Journal of Baltic Science Education

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Authors: Editorial Board

Cover page, JBSE, Vol. 11, No. 1, 2012

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Authors: Bulent Cavas

It is clear from many studies that European students’ interest in science, mathematics and technology has been declining while their grade levels have increased. Another alarming issue for Europe is recruitment of students for science and technology related careers. According to the ROSE Project results, extremely few girls wish to become scientists, and even for boys the percentage is low. And in Europe, around 50% of boys gave a positive response to the question: “I would like to get a job in technology”, but very few girls indicated that they would like to pursue such a career option (Sjoberg and Schreiner, 2010). These kinds of results from project reports highlight the urgent need for more effective action on the teaching and learning of science in schools.

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Authors: Deborah Chetcuti, Paul Pace

Teaching and assessment in Environmental Education (EE) is rather complex because it needs to address the learners’ ability to ask questions, solve problems, and develop positive values. Portfolio assessment is a holistic way to evaluate the growth and development of skills and values in EE by providing a cumulative record of work carried out by students in a variety of contexts and allowing students to reflect on the process of how their views and values change. The main aim of this paper was to discuss the process of the development and implementation of a European Portfolio for Environmental Education by TEPEE (Towards a European Portfolio for Environmental Education) Network, within seven European countries. The paper narrates the development and implementation of EPEE through the eyes of the TEPEE scientific committee coming from the seven partner countries. Their views about the advantages and disadvantages of the use of portfolios within the context of EE were collected by means of questionnaires using open-ended questions. The results of the study suggest that the main advantage of using portfolio assessment is that it provides a holistic picture of the learning and growth of students in different contexts and situations. The major asset was the enthusiasm and motivation it raised among the teachers using it. The major difficulty was trying to change the assessment culture of teachers who were used to more traditional forms of assessment.

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Authors: Tuna Gencosman, Mustafa Doğru

The main purpose of this study was to determine the effect of teaching the "Force and Motion" unit of the Science and Technology class using the Student Teams-Achievement Divisions (STAD) technique on self efficacies, test anxiety and academic achievements of seventh grade students. The STAD technique was applied to the experiment group; the existing program based on constructivism to control-1 group, and traditional teaching methods to control-2 group. The analysis of the obtained data was achieved by using the one-way variance analysis (ANOVA). In conclusion, it was determined that the experiment group was more effective than the control groups in respect to self-efficacy and academic achievement. Moreover, significant improvements were obtained in the exam anxiety of the students in the experiment and control-1 groups compared to the group where traditional teaching methods were used.

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Authors: Petar Jandric

This paper explores development of the discipline of e-learning. It develops the evolutionist model of e-learning development and compares it with the diffusionist model of e-learning development. Using transdisciplinary research methodology, it develops the diffusionist-evolutionist model of e-learning development. The diffusionist aspect of the model concentrates to practical issues such as introducing e-learning into educational institutions. The evolutionist aspect of the model concentrates to theoretical issues such as comparative studies of historical developments. On such basis, the diffusionist-evolutionist model provides a single practical framework for describing small-scale and large-scale e-learning development. Following methodological restrictions, the diffusionist-evolutionist model does not reflect any natural principle. As a research principle, it only aims at improving our current descriptions of e-learning development.

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Authors: Bulent Cavas, Pinar Cavas, Yasemin Ozdem, Miia Rannikmae, Hamide Ertepinar

The main aim of this research is to analyse ten volumes of Journal of Baltic Science Education (JBSE) according to the authors’ nationality and research topics of the articles published in the journal between 2002 and 2011. The journal published ten volumes, 27 issue and 166 articles since 2002. The articles were submitted by 343 authors from 31 countries. Statistical analyses show that the authors from Turkey are ranking highest in terms of the number of published papers. Latvia and Lithuania follow Turkey as second and third countries. The study found out that the articles regarding learning-conception, teaching, learning-context and goals, policy and curriculum most frequently investigated by the researchers. However, in 2002-2011, there is no article related to informal learning. The researchers gave less attention to cultural, social and gender issues when compared other research topics in the scope of JBSE.