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Tom Puk
Published: Oct. 10, 2010
In the Ontario publically-funded school system, there are no provincial curriculum guidelines or distinct courses for Ecological Literacy. Rather, the Ontario Ministry of Education policy is that “environmental education” should be taught in all grades and all existing subject matter. Because there are no specific Ecological Literacy courses in the provincial curriculum, few programs in Ontario Faculties of Education exist to train teachers in Ecological Literacy. Thus, in this study, we examined what incoming teachercandidates from various disciplinary backgrounds know about general concepts of Ecological Literacy, as the expectation is that all teachers should teach “environmental education” in whatever subject …
Ahmet Kılınç
Published: Oct. 10, 2010
According to environmental education scholars, most people do not use their environmental awareness to behave proenvironmentally. Scholars therefore believe that there is a gap between humans‟ cognitive and behavioural patterns. On one hand, a plethora of factors, such as religion, culture, self-efficacy, emotions, and so on, may be responsible for this gap. On the other hand, the ways we try to create environmental awareness may be problematic. The present study addresses the latter issue. Instead of conveying shallow environmental information, we foresaw that an action-oriented program would provide fruitful conclusions. To this end, the aim of this study was to …
Hunsik Kang
Sukjin Kang
Taehee Noh
Lawrence C. Scharmann
Published: Sept. 1, 2010
In this study, we investigated the relationships among cognitive conflict and situational interest induced by a discrepant event, attention and effort allocated to learning, and conceptual change in learning the concept of density. Subjects were 183 seventh graders from six middle schools in Seoul, Korea. A preconception test, a test of responses to a discrepant event, and a questionnaire of situational interest were administered as pretests. Computer-assisted instruction was then provided to the students as a conceptual change intervention. Questionnaires regarding attention and effort, and a conception test were administered as posttests. The conception test was administered once more as …
Mijung Kim
Published: Jan. 10, 2011
Despite inquiry-based teaching was introduced and encouraged as significant tool to develop students‘ scientific knowledge and habits of mind, its implementation has not been well established in science classrooms in Korea. To understand the challenges and difficulties of the practice of inquiry practical work, this study particularly aims to understand how pre-service teachers‘ understandings of inquiry and practical work have been shaped in educational and social contexts in Korea and later how their views and willingness could be developed through redesigning and practicing textbook activities. 25 third-year students in an elementary science methods course in Korea participated in the study. …
Georgia Liarakou
Ilias Athanasiadis
Costas Gavrilakis
Published: Jan. 10, 2011
The purpose of this study was to investigate what Greek secondary school students (grades 8 and 11) believe about the greenhouse effect and climate change. A total of 626 students completed a closed-form questionnaire consisting of statements regarding the causes, impacts and solutions for this global environmental issue. The possible influence of three factors – i.e. educational level, gender and previous participation in Environmental Education extracurricular programs – on students‟ ideas was examined. The results suggest that eleventh graders were much better informed than eighth graders although some of the misconceptions reported in the literature (such as the cause-effect relationship …
Haluk Özmen
Published: Jan. 10, 2011
This study was conducted to determine 4th, 5th, and 6th grade primary students‟ conceptions about the particulate nature of matter in daily-life events. Five questions were asked of students and interviews were used to collect data. The interviews were conducted with 12 students, four students from each grade, after they finished the formal courses related to the particulate nature of matter. The results show that the understanding level of students in all grades about the microscopic properties of matter was quite low. They have little knowledge of or alternative conceptions about the microscopic properties of the particles such as the …
Gaye Teksoz
Elvan Sahin
Hamide Ertepinar
Published: April 10, 2010
The present study aimed to determine level of pre-service chemistry teachers‟ environmental literacy and their perceptions on environmental education. This study was realized during the fall semester of 2006-2007 academic year with the participation of 60 students enrolled in five-year chemistry teacher education program. The data collected by administration of Environmental Literacy Test and Environmental Education Perception Survey were analyzed by descriptive statistics and content analysis. The pre-service chemistry teachers strongly emphasized promotion of feelings of concern for the environment, development of awareness and sensitivity to the total environment, and gaining social values to protect the natural resources through teaching …
Tesfeya Semela
Published: July 10, 2010
This paper investigates the enrolment trends and the critical factors that impinge on students‟ choice of physics as major field of study. The data were generated from primary and secondary sources. Primary data was acquired based on a semi-structured interview with 14 sophomore and 11 senior students and five instructors of the department of physics at Hawassa University, Ethiopia. In addition, data on allocation of students to various major fields as well as quantitative data on academic achievement were obtained from the university‟s registar office. The results indicate that the rate of enrolment in physics is the lowest and applicants …
Chantal Pouliot
Barbara Bader
Geneviève Therriault
Published: July 10, 2010
This article pursues a dual objective. First, it seeks to present the notion of the relationship to knowledge as a valuable theoretical tool for science education research. Secondly, it aims to illustrate how this notion has been operationalized in recent research conducted in Quebec (Canada) that focuses on teachers‟ and students‟ relationship to knowledge. The first portion of this article presents the notion of the relationship to knowledge, documenting its origins, usefulness and contributions to research in the field of science education. In the second portion, we present four (4) studies recently conducted in Quebec that relied on the notion …
Watcharee Ketpichainarong
Pintip Ruenwongsa
Bhinyo Panijpan
Published: April 10, 2010
This study explored the effectiveness of an inquiry-based cellulase laboratory unit in promoting inquiry in undergraduate students in biotechnology. The following tools were used to assess the students’ achievements and attitude: conceptual understanding test, concept mapping, students’ documents, CLES questionnaire, students’ self reflection, and interviews. Judging from their conceptual understanding test results and concept mapping, students gained significantly more content knowledge on enzyme-substrate interaction and its application. In addition, students’ reports on their projects revealed that they have developed their critical thinking, scientific process skills and abilities to apply knowledge on enzyme cellulase to industrial application. The students reacted positively …