Journal of Baltic Science Education

339

Authors: Editorial Board

Contents, JBSE, Vol. 19, No. 3, 2020

344-355

Authors: Dilek Sultan Acarli

The aim of present research was to examine the effects of interdisciplinary teaching approach on teaching the topic of proteins. In the research, unequal control group model- one of the quasi-experimental research designs was used. The experimental group included 16 students (8 female and 8 male) whereas the control group included 14 students (6 female and 8 male) in this research- which was conducted with the participation of the 12th grade students. A lesson plan in which the topic of proteins was taught in interdisciplinary approach was prepared as the tool of application. A concept map prepared by the researcher and a 5-point Likert type of question were used in collected the data. The data collection tool was given to both the experimental group and the control group as a pre-test and post-test. Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test, a non-parametric method- was used in comparing the participants’ scores in the pre-test and post-test of concept map and Likert type question. As a result, it was found that the application of interdisciplinary teaching conducted in the experimental group had caused differences in students’ associating the concepts in biology and chemistry available in the topic of proteins and in their perceptions of their skills in this respect.

374-387

Authors: Fu-Pei Hsieh, Yun-An Chen, Jeng-Fung Hung, Chun-Yen Tsai

This research sought to improve students' science reading comprehension ability and marine ecological conservation learning interest through the implementation of an inquiry-based learning course. A Triggered situational interest-Reading-Inquiry-Presentation (TRIP) model was proposed to guide the course design. The quasi-experimental design was adopted in this research. Experimental teaching activities were conducted with two classes of second graders (50 students in total) in southern Taiwan. One class served as the experimental group, and the other served as the comparison group. The Science Reading Comprehension Test (SRCT) and Marine Ecology Conservation Learning Interest Scale (MECLIS) were used as instruments. Data were analyzed using the Johnson-Neyman Technique, analysis of covariance, and qualitative analysis. The results showed that the students with lower pre-test scores on the SRCT in the experimental group had better scores on the post-test than those in the comparison group, while the students in both groups with higher pre-test scores on the SRCT had no difference in their post-test scores. Furthermore, the experimental group students had better MECLIS scores than the comparison group students, and the difference had a moderate effect size. Overall, this research suggests that the TRIP model may assist science teachers in designing science reading courses.

401-414

Authors: David González-Gómez, Jin Su Jeong, Florentina Cañada-Cañada

Online formative assessment is still challenging although it is getting an increased attention as a significant tool for diagnosing and analysing students’ motivation and achievement in various education domains. This research examines the effects of an online formative assessment tool (OFAT) about science motivation and achievement in second-year students’ university education during four consecutive academic years, 2014 to 2018. A research on the basis of a randomized experimental design was conducted that assigned groups used an OFAT along with various assessments that students participated. A total of 311 students enrolled in the subject take part in the research, respectively 94, 89, 59 and 71 students. Particularly, the OFAT is offering feedback from students, feedback from lecturers and adaptive assignments. Here, data contained student motivation survey data, standardized achievement pre- and post-test data and students’ log records. The results of multiple tier analyses exposed positive effects about students’ motivation and achievement. Based on usage measurements, students’ intensity offers the positive effects about students’ motivation and achievement. Furthermore, along with overall students’ improved performance, the effects of high-performing students’ achievement were higher. Therefore, the results acquired meaningfully contribute to recover main drawbacks and difficulties of traditional science learning programs.

429-453

Authors: Iuliana Lazar, Georgeta Panisoara, Ion-Ovidiu Panisoara

This research aimed to contribute to the overall understanding of pre-service teachers’ acceptance of the Digital Storytelling (DS) tool. The primary associations of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) were tested in the academic years 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 for statistical significance when the effects of the pre-service training teachers' digital age and status were controlled. Data from 296 pre-service teachers, from second and third study year, majority women considered vulnerable group were collected. The factor analysis and invariance tests on basic TAM were performed. The results revealed that DS tool usage intention was a function of perceived usefulness and ease of use. This research established the TAM applicability with the control variables addition to model the DS tool acceptance by pre-service teachers, as didactic material for natural sciences and technology education. Configural, metric, and scalar invariance were confirmed across both cross-temporal and cross-sectorial groups. Perceived ease of use of DS has strongly influenced both usefulness (β=.571, t=11.958, p<.0001) and intention to use of DS (β=.763, t=19.914, p<.0001), under the influences of the control variables. The outcomes contributed to the general understanding of DS pre-service teachers’ adoption relevant for natural sciences and technology education and for recognition of vulnerable category behavior.

467-483

Authors: Georgios Tsaparlis

This work analyses students’ failure in the 2019 Nationwide Chemistry Examination in Greece, which concerns secondary education graduates, competing for admission to higher education Greek institutions. The distinction of thinking skills into higher and lower order (HOTS and LOTS) is used as a theoretical tool for this analysis. The examination included several questions that contained HOTS elements that had been unusual in previous examinations. This led to a decrease in overall student performance but better discrimination between outstanding and good students. Based on two samples of examination papers, corresponding to very similar subsets of the student population, the 2018 and 2019 examinations are compared, and the individual 2019 questions are evaluated. It was found that section B of the 2019 examination paper (which included contexts unfamiliar to the students, and for which, a large effect size between 2018 and 2019 was calculated) may have caused the large drop. An important link is established between the 2019 low performance and the HOTS and LOTS features of the questions, and the role or non-role of algorithmic calculations is examined. In addition, the critical opinions of chemistry teachers are provided, with a consensus emerging in favour of connecting chemistry with everyday life.

499-513

Authors: Ivana Sotáková, Mária Ganajová, Mária Babinčáková

The research aim was to identify the effect of revising the thematic unit “Changes in Chemical Reactions” using IBSE (based on confirmation inquiry) in the 8th grade of secondary school. This thematic unit is taught in chemistry lessons in the 2nd term of the 7th grade. A set of activities verified by a piece of pilot research was used to implement IBSE based on confirmation inquiry using the 5E Educational Model. The research was performed in ten Slovak secondary schools during the 1st term of the 2017/2018 school year. This research employed the quasi-experimental methodology involving pre-test–post-test two-group design. The research sample consisted of 292 8th grade students. They were divided randomly into a control (n=149) and experimental (n=143) group, and the intervention took place during 10 lessons. Cognitive tests based on the revised Bloom's taxonomy were used to measure students’ knowledge and skills before and after revision. The results indicate that using IBSE (based on confirmation inquiry) in the revision phase is more effective than teaching without using IBSE in terms of developing conceptual understanding. It affects the lower and higher cognitive processes (understanding, application, and analysis) and stimulates learning mainly in students with lower academic performance.

179

Authors: Editorial Board

Contents, JBSE, Vol. 19, No. 2, 2020

186-200

Authors: Öyküm Esra Aşkın, Ersoy Öz

Identifying key determinants of success plays an important role in efforts of assessing the current state of educational practices and implementing effective actions to improve academic performance. Given how important is accurate identification of these determinants for valid comparisons, the aim of this research was to present extensive comparative results on 8th grade students' science success for 39 countries. To this end, a total number of 229,493 students' information obtained from the last cycle of Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study was handled. Unlike previous studies in which success has been tried to be explained with some factors, this research extended the literature by investigating the effective factors as well as gender-related variability on science success with a holistic view. Using heterogeneous choice models, unobserved heterogeneity caused by gender difference was tested and controlled. The findings showed that gender variability was evident for 10 countries. Furthermore, factors associated with students' future educational goals, home educational resources and confidence were found as the common determinators of science success in all participant countries. Another notable finding was all factors, except time spent on doing homework, tended to differentiate the success status between girls and boys of 22 countries.

220-233

Authors: Zvonka Cencelj, Boris Aberšek, Andrej Flogie, Metka Kordigel Aberšek

Science, technology and engineering functional literacy should be developed purposely in the school system – like any other competence, it does not develop spontaneously. For this purpose, a didactic model, the Metacognitive Model for Developing Science, Technology and Engineering Literacy (McM_T&E), was developed. Apart from acquiring knowledge and skills from the field of technology and engineering, the McM_T&E is equally focused on developing functional literacy in the field of technology and engineering, as well as in the field of science, through the development of students’ metacognitive knowledge about reading strategies for reading STE explicatory texts and for reading manufacturing instructions. The McM_T&E was implemented in a Technology and Technique’ (T&T) class, grade six, in Slovenia. Results show that focusing on science, technology and engineering literacy in Technology and Engineering classes by using the McM_T&E model increases the students’ science, technology, and engineering functional literacy, which is a fundamental competence in the 21st century.

247-260

Authors: Serpil Kiliç Depren

In the last decade, the usage of advanced statistical models is growing rapidly in many different disciplines. However, the Quantile Regression Mixture Model (QRMIX), which is a developed approach of the Finite Mixture Model (FMM), is an applicable new method in the educational literature. The aim of the proposed study was to determine factors affecting students' science achievement using the QRMIX approach. To reach this aim, data of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey, which has been conducted by the Organization Economic for Co-Operation and Development (OECD) every 3 years, was used. Dataset used in the research is composed of 6,115 students from Singapore, which is the top-performer country among the participant countries, and 5,895 students from Turkey. The results showed that the factors affecting students' science achievement and its importance on the achievement differentiated according to the achievement levels of the students. In conclusion, it was revealed that Turkish students with the lowest science achievement level should be supported with home possessions, perceived feedback, and environmental awareness and Singaporean students with the lowest achievement level should be supported with perceived feedback, enjoyment of science, and epistemological beliefs.

276-288

Authors: Irene Lue Leh Ping, Lilia Halim, Kamisah Osman

Science educational standards are increasingly emphasising on argumentation skills. However, students’ argumentation skills are often not developed well as their experience of science knowledge in schools is often in the form of uncontested facts. This research asserts that argumentation skills should be developed through explicit teaching of argumentation while engaged in practical work that draws on students’ science process skills. In turn, developing argumentation skills also improves their science process skills. Thus, this research sought to examine the effect of the Modified Argument-Driven Inquiry approach (MADI), Inquiry without Argument approach (IWA), and the conventional practical work approach (CON) on the development of argumentation and science process skills of Grade 10 students in practical biology. This research employed the quasi-experimental methodology involving Pre-test Post-test Non-equivalent Control Group design. The data were collected through tests on argumentation skills, science process skills and diffusion and osmosis concepts’ understanding. The MANOVA results showed that there was a significant improvement in the argumentation skills, science process skills and biology understanding among the students who experienced the MADI approach in practical biology. In contrast, students who experienced the IWA approach in practical biology showed significant improvement only in biology understanding.

298-316

Authors: Jana Skrabankova, Stanislav Popelka, Marketa Beitlova

Graphs are often used to represent mathematical functions, to illustrate data from social and natural sciences, or to specify scientific theories. With increasing emphasis on the development of scientific research skills, the work with graphs and data interpretation are gaining in importance. The research involved an eye-tracking experiment conducted to evaluate student work with graphs in physics. Eye-movement data were recorded using the GazePoint eye-tracker. A total of 40 third-year grammar school students participated in the research. These students were allocated into three groups by a physics teacher. These groups were called PLUS, AVERAGE and MINUS. The PLUS group showed excellent results in education and included gifted physics students. The MINUS group was composed of the opposite end of this cognitive spectrum, whose members made the most mistakes in graph reading. The aim of the experiment was to find the differences between students allocated to these three groups and to evaluate whether the allocation based on the teacher’s experience, long-term observations and the students’ previous achievements was sufficient. The results showed that students from all three groups had problems with reading graphs in physics. According to the eye-movement data, several students who had been incorrectly assigned to groups were identified.

333-336

Authors: Editorial Board

End page, JBSE, Vol. 19, No. 2, 2020

3

Authors: Editorial Board

Contents, Vol. 19, No. 1, 2020, JBSE

6-24

Authors: Sümeyye Aydın Gürler, Oktay Baykara

The aim of present research was to develop a Likert type scale that determines the attitudes of 9th grade students towards physics courses so as to identify the physics students’ attitudes towards this course. The research started with a draft scale of 30 items. The draft scale was applied to 177 ninth grade students as a pilot research. According to results obtained from factor analysis, a scale that has 21 items and covering six sub-sets was developed. KMO value of the scale was .82; the Bartlett’s test value was 1997.3; and the internal consistency coefficient (Cronbach’s alpha) was .90. The scale was then applied to 460 ninth grade students from different schools to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis. It was found that the types of upper-secondary school influence students’ attitudes towards physics courses while gender and educational level of the parents had no significant influence on these attitudes. Therefore, it was also found that the students had an ambivalent attitude towards physics courses.

36-49

Authors: Mária Babinčáková, Mária Ganajová, Ivana Sotáková, Paweł Bernard

Assessment in many Central- and Eastern-European countries is dominated by summative assessment (SA). Simultaneously, researchers and educators from western Europe and the US proclaim the formative assessment (FA) as an important element of the educational process and advise including it into curricula and everyday teachers’ practice. The research presented herein reports an introduction of formative assessment classroom techniques (FACTs) during chemistry lessons at K7 level in Slovakia. In total 202 students participated in the research. They were divided randomly into a control (n=97) and an experimental (n=105) group, and the intervention covered 10 successive lessons. After the intervention, the student’s outcomes were compared using the test checking student’s knowledge and skills according to various domains of Bloom’s revised taxonomy. The results suggested a statistically significant increase in the score of the experimental group, and a detailed analysis revealed that the increase was significant in both lower- and higher-order cognitive skills area. Finally, the students’ reaction on the introduction of formative assessment was studied and showed their positive attitude towards the introduced method.

64-75

Authors: Saša A. Horvat, Tamara N. Rončević, Dragana Z. Arsenović, Dušica D. Rodić, Mirjana D. Segedinac

The main problem in students' lower achievement lies in the cognitive complexity of the problem. The aim of this research was to create and validate the procedure for the assessment of the cognitive complexity of chemical technology problem tasks. The procedure included the creation of Tables for assessing the difficulty of concepts in chemical technology problems and their interactivity, assessment of the numerical rating of cognitive complexity of the analyzed tasks, and conducting of research. Research included 50 students. Data were collected with the test of knowledge which was used for the assessment of students´ achievements and invested mental effort. The validity of this procedure was confirmed by a series of correlation analyses where statistically significant values of correlation coefficients were obtained among the examined variables: students’ achievements, invested mental effort and cognitive complexity. The largest contribution of this procedure is that it is designed to show an objective value of the cognitive complexity of tasks in the domain of chemical technology. Good estimation of the numerical values of cognitive complexity can help teachers to better predict students' achievement, and at the same time to take care to avoid cognitive load.

91-107

Authors: Liliana Mâță, Iuliana M. Lazăr, Roxana Ghiațău

The aim of this research was to explore e-dishonesty practices among science education undergraduates based on measurement models. The measuring tool was the Internet-triggered Academic Dishonesty Scale (IADS) comprised of ten items for the fraudulence construct and five items for the plagiarism construct as proposed by Akbulut et al. (2008), and another eight items as proposed by Karim, Zamzuri, and Nor (2009) for the construct of misuse in using information technologies by university students. A pilot sample of 125 valid responses and a test sample of 249 valid responses collected from university students in the Science Education program were subjects of factor analyses, non-parametric and invariance test methods. 16-item IADS scale was confirmed in a Romanian higher education context. A second-order factor (e-dishonesty), and three dimensions of first-order factors (plagiarism, fraudulence, and misuse in using information technologies (IT)) were validated. Plagiarism was the most important factor, followed by fraudulence and misuse in using IT. E-dishonesty practices dimensions not varied depending on the sociodemographic profile of undergraduates. The case study research provided a significant contribution to the understanding of ethical Internet behaviors and to generate an appropriate tool to measure the e-dishonesty practices among undergraduates learning science education subjects.

121-141

Authors: Denis Rupnik, Stanislav Avsec

Technological progress, globalization and demographic changes have brought about transformations that have increased economic and social inequalities. A structural transformation in education could support economic growth and sustainability and could also be associated with common actions in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, together with social sciences, to mitigate the impact of these megatrends on inequalities. This research explores the effects of a technologically conceptualized transdisciplinary educational approach. A sample of 242 lower secondary school students was selected and a pre- and post-test research design was used to ascertain whether a two-level transdisciplinary educational approach used by technology teachers affected the development of students’ technological literacy (TL). The task design included several real-life technological contexts and concepts wherein knowledge of other disciplines was needed to solve problems, create new knowledge and acquire higher-order skills while developing positive attitudes towards sustainable technology. A two-way analysis of variance indicated several significant effects of transdisciplinary education on the development of students’ TL. These findings provide valuable insights into the nature of TL acquisition as a basis for curriculum design and the implementation of transdisciplinary technology education in the lower secondary school.

157-173

Authors: Wing-Kwong Wong, Kai-Ping Chen, Hong-Ming Chang

This research aimed to explore the effects of a virtual lab (VL) and a Microcomputer-based Lab (MBL) on students’ performance in scientific modeling. A web-based virtual lab and a low-cost MBL were proposed to help first-year engineering students build scientific models. Empirical research was done in a slope motion experiment. The participants were 118 first-year engineering students in Taiwan, and they were divided into a VL group and an MBL group. From the results of the questionnaire, these groups of students thought that the systems were usable and easy to use, and they expressed positive attitudes towards the labs. The post-test’s average score was higher than that of the pre-test for both groups, and the average posttest score of the VL group was better than that of the MBL group. From the students’ learning sheets, many students successfully manipulated the experimental variables and built correct models after gradual revision of earlier models. According to the results of the empirical research, these systems helped the students understand the meaning of the experiment and increased students' interests with hands-on labs. A comparison of the results of these two groups\suggests the integration of VL and MBL to facilitate students’ learning.

811

Authors: Editorial Board

Contents, JBSE, Vol. 18, No. 6, 2019

816-832

Authors: Elizabeth Darko Agyei, Thuthukile Jita, Loyiso C. Jita

Teacher-dominated approach is still the most adopted teaching strategy in Ghanaian high schools despite the Government of Ghana’s initiatives to support technology-oriented, learner-centred and interactive teaching practices. This study examined the effectiveness of simulation-based lessons in improving the teaching of high school physics by adapting the five dimensions for meaningful learning with information and communication technology model by Howland, Jonassen and Marra (2012) as a theoretical lens. Using an explanatory case study design, eight pre-service physics teachers from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana were engaged to develop and design simulation-based physics lessons in design teams and enact these lessons among themselves in microteaching sessions. Results showed that the simulation-based lessons were effective in that the pre-service teachers’ teaching practices improved to be learner-centred and interactive. The results also suggested that although a combination of all the dimensions of meaningful learning was key to the effectiveness observed with each of the simulation-based lessons, the Cooperative dimension was found to possess a unique potential for sustaining the other dimensions in order to facilitate improvements in the teaching of physics with simulations.

848-865

Authors: Mukadder Baran

The purpose of this research was to identify the barriers that upper-secondary school science and mathematics teachers face during the teaching process in economically disadvantaged regions (Hakkari, Turkey and Swansea, UK). The research design was comparative case research and pursues qualitative methodological approach in collecting and analyzing the data about the barriers that teachers are encountering during the teaching process. The research sample consisted of 24 science and mathematics teachers from different upper-secondary schools in Hakkari and Swansea. Semi-structured interview forms, were developed and employed to collect the data. The thematic analysis was used to analyze the obtained data. The results revealed different categories in understanding the situations that science and mathematics teachers confront in both cases; student-related issues, pedagogical issues, teachers’ lack of subject knowledge and socio-economic and cultural-based issues. As student-based barriers, lack of prior knowledge, students`attention span, and interest; and regarding teachers-based barriers, teachers` lack of class management and communication skills, and lack of student-centered methods found as similar barriers. Language and socio-economical problems were also shared barriers for both cities. In addition to those barriers, political and family-based issues which hindered educational attainment found as the main barriers by science and mathematics teachers in Hakkari.

880-891

Authors: Jin Su Jeong, David González-Gómez, M. Carmen Conde-Núñez, Alejandrina Gallego-Picó

The students’ engagement was deemed significant to research due to the changing study structures from course-based to student-centered and competence-based in sustainable science higher education. Still, its change and coping strategies is considered as somewhat unfamiliar learning environment. Research examined students’ engagement to the learning approach of a flipped-classroom model for sustainable science course with the Revised Two-Factor Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F). It assesses research proposals, which students are utilizing to learning, and engagement and individual abilities as well. The research was conducted with the students enrolled in the “Atmospheric Pollution” course of the Environmental Science undergraduate program (n=64). The results obtained through the R-SPQ-2F showed the students’ number reaching higher “deep approach” in their learning increased at the course end, while it can be observed that the students’ number marking “surface approach” below the mean value was slightly lower (pre- and post-test comparison). It can be concluded that students are employing more engagement in their works and enhancing their personal skills as well with the teaching methodology. Results obviously specified that the study structure change was a phase into correct emphasis to improve students’ engagement in the flipped sustainable science education.

907-923

Authors: Yen-Ling Lin, Shu Wen Huang, Cheng-Chieh Chang

This research sought to explore how teaching utilizing a marine science-related board game affected students’ motivation, interest, and achievement in marine science learning at the high school level. The research utilized an experimental design with pre-test and post-test measurements and a classroom setting, and included an experimental group containing 25 students and a control group containing 26 students. The experiment was carried out over the course of 12 lessons, with various questionnaires, including a marine science learning motivation (MSLM) inventory, a marine science learning interest (MSLI) inventory, and a marine science learning achievement (MSLA) inventory, being used as the measurement instruments. The research analysed the students’ scores on these inventories using one-way analysis of ANCOVA. The main results of this research were as follows: 1) with regard to the MSLM inventory, the ‘relevance’, ‘confidence’, and ‘total score’ were significantly different between the two groups; 2) with regard to the MSLI inventory, the ‘cognitions regarding marine science’ were significantly different between the two groups; and 3) with regard to the MSLA, all of the dimensions including ‘memory’, ‘understanding’, ‘high-level thinking’, and ‘total score’ were significantly different between the two groups.

943-954

Authors: Tamara N. Rončević, Željka Đ. Ćuk, Dušica D. Rodić, Mirjana D. Segedinac, Saša A. Horvat

This research considered students’ abilities to read images about dispersed systems, taken from the chemistry textbook. 103 high school students (37 males, 63 females, and 3 unknown) from the school “Svetozar Marković“ in Novi Sad, Republic of Serbia, were included as the research participants. Students’ abilities to suggest the titles of the realistic, conventional, and hybrid textbook images about dispersed systems, as well as their written interpretations of images contents, were examined. The collected data were analysed qualitatively, and information about students’ conceptual understandings and misunderstandings about selected chemistry topic was provided. Identified misunderstandings, some of which are the contribution of this research, gave significant results. Additionally, it was concluded that the majority of students’ difficulties were related to reading realistic textbook images. Students relied on what they literally saw in the photography without making proper connections with chemical contents about dispersed systems. The findings of the present research could be helpful for science teachers and educators, interested in how and why students use textbook images to learn science concepts. They will also alert authors and textbook illustrators to pay more attention to the selection of appropriate textbook images.

971-985

Authors: Yang Xiantong, Zhang Mengmeng, Song Xin, Hou Lan, Wang Qiang

Due to the vast territory, there are problems of unbalanced development of education and students’ ability level in China. In order to explore the relation between regional education equity and the development of students’ scientific ability, and to better promote the development of education and students’ growth, it is urgent to carry out the research. In the context of regional coordinated development, stratified random sampling and cluster sampling were used to study the ability to design scientific experiments of 742 sixth-grade students in Beijing. The results showed that, first of all, the ability to design scientific experiments of 742 sixth-grade students in Beijing was low and the developmental level was not coordinated. Secondly, there was a significant correlation between gender and students’ ability to design scientific experiments. In addition, there was a significant negative correlation between districts and the ability to guess and predict. Finally, significant positive correlations were found among the internal structures of ability to design scientific experiments. Therefore, in order to promote the coordinated development of students’ ability to design scientific experiments, this paper puts forward effective suggestions in four aspects: improving science teachers’ professionalism, offering experimental resources, updating teaching philosophy and strengthening curriculum construction.

651

Authors: Editorial Board

Contents, JBSE, Vol. 18, No. 5, 2019

654-667

Authors: Rahmi Qurota Aini, Arif Rachmatullah, Minsu Ha

Student attitudes toward science have been one of the longstanding topics in science education research. Even though Indonesia has a unique educational system in which cultural, religious, and cognitive aspects are incorporated in the science K-12 curriculum, a limited number of studies have explored Indonesian students’ attitudes towards science. This research aimed to examine students’ attitudes toward science and the interaction between academic grade level and gender in Indonesian primary and middle school. Thirty items from five components of the BRAINS instrument were administered to 1587 Indonesian students from fourth grade through ninth grade to measure their attitude toward science. Rasch analysis, two-way ANOVA, and structural equation modeling path analysis were used to answer the proposed research questions. The current research found that Indonesian students’ attitudes toward science were significantly affected by academic level, however, gender only affected three components of attitude (control belief, attitude toward the behavior, and intention). Female students showed a higher attitude toward science than male students in general. The trends in every component of the students’ attitudes decreased from primary school to middle school. The present research provides a deeper discussion by considering the socio-cultural and educational history of Indonesia.

681-691

Authors: Mustafa Cansiz, Nurcan Cansiz

The aim of this research was twofold. The first aim was to revise the existing scientific literacy framework developed by Boujaoude in accordance with the current literature about scientific literacy. The second aim was to explore how the aspects of scientific literacy were reflected in the Turkish science curriculum using the revised framework. The impact of science and technology on environment resulted in the need for both scientifically and environmentally literate individuals and therefore, any framework examining scientific literacy should include the interaction between science, technology, society, and environment as an aspect. Moreover, a new aspect was suggested for the framework, the affective side of science, considering the affective outcomes of science education. Finally, the science curriculum from grades 3 to 8 was analyzed using the revised framework. Results showed that the revisions on the framework resulted in a more rigorous framework which evaluates scientific literacy more precisely. Moreover, the results about the analysis of science curriculum indicated that the knowledge of science and the investigative nature of science were reflected in the objectives of the curriculum more than other aspects. The results and implications were discussed.

708-716

Authors: Jana Fancovicova, Milan Kubiatko

Children’s concept of biological phenomena differs from scientific thought in many aspects. The revelation of wrong concepts contributes to better education, especially when that information is described in a specific field of science. Not only children, but also adults often use anthropomorphic and theological explanations to express their ideas, which confirm their lack of understanding of biological phenomena. A great deal of research has proved retaining of children’s misconceptions in the fields of zoology and botany. How accurate, however, are their ideas about organisms of a microscopic size? The aim of the research was to find out the influence of selected factors (perceived vulnerability, grade, gender and type of group) on concepts about diseases among lower secondary school students. The research sample consisted of 400 students of lower secondary education from Slovakia. Data were collected through Likert type questionnaires. The correlation was found between perceived vulnerability to diseases, age and concepts about diseases. The statistically significant difference in the results between boys and girls was not confirmed. The higher impact should be aimed at their importance for humans and nature for a better understanding of this concept.

732-747

Authors: Jianqiang Ye, Dimei Chen, Lingxin Kong

In order to explore the development of research of science teacher(RST), 904 articles from the Web of Science (WoS) core set based on bibliometric methods through R software were analyzed in this research. Specifically, it examined the co-occurrence relations of countries/regions, major journals, most cited references, and hot keywords from the macroscopic, mesoscopic and microscopic level of RST. The results showed that the core strength of RST is mainly from traditional industrialized countries such as the United States, Australia, and Britain. And some top journals in science education (such as Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Science Education) has to pay more attention on RST, it may also appeal to lots of top journals in general teacher education (such as Journal of Teacher Education, Teaching and Teaher Education). The research on science teachers was guided by several educational theories about teacher research, such as the teacher epistemological belief, reflective practice, and PCK. Moreover, theories in science education such as scientific literacy, scientific conceptual change also becomes the theoretical basis for science teachers’ teaching practice and scientific inquiry instructing. The knowledge, key competences, dispositions, and professional development of science teacher are the main keywords and hot topics in the field of RST.

768-779

Authors: Mirjana Maričić, Stanko Cvjetićanin, Branko Anđić

The widely explored but still unresolved question about the contribution of the application of different ways of performing experiments in the integrated natural sciences is addressed in this research. The aim was to determine the contribution of demonstration hands-on experiments (DHE) and student hands-on experiments (SHE) in relation to conventional teaching method (CTM) on the quality and durability of 3rd grade students (between 9 and 10 years of age) from primary school. The research involved 180 students, further divided into three groups: E1 (experimental group 1, where content was learned through DHE), E2 (experimental group 2, where content was learned through SHE) and C (control group, where content was learned through CTM). The results of the research point to the fact that priority should be given to the DHE and SHE over the CTM in the realization of air-related content in the 3rd grade. SHE should be used more than DHE when it comes to teaching this specific content.

793-805

Authors: Leon Yufeng Wu, Nathan M. Truong, Hsin-Yen Lu, Yuen-Hsian Tseng, Chun-Yen Chang

By investigating scholarly output in science communication from 1997 to 2018, this research sought evidence that science education has been increasingly focusing on communication methods to reach the public. Through an automatic scientometric method, this study analyzed 1300 articles published in two leading journals in the field of science communication. As a result, seven trends were revealed and categorized into three themes: Public engagement with science (PES); Media and science (MS); and Issues in science (IS). Furthermore, PES and MS scholarly output were found increased significantly. The findings confirmed the goal of this research. However, it then suggested a research area of bridging science education and science communication that is currently less explored. Given increased focus towards PES and MS, these fields are primed for further collaboration to more engage the public in science learning.