Journal of Baltic Science Education

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Authors: Editorial Board

JBSE, Cover, Vol. 5, No. 1, 2006

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Authors: Valfrīds Paškevičs

It is very pleasant that with each edition of our journal we see an increasing number of countries represented by contributors as well as an expanding range of topics covered in scientific articles. Currently, the journal mostly present articles about the educational standards and modern teaching-learning technologies in corresponding countries. But how about the development of modern educational content in natural sciences? It has been almost 40 years since my class graduated from the secondary school, but the science curriculum in schools and higher educational establishments hasn’t changed much, especially with regard to physics. Metaphorically speaking, the content of sciences could be compared to the content of a wardrobe containing the clothes of our grandparents and our parents, as well as our own contemporary clothing items which we traditionally try to save until we have worn down the older clothes. In most cases the final result is that there is no time left for the contemporary. The question is whether science students will have time to cover the contemporary developments while studying all the theories and laws of the past centuries.

17-26

Authors: Palmira Pečiuliauskienė, Marija Barkauskaitė

On the basis of national research data on the schoolchildren’ achievements and on the grounds of a secondary analysis of the gained information the article deals with operation of educational software in the process of teaching world study in primary school and different natural sciences in basic school. It has been established that in comparison with science lessons provided in basic school educational software is often enough followed during the classes on world study in primary school. Primary educational software is regularly used in the city site and regional centre schools while in the rural area it is very rare. On the opposite of the city site schools, basic educational software is widely employed in the rural area.

38-49

Authors: Janis Gedrovics

Analysis of regional diferences and group differeces (gender, language of instruction) based on International Project ROSE was carried out. Conclusions based on coefficient Cohen’s d and T-test for Independet samples justify remarkable diferences between the eastern part of Latvia called Latgale and the capital city Riga. It can be concluded that interest in natural sciences and its various themes in this field depend on the person, either a male or a female, firstly, and the language of instruction in school, secondly. At the same time the language’ factor matters not exactly as the language itself, but it is dependent on the traditions in up-bringing in the family which form sound attitude to natural sciences and technology in general. Students with Russian as language of instruction are much more eager to explore themes in the field of natural sciences. The obtained results in Latvia are similar to the results in other countries. The shortage of regional data in other countries is an obstacle to carry out the reginal comparison on an international scale.

61-73

Authors: Violeta Šlekienė, Loreta Ragulienė

Research on framing the schoolchildren’s concepts is supposed to be a scientifically and practically important issue of modern educology. In order the learners should conscientiously grasp the scientific concepts; the process of concept development must be properly organized and carefully controlled. To formulate the concepts of physics, the authors of the article followed the oriented tasks embracing definite didactic operation references. Research suggests that the oriented tasks in the educational process are performed as a guide determining the steady movement toward a positive result. A pedagogical experiment monitors the impact of physics-oriented tasks on understanding the concepts of electrical phenomena. A survey involved 230 ninth-formers presenting different schools of Lithuania. The experiment and its statistical assessment indicate that the oriented tasks help with perceiving the scientific concepts, highlight the schoolchildren’s typical mistakes and impose requirements for their correction and improvement.

89-90

Authors: Editorial Board

End page, Vol. 5, No. 1, 2006