Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü
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Browsing Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü by Subject "Academic achievement."
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Item A study on construct validity of science items in pisa 2006: the case of Turkey(Thesis (M.S.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Science and Engineering, 2009., 2009.) Çirci, Ruhan.; Baykal, Ali.This study was designed for three major goals. The first goal is to investigate construct validity in the Turkish version of the PISA 2006 science units including stimuli (e.g. text, graphs, and pictures) and items in terms of positive and negative entities embedded in them. The second goal is to understand the effect of the negative entities detected in the science units on total test and at item level by achievement scores of 15 year-old students. The third goal that emerged through the study aimed to explore the 15 year-old students’ familiarity with PISA science units in terms of the students’ unique learning experiences. The study consists of three phases. The first phase is the exploration of eight science units including eight stimuli and 25 items. In order to analyze these science units, content analysis was implemented for all of the stimuli and items in the science units. An Item Rating Form was developed and used in order to compose categories of the content analysis from the revisions of the teachers (80 secondary school science teachers in total) working at different regions in Istanbul. Content analysis results showed that there were five main categories defined for the negative entities (content, language, typicality, presentation and structure) and four main categories formed for the positive entities (context, content, science process and composition). The number of the thematic units of the negative entities was more than the thematic units of the positive entities. The second phase of the study based on the results of the content analysis from first phase. For the second phase the revisions on the science units were made for recovery of the negative entities described in the science units. Hence, two tests were present, one of them is PISA-Original Turkish test (PISA-OT test) which includes Turkish science units used in PISA 2006 study and the other is PISA-Revised Turkish (PISA-RT test) which contains revised versions of science units made at the second phase of the present study. At the second phase the effect of the negative entities on the achievement scores of the students examined by using two instruments (PISA-OT and PISA- RT). The results of the second phase showed that there was a statistically significant effect of the negative entities included in the revision process on the total achievement levels of the students. Although the results of analysis at the item level showed that there were significant differences between the two comparison groups for eleven of the items, there was no significant difference for the remaining eleven items. In addition, it is found that the mean scores for the group who answered the PISA- Revised Turkish test were higher than the means of the group who took the PISA-Original Turkish test on each of the 22 items. The third phase is the examination for the answer of the third research question related with the familiarity of students with the stimuli of PISA science units in terms of language, lay-out, school knowledge and daily life experiences. It is found that students tend to be moderately familiar with the PISA stimuli. Based on the results of the three phases, it can be concluded that the aim of selection and formation of the items for the science literacy test is important from the point of construct validity. However, released PISA stimuli and items in Turkish form achieved this aim partially.Item Effects of history of mathematics integrated instruction on mathematics self-efficacy and achievement(Thesis (M.S.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Science and Engineering, 2011., 2011.) Albayrak, Özlem.; Yontar, Ayşenur.This study was conducted to develop an instruction integrated with history of mathematics on volume of pyramids, cone and sphere topics; and to implement it with an experimental design in order to measure the effectiveness of this instruction on mathematics self-efficacy and achievement. The instruction was developed after precise consideration of the suggestions and cautions raised in the literature and its effectiveness was determined by a quasiexperimental design. The implementation of the instruction was carried out in two public schools in Đstanbul with participation of 131 eight grade students. Both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered. Data gathered from the sample were analyzed on the purpose of examining the changes in students’ mathematics achievement levels, self-efficacy toward mathematics and their views on history of mathematics integrated instructions. Paired sample t-test was used for analysis of data obtained from both regular and experimental groups in two schools indicated that there were significant differences between the pretest (Pretest Volume-Part3) and posttest (Posttest Volume-Part2) scores of students in terms of their mathematics achievements. Independent sample t-test was used for analysis of data if there was a significant effect of type of instruction on mathematics achievement levels of control and experimental groups in both schools. Results display that there was a significant difference on posttest scores of experimental and control group students only in one school. Namely it means that in one of the treatment schools, students’ achievement levels in experimental group were significantly higher than the control group students in posttest which assess their achievement in treatment topics. Also, paired sample t-test pointed that both types of instructions were not effective in providing a significant development over the mean values between the pre and posttest levels of students in Mathematics Self efficacy Scale, and, independent sample t-test indicated that there was not any significant difference on posttest scores of the experimental and control group students in both schools. The results attained from qualitative data showed that experimental group students generally had favorable declarations about history of mathematics integrated instructions.Item The effects of using contextual problems and student centered teaching episodes on 10th grade students’ achievement and views and perceptions in the subject of trigonometry(Thesis (M.S.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Science and Engineering, 2010., 2010.) Eşlik, G. Ayça.; Güzel, Buket Yakmacı.This study aimed to develop and measure the effectiveness of an instruction enriched with combination of contextual problems and student centered teaching episodes with regard to the extent of change in students' achievement in trigonometry, and their views and perceptions about trigonometry. In order to analyze the effectiveness of the developed instruction on trigonometry achievement, and views and perceptions about trigonometry; a true experimental design was implemented in an Anatolian High School in Istanbul with the participation of 74 (Grade 10) students. 24 students received traditional instruction (Group A), 26 students received an instruction enriched with only contextual problems (Group B) and 24 students received an instruction enriched with combination of contextual problems and student centered teaching episodes (Group C). Data obtained (through Trigonometry Achievement Pretest, Trigonometry Achievement Posttest, Views and Perceptions about Trigonometry Prequestionnaire, Views and Perceptions about Trigonometry Postquestionnaire and interviews) from the sample were analyzed to examine the effect of instruction enriched with combination of contextual problems and student centered teaching episodes. IGuscal Wallis Test was used in order to examine whether there is a significant difference between groups' trigonometry achievement after instructional sequences. The results of the analysis indicated that the group who received instruction enriched with combination of contextual problems and student centered teaching episodes (Group C) performed significantly higher than the group who received traditional instruction (Group A), the group who received instruction enriched with contextual problems (Group B) performed significantly higher than the group who received traditional instruction (Group A), but there was no statistically significant difference between the group who received instruction enriched with combination of contextual problems and student centered teaching episodes (Group C) and the group who received instruction enriched with only contextual problems (Group B) in terms of trigonometry achievement of students. As a result, a positive effect of the instruction enriched with contextual problems on students' trigonometry achievement was found compared to traditional instruction. However, results implied that instruction enriched with combination of contextual problems and additional student centered teaching episodes may not have a significant positive effect in improving trigonometry achievement compared to the instruction enriched with only contextual problems. Long term effects of instructional sequences on trigonometry achievement among groups were also explored in the study. The nonparametric test of Kruscall Wallis was used for the analysis of data and results indicated that there is significant difference in terms of retention test scores between Group A and Group B, and Group A and Group C. However, there is no significant difference between Group B and Group C in terms of retention test results. This result was parallel with the results of the immediate effects of instructional sequences on trigonometry achievement. As a further analysis, Related Samples Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test was also carried out to compare retention test scores and posttest scores for each group. The results indicated that there is permanance of the trigonometry achievement for Group A and Group B, however there is no pelmanance of the trigonometry achievement in Group C. Views and perceptions about trigonometry after instructions were also explored for each group. Descriptive analysis done on five questions asked before interventions and six questions asked after interventions implied that instruction enriched with combination of contextual problems and student centered teaching episodes has positive effects on students' views and perceptions about trigonometry compared to the traditional instruction and instruction enriched with only contextual problems. The results also provided evidence on what students perceived to be most interesting and meaningful about the instructions.