Journal of Baltic Science Education

3

Authors: Editorial Board

Contents

7-19

Authors: Nadi Suprapto, Te-Sheng Chang, Chih-Hsiung Ku

This research aimed to explore the correlation between Indonesian University students’ conception of learning physics and their physics’ self-efficacy. A total of 279 students who were majoring in physics education participated in this research and were invited to complete two instruments: the conception of learning physics (CLP) and the physics learning’ self-efficacy (PLSE). Both of the questionnaires, which were modified from [Lin, Liang, & Tsai (2015a) and Lin, Liang, & Tsai (2015b)]’ instruments, had been translated into Indonesian language and validated through an exploratory factor analysis of participants’ responses. The differences between student levels were explored for their significance using an ANOVA test in order to portray a clear line among different conceptions of learning physics and physics learning self-efficacy. The results indicated that, first, the instruments used in the research had satisfactory validity and reliability. Second, students in sophomore level were significantly lower on the conceptions of testing than those in other levels. Meanwhile, the conceptions of calculating-practicing and understanding were not significantly different. Third, university students in senior level performed more confident in four dimensions: science content, higher-order thinking, everyday application, and science communication than others. The research also depicted a moderate correlation among dimensions of CLP and PLSE.

32-42

Authors: Berat Ahi

Plants is a neglected topic in biology education. Educational activities about plants are important in early terms because they are the base of both the science and the biology education. The purpose of this research is to understand opinions of the children by utilizing drawings and the colors they used. It is run by the phenomenological model point of view in qualitative research method. In the scope of the research, researchers worked with 80 children (40 girls, 40 boys). Data of the research consist of children's drawings. In this context, A4 sized papers and crayons have been distributed to children and they have been asked to make drawings of plants. At the end of the research, it was found that there was a total of 21 different elements and that these elements were drawn 237 times in the children’s drawings. Moreover, no statistically significant dependence was particularly found between the elements of the sun, tree, flower, grass and rain, and age and gender. Similarly, while no significant correlation was found between the number of colors used in the drawings and age, a statistically significant correlation between the number of preferred colors and gender was found in favor of the girls. Furthermore, it was found that the children preferred light colors in their drawings. In light of the findings of the current research, it can be argued that science education given during the preschool period should be conducted by using methods, which are enjoyable and allow children to reflect the knowledge in their minds, for example, through drawings.

56-63

Authors: Peter Gustafsson, Hans G. Eriksson

With more diversified student groups entering the university, the development and planning of courses become more pedagogically challenging. In earlier studies, a validated tool, content representation (CoRe), has been used in teacher education to help pre-service teachers identify and promote pedagogical content knowledge in limited teaching sequences. In the present research the aim is to explore whether CoRe, when applied to an introductory university course in physics, can (i) promote the pedagogical content knowledge of the course as a whole and (ii) serve as an operative tool to identify problematic areas or areas that need further development in the course. The CoRe tool is based on given questions to be answered in relation to the “big ideas” of the course. In the present research, the questions have been answered by a lecturer and by using a content analysis of the answers several categories of development could be identified. For a specific category, the tool also provided information about what kind of development was necessary. The conclusion is that CoRe has a potential to be of service at higher education level, it can be applied to parts of a course as well as to a course as a whole, and it may provide a useful tool to help a lecturer in the development and planning of a course.

77-85

Authors: Wei-Zhao Shi, Jingying Wang

University lecturers stress the importance of science and non-science students developing informed views of nature of science. However, few previous researches have conducted to explore students’ NOS views within specific majors. Consequently, this research used the questionnaire of VNOS-D (View of Nature of Science, the version D) to assess the views of nature of science between math and physics students. From the survey of 311 students, it was found that both math and physics students scored relatively lower on the subjective and social & cultural dimension than others. However, on the tentativeness dimension, the third year and the fourth year physics students showed significantly more sophisticated views than math counterparts. In addition, the differences across grade levels were found on the observation & inference dimension in both math and physics major groups. Some possible explanations were provided. The findings indicated that majors and grade levels influenced the views on some special dimensions of NOS.

100-112

Authors: Nyet Moi Siew, Mui Ken Chin, Agnis Sombuling

This research aimed to determine the effects of Problem based learning (PBL) with cooperative learning (CL) and ‘Numbered Heads Together’ (NHT) on preschoolers’ five trait dimensions of scientific creativity: Fluency, Originality, Elaboration, Abstractness of title, and Resistance to premature closure. A quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test control group design was employed in the research. The sample consisted of 216 six-year-old preschoolers from three randomly selected preschools and assigned to PBL-CL‘NHT’ (n=72), PBL (n=72), and hands-on (TG) (n=72) instructional methods. The Figural Scientific Creativity Test was used as the pre-test (Form A) and post-test (Form B). Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) was conducted on the post-test scores with pre-test scores as the covariates to determine whether a significant difference existed across the three methods. The results indicated that preschoolers taught in the PBL-CL‘NHT’ method significantly outperformed their peers in the PBL method who, in turn, significantly outperformed their peers in the TG method in Fluency, Originality, Elaboration, Abstractness of title, and Resistance to premature closure. Large effect sizes were obtained for comparing PBL-CL ‘NHT’ with PBL and TG method. The findings suggest that the PBL-CL ‘NHT’ method has a significant positive impact on fostering preschoolers’ five trait dimensions of scientific creativity.

123-139

Authors: Katarina B. Putica, Dragica D. Trivić

Adolescents are considered as a nutritionally vulnerable subgroup because of their alimentary behaviours. Considering that alimentary habits are strongly influenced by knowledge about digestion, an experiment was conducted with aim to determine whether conceptual understanding and functionalization of this knowledge can be improved by the interdisciplinary teaching approach. The experiment encompassed 258 students attending the fourth year of high school. No statistically significant difference in the level of the previously acquired chemistry, biology and physics knowledge concerning digestion between the two groups was determined on the pre-test. Conversely, the students in the experimental group significantly outperformed those in the control group on the post-test that required a deep understanding and the application of knowledge about digestion in solving real-life problems. Therefore, it was concluded that high- school teachers can be advised to apply the interdisciplinary teaching approach in order to improve their students' knowledge about this process.