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After I read this I become more worried about our students especially in secondary schools. There were SBS (exam for entering high schools) and they were taking 3 different exams at each grade, 6,7,8 but now with the new regulations they will have 36 exams. Apart from that in 10 years the system has changed for 5 times. what can be more devastating their chilhood than that?

I agree with you about the testing system in Turkey but it is only the top of the iceberg. For me, childhood ends for children who start the formal education in Turkey. Our system is so demanding and competitive that children cannot endure the difficulties they encounter. First of all, we have very overloaded curricula and students always need to be alert and hardworking to keep up with the required activities. While trying to make use of constructivist understanding curriculum developers missed some points: the opportunities and facilities the schools and students have, the difficulty level of activities, background of the learner and student and parent profile in Turkey, teacher characteristics in our schools and so on. The curricula cannot be implemeted in most of the schools so teachers invented their own methods and techniques which do not match to any of the instructional theories properly. Parents started to find out ways to protect their children and they made lots of mistakes. For example, some parents do projects of their children and smarter children started to sell ready-made projects at schools. Although teachers know the truth, he grade these projects because the system makes it nearly impossible to fail. In short, our system is working but not in the way writen in the curricula. The changes, negativities and difficulties in the system is damaging the childhood and future of the students. Somebody should change it, not the curricula:)

World is getting more populated, and each individual wants to have a better life. And a better life is significantly related to education. So, exams still appear to be a "must" in this racing system. Actually, I am a supporter of the exams if we want to have a more "fair race". I remember the terrible old days when successful people couldn't get what they deserved because of the bribery system in Turkey. On the other hand, I agree about the side effects of the overtesting. And as an individual who has been exposed to overtesting, the question I ask to myself is "How has the overtesting affected my mental health?" The truth is I have been stressed, depressed and sad because of the tests :(

Perhaps, you've watched it before, but pls watch it if you haven't...it is one of my favourites...Enjoy it :-))

The video presents the reality of women, we are really complicated;) I really enjoyed watching it Şermin thanks for sharing:)

Wow that was funny! I want to share what happened when me an my friend were trying to assemble my disassembled table:) I was following the directions 'step by step' at the mean time thinking where to put the table according to day light,the lamp and so on when he just started to assemble it without thinking anything, really anything and for sure without checking the instructions. He had a glance what it is supposed to look like in the end and just gave a start. I think this is also the way men perceive the life :)

Children can participate in workshops and learn by doing in a science center in Ankara. The price for each workshop is essentially affordable.I hope the number of such centers will increase and be reached by more children for free.

This is a book by Geoff Colvin which talks about the importance of deliberate practice. Mr. Colvin's primary message in this book is that people are not born with all the natural talent and abilities that will make them great it life. He asserts that, aside from some physical atributes that may give an athlete an advantage in a particular sport, everyone can achieve world-class performance through "deliberate practice" in his or her chosen field - business, music, sports, etc.

Thank you for the link, I am curious in finding more sources on the effect of deliberate practice and its effects. As I have searched Geoff Colvin is from the field of economics so it can be interesting to hear from people of different fields.

Neil Charness is also a scholar on psychology from Florida State University. He has some thoughts on expert performance. You can also check his works. :)

A couple of yeras ago, Turkish Ministry of Education declared that some teachers wold be appointed as "experts". At the very beginning, some teachers got the title of "experts"; however, the ministry gave up the idea after a very short time. This can be a topic to be discussed at our class this week. Some of the questions that can be raised: * What is an expert teacher? * Do we need experts at our school? * How should the teachers get the title of "expert", by an exam or by working time? I added a Turkish forum where people discussed the expert teachers at schools.

It can be a good discussion topic, well suited for the week.

Bu okulda öğrencileri okuldan soğutacak hiç bir uygulama yok. Özel okul statüsünde ancak kar amacı güdülmüyor. Bütçesi velilerin katılımıyla bir kooperatif tarafından karşılanıyor. İlk şubesi Bodrum'da açılan okulun ikinci şubesi için İzmir'de çalışmalar başlatıldı.

most probably you have heard that Summerhill School in England. It is a boarding school founded by A.S. Neill in 1921 and its basic principle is the school should be made to fit the child, rather than the child should be made to fit the school. I think the one in Turkey might be founded based on the Summerhill School. here is is website for more information; www.summerhillschool.co.uk

There is this point that I totally agree with Burcu about disadvantaged groups. Also whenever I think about examples like Sudbury Valley, I get impressed by the idea of getting rid of exam threat. But for our country, we have to change like everything, the belief systems, the culture, the attitudes. We have a lot do to in that respect, even if our main intention to make just a small change.

"John D. Bransford holds the Shauna C. Larson Endowed Chair in Learning Sciences at the University of Washington College of Education in Seattle, Washington. Dr. Bransford is also Founding Director of The Learning in Informal and Formal Environments (LIFE) Center, an National Science Foundation (NSF) Science of Learning Center" Here is a chapter from a book published by National Academy of Education: " Preparing Teachers for a Changing World: What Teachers Should Learn and Be Able to Do" (Edited by John Bransford and Linda Darling Hammond.) The chapter focuses on how to design teachers' learning experiences in a trainig program: http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cehd/teri/Chapter%2011.pdf

I had chance to visit some Montessori early education centers and got impressed by the way children learn. I am really looking forward to hearing your comments on this method.

Whatever they are named, there are many nice ideas-theories of edcation. Montessori method is one of the contemporary ones which seems to present many potentials for the teachers. One point which looks problematic about Montessori in our education sysytem is motivating students to be actively engaged in activities. The question is "Is there a way to connect activities and heavy academic knowledge?". In other words, Can we help our students to get ready for the exams by engaging them in daily activities? My answer is "not really" :(

I liked the school environment too much. As far as I can see from the video, Montessori method engages ownership in learning, self-management and authenticity which I most appreciate in a learning process. The students have the chance to relate what they learn with life with willingness and curiosity. But as İbrahim said, my question is "Can we apply this to our education system?". Our children are in a race from the beginning for a endless examination world. Unfortunately, this is a bit utopia for us. However, I think in kindergarten or pre-school period we can apply this. But for high-school or even primary school I am not sure.

some more ideas on Situated Learning Theory for us:)

The goal is to improve learning by motivating students and by providing a rich context for learning. It emphasizes the context and application of knowledge rather than memorizing facts (Heeter, 2005). This quotation is crucial for me because in Turkey, the education is based on memorization simply. The knowledge is "high on the clouds". We need to make it more usable and applicable.

the page briefly and clearly defines what situated learning is, and shows how to create authentic learning contexts by using digital media. There are very short videos showing situated learning genres and some handouts which can be helpful in the class.

While I was reading about interactive case scenarios, I remembered some of my friends playing a game on the Internet called "fantasy role play". I am sure most of us have already heard about it because it is very popular among METU students. Actually the major aim of the game is to have some fun, but it can also be organized as a learning tool.

Thanks for sharing the examples. I already started thinking about how to integrate these into teacher training programs.

This article is from Journal of Educational Psychology describing an advanced learning technology used to investigate hypotheses about learning by teaching. The proposed technology is an instance of a teachable agent, called SimStudent, that learns skills (e.g., for solving linear equations) from examples and from feedback on performance. SimStudent has been integrated into an online, gamelike environment in which students act as "tutors" and can interactively teach SimStudent by providing it with examples and feedback.

http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=62560df9-81f0-48df-9217-73a31d3da977%40sessionmgr14&vid=3&hid=6 This is the direct link to the article.

I am really effected by the construct neuroplasticity as I read. I had read it as neuro-elasticity before but now I believe they are different terminologies or I am not sure:) So this article is about new emerging themes on neuroplasticity and its relation with education and culture. The figure showing the variables influencing brain plasticity is really good I think.

Canan, I was questioning the role of culture in neurosceience when I saw the article you shared, many thanks:) In the figure presenting the variables affecting the brain plasticity, education and culture intersects. For me, culture shapes education in a society (both formal and informal education). It determines people's identity, behaviors, attitudes and thinking patterns. So, it is for sure that it has an influence on brain plasticity.

Yes I agree with you culture is in relation with lots of different elements that can be important for brain development or plasticity, the fact that cognitive structure Of the brain changes with culture seems important to keep in mind.

This article concentrates on collaborative methods in education to highlight their potentials in elevated learning outcomes. In the article, there is also some mention of learning by design and project-based pathways. I guess it is worth to check it out. by the way Edutopia is a great source for educational articles and videos.

Adopting a design-based research methodology, this study used digital video technology to support reflective tasks for language learning in multimedia environments. The emphasis was on the improvement of oral communication skills. The reflective tasks used in this study were exposed to iterative design process and the whole research process was driven by two underlying learning theories. This iterative and theory driven design reflects the nature of DBR well.

Is there ant iteration in the design here? Or is it the implementation of three different courses?

Hocam, students' reflective practice happened in different formats each year. To be more specific, task-completion tools and task-completion formats were exposed to an iterative design. Each year a different tool and a format were implemented and the reflection by the students progressed in an iterative way though it was conducted with different classes. For example, in 2006, students of Class 1 reviewed their presentations in a multimedia player and reflected on it via a word-processing program. In 2008, YouTube was used for their presentations and they had a collaborative reflective task after being paired with each other. So, a different design was applied for each year but in an iterative fashion.

As you've learned from the article by Goswami, there are some pervasive 'neuromyths' around. This TedEd video explains one of them besides providing some key points about brain. by the way, it is being a very 'brainy' week for me. :)