Journal of Baltic Science Education

907

Authors: Editorial Board

Contents, Vol. 21, No. 6, 2022 Journal of Baltic Science Education, Vol. 21, No. 6, 2022 ISSN 1648-3898 /Print/, ISSN 2538-7138 /Online

911-927

Authors: Ainara Achurra, Teresa Zamalloa, Araitz Uskola

The use of drawings for science learning helps students to develop communication, modelling, and reasoning skills. Teachers should be trained to use them. This study addresses the readiness (knowledge, confidence and awareness of the importance and usefulness of drawings) of 120 preservice teachers (PSTs) for using teacher-made drawings as a strategy for teaching science, after participating in activities in which they used drawing as a way to represent scientific knowledge. The knowledge of how to draw was analysed by evaluating the presence of interrelated components, mechanisms and phenomena in drawings of the digestive system. Open questions were used to examine three aspects: confidence, awareness of the importance and awareness of the usefulness. Exploratory cluster analyses were also conducted. 69% scored low in knowledge, more than 90% scored high in awareness of the importance and of the usefulness. 28% showed high confidence. No PSTs with high knowledge and low confidence were found. All PSTs with high knowledge showed high awareness of the importance. It is concluded that in order to prepare teachers for using drawings in science teaching, teacher education programs should include the development of drawing skills that could enhance their confidence and awareness of its importance.

946-966

Authors: Khaleel AlArabi, Hassan Tairab, Yousef Wardat, Shashidhar Belbase, Suzan Alabidi

This quasi-experimental study was conducted in two secondary schools in a major city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to examine the impact of Computer Simulations (CSs) on students’ learning of Newton’s Second Law of Motion (NSLOM) in grade 11 compared to traditional face-to-face education. The study used Newton’s Second Law of Motion Achievement test (NSLMAT) as a pre and post-test to collect the data. Altogether 90 students aged 16-17 (grade 11) participated in this study. Two grade 11 girls' classes (40 students) and two grade 11 boys' classes (50 students) were chosen randomly to participate in this study. Descriptive and Inferential statistics were used to analyze data. Results showed that CSs, through visualization, aided in establishing connections and brought attention to the concepts and details of NSLOM. In addition, CSs yielded better results than those taught in face-to-face education. The Results also suggest that CSs greatly impacted both female and male students. CSs helped female and male students gain a better understanding of NSLOM topics. The study recommended that physics teachers integrate CSs into their teaching and use them as valuable tools to improve student learning outcomes.

989-1003

Authors: Zeynep Yıldız

It is of great importance to examine the level of science teaching self-efficacy (SE), which is related to technological developments in primary school teacher education. It is seen that this subject is not addressed in the context of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) and visual metaphors. The purpose of this research was to examine the pre-service primary school teachers' SE beliefs related to science teaching in terms of the TPCK levels and visual metaphors they created related to science teaching. For this purpose, qualitative and quantitative methods were used in the research. The research sample consisted of 75 pre-service primary school teachers. A metaphorical perception form, a science SE scale, and a TPCK scale were applied as data collection tools. It was found that the majority of pre-service teachers in science teaching had moderate and high SE and technological pedagogical content. It was also found that pre-service teachers' science teaching SE levels were related to the sub-dimension levels of the TPCK. When the visual metaphors created by the pre-service teachers were associated with quantitative data, it was seen that as the SE level of the pre-service teachers increased, visual metaphors gained a quality from general to specific. It was also concluded that the metaphors of the pre-service teachers with high SE levels were formed in more detail and accurately, and the conceptual errors were reduced.

1026-1039

Authors: Mengmeng Li, Le Cai, Dimei Chen, Jianqiang Ye

The teaching competency of rural teachers is fundamental to providing rural pupils with a high-quality education. Nonetheless, China has not yet established standardized competence criteria for rural science teachers, making it difficult to ascertain the actual competence of the rural teaching force on the front lines. Consequently, this study aimed at accessing Chinese rural science teachers’ teaching competency and exploring rural-urban differences by developing a measurement instrument. Factor analyses confirmed the reliability and validity of this instrument, which consisted of 21 items and four dimensions. In addition, the questionnaire was employed to examine 393 science teachers in China, discovering the significant rural-urban differences in terms of teaching implementation and learning evaluation together with teacher distribution. This study was hoped to promote the building of the teaching competency system and provide references for rural science teachers’ professional development.

1052-1068

Authors: Si-Jia Liu, Shao-Na Zhou, Shao-Rui Xu, Hua Xiao

As STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education gets more and more attention from society, students' attitudes towards STEM are increasingly concerned. However, there was scant research that has empirically documented the relations among STEM attitude, learning motivation and metacognition. This research used Structural Equation Modeling to examine the above relations. Data were collected from 845 primary school students from grade 4 to 6, regarding their STEM attitude, learning motivation, metacognition, and their sociodemographic characteristics (family socioeconomic status). The results showed that metacognition played a mediating role in the effect of learning motivation on STEM attitude. The family socioeconomic status played a moderating role in the effect of metacognition on STEM attitude, and students with higher family socioeconomic status had a stronger effect on STEM attitude. This research also suggested that it is worth considering the improvement of students' learning motivation to facilitate STEM attitude through promoting their metacognitive skills, meanwhile balancing the gap between students under the difference of socioeconomic level in STEM education.

1083-1100

Authors: Yanhua Xu, Zile Liu, Peiying Lin

Geographical practice power is a key competency essential for students' overall development. It is, therefore, important to understand its concepts, contexts, and content. Practical activities following scientific and operable principles in real geographical situations would enable students to unleash their potential across the curriculum. The primary aim of this study was to design and validate a conceptual, contextual, and content framework for geographical practice power competency (GPPC) of primary and secondary school students in China. The study used a three-step mixed-method research design with expert opinions collected through interviews and questionnaires. The dimensions of GPPC in this study included the mental processes of cognition, awareness, attitude, and behavior. A compilation of the attributes of GPPC for primary and secondary school students was proposed. There was a general consensus among the evaluators regarding the conceptual, contextual, and content framework of GPPC. When the weight values of the four dimensions and sub-dimensions of GPPC were calculated, it was found that they played different roles in the framework. Contrary to the expectation that scientific argumentation would be the most important dimension of GPPC, this study found that information acquisition was rated the most important. In each GPPC sub-dimension, consciousness received the highest weighting.

1119-1120

Authors: Editorial Board

End page, Vol. 21, No. 6, 2022 Journal of Baltic Science Education, Vol. 21, No. 6, 2022 ISSN 1648-3898 /Print/, ISSN 2538-7138 /Online