New Educational Trends In Turkey

This book contains 8 chapters that analyze and discuss different themes and topics about new educational trends in Turkey. Chapter 1 discusses the new methodological trends in higher education of Turkey. Several factors including the dynamism of internationalisation having gained momentum with globalization, increasing demand on higher education, life-long learning routines, transnational student mobility, newer higher education providers, and increasing market-focused competition have affected not only the educational system in general but also institutions of higher education specifically. Consequently, these have brought about new perspectives of higher education policies and have become important factors in how universities constantly change their scopes in which they will be in service and move the centre of change. The higher education system in Turkey is a subject which has been neglected for years and found it difficult to find itself a place in the top of the social agenda. It has been observed recently that there is a remarkable increase in interest in the subject both nationally and internationally. Chapter 2 presents STEM education which is accepted as one of the biggest educational movements in the last decade is a multi-disciplinary holistic approach which aims to train students integrally in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines. STEM education which is accepted as one of the biggest educational movements in the last decade is a multi-disciplinary holistic approach which aims to train students integrally in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines This chapter analyzes learning gains through STEM education, STEM education in international area, STEM education in Turkey and recommendations and educational implications about STEM education. Chapter 3 introduces the socioscientific issues (SSI). Socio- scientific issues are dilemmas about the environment, health, technology and science and associated with both society and science, concerning both moral and ethical issues. This chapter also presents the SSI in the literature. In addition, it is discussed that socio-scientific issues in primary education program in Turkey and studies regarding socio-scientific issues in Turkey. Chapter 4 focuses on model-based science education: the case of Turkey. Models have crucial roles in the practice of science. In this chapter, it is given that models and modelling in science education, mental models, conceptual models, computer based models and model-based learning as a theoretical framework. Furthermore some studies done about teaching science through MBL in Turkey were given as examples. Two main conclusions can be done for this chapter. One of them is that MBL studies in Turkey have usually done with pre-service teachers. Further studies are needed which will be done with middle and high school students. Another conclusion is the results of MBL studies in Turkey show that MBL usually has a significant effect on students’ understandings of concepts. Chapter 5 examines science literacy in Turkey. Science and technology are the most important indicators of improvement that countries achieved. In this century, societies have started competing each other to be the leading country in science and technology. In this chapter also discusses Definition of Science Literacy and Types of Science Literacy Studies. Turkey is in a struggle on the international competition of science literacy appreciation by public, which is an ultimate indicator of the level of development. More than a decade, there have been some changes in science and related lessons’ curriculums, textbooks and teacher training courses in Turkey. Meanwhile, researchers have studied on the effectiveness of these changes and manifested them as academic articles, graduate thesis and action research. In Chapter 6, the studies partaking in the literature about Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) and the use of ANN in predicting academic success have been discussed, especially those done in Turkey. Besides the study principles of ANN, its preferability reason for prediction has been mentioned. The other studies in which ANN is used to estimate the academic success in the field of education have also been included. Compared to other methods, presenting the successful predictions of ANN applications is considered to cause ANN to be used more common. Chapter 7 discusses the place of SOLO model in mathematics education. SOLO model can be used for evaluating students’ cognitive knowledge. In this chapter, research in mathematics education in which SOLO Model was used is also mentioned. In recent years, interest in mathematics education research about SOLO Model has started to increase in Turkey. The implementation of SOLO Model in Turkey varies according to the school type and mathematics subjects. Chapter 8 focuses on problem-posing in Turkish mathematics education. Problem posing which teaching mathematics researchers have frequently emphasized in recent years includes either posing new problems in terms of a given situation or re-formulating the problem. In curriculums, while problem-posing is widely used at primary school level, the importance given for problem-posing has become less as the levels increased. Problem- posing from Turkey’s perspective it can be said that teachers started to use activities for problem-posing together with the shift to the constructivist teaching model in Turkish education system in 2005. In this chapter, it is also discussed that studies about problem-posing in mathematics education.