Research in Social Sciences and Technology
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Virtually Ready? Pre-service teachers' perceptions of a virtual internship experience
No full textoai:ojs.www.ressat.org:article/1The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the experiences of six secondary pre-service teachers that completed a semester long internship with a supervising mentor at a virtual school in the Southeastern United States. The secondary pre-service teachers in this study voluntarily chose a placement in the virtual school over a traditional classroom placement for completion of their initial licensure field experience. This study sought to examine why secondary pre-service teachers chose a virtual internship and what their experiences were like as online instructors. A total of six participants completed a sixty-minute semi-structured interview at the completion of the semester long virtual school internship. Results of the study indicated that secondary pre-service teachers' primary motivation for entering a virtual internship experience was "œconvenience". Additionally, participants felt prepared for future employment in virtual schools, but had some reservations about their prospects in a traditional classroom setting
Turkish Pre-Service Teachers' Experiences with Contemporary Technology Games and Perceptions About Teaching with Instructional Games
No full textThe present study investigates pre-service teachers' experience about playing technology games and their opinions about using contemporary technology to play games as an instructional tool. The participants are 272 pre-service teachers from a university in Middle Anatolia. The present study used mixed methods. The data was collected through an online survey that was created by the authors. The survey contains demographic questions about the participants` gender, major, whether they play technology games or not, and questions about which technology games they play, their opinions about using technology (IWBs and tablets) to play games for instruction, and for which instructional purposes they plan using technology to play games. Following research questions were investigated for the current study: 1. Whether pre-service teachers play technology games or not? If yes, which technology games they play? 2. Whether pre-service teachers plan to use interactive white boards and tablets that were distributed by the government under FATIH project to play technology games for educational purposes? 3. Whether pre-teachers' opinions about using the IWBs and tablets to play instructional games associated with their gender and playing technology games? 4. For which instructional purposes pre-service teachers plan to use IWBs and tablets to play instructional games? For the second and third questions descriptive statistics and crosstabs were conducted. For the first and fourth questions content analysis was applied. Fifty-four percent (n=148) of the pre-service teachers agreed to use the IWBs and tablets to play technology games for educational purposes while 46% (n=124) did not. There is no statistically significant association between gender and plans using the IWBs and tablets to play instructional games. There was a statistically significant association between who Playing Technology Games and Plans Using IWBs and Tablets to Play Instructional Games. Pre-service teachers who play technology games reported higher scores than the ones who do not play technology games. The participants suggested that using IWBs and tablets to play games would make learning fun and easy. The study has implications for teacher education and K-12 education policy. The present study also adds to the knowledge of whether the Y-generation pre-service teachers find the recent technology games useful for education or not
A Historical Approach to Social Studies Laboratory Method
No full textIn the early years of Social Studies education, great attention was given to "Social Studies Laboratories" and a teaching and learning pedagogy called "The Laboratory Method" This study examines historical documents about the development of the social studies laboratory. The researchers examined certain periodicals published in the US such as Education, The Historical Outlook and The History Teacher's Magazine along with the non-experimental historical research methodology. In an age of inquiry-based projects and "hands-on" approaches to the learning of Social Studies, a brief historical overview of the foundations of such approaches in the Social Studies seems appropriate from US perspective. Parallels are drawn by using comparative approach, and suggestions made, for a twenty-first century approach to a Social Studies Laboratory and a Laboratory Method of teaching the many disciplines that define the Social Studies. The findings of this study indicate that despite the social studies classroom, method and laboratory may have changed a great deal over the past century, the goals of the social studies teacher have not changed. The social studies teacher still works to keep his or her students actively engaged in learning, still works to help them learn new concepts and skills, and still works to help each and every student succeed. Above all, the social studies teacher still looks for strategies and tools to help students prepare for life outside of the classroom. In conclusion, a valuable lesson is to be learned from the early development of the social studies laboratory: the room, the technology and the innovative ideas are meaningless unless accompanied by a commitment to move toward student-centered activities and learning, a twenty-first century version of the "laboratory method". It is when technological access becomes inexorably entwined with teaching strategies that empower students to use, develop and critique the technology that substantive learning takes place in the social studies classroom
Innovation and Education
No full textWe are living in a world that is changing rapidly and becoming more globalized. Especially the changes in the areas of science, technology and economy are becoming effective in the areas like education and health that are closely related to human life. We are experiencing a quick process named "globalization" that changes economic, social and political structures of the world and that no one can predict the outcome. These changes create new opportunities while opening new challenging areas. In order for countries to compete with each other, they need to be creative in all areas and they also need to be reformist to cope with domestic, national and global problems. In this study, the innovations in the area of education throughout the world will be examined and the place of Turkey compared to other countries in educational innovations will be analyzed. Also the concept of "˜Charter Schools" as acceleration in educational innovation in the United State of America, who is the leader in terms of innovation in the World, will be analyzed. This study will also analyze the Charter Schools in the USA and discuss whether the concept can be implemented in Turkey and bring dynamism to education or increase the quality of education. While looking for the answers of these questions, the researcher conducted a literature review and also used the data he gathered while staying in the USA for nine years for pursuing his MA and PhD degrees
A Prediction for Teacher Commitment; Effects of Managerial Style, Burnout and Demographics
No full textThe Purpose of this study is to determine the effects of managerial style, teacher burnout and demographics on teacher commitment. In accordance with this aim, a quantitative casual research design was implemented. Data of the research were gathered from 280 primary school teacher, by a questionnaire including managerial style, teacher burnout, teacher commitment and teacher demographics forms. For each research questions, Hierarchical Linear Regression analysis was carried out. According to the findings, task oriented behaviors of principal, emotional exhaustion level of the teacher, self-inadequacy feelings of teacher, marital status and work time spending at the same school predicts teacher commitment significantly. On the other hand, human orientation, isolation level from work environment, physical burnout level, vocational burnout level, gender, professional experience, educational level and working status variables does not predicts teacher commitment
Editorial
No full textWelcome to the Research in Social Sciences and Technology. The second issue is the final issue of our first year. RESSAT is delighted to share three studies about civic and social studies education in this issue. I would like to thank all authors and reviewers for their contribution to RESSAT. I hope you will both enjoy and be challenged by the articles in the second issue of RESSAT. Please join us to contribute to the development of RESSAT in the future
The Early Years of American Political Science: Traditionalist Paradigm and its Critics
No full textAmerican political science has a checkered history. In the first decade of the twentieth century the discipline of political science was in its nascent stage. Political science professors of that period espoused a worldview that may be called Traditionalism. Traditionalist paradigm was informed by Hegelian philosophy and its main thrust was the study of the state. Traditionalism promoted teaching about the structure and function of government on college campuses and in public schools packaging it as citizenship education. However, political scientists of the mid-1920s and early 1930s found Traditionalism to be an inadequate methodology for explaining the complex political problems of the industrial age. Thus Behavioralism emerged as a new paradigm making Traditionalism obsolete. Behavioralist paradigm also could not explain adequately the causes of the nation-wide social unrest and racial conflicts of the 1970s, and hence it too lost its respectability, especially among women and other disenfranchised political scientists in American academia.
 
Editorial
No full textSocial sciences and technology have an essential role in formation of society. Through social sciences one can understand what society needs and how these needs can be provided. Also, social sciences provide knowledge that address social demands, and possible solutions for problems of the society. The use of technology is obvious in all spheres of society and driving changes in daily life. Research in Social Sciences and Technology (RESSAT) journal emerges within this context and provides a scholarly platform to bring together articles related to social sciences and technology. As an international peer-reviewed journal, RESSAT will seek to publish articles that draws on the anthropology, archaeology, criminology, education, economics, geography, history, information and communications technology (ICT), law, linguistics, religion, political science, psychology, and sociology.
With great pleasure we welcome all authors involved in improving research in social sciences and technology. RESSAT can be distinguished from other journals available in social sciences by its inter-disciplinary focus and its priority on the use of technology in social sciences. RESSAT provides an academic platform for authors to publish empirical studies together with discussion of conceptual and methodological issues of relevance to social sciences and technology
Teachers' Attitudes Toward the Use of Technology in Social Studies Teaching
No full textTechnology integration in education is one of the most popular topics in the last decades. Many countries have invested millions of dollars to equip classrooms with technological devices. As well as developed countries, Turkey has conducted several projects to provide technological devices and educational materials to classrooms. Technology has the potential to increase the quality of learning and teaching process. However, having technological devices in classroom alone will not cause the increase of the quality of education. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine teachers' attitudes toward the use of technology in social studies teaching. Understanding social studies teachers' attitudes is essential because it is a way to figure out how they integrate technology and define barriers. The authors applied quantitative survey method and used cluster sampling to choose participants. The sample of the study consisted of 155 social studies teachers who are currently teaching at middle schools. The use of technology in social studies teaching attitude scale was used to collect data. The findings revealed that teachers have positive beliefs and attitudes toward the use of technology. Also, the findings showed that teachers who are working at private schools have significantly high attitudes than others who are teaching at public schools. Moreover, teachers who took educational technology and teaching material course and attended in-service training have more positive attitudes than others