3. Cyprus International Conference on Educational Research organized by Cyprus Educational Research Association, a member of World Education Research Association – WERA, was held in Salamis Bay Conti Resort Hotel. Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) Education Faculty was represented with 5 presentations. EMU Department of Mathematics and Science Education academic staff member Dr. Aygil Takır made a presentation entitled “Analysis on Self-Efficacy Believes of Pre-School Education Teacher Candidates on Mathematics Education with Respect to Various Variables”. The research conducted on teacher candidates studying in a state university in Famagusta, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) completed the Mathematics Education course showed that the self-efficacy perceptions of the teacher candidates towards Mathematics education is in intermediate level. Another outcome of the research indicated that age variable plays role and affects the perceptions of the teacher candidates.
EMU Education Faculty, Educational Sciences academic staff members Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sıtkiye Kuter and Specialist Zehra Özdemir Pamuk also presented their study entitled “Analysis of Democratic Values of 6th Grade Students in Secondary Schools”. The in-depth research aiming to find out whether the 6th grade students possess democratic values or not, was carried out in 2015-2016 Academic Year with the participation of 345 students (all 6th graders) and 21 teachers from 3 different secondary schools in TRNC. The quantitative outcomes of the research showed that 6th graders rarely owns values such as being respectful, kind, tolerant and cooperating with others. Moreover, qualitative outcomes of the research indicated that the students do not own the values as much as desired, even though the teachers shared both positive and negative opinions on whether the students own the values or not. During the presentation, the future contributions of research findings to both raising “sensitive and effective citizens” principle of “Primary Education Programs Development Project” (TEPGP) and to in-service training processes towards professional development of the teachers.
Other two presentations representing EMU during the international conference was made by EMU Elementary Education Department academic staff member Assist. Prof. Dr. Eda Kargı and Eastern Mediterranean Doğa Primary School teacher Specialist Şükrüye Atasoy Çiçek, “Teacher Opinions on Issues Faced by Non-Turkish Speaking Students Between Ages of 3-6 in Pre-School Education Institutions” and by Alasya Foundation Nursery School teacher Specialist Çisem Hürtürk, “An analysis on Contents of Games and Playing Behaviors of Pre-School Students”. During Assist. Prof. Dr. Kargı and Specialist Çiçek’s presentation, brief information on the research was presented. The speakers touched on issues such as problems experienced by non-Turkish speaking 3-6 year old pre-school students, methods applied to overcome these problems and suggestions to solve them.
The research that was conducted with 10 teachers who work in Famagusta and which gathered information on 140 students coming from 10 different countries, found out that Pre-school education institutions offering services in TRNC should develop themselves in no-time on notions of equipment-environment, educational programs, teacher competencies and family participation with regards to multi-cultural education. It has been observed that communicational problems faced in multi-cultural environments tend to be correlative with the lack of finding a common language to be able to communicate with non-Turkish speaking students. Teachers, whose opinions are collected within the scope of the research, stated that they have been trying to overcome the language barrier and find solutions to the problem, but they also expressed their concerns on being alone throughout this process.
The last presentation was made by Alasya Foundation Nursery School teacher Specialist Çisem Hürtürk where Hürtürk analyzed the contents of games. The research conducted with 14 5-year old students in an official pre-school located in Famagusta, TRNC in 2016-2017 academic year, showed that fictitious play was the most popular playing method applied by the children in their free-time. Moreover, children tend to give place to symbolic transformations, form their games on issues that are experienced in their daily lives, be affected by the media when it comes to playmaking and transforming the play materials of a class into what they want it to be. Nearly no conflict was observed during the games played by the 5-year olds. According to the mentioned research, plays and games are a way of understanding the external world and also a reflection tool for children.
