Tasci, Guntay; Yurdugul, Halil

This research applied the learning strategies to predict in an effect longitudinal growth of cognitive structure of students in biology. The aim of the research is to assess the effect of activating learning strategies on cognitive structures regarding biology. The research was conducted by using control group design. The sample of research was composed of 60 prospective teachers randomly assigned to the experimental and the control groups. The longitudinal data were collected every 2 weeks and 4 times in total considering the concept maps. The data were quantitatively analysed in terms of the number of concepts, connections and central concepts. Latent growth modelling (LGM) was used to analyse change in cognitive structure over time. The findings suggested that the experimental group did better in cognitive structure than the control group in terms of forming connections and central concepts. Accordingly, teaching students self-regulated learning strategies and providing support in the written material to activate the strategies influence the development of cognitive structure in a positive way in terms of the extent and the integration. Therefore, activation of the use of self-regulated learning strategies in the teaching are thought to contribute to the learning of biology.

Tasci, Guntay

The purpose of this study was to develop a measurement instrument to determine pre-service teachers’ perceptions of competency in biology teaching. A total of 835 pre-service teachers participated in this study. The data set obtained at the first stage was analyzed using exploratory factor analysis and the data set obtained at the second stage was analyzed using first-order confirmatory factor analysis and then second-order confirmatory factor analysis. After those analyses, the convergent and discriminant validities of the scale with the determined factorial structures [χ2 (29, N=608) = 101 p<.000, χ2/df = 3.48, RMSEA=0.062, GFI=0.97, CFI=0.99, NNFI=0.98, NFI=0.98] were evaluated and Cronbach’s alpha, stratified alpha, and McDonald’s omega coefficients were estimated for internal consistency. Thus, a scale consisting of four sub-scales with 67 items in total was developed. The total score for the scale can be calculated by adding the scores of the sub-scales.