstrated that the first and third grade participants with a field-dependent cognitive style got similar scores in terms of the total number of words generated for each key concept.
Conclusions
Considering that education is for individuals, it is impossible to ignore individual differences during the process. The most interesting finding of the present study is that field-dependent individuals have a higher cognitive structure, unlike that which has been asserted so far in the literature.
ZET: Kuvvet ve hareket hakkında 20 maddeli bir anket formu geliştirilmiş ve 2002 bahar döneminde Gazi Eğitim Fakültesinde 1. sınıfa devam eden 90 öğrenciye uygulanmıştır. Bulgular literatürde sıkça tekrarlanan öğrenci önkavramlarının bu çalışmadaki örneklemde de üniversite Temel Fizik dersleri sonrasında bile güçlü bir şekilde kendini belli ettiğini ortaya koymaktadır. Geliştirilen Kuvvet ve Hareket Tanı Testi'nin (KHTT) bu tür önkavramların tespitinde faydalı bir araç olarak kullanılabilecek kapasite olduğu görülmüştür.
The conversation between myself and Professor Lederman took place in Malmö, Sweden on August 25, 2007. The purpose of the conversation was to elaborate on the past, present and future of nature of science research and also to provide insights for beginning researchers. In this text I am providing the questions about which we talked and my reflections based on my own experience together with some elaborating remarks from the science history.
