The evaluation of the attitudes of primary teachers in using reinforcement during teaching-learning period

Ill ABSTRACT THE EVALUATION OF THE ATTITUDES OF PRIMARY TEACHERS IN USING REINFORCEMENT DURING TEACHING-LEARNING PERIOD Atınç ULAY MA. Thesis, The Department of Education Sciences Advisor: Prof. Dr. Adil TÜRKO?LU April-2004, 111 pages This study is designed to determine the attitudes of teachers, teaching in primary schools, in using reinforcement during teaching and learning period according to the different variables. In that basic aim, we searched for the answer of the questions below. Do the attitudes of teachers using "Positive Reinforcement", "Punishment" and "To Be Indifferent" change depending on the variables like sex, experience, the level of the students, the type of the school and the socio-economic factor of the school? The population of the study are teachers in primary schools of Seyhan and Yüreğir which are in Adana in 2002-2003. The 311 primary teachers who were chosen randomly among 24 primary schools are the samples of the research. "The attitude scale about using reinforcement" written by Özcan (1998) was used in order to explore the attitudes of teachers in using reinforcement during teaching a learning period. The factor analysis and other analysis related with the validity of the attitude scale was done by Özcan. In this research, the validity and reliability of the scale (Cronbach-alfa) was repeated by the researcher. As a result of the factor analyses the scale was divided into three parts as "Punishment", "Positive Reinforcement" and "To Be Indifferent".rv In the evaluation of the outcomes gained from individual information form and attitude scale, t-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), % and frequency techniques were used. The findings obtained from the research can be summarized as: 1. There is not a significant difference between the attitudes of teachers using reinforcement sex and the level of the students. 2. There is a significant difference between the attitudes of teachers using reinforcement experience and socio-economic level of the school. 3. There is a significant difference between the attitudes of the teachers using reinforcement only "To Be Indifferent" part of the type of the schools. Key Words: The teachers in primary school, reinforcement and attitude.