Journal of Baltic Science Education

533-534

Authors: Editorial Board

Cover page, JBSE, Vol. 21, No. 4, 2022

536-544

Authors: André du Plessis

COVID-19 had a severe impact on teaching and learning in schools and tertiary education institutions. Human Rights Watch (Impact of Covid-19 on Children’s Education in Africa, 2022) posits that due to the closure of many schools in African countries, a significant majority of learners were excluded from continuing their education as learning and teaching halted. The pandemic has also had its effect on the higher education sector within the South African context, however, data about non-attendance and drop-out seems not to be freely available as revealed by searching online. Nonetheless, it is reasonable to assume that there were drop-outs and non-attendance by students, however, not to the same extent as within schools as universities embarked on contingency plans to minimize dropouts. Nelson Mandela University in Gqeberha South Africa where the author of this editorial resides, implemented contingency plans within weeks of the COVID pandemic outbreak to offer students ICT devices on loan, e.g. by debiting it against their student accounts while Wi-Fi data access was secured through collaboration with internet providers. It appears that the university sector was able to be more proactive than schools, which can probably be attributed to the fact that the majority of universities have their own ICT infrastructures. In addition, many modules incorporated the use of ICT in various ways, including the use of learning management systems such as Moodle or similar. This resulted in many universities being better prepared to embrace the opportunity to extend online teaching, learning, and assessment in various forms during the COVID-19 pandemic.

558-574

Authors: Eva Hejnová

Cross-age studies have suggested that although children’s notions of scientific phenomena change moderately with increasing age, certain misconceptions persist from preschool to a higher educational level. The purpose of this study was to diagnose the prevalence of selected misconceptions about the particulate nature of matter among pre-service primary school teachers and to compare the findings with the results of lower-secondary learners. The participants in the study were 197 pre-service primary school teachers and 170 ninth graders. The multiple-choice diagnostic test was developed to collect data. In the analysis of the test results, the paired difference test and Pearson’s chi-square independence test for the contingency table were used. Frequency analysis was performed for individual questions in the test and percentages were calculated. The results obtained with primary school teacher trainees demonstrate the existence of a number of misconceptions similar to those observed with ninth graders; some misconceptions were observed to even be present significantly more frequently among pre-service primary school teachers. This study confirmed that age maturity and mere knowledge of scientific concepts such as atoms, molecules, etc. do not have to be sufficient to allow students to better understand the particulate nature of matter.

594-614

Authors: Seong-un Kim

This study studied the types of peer scaffolding presented in scientific experimental activities. The study included 14 university students. For the experimental activity of ‘determining temperature changes using the meridian altitude of the sun,' information regarding experimental behaviors, thinking aloud, discourse, and retrospective interview data were collected and analyzed. A model was derived and utilized for experimental activities to analyze peer scaffolding, wherein students internally structured their experiences with the experimental activities. The results indicated that students utilized seven means of peer scaffolding: ‘demonstrating’, ‘assisting’, ‘monitoring’, ‘posing’, ‘questioning’, ‘explaining’, and ‘suggesting’. Three types of peer scaffolding emerged: task completion-, model elaboration-, and learning support-oriented scaffolding. Each type differed in purpose, main mean, and major explanation details. Additionally, this study has observed the level of the model for the experimental activities and the time that had been provided to understand the experimental procedure influenced the three peer scaffolding types. These outcomes indicate that providing ample time to students independently structure the experimental procedure and supporting other students during experimental activities are essential. Moreover, providing assistance to students in focusing on observable phenomena by reducing the cognitive load required to process the experimental procedure is crucial.

638-650

Authors: Zorana Lužanin, Marija Kaplar, Tatjana Hrubik-Vulanović

The use of infographics for presenting data in the media and on the Internet has become a widespread phenomenon. This study examines how well undergraduates interpret the mean when presented in infographic, their attitudes towards the misuse of statistics, and their perceptions of their knowledge and use of statistics. The infographic was intended for the general public. The questionnaire was developed in a pilot study and then it was presented to a sample of 270 students from universities in Serbia and the USA. The study showed that STEM undergraduates and those who attended a course in statistics interpreted the infographic better. However, between 46% and 65% of those misinterpreted the infographic which indicates that changes are needed in statistics education to improve statistical literacy. Concerning demographic characteristics, somewhat better results were achieved by the American students, while gender had weak significance. Students whose interpretations were more successful perceived their knowledge and use of statistics as better. An extremely low number of students, 7.5%, disagreed that statistics is often misused, while only 14.2% trusted the research results presented in the media. The results from this study can be useful for curriculum developers, teachers, and researchers on statistical education.

663-679

Authors: Christian Bob Nicol, Emmanuel Gakuba, Gonzague Habinshuti

Students' attitude towards a subject is a key indicator of academic performance, therefore its enhancement is imperative for academic success. A sample of 328 grade eleven students was selected using cluster random sampling. Two different study groups; the experimental and control groups, were composed and exposed to the guided inquiry and demonstration methods of teaching chemistry experiments respectively. The Non-equivalent control group research design was employed with instruction lasting six weeks. Data on pre-test and post-test attitudes were collected using a 25-item attitude towards teaching and learning chemistry through experiment survey. Comparisons of mean attitude scores were made between the experimental and control groups, and between the pre-test and post-test for each group. The Mann-Whitney U test analyses indicated a higher mean attitude score for the control group. However, the difference in the mean scores was not statistically significant. The Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test analyses indicated statistically significant differences between the pre-test and post-test attitude mean scores for both independent groups. These outcomes show that both methods of teaching chemistry through experiments enhance students' attitudes to essentially the same extent. These findings imply that Liberian teachers can enhance students' attitudes through demonstrations.

694-705

Authors: Muhammet Usak, Harun Uygun, Muharrem Duran

Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is one of the most important research topics in science teacher education. The purpose of this study was to investigate the PCK of science teachers with different teaching experiences and examine the effects of teachers' PCK on students' achievement and attitudes toward science. A mixed methods research design was used for the study. Participants were science teachers and their students from two middle schools. Interviews, observation forms, achievement tests, and attitude scales were used as instruments for data collection. Data were collected and analyzed using content analysis, descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings obtained from the quantitative and qualitative data showed some significant differences between teachers' PCKs according to their teaching experience. The results also showed that the PCK of a teacher with the least experience was lower than that of the other two experienced science teachers. The results indicated that experienced teachers who developed PCKs did not significantly impact student achievement and attitudes. Educational implications and recommendations for further studies are also provided.

720-738

Authors: Yi Zou, Lizhen Jin, Yanbing Li, Tao Hu

Students’ problem-solving ability depends on their understanding of related scientific concepts. Therefore, the modeling and assessment of students’ understanding of specific scientific concepts is important to promote students’ problem-solving ability, as it can find students’ understanding difficulties and explore breakthrough strategies accordingly. Inspired by the theory of knowledge integration and combined with the situational characteristics of science education in China, this study established a conceptual framework about buoyant force, which was applied to model students’ different understandings of it. And based on the established framework, an assessment of buoyant force was designed and tested among 622 Chinese lower-secondary school students. Through the analysis of the test data and the interview outcomes, it was found that students’ understanding of buoyant force could be divided into three levels of knowledge integration including novice, intermediate, and expert. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that an emphasis on the nature of buoyant force can be an effective strategy to help students achieve a deeper conceptual understanding of buoyant force, leading to a more integrated knowledge structure.