Correspondency of biology questions in university entrance exams with biology teacher education programs and possible reasons of failure

ABSTRACT Ph.D. Thesis CORRESPONDENCY OF BÎOLOGY QUESTIONS IN UNIVERSITY ENTRANCE EXAMS WITH BIOLOGY TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMS AND POSSIBLE REASONS OF FAILURE Ali SÜLÜN Atatürk University Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences Department of Secondary Science&Math Education Supervisor: Asst. Prof. Dr. Hasan GÜRBÜZ National examination of University entrance exam has been studied on biology questions and their correspondance with biology teacher education programs. Thus secondary biology curriculum is reviewed and biology questions in different entrance exams are classified on bases of subjects, years and cognitive taxonomy. Reviews are investigated for suitability to secondary education biology curriculum. Implementation of biology curriculum in schools is tested and its correlation exam questions is established by deplaying a survey on 512 teachers and 278 pre-service biology teacher education students from different regions of Turkey. Furtermore, in some developed countries are investigated for their biology curricula, general biology education application, and requirements of admittance to these programs in higher education. It is found, as a result, that exam's biology questions fit biology curriculum to a greater extent. Nevertheless some insufficiencies of instructional growth of preservice teacher canditates which can later be traced to that of in-service teachers are identified, and examples of textbooks are found inappropriate for the university entrance exams. A difference is disclosed in expectations of teachers and student on university entrance exam utilizition of biology education. Unlike our country, in some developed countries, candidates are needed to enroll speciel skill tests for admittance addition to a general entrance examination. Some recommendations are declared about the issues and solutions generated in the process of preparing candidates for higher education. 2002, 135 pages Keywords: Turkey, Biology education, biology curriculum, university entrance examination, biology question IV