Although understandings of scientific inquiry (as opposed to conducting inquiry) are included in science education reform documents around the world, little is known about what students have learned about inquiry during their elementary school years. This is partially due to the lack of any assessment instrument to measure understandings about scientific inquiry. However, a valid and reliable assessment has recently been developed and published, Views About Scientific Inquiry (VASI; Lederman et al. [2014], Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 51, 65–83). The purpose of this large‐scale international project was to collect the first baseline data on what beginning middle school students have learned about scientific inquiry during their elementary school years. Eighteen countries/regions spanning six continents including 2,634 students participated in the study. The participating countries/regions were: Australia, Brazil, Chile, Egypt, England, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Mainland China, New Zealand, Nigeria, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, and the United States. In many countries, science is not formally taught until middle school, which is the rationale for choosing seventh grade students for this investigation. This baseline data will simultaneously provide information on what, if anything, students learn about inquiry in elementary school, as well as their beginning knowledge as they enter secondary school. It is important to note that collecting data from all of the approximately 200 countries globally was not humanly possible, and it was also not possible to collect data from every region of each country. The results overwhelmingly show that students around the world at the beginning of grade seven have very little understandings about scientific inquiry. Some countries do show reasonable understandings in certain aspects but the overall picture of understandings of scientific inquiry is not what is hoped for after completing 6 years of elementary education in any country.

The present study with an international perspective, investigated the state of knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes among young students toward bioenergy in Finland, Slovakia, Taiwan, and Turkey. A total of 1,903 students with an average age of 15 years from 19 rural and urban schools participated in this study. The study found statistically significant differences in students' bioenergy knowledge with respect to the countries. Only a small percentage of the students in each country were able to demonstrate a high level of bioenergy knowledge. In overall, the gender and rural-urban differences did not play a significant role in determining students' level of bioenergy knowledge. The students appeared to be very critical of bioenergy and especially of the issues related to bioenergy production from forests. They demonstrated positive attitudes in terms of their willingness to learn about bioenergy and its use in their daily life. The study found statistically significant effects of gender and locality on students' perceptions of bioenergy. Most knowledgeable students in bioenergy appeared to be most critical in their perceptions and attitudes toward bioenergy. The principal component analysis revealed three distinct dimensions of students' perceptions and attitudes toward bioenergy viz., "motivation", "critical", and "practical". A broader societal support is needed for the introduction of bioenergy in many countries and young generation's positive attitudes to this matter is certainly important for people who will create policies in this area. More efforts are needed to support young students so that they understand the multi-dimensional issues related to bioenergy by allowing them to have practical experiences with bioenergy.

SUMMARY Purpose and Significance:The main objective of this research is to determine the competency of primary school teachers in alternative assessment and evaluation. In order to achieve this main objective following research questions were investigated:1. Which alternative assessment techniques are used by primary school teachers? 2. In which capacity do primary school teachers implement performance indicators of alternative assessment in their classrooms? 3. How do primary school teachers implement the performance indicators for the competency area of monitoring and evaluating students learning and development? 4. What are primary school teachers' self efficacy beliefs about their competency of alternative assessment and evaluation? Methods: This research was designed as a qualitative case study. In case studies, researchers examine a particular cluster in the universe in depth in order to establish relations within itself and the environment and to reacha judgment about these clusters of (Karasar, 2005). Research was carried out with nine primary school teachers working in three different schools at 2011-2012 academic year in Maltepe and Sultanbeyli district of Istanbul province. Participants were determined by criterion sampling which is among purposive sampling methods.In this study, qualitative data collection techniques were utilized. Qualitative data were collected with classroom observation and semi-structured teacher interview form developed by researchers. Teachers were determined among primary school teachers who had high, medium and low level of knowledge about alternative assessment and evaluation. Knowledge levels were determined by an achievement test. After semi-structered interviews, participants' assessment and evaluation practices were also observed in their classrooms. Data from the observation forms was analyzed with a computer software and the findings were obtained by calculating percentage and the frequency of observations. Results were presented in a table. Teachers who were interviewed and observed were coded as Ö1, Ö2 and data were tabulated in this way.Results: During the observation periods in their classrooms nine primary school teachers applied total of 34 alternative assessment and evaluation techniques. On average, each teacher employed less than * This study was originated from Mehmet ÖZENÇ's Doctorial Dissertation which was supervised by Assoc. Dr. Mustafa ÇAKIR. 1 Ph.D. Governorship of Niğde EU Office: mozenc38@hotmail.com 2 Assoc. Dr. Marmara University Education Faculty: mustafacakir@marmara.edu.tr ABSTRACT. Primary school teachers' competencies and self-efficacy beliefs of alternative assessment techniques were investigated and conditions in which they utilize such techniques in the classroom were explored within the framework of performance indicators set by the Ministry of National Education (MEB). Nine participants from three different schools in İstanbul participated in this qualitative case study. Purposeful sampling method was used in determining the participants. ...

IntroductionLittle is known about whether there is any sex effect on chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD) exacerbations. This study is intended to describe the possible sex-associated differences in exacerbation profile in COPD patients.MethodsA total of 384 COPD patients who were hospitalized due to exacerbation were evaluated retrospectively for their demographics and previous and current exacerbation characteristics.ResultsThe study was conducted on 109 (28%) female patients and 275 (72%) male patients. The mean age was 68.30±10.46 years. Although females had better forced expiratory volume in 1 second and near-normal forced vital capacity, they had much impaired arterial blood gas levels (partial oxygen pressure [PO2] was 36.28 mmHg vs 57.93 mmHg; partial carbon dioxide pressure [PCO2] was 45.97 mmHg vs 42.49 mmHg; P=0.001), indicating severe exacerbation with respiratory failure. More females had two exacerbations and two hospitalizations, while more men had one exacerbation and one hospitalization. Low adherence to treatment and pulmonary embolism were more frequent in females. Females had longer time from the onset of symptoms till the admission and longer hospitalization duration than males. Comorbidities were less in number and different in women (P<0.05). Women were undertreated and using more oral corticosteroids.ConclusionCurrent data showed that female COPD patients might be more prone to have severe exacerbations, a higher number of hospitalizations, and prolonged length of stay for hospitalization. They have a different comorbidity profile and might be undertreated for COPD.

Aim: The primary percutaneous procedure resulted in a significant improvement in the prognosis of myocardial infarction. However, no-reflow phenomenon restrains this benefit of the process. There are studies suggesting that soluble suppression of tumorigenicity (sST2) can be valuable in the diagnosis and progression of heart failure and myocardial infarction. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of sST2 on no-reflow phenomenon in ST-elevated myocardial infarction (STEMI).Method: This study included 379 patients (258 men; mean age, 60 ± 11 years) who underwent primary percutaneous treatment for STEMI. sST2 levels were measured from blood samples taken at admission. Patients were divided into two groups according to Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction(TIMI) flow grade: group 1 consists of TIMI 0,1,2, accepted as no-reflow, and group 2 consists of TIMI 3, accepted as reflow.Results: No-reflow phenomenon occurred in 60 patients (15.8%). The sST2 level was higher in the no-reflow group (14.2 ± 4.6 vs. 11.3 ± 5.0, p = 0.003). Moreover, regression analysis indicated that diabetes mellitus, lower systolic blood pressure, multivessel vascular disease, high plaque burden, and grade 0 initial TIMI flow rate were other independent predictors of the no-reflow phenomenon in our study. Besides, when the patients were divided into high and low sST2 groups according to the cut-off value from the Receiver operating characteristics analysis, being in the high sST2 group was associated with 2.7 times increased odds for no-reflow than being in the low sST2 group.Conclusion: sST2 is one of the independent predictors of the no-reflow phenomenon in STEMI patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention.