Professor
Dean of Faculty of Education
Chair of Educational Sciences Department
apayas@bilkent.edu.tr
+90 312 2902924
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Biography:
My undergraduate degree is from Karadeniz Technical University Faculty of Education 1984-85; Graduate degrees are: Master in Education (Curriculum and Instruction-science education) from University of New Brunswick, Canada; MSc in Chemistry from Karadeniz Technical University, Turkey; and PhD in Education (Curriculum and Instruction-science education) from Southampton University, U.K.

I have taken administrative roles at KTÜ and Bilkent University, which includes 6-year deanship at Faculty of Education (KTÜ) and directorship of GSE (Bilkent) since 2017.

I have involved several research projects including National Education Development Project, Basic Education Support Project (Effectiveness of Public Education Centers) and MEBGEB Project. I have recently completed UNICEF supported project on formative assessment with a collaboration with MoNE.

I have over 45 international and about 55 national journal articles and more than 100 conference paper.

I am interested in teacher education, teaching-learning of science concepts, concept development, curriculum development, assessment, evaluation and inclusive education. Qualitative and quantitative research or a combination of the both are methods that I use in my research activities.

Education:
Ph.D  Curriculum and Instruction-Science Education, University of Southampton

MA Curriculum and Instruction-Science Education, University of New Brunswick

MSc. Chemistry, Karadeniz Technical University

BSc. Science Education, Karadeniz Technical University

Research Interests:
Teacher education; Science education (teaching-learning); Concept development; Assessment; Inclusive education

Selected Publications and Presentations:
Baydere Karslı, F, Ayas, A. & Çalık, M (2020). Effects of a 5Es learning model on the conceptual understanding and science process skills of pre-service science teachers: The case of gases and gas laws J. Serb. Chem. Soc. 85 (4) 559–573 (2020).

Bak Kibar, Z., Yaman,F. & Ayas, A. (2013) Assessing prospective chemistry teachers’ understanding of gases through qualitative and quantitative analyses of their concept maps. Chem.Educ.Res.Pract. v.14, n. 4, pp. 542-554. DOI: 10.1039/c3rp00052d.

Ayas, A., Çepni, S. & Akdeniz, A. (1993) Development of the Turkish secondary science curriculum.  Science Education, Vol. 77, No. 4 pp. 433-440

Ayas, A. & Demirbaş, A. (1997) Turkish Secondary Students’ Conceptions of Introductory Chemistry Concepts. Journal of Chemical Education, V.74 (5): 518-521.

Yaman, F., Ayas, A. (2015). Assessing changes in high school students’ conceptual understanding through concept mapsbefore and after the computer-based predict–observe–explain (CB-POE) tasks on acid–base chemistry at the secondary level. Chem. Educ. Res. Pract., 16, 843-855.

Çalık, M. & Ayas, A. (2005) A Comparison of Level of Understanding of Grade 8 Students and Science Student Teachers Related to Selected Chemistry Concepts. Journal of Research in Science Teaching,42(6), 638-667.

Ayas, A., Çepni, S. & Akdeniz, A. (1993) Development of the Turkish secondary science curriculum.  Science Education, Vol. 77, No. 4 pp. 433-440

Other Notes of Interest:
1996-1999 Developing, implementing and evaluating curricular materials for teacher training. Consultant to YÖK/World Bank Project.

1998-2001 Acreditation of Education Faculties Project run by YÖK.

2005-2006 Support to Basic Education Project, SBEP performance of Public Education Centers) and preparing a strategy report for the future activities of MoNE. Supported by EU.

2007-2008 Monitoring and evaluation of effectiveness of in-service training in Turkey. Supported by World Bank via MoNE.

2009-2010 Short Term Expert in MEBGEP (Capacity Building in MoNE) project.

2011-2013   Short Term Expert in Promoting Lifelong Learning Project –as a LLL Senior Expert. Supported by EU via MoNE.

2017-2018 Expert – Inclusive Education Teacher Training Module (Supported by UNICEF). 2017-2019 Projet Coordinator- Strengthening Teacher Capacity in Relation to School and Classroom Based Assessment (SCBA) (Suported by UNICEF).