Journal of Baltic Science Education

4

Authors: Janis Gedrovics

When, ten years ago, together with colleagues from Linköping University we, as part of the Visby project in Sweden, analysed the reasons behind students’ motivation to become science teachers, we took it as almost a surprise that for 75% of those students the reason was that they had always been interested in science. The second most popular answer was - I like working with people/ children. Certainly, evaluating those answers from a time distance, it seems – there was nothing to be so surprised about. Interest is and always has been a driving force for human mind and activities. And, from our personal experience, we know how difficult it is to do a boring job. Though, for adults, their sense of duty also plays a certain role.

16-25

Authors: Sacit Köse

The purpose of the present study was to determine 9th grade students’ misconceptions on the concepts of diffusion and osmosis and to investigate the effect of making use of concept mapping instruction on overcoming the misconceptions. The experimental study was conducted in two different classes of a high school context with a total of 50 9th grade students in Denizli, Turkey. The concepts of the diffusion and osmosis were taught the students in the experimental group with the instruction designed by making use of concept mapping method whereas these topics were taught to the control group with traditional instruction. The Diffusion and Osmosis Diagnostic Test developed by Odom and Barrow (1995) was given to both groups as pre-test and post-test. The results indicated that after treatment, the average percentage of students in the experimental group holding a scientifically correct view increased 42%, whereas this increased only 15% in the control group.

35-49

Authors: Vincentas Lamanauskas, Rytis Vilkonis

Information technologies play a crucial role in building a knowledge-based society. However, even the most advanced technologies will not produce a required effect if their use (application) in the educational system is not adequate to the current development of technologies and increased educational needs. The initial information literacy abilities are formed in comprehensive school as presently, these educational establishments have the possibility of employing different information technologies. It is probably often related to appropriate computer technologies and the Internet. During the last five years, a number of investigations into the field of natural science education have been carried out. On the other hand, to more accurately identify the situation in different regions of Europe, lack of in-depth expert research can be noticed. Therefore, the latter survey (expert inquiry) is aimed at examining the situation on using ICT in natural science education in Baltic countries. A precondition that the obtained findings will be useful for improving the process of natural science education in terms of ICT applicability and efficient use can be made.

59-62

Authors: Editorial Board

End page, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2007