<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<bold>Introduction:</bold> It is stated that digital storytelling (DST) involves a process in which students develop many skills such as searching for information, writing scripts, organisation, presentation, communication and problem solving (Robin, 2006). In this process, it is seen that recent studies have started to focus on collaborative digital storytelling (CDST) to support students (Liu, Huang, &amp; Xu, 2018; Nishioka, 2016; Perez, Martinez, &amp; Pineiro, 2016; Perez, Martinez, &amp; Pineiro, 2018; Rubino, Barberis, &amp; Malnati, 2018). Building a digital story as an artefact with a group and examining its effect on creative writing skills can help gain insight into the potential of the CDST. Also, it can be stated that CDST has the potential to provide a suitable environment for social-emotional learning skills. In this regard, this study aims to examine the effect of collaborative digital storytelling on the creative writing and social-emotional learning skills of elementary school fourth grade students.
<bold>Methods:</bold> In the study, a quasi-experimental design, was used, with pre-test and post-test control groups. A process in which the experimental group was assigned a collaborative digital story, and the control group the task of preparing a visual presentation was designed. 60 students attending the fourth grade of a primary school participated in the study. The control group consisted of 30 students (14 females and 16 males), and the experimental group was also 30 students (15 female and 15 male students). The research was carried out in the 2017-2018 academic year and the implementation process lasted 11 weeks. Writing activities of the students were scored with the Creative Writing Rubric developed by Öztürk (2007). The Creative Writing Rubric is composed of eight sub-dimensions: (a) originality of ideas, (b) fluency of thoughts, (c) flexibility of thoughts, (d) word richness (selection), (e) sentence structure, (f) organisation (introduction to writing, development and outcome), (g) writing style, (h) compliance with grammar rules. The Social-emotional Learning Skills Scale developed by Kabakçı and Owen (2010) was used to measure social-emotional learning skills. There are 40 items on a 4-point Likert scale which consists of four factors: problem solving, communication, increasing self-value and coping with stress. In the study, paired samples t-test and single factor ANCOVA analysis were used and effect size (η2) and Cohen’s d were calculated.
<bold>Results:</bold> According to the t-test results for dependent groups, an increase between pre-test and post-test scores was found significant for creative writing in both the experimental (t(29)=8.623; p=0,000) and the control group (t(29)=5.259; p=0,000).When the calculated effect size values are examined, it is seen that there is a large effect size for the experimental group (Cohen’s d=0.88) and a medium (Cohen’s d=0.54) for the control group (Cohen, 1988). For social-emotional learning skills, a statistically significant difference was found between pre-test and post-test scores in both experimental (t(29)=2.518; p=0.018) and control groups (t(29)= 3.934; p=0.000). The effect size is small for both in the experimental (Cohen’s d=0.42) and control groups (Cohen’s d=0.42) for social-emotional learning. When pre-test scores were kept constant, a single factor covariance analysis (ANCOVA) was conducted to examine whether the collaborative digital story preparation process had a significant effect on the post-test scores of the groups. According to the ANCOVA results, there was a significant difference between the creative writing post-test scores of the groups, F(1, 57)=7.09, p&lt;0.05. In other words, the experimental process had an impact on creative writing. It is seen that the effect size value is calculated as η2=0.111. According to the ANCOVA results, there was no significant difference between the social-emotional learning skills post-test scores of the groups, F(1, 57)=0.137, p> 0.05.
<bold>Discussion:</bold> When the experimental and control groups were compared, it was concluded that the experimental process had a moderate effect in favour of the experimental group on the creative writing skill. When the related literature is examined, studies-support these results. Schmoelz (2018) stated that the specific stages of digital storytelling are very important for providing co-creativity, especially the story production stage enables the co-creative flow experience. According to Daigle (2008), digital storytelling requires writing skills and creativity. It can be used effectively where DST is considered as a means of developing narrative knowledge (Garcia &amp; Rossiter, 2010). When the social-emotional learning skills were examined, it was seen that there was an improvement in both the experimental group and the control group when the implementation process was completed. However, it was concluded that the experimental process did not have a significant effect on social-emotional learning skills. This may be because the students in both groups performed a collaborative study. Future studies may focus on an in-depth understanding of the process by conducting a qualitative study within the context of CDST and social-emotional learning skills. As a result of this study, it can be concluded that CDST improved students’ creative writing skills and can be used in language lessons.
<bold>Conclusions:</bold> In the study, it was observed by the researchers that CDST was more advantageous in terms of time and application. Future research may focus on comparing individual and collaborative digital storytelling. Other research may examine the effect of CDST on the attitudes of students towards collaborative work. This study was designed with a quantitative method, and research can be conducted in the future using a qualitative or mixed method that addresses students’ experiences, difficulties, teachers and parents’ views in the process.
</abstract>

Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technology

Improving Primary School Students’ Creative Writing and Social-Emotional Learning Skills through Collaborative Digital Storytelling

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<bold>Introduction:</bold> This study aims to determine the level of social-emotional health of church school students and relationships among the variables of social-emotional health and psychological well-being.
<bold>Methods:</bold> The research group consisted of 73 church school students in Presov Region. The data collection tools were the Social – Emotional Health Survey for secondary education (SEHS-S) and the Scale of Psychological Well-Being (PWB). The presented quantitative study has a correlation character with the comparative questions and exploratory - verification design.
<bold>Results:</bold> The findings of the study showed that there is a strong positive correlation between overall social-emotional health referred to covitality and psychological well-being. Strong and moderate correlations were found among domains and psychological indicators of social-emotional health and dimensions of psychological well-being. A domain belief in others strongly correlates with positive relations with others. A strong correlation has been found between the indicator of peer support and the dimension of positive relations with others. The findings showed a moderately large, statistically significant difference in the level of belief in self in favor of males compared to females. Small and medium-sized differences between males and females were also found at the level of psychological indicators. The level of overall social-emotional health increases with the increase in the mastery of the environmental mastering and positive relations with others, which explains 35% of the data variance.
<bold>Discussion:</bold> Research indicates relationships between the social-emotional health and psychological well-being as well as among dimensions, domains and indicators. The results support previous findings of other authors. Furthermore, the results showed a significant difference in the level of belief in self domain in favour of males compared to females. This finding indicates that males have higher self-confidence while compared to females.
<bold>Limitations:</bold> There are certain limitations in the research, which include usage of non-standardized methods on Slovak population and a low level of reliability for Psychological Well-being Scale. Among other limitations, we include the time of data collection, which took place during the last class at the end of the week.
<bold>Conclusion:</bold> Mental Health is about more than mental illness. Being mentally healthy and feeling well is important. To measure and identify elements of mental health may be useful to comprehend and promote psychological strengths of a person. A value of the paper lies in findings concerning social-emotional health of church school students, which contributed to the standardization of SEHS-S in Slovakia. Nevertheless, social-emotional health of Slovak students should not be neglected and further research on a larger sample is needed.
</abstract>

Social-Emotional Health and Psychological Well-Being among Church School Students

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<bold>Introduction:</bold> The aim of this study was to investigate PYP practitioner preschool teachers’ science teaching practices in terms of their pedagogical beliefs.
<bold>Methods:</bold> In this mixed method study, the quantitative data were first collected and analyzed, and then the qualitative data were collected and detailed. Accordingly, Pedagogical Belief Systems Scale (PBSS) was first implemented to 39 preschool teachers. Then, teachers were selected based on their scores from PBSS and included in the qualitative data processes. Data sources in this study are PBSS, Science Teaching Construction Task (STCT) and Classroom Observations. On the other hand, data analysis consisted of three steps. In the first step, quantitative data analysis was performed. Qualitative data analysis was performed in the second and third steps. In the first step of the qualitative data analysis, inductive content analysis was performed based on the constant comparative method on the responses of the teachers in the lower and upper groups to eight questions in STCT. Then, teachers’ science teaching practices in their own classrooms were analyzed through analytic rubric and enriched with field notes
<bold>Results:</bold> The results revealed that PYP practitioner preschool teachers had child-centered pedagogical beliefs. They also performed science teaching activities based on question-answer and deliberative interactions representing child-centered orientation, independently of their pedagogical beliefs.
<bold>Discussion:</bold> According to the results in this study, the quality of PYP practitioner preschool teachers’ theoretical orientations and practical applications for science teaching was independent of their pedagogical beliefs. However, preschool teachers with high pedagogical beliefs put more emphasis on inquiry in their theoretical conceptualizations about science teaching.
<bold>Limitations:</bold> The most important limitation in this study is the population. The first limitation occurs because PYP practitioner preschool education institutions were very limited in Istanbul; PYP practitioner preschool teachers were difficult to reach. The second limitation is that this research relied on only teachers’ self-reported views and practices.
<bold>Conclusion:</bold> Findings in this study is important in terms of describing the quality of preschool science teaching in the context of PYP and how teachers’ pedagogical beliefs serve it. Hence, based on the results obtained in the study, it was revealed that PYP practitioner preschool teachers were generally based on child-centered teaching and tended to use inquiry-based pedagogical strategies.
</abstract>

Exploration of PYP Practitioner Preschool Teachers’ Science Teaching Practices: The Effect of Pedagogical Beliefs

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<bold>Introduction:</bold> Online learning increased rapidly during the 2020 school year due to COVID-19. While online learning was perhaps the only realistic response to the health crisis, students differ in terms of their success with online learning. One particular group which may be vulnerable to problems with online learning is transfer students. Transfer students may be coming from smaller, in-person classes and are now put into fully online environments. This paper studies the performance of transfer students in online classes versus in-person classes.
<bold>Methods:</bold> This study compares the success of transfer students for an in-person semester to an online semester. A simple statistical test was performed to compare results for transfer students to control students.
<bold>Results:</bold> Transfer students appear to be performing worse than control students in the fully online learning environment.
<bold>Discussion:</bold> There may be a variety of reasons for the poorer performance of transfer students. They may be switching from smaller, in-person learning environments to more impersonal online environments.
<bold>Limitations:</bold> Pre-existing differences in individual students could not be controlled for.
<bold>Conclusion:</bold> These results suggest that transfer students may not be adapting to fully online learning as well as control students. Further research is needed to clarify this.
</abstract>

Effect of Online Learning on Transfer Student Success

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<bold>Introduction:</bold> The competencies needed for information and communication technologies (ICT) integration in the teaching-learning process are related to the use of technology, pedagogical attitudes, and content planning. These qualifications are all interrelated and should not be seen separately (Becuwe et al., 2017). In this context, ICT and TPACK competencies are important for ICT integration. The standards of ISTE for educators define the ICT skills that teachers should have as designers and facilitators (International Society for Technology Education [ISTE], 2020). These standards are gathered within the framework of ICT literacy, digital literacy, and ICT competence (Tondeur et al., 2017). The concept of ICT competence discussed in this study refers to the integrated and functional use of digital knowledge, skills and attitudes (Hatlevik et al., 2015). In this study, the ICT integration competencies of pre-service teachers (PSTs) were examined as ICT competencies and TPACK competencies in terms of a range of variables. For this purpose, the following question was asked: “Is there any significant difference in the ICT integration competencies of PSTs according to a range of variables?”
<bold>Methods:</bold> This study is based on causal-comparative research. The research was conducted in the autumn term of the 2019-2020 academic year. A convenience sampling method was used. In this regard, 413 PSTs, who are students of faculties of education at ten state universities located in different cities in Turkey, participated voluntarily in the study. The “Pre-service Teachers’ ICT Competencies Scale” developed by Tondeur et al. (2017) and the “TPACK-Deep Scale” developed by Kabakçı Yurdakul et al. (2012) were used to collect the data in the study. In addition to the scales, seven questions were asked about gender, grade, department, GPA, ICT course grade, owning a computer for educational purposes, and one’s perceived ability to use technology. Two methods have been adopted to collect data. The first was to collect the printed forms that were completed in pen by the PSTs, and the second was to prepare the electronic form and deliver it to the PSTs via e-mail and social media applications and then collect the data. To analyse the data, descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used.
<bold>Results:</bold> ICT and TPACK competencies of PSTs differ according to grade, having one’s own computer for educational purposes, and one’s perceived ability to use technology, but do not differ by gender. There is no significant difference in ICT and TPACK competencies according to the gender of PSTs. There is a significant difference in ICT and TPACK competencies according to the grade of PSTs and this difference is in favour of fourth grades. There is a significant difference in terms of ICT competencies and TPACK competencies according to computer ownership for educational purposes. This difference is in favour of PSTs who have their own computers. According to the perceived ability to use the technology of PSTs, there is a significant difference in ICT competencies and TPACK competencies. This difference is in favour of PSTs who think they can use technology at the advanced or expert level.
<bold>Discussion:</bold> In the face of constantly developing and changing technology, an important consideration is the competencies teachers and PSTs should have for ICT integration. Factors contributing to the explanation of the ICT integration process such as skills and competencies, pedagogical beliefs and self-efficacy, professional development and teacher experiences, ICT infrastructure, and access and tools are seen to have a positive effect on ICT use (Kaya &amp; Usluel, 2011). It has been suggested that competence and pedagogical knowledge regarding ICT integration as perceived by teachers are important when starting to integrate ICT into teaching practices (Aslan &amp; Zu, 2015). In this study, it was found that there is a difference in ICT integration competencies of PSTs in favour of those who have their own computers and those who think they can use technology at the advanced or expert level. As the PSTs experience an increase in their perceived level of skill in their use of technology, their ICT integration competencies increase. This study also shows that PSTs’ computer ownership has an impact on their education and improves their technological skills, making a difference in terms of ICT integration competencies.
<bold>Limitations:</bold> This study was limited to PSTs who studied at the faculty of education at state universities in Turkey. In addition, two scales related to ICT integration and one demographic questionnaire were used. Also, the convenience sampling method was used and the sampling was confined to 413 PSTs.
<bold>Conclusions:</bold> There is a need for educational processes that emphasise technology’s educational value and enable teachers to improve themselves pedagogically and plan more effective teaching-learning processes using this pedagogical knowledge. To meet the needs of the learners of this century, teachers must first be equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills in their educational processes (Yıldırım, 2000; Zhou et al., 2010). PSTs should experience this process in their teaching-learning process, and should receive training in the integration of ICT in the teaching-learning process (Çubukçu et al., 2017). Research shows that the learning experiences of PSTs in this sense and the integration of ICT with their subject areas are closely related to understanding the educational value of ICT (Mumcu &amp; Usluel, 2015). Academics, who take a role in teacher education, should use technology effectively in their lessons, and PSTs should experience the educational uses of technology through their education (Başal, 2015). In this sense, academics who take part in teacher education have important duties.
</abstract>

Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions of ICT and TPACK Competencies

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<bold>Introduction:</bold> The paper focuses on a narrowly specific topic of the family cooperation with an institution of pre-school education - the nursery school (or also just the nursery), concentrating on a specific topic of “media education”. It considers the determining factors and presents partial findings of a research survey aimed at the field of media education in nursery schools.
<bold>Methods:</bold> The paper contains the results of our own questionnaire research, which was carried out online in nursery school teachers. It also contains a theoretical definition of media literacy and media education in the context of the target group.
<bold>Results:</bold> The result is an analysis of the obtained findings and formulated proposals for measures in the given field, which are usable and applicable in practice.
<bold>Discussion:</bold> The individual presented results are continuously discussed with regard to the findings from the field of media education in the nursery school. Today, the world of the media is a common part of life even for children of pre-school age, and therefore it is necessary to teach them to orient themselves in it, which should be one of the tasks of the nursery school. In the Czech Republic, this issue has not yet been addressed at a significant level or to an appropriate extent. Our results are therefore closely linked not only to the discussion comments, but also to the conclusions drawn from them.
<bold>Limitations:</bold> The results of the empirical research may be influenced by the attitudes and prejudices of nursery school teachers in relation to media in pre-school children.
<bold>Conclusion:</bold> An early intervention can teach children to use media for their benefit and prevent media from negatively affecting them. The negative consequences of unrestrained effects of e.g. the television or mobile phones have been empirically proven. This information about the negative consequences is very general, distorted or superficial for the general public (parents), though. We consider the implementation of media education into the “teaching” process in nursery schools to be inevitable, even with regard to a closer cooperation between the institution and parents. However, this also places increased demands on training pedagogical staff in nursery schools in the subject area, creating methodological materials, etc.
</abstract>

Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences

Nursery School Cooperation with the Family in the Field of Media Education in Children

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<bold>Introduction:</bold> This research applies a bibliometric analysis to articles that have been published in Turkey in the field of social studies. “Social studies” is a discipline that aims to develop a human model with certain features applicable both for researchers’ own countries and globally. In this context, individuals’ social, work, and domestic lives are considered fundamental. Thus, discovering the characteristics of studies on social studies could be useful to interested scholars or policy-makers for determining trends in the field.
<bold>Methods:</bold> In this context, 168 articles from the Web of Science database were analyzed in bibliometric terms. Here, the keywords “social studies teaching,” or “social studies,” or “social studies education” were used when searching the Web of Science database, and Turkey was selected as the study location.
<bold>Results:</bold> Results of the bibliometric analysis showed that the most productive universities in Turkey are Anadolu, Marmara, and Gazi Universities, and the most frequently used keywords on the topic are “social studies,” “social studies education,” and “citizenship education.” Moreover, the most-used words in the manuscripts’ abstracts are “level,” “Turkey,” “participant,” and “impact.” The most-cited authors (judged using co-citation analyses) are Yıldırım, Öztürk, and Creswell, and the most-cited journals (judged using co-citation analyses) are The Social Studies, Journal of Educational Psychology, and Eğitim ve Bilim.
<bold>Discussion:</bold> When the articles in the field of social studies were analyzed by years, it was seen that the first one is published in 2007 and citations have occurred since 2009. It can be understood from the research results that words such as academic success, motivation and social justice keywords also have been recently used. It is understood that most of the journals are not specific to social studies and are general educational journals.
<bold>Limitations:</bold> The only articles examined within the scope of the study were those found in the Web of Science database. This can be considered a limitation of this research.
<bold>Conclusion:</bold> Considering that the most-cited authors, according to the results of the study, are included in the bibliographies of the studies related to this field, examining their works may be a useful guide for interested scholars. The majority of the journals included in the study were general education journals. It was also noted that the majority of the most-cited journals were based in Turkey.
</abstract>

An Overview of Social Studies Articles in Turkey: Bibliometric Mapping Analysis

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<bold>Introduction:</bold> The purpose of this study is to determine the metaphorical perceptions of preschool teachers in regard with the concept of inclusive education.
<bold>Methods:</bold> In this study, phenomenology design, which is one of the qualitative research methods, was used. The study group of this research consists of preschool teachers, who have students either received or currently receiving inclusive education in their classrooms. In the research, the content analysis was conducted in order to analyze the data obtained from preschool teachers.
<bold>Results:</bold> Of the 113 preschool teachers participated in the study, the answers given by 101 teachers to the research question were included in the evaluation. At the end of the evaluation phase, it was determined that preschool teachers developed a total of 53 different metaphors in regard with the concept of inclusive education and 53 valid metaphors developed by preschool teachers were analyzed by gathering them under 9 different categories according to their common characteristics.
<bold>Discussion:</bold> In accordance with the data obtained from the research, the distribution of metaphors developed by preschool teachers regarding the concept of “inclusive education” by categories is observed as follows: inclusive education as the riches of nature, inclusive education depending on the soil and inclusive education as work and living areas. However, the metaphor of the “rainbow” draws attention as the most developed metaphor for inclusive education in all categories by the participants.
<bold>Limitations:</bold> Due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic, data were collected from participants using an online interview form.
<bold>Conclusion:</bold> The study also concluded that the perceptions of the participants towards inclusive education were generally positive.
</abstract>

Metaphoric Perceptions of Preschool Teachers towards Inclusive Education

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<bold>Introduction:</bold> The scholarly paper focuses on addressing selected issues related to the forms of managers’ behaviour in coping with difficult situations in managerial work.
<bold>Purpose:</bold> The aim is to enrich human knowledge in the field of coping with difficult situations in managerial work both at the methodological level and at the level of theory development in this area.
<bold>Methods:</bold> The most commonly used method was quantitative-qualitative content analysis of the text of various types of communicants in order to systematise, analyse and describe various phenomena and situations in educational management. We describe the objects and subjects they have a quantitatively and qualitatively differentiated essence and characteristics (manager’s personality, demanding working environment, specific environment of class or school, processes at work, at school or during teaching, management style, workplace culture, etc.).
<bold>Conclusion:</bold> In terms of the specific application of the mentioned knowledge in managerial work, we can assume a positive impact on increasing the effectiveness of managerial work, in the context of which this can be used to increase the quality of selection of suitable people for managerial positions, education and training of managers, as well as prediction of possible risk factors in coping with difficult situations in managerial work.
</abstract>

Difficult Situations in Educational Management

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