Essays in Education, pp.23-46, 2008 (Peer-Reviewed Journal)
The aim of the study is to determine the trends in Turkish Science Education on the basis of both master and doctoral theses involved. The researchers reviewed the online databases of the Higher Education Council and Proquest as well as the web page of graduate school of each university in Turkey which presents thesis archieve and investigated 444 graduate theses abstracts/fulltexts in regard to their created matrix (Year, Research Interest, Research Methodology and Sample). The document analysis has pointed out that in terms of research interest two general trends are apparent in Turkish science education research: (1) Introducing science education between 1990 and 2000 (2) keeping up with new perspectives in the line of international trends. Also, in view of research methodology although interpretive research methodology has also been preffered since 1997, descriptive research design has still dominated in this context. Some suggestions were made for future research.