The purpose of this article is to identify the order of significance of the variables that affect science and mathematics achievement in middle school students. For this aim, the study deals with the relationship between science and math in terms of different angles using the perspectives of multiple causes-single effect and of multiple causes-multiple effects. Furthermore, the study examines and reveals how the reading skills, problem solving skills, cognitive and affective variables influence the math and science achievement. The data was collected from the results of Turkish students who participated in three international examinations; TIMSS 1999, PISA 2003 and PISA 2006. We analyzed the data using two data-mining methods (decision trees and clustering). The findings show that science or mathematics achievement is not influenced by the course-specific variable alone but also by other related variables. The following variables are the most important; the students' reading and problem-solving skills affected both mathematics and science achievement; the mathematics achievement affected the science achievement; and the science achievement affected the mathematics achievement. It is also found that the affective variables have almost equally significant effects on the science and mathematics achievement.

The purpose of this study is to reveal the preservice science teachers' difficulties about the concept of atoms. The data was collected from two different sources: The Draw an Atom Test (DAAT) and face-to-face interviews. Draw an atom test (DAAT) were administered to the 142 science teacher candidates. To elaborate the results, the researcher conducted face-to-face interviews with 15 students. The students' drawings were analyzed and grouped into eight different categories. These categories were: 1-Rutherford atomic model, 2-Bohr atomic model, 3-Probability orbit model, 4-Probability model, 5-Electronium model, 6-Electronium orbit model, 7-Orbital model, and 8-Wave orbit model. Based on the results, the Bohr atomic model was the most drawn model by the students while probability atomic model, the wave orbit model, and Electronium orbit model were the least drawn. Moreover, the study demonstrated that the preservice science teachers had difficulty in grasping atom, electron cloud, and orbital concepts as well as the atom models, the probable nature of quantum physics, and wave-particle duality.

Today, it is of great importance that teachers have pedagogical and technological knowledge in addition to content knowledge. For this reason, the present study aims to develop a TPACK self-efficacy scale for preservice science teachers by following the theoretical framework of technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK), as suggested by Koehler and Mishra (2006). The scale consists of seven subscales, which are technology knowledge (TK), pedagogy knowledge (PK), content knowledge (CK), technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK), technological content knowledge (TCK), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), and technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) with a total of 55 items. A total of 467 preservice science teachers from four different universities in Turkey participated in the study. The Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient of the scale was calculated as 0.969. Following the modification suggestions, confirmatory factor analyses showed that the model fit the scale adequately. The study found significant differences between the bottom and top groups; this shows the sufficiency of the items' discriminatory powers. As the result of these analyses, it was found out that the scale had the necessary properties required for measuring the TPACK self-efficacy perceptions of preservice science teachers.

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