Опубликована Апрель 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 …

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Опубликована Апрель 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 …

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Опубликована Июль 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 …

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Опубликована Июль 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 …

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Опубликована Июль 10, 2009

The focus of this paper is on selected recent South African research studies that have explored efforts to promote the discussion, writing, and arguing aspects of scientific literacy in primary and middle schools, particularly amongst second-language learners. These studies reveal improvements in the participants’ abilities to both use the ‘science notebooks’ approach and argue their findings, as well as statistically significant improvement in their problem solving skills. The positive findings of these studies, and the call for attention to be paid to the fundamental sense of scientific literacy by a number of international researchers, resulted in the development of an …

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Опубликована Июль 10, 2009

In the United States and around the world, calls for educational reform stress the need for a scientifically literate population, prepared for the twenty-first century workforce. These calls have translated into new curricula, which in isolation, are not enough? Teachers play an essential role in the development of scientifically literate citizens. Their purposes for teaching science act as filters for acceptable learning and teaching activities. This paper examines the congruence of eight private school teachers’ purposes for teaching science, and aspects of scientific literacy in the Middle Eastern country of Lebanon. Findings are discussed in light of contextual factors that …

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Опубликована Окт. 10, 2009

This paper describes the design of an educational module which aims to raise awareness and change the attitudes of elementary school students about focal endangered species in protected areas. The proposed design builds on, and extends the General Teaching Model. The educational module which was developed through this approach was pilot-tested in two Greek elementary school classes, involving 29 students who provided their opinion through a questionnaire. The results verify that the educational module had a significant effect on the cognitive level and the attitudes of the students. Therefore, it is argued that the proposed design approach can form the …

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Опубликована Сен. 10, 2010

This study examined the effect of diaries on self-regulation strategies of the pre-service science teachers. The participants of the study were 60 pre-service science teachers, 30 of which were in the experimental and the remaining 30 were in the control group. The Pintrich’s self-regulation model was taken as a basis in the study. The Pintrich’s model of self-regulation includes 3 general categories of strategies: (a) cognitive learning strategies, (b) metacognitive or self-regulatory strategies to control cognition, and (c) resource management strategies. In the study, the pre-service science teachers in the experimental group reported the self-regulation strategies they used for daily …

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Опубликована Янв. 10, 2009

Research on playfulness, science, and creativity suggests that there is a connection between having positive background experiences with science and the development of interest in science. However, there is little empirical research on where, how, and when teachers’ interests in science develop. The purpose of this research was to explore connections between preservice elementary teachers’ background science experiences and interest in science. Subjects were 53 preservice teachers in two sections of a science methods course. The data were collected by administering a self-report Science Background Experiences Survey. Students with low and high initial interest in science were significantly different on …

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Опубликована Окт. 10, 2009

Determination of conceptual problems which may cause alternative conceptions in science and technology textbooks is significant to increase in success of pupils and teachers. It is a vital issue to arrange books in a way removing or decreasing these faults in order to improve a better education via textbooks. This study aims to determine conceptual problems which may cause alternative conceptions in biology topics in science and technology textbooks of primary schools. In this study, the units of each textbook were analyzed page by page according to document examination method and conceptual problems were determined. The founded conceptual problems have …

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