Fulya Oztas
Erkan Kalıpçı
Опубликована Апрель 10, 2009
It is generally accepted that the environmental education deals with a wide range of environmental experiences, methods and processes. Teaching the subject of the environment should not be considered as an easy task. It should not only cover pure ecology education; but also include the citizenship responsibilities and the problems that are sourced from other interdisciplinary factors. Therefore teachers should have the responsibility to facilitate environmental issues. Hitherto no researcher has undertaken a comprehensive study that focuses on environmental education in teacher training programs. This study aims to detect basic environmental knowledge of Turkish teacher candidate at the onset of …
Meshach B. Ogunniyi
Опубликована Окт. 7, 2008
With the increased global awareness of the negative impact of scientific, technological and industrial activities on the environment and copious examples of sustainable practices existing in many an indigenous community, the new South African science curriculum statement has called on science teachers to integrate school science with the Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS). In response to this call, this study used an Argumentation-Based course (A-B course) to enhance teachers’ understanding of the Nature of Science (NOS) and IKS and their ability to integrate science and IKS in their classrooms. Nine teachers participated in the course over a six-month period. Using questionnaires …
Laura Barraza
Ian Robottom
Опубликована Окт. 6, 2008
In this decade of Education for Sustainable Development, it is timely to consider the methodological issues associated with researching this topic not only with adults but also with the young children who, as members of the next generation, will experience the success or otherwise of current environmental sustainability efforts. We argue that it is important when making methodological choices to recognize that both the sustainability issues themselves and the way individuals learn about these issues, are socially and culturally constructed. In this article we are interested in ways of gaining representations of individuals’ mental constructions of environmental sustainability issues. We …
Mehmet Sahin
Опубликована Апрель 10, 2009
The purpose of this study was to determine the predictors of student grades in introductory physics courses utilizing problem-based learning (PBL) approach and traditional lecturing. The study employed correlational/predictive methods to investigate and describe/explain relationships of students’ physics grades with their expectations, attitudes, epistemological beliefs about physics and physics learning, and demographic variables. The subjects involved in this study were 264 freshmen engineering students (PBL, n = 100; traditional, n = 164) at Dokuz Eylül University (DEU) in Izmir, Turkey. All students were surveyed at the beginning and at the end of the spring 2007 semester using the Maryland Physics …
Ninna Jansoon
Richard K. Coll
Ekasith Somsook
Опубликована Апрель 10, 2009
The purpose of this study was to investigate Thai students’ understanding of dilution and related concepts. The literature suggests that a complete understanding of chemistry concepts such as dilution entails understanding of and the ability to integrate mental models across three levels of representation: the macroscopic, sub-microscopic and symbolic. In this work students’ understanding was probed using the interview about events (IAE) approach employing open-ended questions, and also by analysis of student descriptions, and drawings. The research findings suggest that all students were able to answer openended questions related to dilution and related concepts. Less able students presented representations at …
Ahmet Kılınç
Martin Stanisstreet
Edward Boyes
Опубликована Апрель 10, 2008
A questionnaire was used to explore the prevalence of ideas about global warming in Year 10 (age 15-16 years) school students in Turkey. The frequencies of individual scientific ideas and misconceptions about the causes, consequences and ‘cures’ of global warming were identified. In addition, several general findings emerged from this study. Firstly, many students believed that radioactivity is causally linked to global warming; they believed that radioactive leakage from nuclear power stations exacerbates global warming, and that reducing the global nuclear arsenal could reduce it. Secondly, students appeared to confuse the causes and consequences of global warming with those of …
Paul J. Bischoff
Devin Castendyk
Hugh Gallagher
John Schaumloffel
Sunil Labroo
Опубликована Июнь 10, 2008
Now in its fifth year, PR2EPS is a National Science Foundation funded initiative designed to recruit high school students to attend college majoring in the physical sciences, including engineering and secondary science education, and to help ensure their retention within these programs until graduation. A central feature of the recruitment effort is a free, one-week residential summer science camp for high school students. This report describes the rationale for using a camp as a recruitment tool as well as the camp structure. Two focus questions are addressed: 1) How successful is the camp at providing a learning environment where participants …
Josiah O. Ajiboye
Nthalivi Silo
Опубликована Июнь 10, 2008
An intervention study was set up through the School Civic Clubs to improve Botswana Children’s environmental knowledge, attitudes and practices. The underlying assumption in using this informal approach was based on the premise that the school time table is already overcrowded and that the infusion approach currently adopted in the country has not produced the desired results. Hence, the Civic Clubs were introduced into ten Primary schools in Botswana. Using this informal approach, the children were given requisite training in civic and environmental issues, and they engaged in various activities for a period of six weeks. Data was collected before …
Josiah. O. Ajiboye
S. O. Ajitoni
Опубликована Апрель 10, 2008
Environmental education is considered an appropriate intervention for creating awareness of, and an understanding of the challenges of environmental degradation. The introduction of EE into the Nigerian school curricular creates a challenge of how to teach it. A majority of the teachers still employ the old, traditional “chalk and talk” method. This study experimented with two modes of participatory strategies, the full and quasi participatory modes in teaching secondary school students in Nigeria some EE concepts. Three hundred and sixty students were randomly selected and assigned to the three treatment groups. Five hypotheses were tested at P<.05 and data …
Mustafa Dogru
Опубликована Янв. 10, 2008
Helping student to improve the problems solving skills is the primary target of the science teacher trainees. In modern science, for training the students, methods should be used for improving their thinking skills, make connections with events and concepts and scientific operations skills rather than information and definition giving. One of these methods are problem solving.With this study, it is shown that problem solving is not just solving a movement problem like in the physics as it is understood by most of the science teachers but it can be used also in social problems like environmental problems. Further more, scientific …