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The purpose of this study is to examine the opinions of the teacher candidates about the goals, implementation and outcomes of the Community Service Practices (CSP) Course and to propose suggestions for a more effective teaching of the course. This phenomenological study was carried out with seven teacher candidates in their 3rd year and taking the Community Service Practices (CSP) Course in Mersin University, Faculty of Education, English Language Teaching Department in spring term of 2014-2015 academic year. A form consisting of nine open ended questions which were prepared by the researchers and evaluated by two experts for their validity was used to collect data about research problems. The form also included closed-ended questions where participants were asked about their demographic characteristics. The obtained data were analyzed by content analysis technique. The data were classified according to their contents and the themes were created. These themes were examined and compared by two experts of educational science and then their reliability was calculated using the formula "Reliability=(Number of Agreements/Total Number of Agreements and Disagreement) x 100". The reliability coefficient calculated as 18 / (18 + 3) * 100 = 85 shows that there is a reasonable consensus among the experts and therefore the internal consistency of the study (Miles & Huberman, 1994). The obtained data indicated that the course was overall implemented in line with its goals. As for the achievement of the goals of the course, many goals were considered to be attained because teacher candidates stated that they had the chance to get to know the society better and to integrate with it; cooperated with different institutions; strengthened the emotional dimension and spirituality of the teaching profession; developed self-confidence and socialized more. On the other hand, teacher candidates also reported some issues related to the course. Bearing these findings in mind, it can be concluded that teacher candidates found this course very useful, and that some suggestions about the issues should be taken into account so that the course could be implemented more productively.

This study aims to examine relationships among critical thinking dispositions, perceived problem-solving skills and metacognitive awareness of gifted and talented students, and to test a structural equation model based on these relationships. The study was conducted using the correlational research design and the study group, which was selected by using convenience sampling method, consisted of 502 gifted and talented students who were registered to Science and Art Centers in Adana, Kayseri and Mersin, Turkey in 2016. The data were collected through use of Likert-type scales and analyzed using Lisrel 8.7 and IBM SPSS Amos 25 programs. Structural equation modeling was used to determine structural relationships among variables. The initial findings indicated that students had high levels of critical thinking dispositions, perceived problem-solving skills and metacognitive awareness. The structural model, which was developed based on the relationships among these three variables, was confirmed. In light of the findings obtained from this model, it was revealed that 49% of the variance in students' perceived problem-solving skills was explained by their metacognitive awareness, and critical thinking disposition had a full mediation effect on the relationship between perceived problem-solving skills and metacognitive awareness. These findings were discussed in context of the related literature and some suggestions for implementation and future research were presented.