Message From the Editors

Dear Colleagues It is a great honour for us to welcome you as Editors of Cypriot Journal of Educational Sciences which has accepted publications indexed in qualified databases since 2006. Our main aim is to increase the quality of the journal day by day. We are ready to publish the new issue of Cypriot Journal of Educational Sciences which has 5 articles written by authors from Ethiopia, Romania and Turkey. The aim of this issue is to give the researchers an opportunity to share their academic studies. First of all, I would like to thank all authors who have contributed to this issue. There are different focuses in the articles. For example, Sutuma Edessa aimed of this study was to assess and determine impacts of insufficient instructional materials and ineffective lesson delivery methods on teaching in biology higher education. The study was concluded with emphasis on the need to integrate theory and practice through using adequate instructional materials and proper teaching methods in the higher education biology teaching. On the other hand, Ileana Monica Popovici, Lucian Popescu and Liliana-Elisabeta Radu in their study intended to explore the levels of physical fitness of the students between 11 and 13 years of age. The participants of this study were 251 volunteer students including 95 boys and 156 girls between the ages of 11and13 and joined in physical education lessons twice a week. The students were assessed for six anthropometric characteristics and five physical tests. The findings suggest some differences between female and male students and between ages; male participants obtained higher results as means compared to female participants. Another study conducted by Cigdem Akkanat and Murat Gokdere. They developed an objective measure of science ability of gifted middle school students. Also, Ahmet Uzun, Latif Aydos, Metin Kaya, Mehmet Fatih Yuksel and Hacı Ahmet Pekel examined the effect of maximal force applied to the floor area and contact area of the athletes with related to mid-distance training for athletics. Finally, Ozgul Polat, Ezgi Aksin Yavuz and Ayse Betul Ozkarabak Tunc investigated the effect of mind mapping activities on the maths and science skills of children from 48 to 60 months of age. The study was designed using an experimental model with a pre-test post-test and a control group. Accordingly, the hypotheses of the study was that there would be meaningful differences in the values obtained from the pre-test and post-test scores in favor of the children working with mind maps compared to the ones who did not work with mind maps. In the examination of the development of mind maps, it was observed that as the children engaged in preparing mind maps, they used skills requiring high-level mind organization. Mind maps, which can be used in all areas of life, are believed to be supportive of children's development areas and to be an important strategy for children to adopt and experience during the time of childhood.   I would like to express my thanks to all authors preferring Cypriot Journal of Educational Sciences to publish their articles, and also all reviewers working seriously in this process.  Best regards, Editor-in-Chief Prof. Dr. Huseyin Uzunboylu Executive Editor Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cigdem Hursen