Journal of Baltic Science Education

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Authors: Editorial Board

Cover page, Vol. 14, No. 1, 2015, JBSE

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Authors: André du Plessis

The South African Department of Basic Education (DoBE) has been promoting constructivist learning principles, the development of higher order thinking, the implementation of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) (Department of Education, 2004; Du Plessis, 2014) and the development of critical outcomes such as problem solving, critical thinking, collaboration, self-management, finding and analysing information, developing effective communicating skills, assisting learners to use science and technology effectively as well as promoting effective learning strategies (Department of Education, 2004). The use of ICTs to promote teaching and learning has also been high on the agenda of the DoBE (2004; 2007). However, it appears that the use of ICT within South African schools is ‘bolted-on’ on to the curriculum as an added extra, resulting that integration with school subjects is minimal (Du Plessis, 2010). The above is probably prevalent outside the South African context too in many other schools all over the globe.

20-33

Authors: Ebru Öztürk

The study attempts to determine whether or not Facebook is an environment suiting the Community of Inquiry Framework by investigating the cognitive, social, and teaching presence perceptions of students in Facebook groups and to examine the impact of group size on the CoI model. Additionally, whether or not these three types of presences predicted academic success and motivation were investigated. The data were analyzed through logistic regression analysis, independent samples t-test and the Pearson correlation coefficient. The study was conducted in a blended course, where Facebook was utilized for online discussions. The study revealed that the relation between cognitive, social, and teaching presences was significant and at a high-level. The high correlation determined among the social, cognitive, and teaching presence perceptions of students in learning communities created on Facebook leads to the consideration that Facebook is a suitable online environment for the COI framework. It is understandable, that all presence perceptions are higher in smaller groups when group impacts are investigated. Other conclusions derived from the study are that academic success was only predicted by cognitive presence and motivation was predicted by both cognitive and teaching presences.

45-63

Authors: Jongwon Park, Youngmin Kim, Young-Shin Park, Jongseok Park, Jin-Su Jeong

This study aimed to improve science teaching in a practical way by activating teachers’ potential teaching expertise or professional knowledge. We developed an alternative in-service approach, the Practical On-site Cooperation Model (POCoM), according to the following principles: (1) the “bottom-up” approach, where observed problems in science classes are improved practically and immediately without any pre-determined teaching plan or materials; (2) “cooperation” between researchers and teachers to improve teaching; (3) “naturalistic settings” where various real problems occur in actual teaching and learning situations; and (4) “gradual improvement” rather than revolutionary change. The POCoM was applied with three science teachers, and 24 classes were observed. We found about 65%–96% teaching improvement. The analysis of the cooperation processes and science teaching in classrooms identified seven types of successful improvements and five types of unsatisfactory cases, including their reasons and features.

85-95

Authors: Edy Hafizan Mohd Shahali, Lilia Halim, Sattar Rasul, Kamisah Osman, Zanaton Ikhsan, Faszly Rahim

The Bitara-STEMTM Training of Trainer Programme is a short-term professional development programme aimed to increase STEM teachers or facilitators’ abilities to teach integrated STEM education and to increase their efficacy, beliefs and attitudes of integrated STEM teaching. The programme involves 35 facilitators, representing a broad spectrum of STEM fields. Pre- and post-test results of the participants’ beliefs, attitudes, perceived efficacy and content knowledge in the context of integrated STEM teaching revealed significant changes. The findings also revealed (i) knowledge of integrated STEM teaching to be related to facilitators’ efficacy for teaching integrated STEM and (ii) facilitators’ attitudes to be related to beliefs of integrated STEM teaching. The outcomes of this study provide evidence that a relatively short-term professional development can have a significant impact on facilitators’ beliefs, attitudes, efficacy and knowledge of integrated STEM teaching and STEM concepts.

109-120

Authors: Marjanca Kos, Janez Jerman

This research examined the ways in which children observe flowering plants, namely: which features they perceive as significant, whether the skill of observing flowering plants develops with age, and what is the difference between genders. The research involved 174 children: 89 children aged 5 and 85 children aged 10 who were given the task of choosing the plant they recognised as the same as each of the 10 given test plants among a total of 37 plants which looked more or less similar to the test plants. The analysis of the plant combinations the children most frequently mismatched showed, that colour is the feature to which they attribute the most importance. Shape turned out to be considered more important to the children than size. Older children revealed better plant observation skills than younger ones with the girls achieving better results than the boys in both age groups. The findings show that children's observation skills develop with age, and corroborate the need to support the development of observation in the educational process.

132-141

Authors: Costin Pribeanu, Alexandru Balog, Vincentas Lamanauskas, Violeta Šlekienė

The rapid expansion of social networking websites (SNW) is raising several issues regarding the influence it has on the modern school. As many authors mentioned, the proliferation of social networks among university people is changing the educational processes. In order to find out how Facebook could support education, a social learning perspective is needed. In turn, this requires to measure the social capital and to analyze its educational potential. The aim of this research is to elaborate a theoretically grounded and empirically validated multi-dimensional model, measuring the social capital that is embedded in the Facebook networks of Lithuanian university students. This is a pilot research carried out between September and December, 2014. In this respect, the research limitation reveals itself; therefore, a wider theoretical and empirical research is necessary, analyzing the usage of Facebook in the university student population. The research is significant, because it is prepared and validated a multidimensional model of the bridging social capital as perceived by university students that are using Facebook.

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Authors: Editorial Board

End page, Vol. 14, No. 1, 2015, JBSE