Browsing by Author "Ekiz-Kiran, Betul"

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Analysis of Engineering Elements of K-12 Science Standards in Seven Countries Engaged in Stem Education Reform
(Springer, 2021) Ekiz-Kiran, Betul; Aydin-Gunbatar, Sevgi
The purpose of this study was to analyze the K-12 science standards of seven countries that have improved their engineering practices noticeably by integrating engineering and its elements into their science documents, namely, Australia, England, Estonia, Hong Kong, South Africa, Turkey, and the United States. For this purpose, K-12 science standard documents were examined vis-a-vis their inclusion and distribution of engineering and its elements across grade bands. Standards were analyzed through content analysis by employing the Framework for Quality K-12 Engineering Education. The results showed that the United States and to some extent Turkish standard documents had placed a particular emphasis on engineering. The number of standards relating to engineering is the highest in the United States and the lowest in Estonia. These standards across grade bands were distributed evenly in the documents of England and the United States. Science standard documents in early grades included few such standards. In light of the results, we discussed the extent and comprehensiveness of engineering integrated into the K-12 science standard documents and provided implications for integrating engineering elements into science standard documents.
Development of Pre-Service Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge Through a Pck-Based School Experience Course
(Royal Soc Chemistry, 2021) Ekiz-Kiran, Betul; Boz, Yezdan; Oztay, Elif Selcan
The purpose of this study was to improve the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of pre-service chemistry teachers using a school experience course enriched with PCK development tools such as CoRe as a lesson planning form, observations of mentor teachers' teaching by using an observation form prepared based on PCK components, discussion sessions on these observations, and reflections on their teaching. Some valuable results of the study indicated that pre-service teachers' science teaching orientations did not change during the study. However, all participants' knowledge of learners and knowledge of instructional strategies improved by the end of the study. Knowledge of curriculum and knowledge of assessment are the components of PCK in which some pre-service teachers showed no improvement.
Effect of Practicum Courses on Pre-Service Teachers' Beliefs Towards Chemistry Teaching: a Year-Long Case Study
(Royal Soc Chemistry, 2019) Boz, Yezdan; Ekiz-Kiran, Betul; Kutucu, Elif Selcan
In this study, we examined the effect of School Experience (SE) and Practice Teaching (PT) courses on pre-service chemistry teachers' beliefs towards chemistry teaching over a one-year period. To reach this purpose, participants' beliefs and experiences towards chemistry teaching were monitored closely throughout the varied phases of the two practicum courses. Two pre-service chemistry teachers participated in the study. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews, observation notes, CoRes and reflection papers. Semi-structured interviews focusing on the pre-service teachers' beliefs regarding chemistry teaching were conducted three times while participating in the SE and PT courses. During the PT course before their teaching experiences the participants prepared CoRes, and after their experiences they critiqued their own performances. Moreover, the participants were observed during their student-teaching experiences to identify how they transfer their beliefs into their teaching. Data were analyzed via inductive analyses. Results indicated that both pre-service teachers had stable core beliefs derived from their own experiences as students that remained constant during these courses and guided their practical instruction. Although both participants attended the same courses during the teacher education program, their attitudes while taking the educational courses were different. Factors that shaped pre-service teachers' beliefs towards teaching were presented as the practicum courses enriched with CoRes and reflection papers, observing their mentors, experiences gained from microteaching sessions, and pedagogical and methods courses taken during the pre-service teacher education program. Implications for the formation of pre-service teachers' beliefs towards teaching throughout pre-service teacher education programs were provided.
Examination of Pre-Service Chemistry Teachers' Stem Conceptions Through an Integrated Stem Course
(Mehmet Tekerek, 2021) Aydin-Gunbatar, Sevgi; Oztay, Elif Selcan; Ekiz-Kiran, Betul
Due to international calls for the use of the integrated Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) approach to train learners pursuing STEM-related careers and citizens who are competitive problem solvers, teachers' training for the integrated STEM approach is imperative. Given the importance of integrated STEM teacher training, this study aimed to examine how pre-service chemistry teachers' integrated STEM conceptions have been changed through the integrated STEM course. The STEM reflection protocol was administered to 13 pre-service chemistry teachers both at the beginning and at the end of a 13-week-long integrated STEM course. The training included experiencing STEM activities, studying with mentors, and reflecting on own development. The deductive, inductive, and constant comparative data analysis revealed that most of the pre-service chemistry teachers enriched their STEM conceptions in terms of the engineering design process as a context and integration of the disciplines. However, very few participants' STEM conceptions remained the same. Integrated STEM teacher education should include an explicit emphasis on disciplines' integration and engineering design process to enhance pre-service teachers' integrated STEM conceptions.
The Influence of a Design-Based Elective Stem Course on Pre-Service Chemistry Teachers' Content Knowledge, Stem Conceptions, and Engineering Views
(Royal Soc Chemistry, 2018) Aydin-Gunbatar, Sevgi; Tarkin-Celikkiran, Aysegul; Kutucu, Elif Selcan; Ekiz-Kiran, Betul
In this study, we sought to examine the influence of a 12 week design-based elective Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) course on pre-service chemistry teachers' content knowledge, STEM conceptions, and engineering and engineering design views. To attain the goals determined, we utilized five STEM activities starting with a daily-life problem and an iterative engineering design process to solve the problem. A chemistry test with 11 two-tier items, and interviews focusing on STEM and engineering conceptions were administered at the beginning and at the end of the course. Moreover, a reflection paper was collected after each activity. Eight junior pre-service chemistry teachers participated in the study voluntarily. Deductive and inductive data analyses were used to investigate the influence of the course on participants' content knowledge, STEM conceptions, and engineering and engineering design views. The results revealed that the design-based STEM course helped pre-service teachers deepen their content knowledge. Additionally, most of the participants defined integrated STEM education as an acronym (n = 6) and very few mentioned the interdisciplinary dimension of STEM education superficially at the beginning (n = 3). At the end, they mentioned interdisciplinary nature as connecting at least two dimensions of STEM, and they emphasized engaging in real-world problems, designing a product or process and inquiry-based and/or problem-based learning. Regarding engineering and engineering design views, a similar development was observed. Although their views were undeveloped or underdeveloped at the beginning, they enriched their views and mentioned defining criteria, creativity and integration to science and mathematics that are characteristics of engineering and design processes. Implications for including STEM courses in pre-service teacher education programs were provided.
Interactions Between the Science Teaching Orientations and Components of Pedagogical Content Knowledge of In-Service Chemistry Teachers
(Royal Soc Chemistry, 2020) Ekiz-Kiran, Betul; Boz, Yezdan
The purpose of this study was to examine the interactions between in-service chemistry teachers' science teaching orientations and other components of their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Two experienced chemistry teachers participated in this study. Data were collected through interviews, classroom observations, and field notes as the participants taught the mixtures unit. The results indicated that the participants held solid foundation purposes, in which students use science to be successful in their exams or next classes, along with everyday coping and correct explanations purposes. When participants' correct explanations and solid foundation purposes interacted together with the same PCK component, solid foundation appeared to be the reason for their correct explanations purpose. The teaching strategies that teachers preferred to use interacted with their solid foundation and correct explanations purposes, and the participants altered curricula only if they believed it would lead students to achieve better scores on examinations. Participants' beliefs about science teaching and learning indicated aspects of teacher-focused beliefs that prevent teachers from focusing on students' prerequisite knowledge, learning difficulties, and misconceptions. These beliefs interacted with all the sub-components of knowledge of instructional strategies. In addition, there was an interaction between knowledge of curricula and beliefs about science teaching and learning for participants that were more knowledgeable about the curriculum. Moreover, what the teachers assessed was related to their correct explanations and everyday coping beliefs, while the way they assessed was related to their solid foundation beliefs. Last, none of the participants emphasised the aspects of the nature of science during their instruction.
Pre-Service Chemistry Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Integrated Stem Development With Lesmer Model
(Royal Soc Chemistry, 2020) Aydin-Gunbatar, Sevgi; Ekiz-Kiran, Betul; Oztay, Elif Selcan
This study aimed to examine pre-service teachers' (PST) personal and declarative pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) through a 13 week training course. A new model based on research-based practices was proposed. The model includes Learn, Experience, Study with Mentors, and Reflection on own development and learning, and the acronym LESMeR has been coined as the name for this model. The data were collected through Content Representation (CoRe) as pre- and post-lesson plans, semi-structured interviews conducted after the training, and reflection papers written on a weekly basis. Inductive and deductive data analyses were employed. Results revealed that all participants started the training with a topic-specific PCK (PCK A). None of the participants' pre-CoRe included essential features of integrated STEM. However, after the training, eight participants were able to balance among STEM disciplines, and integrated at least two STEM disciplines; this was coded as PCK for integrated STEM (PCK C). Five PSTs showed PCK for integrated STEM development to some extent but they were unable to achieve balance among STEM disciplines; this was coded as transitional PCK (PCK B). Results revealed that PCK for integrated STEM development requires considerable time and support. Implications are provided for integrated STEM education.
Revealing the Development of Interaction Among Components of Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Teaching Chemical Equilibrium
(Royal Soc Chemistry, 2023) Oztay, Elif Selcan; Ekiz-Kiran, Betul; Boz, Yezdan
This study aimed to capture the development of interaction among the components of pre-service chemistry teachers' enacted PCK throughout the school experience course. Data were collected from four pre-service teachers using content representation (CoRe), observations, field notes, and semi-structured interviews. Secondary analysis was conducted by re-analyzing the pre-existing data for the previous study (Ekiz-Kiran B., Boz Y. and Oztay E. S., (2021), Development of pre-service teachers' pedagogical content knowledge through a PCK-based school experience course, Chem. Educ. Res. Pract., 22(2), 415-430.) from a different perspective to find out the interaction among the components of pre-service chemistry teachers' enacted PCK. In order to analyze data, we used three approaches: an in-depth analysis of explicit PCK, an enumerative approach, and the constant comparative method. Results were presented as PCK maps, and results indicated that the development of the integration of the PCK components was idiosyncratic. Moreover, the most significant development was seen in the connections between knowledge of curriculum and other components, especially knowledge of assessment. Additionally, knowledge of instructional strategy (KoIS) was the most frequently integrated component with the other PCK components. Implications for research and science teacher education are included.