The main purpose of this research was to study how the instructiveness of the letter, one of the writing to learn activities; changes according to the person to whom it is written (the addressee). The document analysis method was used in this qualitative study. Since documents are very important information sources used effectively in qualitative studies, their authenticity is important. The book named “Letters from Father Inönü to Erdal Inönü” published by Bilgi Publishing in 1988 and prepared for printing by Sevgi Özel with the permission of the Inönü Foundation and the letters published under the title “The letters of Erdal Inönü to his father” by Can Dündar in his column in the Milliyet on 17, June, 2007 were analysed using the qualitative analysis method. It was analysed in the study that how the instructiveness of the letters (1947-1951) whose content was only related to physics and written from father to son and from son to father changed according to the addressee. The documents analysed in this study provide the first three stages of document analysis, which has five stages namely; access to the documents, control of their authenticity, understanding the documents, analysis of the data and the use of the data. The findings of the research support the views of the students, who stated that they had written more clearly to students who were younger than they were or studying in the subclasses than they had written to their teachers in the studies conducted previously.

The aim of this study is to determine the level of practice and utilization of the seven principles for good practice developed by Chickering and Gamson of the instructors of science department in faculty of education. In this study, descriptive method but not experimental, which is one of the quantitative research was used as appropriate for this aim the samples of this study consist of 52 instructors studying in universities. In this study, the seven principles for good practice by Chickering and Gamson, interaction of faculty-student, corporation among student, active learning, giving profit feedback, emphasizing time on task, communicating high expectations and respecting diverse talents and ways of learning styles were defined as Standard and this study focused on to what extent the instructors utilize from the principles. A scale or measure consists of 70 questions was used as data collection tool, which involves 7 principles, and in which there were 10 items. The total internal reliability coefficient of scale was calculated as 0.68. Results show that scale items in terms of total item correlation changed between 0.542 and 0.715. Results indicate that factor values also changed between 0.476 and 0.731. The data were evaluated with ANOVA, which is descriptive, statistic and unidirectional, within the instructors’ answers given to scale items/questions. The findings of this study as a result of the implementation of the principles, they entered the classroom lessons teaching staff is more than the number of students was seen as the most important problem. 6 the most common teaching staff principle, and then 5 principle behind the 3 and 2 determined that principle

In this study, the effects of Algo–Heuristic Theory based blended learning environments on students’ computer skills in their preparation of presentations, levels of attitudes towards computers, and levels of motivation regarding the information technology course were investigated. The research sample was composed of 71 students. A semi–empirical design with a pre-test–post-test, and control group was used. Research data was collected using an Academic Achievement Test, the Computer Attitude Scale for Primary School Students and the Motivation Scale for the Information Technology Course. A one way ANOVA was conducted on all the data collected and the results revealed that the achievements and motivation levels of the students who studied in an Algo–Heuristic Theory based blended learning environment in the information technology course increased significantly

This article is a by-product of a qualitative study, which focuses on understanding the organisation of a teacher's professional life, understanding the organisation of her school's professional life and understanding her as a practitioner and as a person. The study was conducted in an ethnographic style of research. To carry out the investigation a teacher of a primary school of Laxmipur, Bangladesh was selected purposively. Data for the study were gathered through shadowing the teacher for three consecutive days, classroom observations, collection of artefacts, interviews with the teacher, with her students, informal discussion with the teacher and the Headteacher. The general findings reveal that the teacher has a huge work-load which poses a challenge for her. Yet because of her passion for teaching and supports from her family and school, she never loses interest in teaching.

Common international student assessments have become a global phenomenon in recent years. Accordingly, there has been significant emphasis on students’ performances on international assessments in Turkey. This study investigates the changes in Turkish students’ achievement in PISA assessments between 2003 and 2009, with specific attention paid to the achievement gaps between students who reside in different regions and who attend different types of schools in order to explore the areas that policy makers need to focus on. The results indicate that the situation in terms of the achievement gaps between different types of schools does not seem very promising, although there are some positive signs regarding closing the achievement gaps between different regions. In this context, there is a need for special attention toward improving the quality of education at the lowest performing high schools, such as general high schools and vocational high schools, in order to increase Turkish students’ average achievement.

The aim of this study is to examine the level of academic locus of control of the students who study pre-school education program. The sample of study is 329 students selected randomly in Faculty of Education from a mid-sized state University. In the study, Personal Information Form and Academic Locus of Control Scale prepared by researchers were used. Academic Locus of Control Scale includes two sub-dimensions; internal locus of control and external locus of control. Independent samples t test was used to show differences between variables and sub-dimensions. According to findings, there is a significant difference between scores of internal and external locus of control of females and scores of internal and external locus of control of males. Whereas the average score of external locus of control of female is lower than male’, point average of internal locus of control of female is high. There is a significant difference between scores of internal and external locus of control of 1st grade students and scores of internal and external locus of control of 4st grade students. According to results, females find themselves in origin of success and males attribute the success to other causes. In conclusion, before teaching their students to find the origin of success in themselves, candidates of preschool teacher should learn that they are the origin of success.

This article draws on a case study of one facilitator with eight postgraduate students who uses online resources in teaching a Curriculum module at one of the universities in South Africa. The facilitator uses an online chat, discussion forum, blogs and Facebook to learn with his students in a form of blended learning. This article does not only give this facilitator and his students a voice but it also encourages them to reflect from their experiences in the teaching and learning of this module. The facilitator claimed to be using these online resources in promoting active students because his students had to learn with these online resources as opposed to learning from these online resources. A guided analysis theory was used as a framework for data production and this produced four themes for presenting the findings, while this article itself is framed by Entertainment Education theory. Online document analysis, observation and semi-structured interviews were used for data generation. This article prioritises the facilitator’s claim that students should learn with resources. The article concludes that Coincidental Learning was utilised for this module. Therefore, the article is proposing the utilisation of Awareness Learning in the teaching and learning of this Curriculum module.

The purpose of this study is to develop a reliable and a valid scale to determine the attitudes of the primary students towards tablet pc. The items of the scale were determined by scanning the relevant literature and taking the opinions of the experts. The first draft of the scale including 49 items as a result of content reliability was applied to 434 students chosen randomly from the 7th and 8th grades of schools in the city, city centre and the villages of Giresun in March 2012. It was revealed that the scale was clustered on single factor which consisted of 31 items and the factor loading values were 0.470 and over. Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient was calculated to be 0.93 for the reliability of the scale.

This paper will mention the distance education practices in Turkey, and will examine and discuss the role of leadership which should be undertaken by Turkey in the region of Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Baltic, Turkic, Caucasian, the Middle East and North Africa regions. International distance education organizations in the world are not well organized and functional in this area or for the regional distance education institutions in the name of educational institutionalism. To fill this gap, it will be argued that Turkey might have a leadership role in the distance education field in this region and can be organize the practices of the regional countries in academy and practice. The structure of the potential distance education organization and the regulations of the organizations will be discussed more detailed separate article based on this argument and available at http://www.midasebook.com. The suggested name for this regional group is ICDEEEWA (International Council for Distance Education for Eastern Europe and West Asia). A draft of the constitution of the recommended association is presented and discussed at http://www.midasebook.com.

The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which teaching staff are using constructivist approach in teaching methods and techniques they employ during lectures. Sample group of the study is provided by 389 students, 190 of which are enrolled at Science Teaching Department and 199 of which are enrolled at Class Teaching Department of Bayburt Faculty of Education. Measuring device developed by (Sözbilir, Senocak and Dilber, 2006) was used during the study. Measuring device, consisting of 28 items, was examined by experts in the area and reliability test was conducted. At the end of the study, it has been determined that candidate teachers do not sufficiently employ their activities based on constructivist approach in their teaching methods and techniques that they use during their lectures.