Abstracts - Earli

The importance of teacher interpersonal behaviour for students’ subject-related attitudes inscience in TurkeySibel Telli, Middle East Technical University, TurkeyPerry den Brok, Utrecht University, NetherlandsJale Cakiroglu, Middle East Technical University, TurkeyThe purpose of this study was to examine associations between Turkish high school students’perceptions of their science teachers’ interpersonal behaviour and their attitudes towards science.The study is first to use a culturally adapted version of the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction(QTI) in Turkey with a large sample of secondary science classes. The QTI maps teacher-studentinterpersonal behaviour by means of two relational dimensions, Influence (the degree of teachercontrol of communication) and Proximity (the degree of teacher cooperation with students). Dataon students’ subject-related attitudes were collected with the Test of Science Related Attitudes(TOSRA). A total of 7484 students (grades 9 to 11) from 278 science classes (55 public schools)in thirteen major Turkish cities participated. To answer the research questions, multilevel analysesof variance were conducted with MLN for Windows on the TOSRA scale (inquiry, enjoyment,leisure interest and career interest) scores. In the analyses, three levels were distinguished: student(individual level), class and teacher. It was founded that mother education level, gender andnumber of books at home were related with scientific attitudes. As for the dimensions of the QTI,Influence (DS) was connected with only Enjoyment, while Proximity (CO) had a connection withboth the Inquiry and Enjoyment scales. School type also emerged as significant variable: studentsin Anatolian schools reported less Leisure interest in science than students from regular highschools.Exploring the influence of individual characteristics on interactions during collaborative gamingPhilip Bonanno, University of Malta, MaltaDevelopments in gaming technology are turning games into an intensely interactive socialexperience. To integrate games in learning a paradigm shift in pedagogy is indispensable, movingfrom content-oriented didactical models to ones that are process-oriented. An interactions-orientedmodel is thus proposed that organizes task and person-oriented interactions along three dimensionsand across three pedagogical levels. The influence of gamers’ personal characteristics on Task andPerson-oriented interactions are investigated with a sample of college students. Personalcharacteristics include the extro/introvert personality dimension, gender-related neurocognitiveand affective propensities and gaming competence. Two types of data were collected. Surveyswere used to collect data about gaming tendencies of college students. Analysis of video recordedcollaborative gaming sessions quantified the identified categories and directionality ofinteractions. Different genres of games were used to create different gaming contexts. Appropriatestatistical tools were used to investigate possible interactions between the identified individualcharacteristics and the dependent variables – type and directionality of interactions. The results areused to develop interactions profiles for single or groups of gamers. The implications of suchprofiling system and the influence of individual factors in collaborative gaming are discussedwithin the context of a proposed pedagogical model, in relation to game design, adaptivity andcollaborative game-based learning.– 346 –