Times Union

School District is Smart to Add Climbing Walls

Asil Ali Özdoğru

The traverse rock-climbing walls that the Schenectady school district has installed ("Rock walls teach students to reach," Nov. 29) are valuable assets in contributing to pupils' physical and psychological development. These walls are essential not only for physical education but also in changing and creating better school environments. An atmosphere only emphasizing academics and instruction is not helpful in creating favorable student perceptions of the school. When this sort of fun and enjoyable activity is associated with schools and combined with formal curriculum, students can have better perceptions of and attitudes about their schools, and education in general. A positive approach to school is vital for student motivation and achievement. Instead of offering activities students like only through after-school activities or other ways, schools should be places offering activities and programs designed in accordance with student interests.

Citation: Özdoğru, A. A. (2004, December 7). School district is smart to add climbing walls [Letter to the editor]. Times Union, p. A18.

NERA 2004

Preschool Children’s Private Speech and Play Types

Asil Ali Özdoğru and Xiuyuan Zhang

The aim of this study was to investigate the relation between preschooler’s uses of private speech in different play types changing in social involvement. Private speech is the young child’s self-talk without addressing any listener and without any communicative intent. Piaget thought that it stems from egocentric thoughts of children who cannot take the perspective of other people. However, current views starting with Vygotsky support that it is self-regulative and has a social nature, playing significant roles in cognitive development. Twenty-three children (11 three-year-old and 12 four-year-old) were observed in their day care settings, and their play and private speech types were coded with checklists developed by the authors. Results showed no difference between the two age groups and gender groups. Ethnic groups differed in their use of private speech. There was a decline in the vocalization of private speech in more social play types.

Keywords: Private speech, play, Piaget, Vygotsky, daycare setting

Citation: Özdoğru, A. A., & Zhang, X. (2004, October). Preschool children’s private speech and play types. Paper presented at the 35th annual conference of the Northeastern Educational Research Association, Kerhonkson, NY.

EQRE 2004

Content Analysis for Gender Bias in Turkish Elementary School Textbooks

Asil Ali Özdoğru, Gizem Aksoy, Nurçin Erdoğan, and Fatma Gök

This study analyzed the presentation of gender roles in Turkish elementary school textbooks. Gender roles and identity are among the primary social values that educational systems help their students to develop and internalize. Content and delivery of the educational materials reflect the values and ideals in a given society. Turkey, like other patriarchal societies, has values that put emphasis on male dominance and favor male priority. In this study, the way that gender roles were presented and members of the two genders were depicted in two Turkish elementary school textbooks were investigated by utilizing content analysis method. Content analyses of Turkish and Life Studies textbooks for 3rd grades showed that there were important differences for two genders in terms of social values, roles, and relations both in school atmosphere and family environment. Results implied important directions for educational administrators and policy makers in the preparation and use of educational content.

Keywords: Gender roles, identity formation, content analysis, textbooks

Citation: Özdoğru, A. A., Aksoy, G., Erdoğan, N., & Gök, F. (2004). Content analysis for gender bias in Turkish elementary school textbooks. Proceedings of the sixteenth annual Ethnographic and Qualitative Research in Education conference. Retrieved from http://www.albany.edu/eqre/papers/39EQRE.pdf

NEERO 2004

Children’s After-School Activities and Anxiety Level: American and Taiwanese Comparison

Joan Newman, Christyn Perras, Asil Ali Özdoğru, Chin-Cheng Kao, Yiping Chang, and Anastoassios Matsopoulos

This study investigated the relation between children’s use of after-school time and their anxiety levels. How children use after-school time has important developmental outcomes. Some psychologists think that children are overwhelmed, “hurried,” (Elkind, 1981) and “hot housed” (Sigel, 1987) by their parents. To investigate this possibility, 90 American and 292 Taiwanese 4th graders completed a “what I usually do” questionnaire developed by researchers, and Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale. While American students were found to spend more time in enjoyable and self-chosen activities such as sports, peer interaction, reading, and play, Taiwanese students spent more time in adult-chosen activities such as homework, extra academics, and non-sports. Taiwanese students had also higher anxiety scores than their American counterparts. Perceived enjoyment and hours of adult-chosen activities were important contributors to anxiety level for both groups of children.

Keywords: After-school activity, anxiety, cross-cultural comparison

Citation: Newman, J., Perras, C., Özdoğru, A. A., Kao, C.-C., Chang, Y., & Matsopoulos, A. (2004, April). Children’s after-school activities and anxiety level: American and Taiwanese comparison. Poster presented at the 36th annual conference of the New England Educational Research Organization, Portsmouth, NH. 

FYI 2004

Most people think of science as a subject, such as physics or chemistry. Science is not a subject but a method.

Frank J. Sulloway (1996) Born to Rebel


Children are very active, constructive thinkers and learners. They are clearly not blank slates that passively and unselectively copy whatever the environment presents to them.

John H. Flavell (1992) Cognitive development: Past, present, and future. Developmental Psychology

Human and cosmos © 2004 ZeD Open Source TV