Journal of Baltic Science Education

4

Authors: Vincentas Lamanauskas

A valid point is that JBSE has found the reader. The editorial board receives interesting manuscripts, suggestions, responses and positive evaluations. The staff of the magazine is grateful to everyone for improving the image of the journal. In behalf of the editorial board I would like to thank all the members of the board as well as the reviewers of the articles for thorough and superficial examination of every paper presented. It’s valuable and immediate help necessary for the magazine to be available for the reader. Ten editions have already been published. We expect that any of the issues included interesting and valuable topics relevant to everyone engaged in improvement of natural science education at all levels of the education system. The readers and authors should accept the fact that due to the increase of the journal’s ratings, from now on, the magazine will be published three times a year. Moreover, considering the standards defined by the international community, the numeration of the periodical has been changed.

15-22

Authors: Onno De Jong

The present article starts with a concise report of three important waves of innovation in Western science education, one in the 1960s, one in the 1980s, and one in the 2000s. The background of each wave is concisely explicated in terms of dissatisfaction with the foregoing curriculum and the rise of new general theories on teaching and learning. The reported innovations have influenced the agenda of research in science education in the Western world. In the second part of the article, the main trends in topics and methods of this research are reported. Finally, some main trends in science teacher education are concisely addressed.

35-46

Authors: Bayram Coştu, Suat Ünal and Alipaşa Ayas

The study revealed students’ conceptions about mixtures and chemical compounds and also investigated the effects of a hands-on activity designed to improve their understanding of differences between two concepts. The sample consists of 52 seventh grade students in a primary school. Students’ ideas were elicited by a test consisting of six open-ended questions. An intervention designed based on students’ preconceptions. The intervention, in which two different colored balls of clay were used, comprises a hands-on activity whose aim was to help students distinguish essential differences between mixtures and chemical compounds. After the intervention, the test was re-administered to the sample as a post-test. Both qualitative and quantitative assessment indicated positive effects of the intervention on students’ understanding. The results suggest that teachers and curriculum developers should take into account this kind of activities in order to help students understand confusing concepts.

58-65

Authors: Vlasta Hus, Boris Aberšek

Focusing the problem of rapidly disappearing interest for natural science and technical studies the Slovene school system began to reform natural science and technical teaching from the beginning - from the primary level. The article presents the results of the empirical study, which monitored the changes of quality in early science teaching on primary level after changes of school system at the end of the millennium.

78-91

Authors: Tuula Keinonen

A naturalistic case study on the way primary school would-be teachers explain physics was conducted in Science and Technology Education. The study dealt with explaining physics phenomena (mechanics, thermodynamics, optics and electricity) at the beginning and at the end of the course on physics. Although the students used everyday and scientific knowledge their explanations also offered mixed information that comprised both types. When using scientific knowledge the most advanced justifications were found in the issues concerning mechanics and electricity related phenomena. The students mainly used everyday expressions discussing the cases of light and heat.