Nejla Gultepe
Ziya Kilic
Published: Jan. 10, 2015
This study was conducted in order to determine the differences in integrated scientific process skills (designing experiments, forming data tables, drawing graphs, graph interpretation, determining the variables and hypothesizing, changing and controlling variables) of students (n = 17) who were taught with an approach based on scientific argumentation and of students (n = 17) who were taught with a traditional teaching approach in Grade 11 chemistry. The study was conducted at a high school in Çankırı, Turkey. A multiformat Scientific Process Skills Scale was administered to both groups as a pre- and posttest; it contained 29 items in 5 modules …
Carley Fisher-Maltese
Timothy D. Zimmerman
Published: Jan. 10, 2015
Recently, schools nationwide have expressed a renewed interest in school gardens, viewing them as innovative educational tools. Most of the scant studies on these settings investigate the health/nutritional impacts, science learning potential, or emotional dispositions of students. However, few studies examine the shifts in attitudes that occur for students as a result of experiences in school gardens. The purpose of this mixed method study was to examine a school garden program at a K-3 elementary school. Our study sought to demonstrate the value of garden-based learning through a focus on measures of learning typically associated with the informal learning environment. …
Arthur Louis Odom
Clare Valerie Bell
Published: Jan. 10, 2015
The purpose of this study was to examine the association of middle school student science achievement and attitudes about science with student-reported frequency of teacher lecture demonstrations and student-centered learning. The student sample was composed of 602 seventh- and eighth-grade students enrolled in middle school science. Multiple regression was used to investigate the association of attitudes toward science, student-centered learning, and teacher demonstrations with science achievement. Both attitudes toward science and student-centered learning were positively associated with science achievement, and student-centered learning was positively associated with attitude toward science. Teacher demonstrations were found to have a negative association with student …
Daphne Goldman
Bela Yavetz
Sara Pe'er
Published: Nov. 10, 2014
In light of the crucial role of teacher education in transforming education and society so that a sustainable future is possible, there is increasing interest in the relationship between academic major and development of student teachers’ environmental literacy (EL). Since science disciplines are the common framework for incorporating environmental education, this longitudinal study investigated, in a paired pretest-posttest design, if student teachers majoring in the environment-related disciplines differ in the development of their EL from other majors. The differences in EL-variables between the two groups were enhanced during studies only in particular behavioral aspects (recycling efforts and citizenship action) and …
Buket Yakmaci-Guzel
Emine Adadan
Published: Jan. 10, 2013
The purpose of this study was to examine the changes in 19 preservice chemistry teachers’ understandings of the structure of matter, including the aspects of the physical states of matter, the physical composition of matter, and the chemical composition of matter, before, immediately after, and months after they received a specific instruction. The one-group pre, post, and delayed posttest design was used, and participants’ understandings before, immediately after, and months after the instruction were assessed using the same “three part particulate drawing” classification question constructed by Sanger (2000). Collected data were analyzed according to both the number of scientifically appropriate …
Sami Özgür
Published: April 10, 2013
In this paper, it is aimed to investigate the persistence of misconceptions in the topic of the human blood circulatory system among students in different grade levels. For this reason, after discussions with biology educators, two tests consisting of open-ended questions were developed by the researcher and administered to students in four different grade levels. The first test was administered to 319 5th and 7th grade students in elementary school and the second one was administered to 400 1st and 4th year university students studying in the departments of elementary school teaching, science education and biology education. Data were analyzed …
Elvan Sahin
Published: April 10, 2013
The present study aimed to explain elementary teacher candidates’ energy conservation behaviors by using Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) Theory. Participants in this study were 512 students at Faculty of Education from two public universities in Turkey. Of the 512 students, 35.5% were enrolled in the early childhood education program, 30.9% were in the elementary science education program, and 27.7% were in the elementary mathematics education program. The rest of the participants were pursuing a graduate program under the department of elementary education. The results of multiple linear regression analysis reflected that VBN Theory could successfully explain the participants’ energy conservation behaviors. The …
Kristin Cook
Cassie Quigley
Published: April 10, 2013
In this study, we investigated the ways in which university students connected with science through the use of photovoice (Wang & Burris, 1994) as a pedagogical tool. Results indicated that students came to appreciate their connections to the science that operates in their lives as they reflected on and became empowered with regard to the science content behind environmental issues of interest to them on campus. Photovoice allowed students to authentically inquire about local science, as well as the potential to generate change in their own community. This understanding is significant to science educators because first, it empowers learners to …
Yannis Hadzigeorgiou
Michael Skoumios
Published: June 26, 2013
This paper focuses upon the problem of raising environmental awareness in the context of school science. By focusing, as it does, on the relationship between the self and the natural environment, the paper discusses the difficulties that exist, such as the students’ involvement with the natural world, as their object of study, the empirical treatment and the modeling of the natural world, and the purpose of learning science, as well as the possibilities for promoting the development of such relationship by keeping the natural world, as an object of study, in the foreground of the teachinglearning process. Such possibilities refer …
Yoon-Fah Lay
Chwee-Hoon Khoo
David F. Treagust
A. L. Chandrasegaran
Published: Jan. 10, 2013
The purpose of this study was to investigate the levels of energy literacy among 276 Form 2 (Grade 8) Malaysian students as no similar study has been previously conducted in the country, as well as the contribution of students’ energy-related knowledge and attitudes on their energy-related behaviors. This was a non-experimental quantitative research using the sample survey method to collect data by using the ‘Energy Literacy Questionnaire’ (ELQ). Independent samples t-test, Pearson product-moment correlation, and multiple linear regressions were used to analyse the data. The study found that levels of energy literacy were relatively low suggesting that the implemented curriculum …