The aim of this research is to develop a scale to determine the alliance of university students working in class with their academic staff. For the validity and reliability study of the in-class study alliance scale, 40 articles were prepared primarily by examining the literature on the subject of in-class study alliance and 3 experts working in the field received opinions from experts about the suitability of the items. After the necessary item correction procedures were taken into consideration, the data was collected from 319 university students and exploratory factor analysis and reliability study was started. After exploratory factor analysis, the three-factor structure of the scale was determined. These structures are named as “purpose”, “duty” and “emotional bond’ considering the literature. After the reliability analysis of all factors and the scale, it was found that the scale structures had high reliability scores. After the validity and reliability analysis, confirmatory factor analysis was performed by collecting data from 369 students in order to validate the structure in a different data set, and it was found that the scale's fit values ​​were good. In this context, it is stated that the Classroom Work Alliance Scale, which has been developed in the research process and has a valid and reliable structure, can be used in studies to determine the quality of student-teacher relationship.

In this study, education in the astronomy field and space sciences in the schools in Turkey as well as the activities to create awareness in these subjects will be discussed. A research that was done among youngsters, ages from 15 to 24, for measuring the scientific literacy showed that most attractive subjects to the Turkish youngsters were “internet” and “astronomy”. This result leads the authorities to take necessary measures to fill the gap especially in the teaching materials such as books and in the changes of curricula in high schools. Besides TUBITAK National Observatory, universities and Turkish Astronomical Society are giving every effort to create public awareness of space activities and space sciences. As for the teacher training in the astronomy field and space sciences, much has been done but the targeted success has not come yet. Astronomy subjects in are taught not by astronomers but some other specialists from other branches, such as physics and mathematics. Nevertheless, it must be emphasized that astronomers on every occasion are pushing forward to have the right formally about the training of astronomers to become a teacher to be hired by the Ministry of Education.

Assessment in the context of competency based education has emerged as an area of research interests with debates extending into mathematics education. As other parts of the world, Tanzania, reviewed its curricula at different levels of education between 2004 and 2008. The purpose of the review was to shift the paradigm of teaching and learning from content-based to competency-based. After reviewing the new curriculum, efforts were made by the Government, specifically the Ministry responsible for education, to orient teachers and other education officials on how to implement it. Assessment as one of the important components in teaching and learning process was not given due weight. Paper-and-pencil tests continued to dominate assessment procedures.  This paper brings to light what are perceived to be relevant techniques for assessing mathematics in the context of the competency-based curriculum. Before this, the paper outlines the purpose of teaching and learning of mathematics, competency based education as opposed to the content based education, and classifications of assessments regarding mathematics. The paper concludes that the outlined assessment techniques are just a sample of the possible assessments strategies that can be used. Furthermore, no single assessment technique is adequate by itself in assessing all mathematical competencies.

This paper is focused on effective professional development approaches provided to university teachers.   The motivation behind this research is the lack of previous studies that examine the impact of coaching approaches on formal professional development training and the characteristics of effective professional development offered to university teachers. The study was guided by three research questions correlated to the characteristics of effective professional development sessions for university teachers, the impact of coaching approaches on the professional development, and teachers’ needs and requirements in professional development sessions.