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 …
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 …
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 …
Dr. Astrid Steele
Published: Jan. 10, 2011
Traditional secondary science education draws on markedly different pedagogies than those made use of in contemporary environmental education, therefore, embedding environmental education within secondary science curriculum presents both epistemological and practical difficulties for teachers. This ethnographic study examines the work of six secondary science teachers in Northern Ontario, Canada, as they engage in an action research project focused on merging environmental education in their science lessons. Over the course of five months the teachers examine and discuss their views and their professional development related to the project. In the place of definitive conclusions, six propositions relating the work of secondary …
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. …
Ayodeji P, Ifegbesan
Published: April 10, 2010
This study examined the level of awareness, knowledge and practices of secondary schools students with regard to waste management. Few studies have captured waste management problems in Nigerian educational institutions, particularly the views of students. Using a structured, self-administered questionnaire, 650 students were surveyed from six secondary schools in two of the four educational zones of Ogun State. Data collected were subjected to percentage, mean, standard deviation, t-test and chi-square statistical analyses. Findings revealed that secondary school students from the sampled zones were aware of waste problems on their school compounds, but possessed poor waste management practices. The study showed …
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 …
Mary M. Atwater
Tonjua B. Freeman
Malcolm B. Butler
Jessie Draper-Morris
Published: July 10, 2010
The purpose of this explanatory case study using critical theory as a philosophical lens was to focus on two science teacher candidates‘ understandings of Otherness and their culturally responsive teaching (or the lack thereof) of students they believe are the ‗Others‘. The researchers found that even though the participants had different goals for their students, they were not responsive to some of their students because of the students‘ culture, race, and/or ethnicity. Both of the participants believed their science teacher education program had shortcomings and did not provide all of the needed experiences for them to be successful in their …
James P. Lalley
Phillip Piotrowski
Published: April 10, 2010
The purpose of the present study was to examine and compare the effectiveness of virtual frog dissection using V-Frog© and physical frog dissection on learning, retention, and affect. Subjects were secondary students enrolled in year-long life science classes in a suburban high school (N=102). Virtual dissections were done with V-Frog©, a virtual reality software application that allows users to work with a virtual specimen that can be cut and explored in ways that are therefore unique for each individual user. The study employed a pretest, posttest, delayed posttest design using the pretest as a covariate in the analysis of the …