The aim of the present study is to enable primary and secondary students (in grades 3, 4 and 5) how to understand the equal sign. The participants of the study were comprised of a total of 245 students selected from two different cities in the East Black Sea region in Turkey.   Of the 245 students, who were selected on a voluntary basis, 78, 72, and 95 students were from grades 3, 4 and 5, respectively. The 17-item data collection tool employed in the study was designed by the researchers by making use of the tests developed by Saenz-Ludlow and Walgamuth (1998), Witherspoon (1999), Knuth et al. (2005). The study employed a qualitative research design in which data analysis was based on the method of content analysis in which frequency and percentage analysis techniques were utilized. The findings indicated that students focused more on the operational meaning of the equal sign rather than its relational meaning. Furthermore, it has been found that students are more successful in symbolic representation than other representations. In addition, it was found that students had misconceptions regarding the equal sign. Thus, it is believed that by establishing learning environments in which the equal sign can be used to solve equations presented in problems and multiple representations, the misconceptions that students possess can be minimized.

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between academic procrastination, school attachment and perceived social support from parents in adolescents and to determine the predictive role of school attachment and parental social support for academic procrastination. In this study, designed in accordance with the correlational research model, the research group included 178 girls (53.8%) and 153 boys (46.2%) for a total of 331 adolescents. The ages of participants varied from 13 to 20 years, with mean age of 17.08 years (SD = 2.28). According to the results of the research, there was a significant correlation between academic procrastination with school attachment and perceived social support from family. Multiple linear regression analysis of data indicated school attachment and perceived social support from family were each significant predictors of tendency toward academic procrastination. The results were discussed in light of the literature. 

The aim of this study is to improve inquiry based science experiments’ criteria by science teachers and put forth the relationship between them. In order to improve the criteria, 45 science teachers working in İzmir participated in the workshop held at Buca Education Faculty of Dokuz Eylül University. The sub criteria of the main criteria determined from the literature were formed together with them. The main criteria are: Curiosity, Safe, Simple, Economic, Enjoyable and Relevant. The science experiment with these criteria was defined as the “Innovative Science Experiment” (ISE). As sub criteria of “curiosity” are; science experiment allows students to listen with interest, directs them to research and activates their imagination. The “simple” criterian contains: materials in the science experiment include the simplest, understandable, easy-to-find, the levels of the experiment are easy to understand, prevent the creation of misconceptions. The “safe” criterion covers both the physical security of the materials and the learning environment as well as the psychological safety. "Economical" has been dealt with in terms of experiment budget, effective use of time and curriculum.“Enjoyable criteria” are about; student’s interest, motivation and attitude. The "related" criterion is used in the meaning of the lesson’s gains and its relevance to daily life. After the criteria were converted to the 3-point likert type scale, the structure, reliability and descriptive analyzes were made. Among the six criteria, " curiosity, enjoyable and related " and "simple, economic and safe" have higher correlations with each other. It is aimed to use the improved criteria to prepare inquiry based activities or to evaluate the planned experiments. Thus, a more effective learning - teaching environment can be created. These basic criteria can be supplemented with additional criteria such as "design", "technology" and " interdisciplinary" in accordance with the curriculum, the subject and the structure of the changing educational philosophies.

The purpose of the present research was to analyze the relationship between the competence of teachers and students’ achievement and to find out the gender differences if any in the competence of teachers. The sample of the study was 100 teachers and 300 students from renowned universities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad representing the academia and students of Pakistan. Goe and Stickler’s four lenses for evaluating the competency of teachers were used in the present study to analyze teachers’ professional competence which includes qualifications of teachers, characteristics of teachers, teachers’ effectiveness and teaching practices. Two questionnaires were used, one for university teachers and the other for students. It was found that the four independent variables have a combined effect on students’ academic achievement. The males teaching practices showed the strongest contribution to the academic achievement of students whereas, the qualification of female teachers demonstrated the strongest contribution to the academic achievement of students. 

The aim of this study is to evaluate the adequacy of the undergraduate curriculums of the Department of Primary Education, to bring professional values ​​to the educational stakeholders. This study was designed in case study model which is one of the qualitative research methods. The data of the study were collected via semi-structured interviews during the 2016-2017 academic year. The study group were 30 participants include teachers, school administrators and classroom teachers who work in Rize Provincial Directorate of National Education. Purposive sampling method was used to determine the study group. Data were analysed by using qualitative data analysis program. The data are given under two themes in the theoretical framework of the subject area. These themes were (i) the level of complementation vocational qualification of the undergraduate degree programs, (ii) Procedures to be performed in the pre-service training process in gaining professional values. The suggestions were made about how to increase professional values in the study.