Textbooks are one of the primary teaching tools frequently used in schools and most teachers use them in their classrooms (Sanchez and Valcarcel, 1999). Since there are a lot of abstract concepts in science education, images in science textbooks play a vital role in the learning process (Kenanet al., 2011). Concretization of abstract concepts may ease students' understanding. For this reason, the aim of this study was to examine images about the particulate nature of matter (PNM) in Turkish middle school science textbooks. In other words, visuals were examined with respect to representational levels, relatedness to text, existence and properties of the captions. The rubric developed by Gkitziaet al.(2011) was used to evaluate the images from middle school science textbooks in selected units. A total of 825 images in Turkish middle school science textbooks were identified in related units. In addition, it was found that the most common representation type of images about the PNM in Turkish middle school science textbooks were macroscopic representations (36%). The relatedness of images to the text was also studied. It was concluded that just 4 out of 10 images were completely related and linked to the text. Lastly, it was found that more than half of the images about the PNM in Turkish middle school science textbooks had no caption.

The purpose of this study was to investigate effects of the teaching science laboratory course on pre-service teachers' selfefficacy beliefs about science teaching. Seventy-two pre-service teachers enrolled in two sections of the course from two different departments, elementary and gifted education at a large urban university in Turkey participated in the study. The Turkish version of Science Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument (Hazir-Bikmaz, 2004) was administered twice to the participants at the beginning of the course and at the end of the course. Results indicated that overall pre-service teachers' selfefficacy beliefs significantly increased during the course. Although pre-service teachers' personal teaching efficacy beliefs significantly increased, their outcome expectancy beliefs did not change.

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The purpose of the study was to investigate middle school students’ conceptual understandings of earthquakes. Data were collected by using Understanding Earthquakes Test [1] and semi-structured interviews. Participants were a total of 1024 middle school students from the fifth to the eighth grade studying at ten different schools in Istanbul. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with thirty six students selected based on their test scores for three levels of understanding as high, middle, and low level. Findings of the current study indicated that students have lack conceptual understanding of earthquakes with many alternative conceptions. Students mostly from all grade levels seemed to have more scientific understanding in terms of protecting ways from earthquakes damage rather than explaining what earthquakes are and how earthquakes happen.