Problems of Education in the 21st Century

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Authors: Editorial Board

Cover, PEC, 2014, Vol. 59

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Authors: Monica Baptista

We live in a very complex and ever changing society, which requires from its citizens a continuous involvement in decision-making and continuous learning. The issues that were exclusive experts’ responsibility today are brought to public, thus requiring the society active participation. Hence it is crucial that each citizen is informed, in order to be critical and adopt an intervening and sustained stance. Therefore, improving scientific literacy is a current concern of our times, considering the overall contradictory scenario. On the whole, it is recognized that fully participating in today’s society requires an understanding of science and scientific activity. Nevertheless, several studies show that scientific literacy levels, within the general population and among students, are not as high as would be expectable. So, to improve students’ scientific literacy levels is the main goal of science education research. But what learning situations can be created to improve students’ scientific literacy? Recently, a number of studies pointed out inquiry as one possible learning situation. But then the main question is: why inquiry? Inquiry emphasizes the development of scientific and procedural knowledge, as well as other relevant competencies (e. g. reasoning, communication and attitudes) and puts students in the centre of their learning. It engages students in different situations, namely in identifying problems, formulating hypotheses, researching in books and other sources of information, planning investigations, collecting and interpreting data, reviewing what they know about the experience, connecting explanations to scientific knowledge, reporting results, arguing with basis on evidences, and communicating (NRC, 2000) – all crucial competencies to foster scientific literacy.

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Authors: Ching-Ching Cheng

The purpose of this study is to implement and evaluate a teacher training program based on the framework of situated learning. Adapting from the situated learning approaches, the author implemented two in-service teacher training programs based on cognitive apprenticeship and community of practices respectively. Each training program was adopted in a different campus of a private kindergarten. During the six-month training, researcher conducted a qualitative research to evaluate the effectiveness of the training program. To investigate how teachers improved their professional skills in constructive instruction, the researcher invited four supervisors and 10 kindergarten teachers to participate in the training program. The qualitative data included classroom observation, focus group, interviews, and teachers’ reflection notes. The results suggest that both programs may aid learning of engaging in constructivist instruction by providing external supports such as model instruction plans, mentoring, cooperating to solve problems. Nevertheless, the relationship or power hierarchy between mentors and learners is important in cultivating mentees’ capabilities. Practices sharing in community of practices approach, rather than supervisors’ expertise and diagnosis, will help the mentees to enhance their capabilities of solving problems.

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Authors: Lenita Hietanen, Satu Uusiautti, Kaarina Määttä

Entrepreneurship education is recommended to be a part of education already from the beginning of children’s school paths. Often, entrepreneurship education has been defined in a political level and through economic ideologies. However, one of the goals of entrepreneurship education is to achieve entrepreneurial ways of acting regardless of the context or community. This study is a case study of the implementation of entrepreneurship education in music education in basic education. The findings introduce and evaluate the pedagogical solutions in the music education of one Finnish seventh grade. The pupils were given opportunities to set their own goals, experiment multiple options, make decisions and reflect on their actions. They were encouraged and guided to become aware of their entrepreneurial features, skills, and ways of acting. The most important result was that entrepreneurial education can be included in basic education. Suggestions for teachers are given based on the findings.

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Authors: Sabina Kołodziej

Nowadays policymakers, government agencies and educators in Poland and in many European countries emphasize the role of individual possibilities to take independent decisions regarding one’s financial resources. Consequently, the increased interest in financial education programs is observed. Moreover, the complexity of financial products further demonstrates the need for a financial knowledge when making decisions in this sphere. However, simultaneously, the common observation of numerous examples of irrelevant decision-making, consequently leading to financial (e.g. abundant debt) or professional (e.g. loss of work) problems as well as results of studies on the level of financial knowledge show that in many cases our society, most probably, does not have the indispensable level of analyzed knowledge. The article presents results of 2 studies on the relation between financial knowledge and economic decisions made by Polish young adults. The study 1 focuses on the correlation between financial knowledge and saving decisions while the study 2 financial knowledge and respondents debts. In both studies the level of financial knowledge was measured by the test relating to the current economic situation of Poland, knowledge of basic economic and financial concepts and understanding of basic market mechanisms. Specially designed questionnaires analyzed respondents’ savings (study 1) and debts (study 2) decisions. The results of those studies show that examined a group of Polish young adults has an average level of financial knowledge. Moreover, the first study found positive correlation (on the level of statistical trend) between financial knowledge and savings decisions. The results of study 2 showed the higher financial knowledge among people who took credits or loans from bank in comparison with people who take credit and loans outside the banking system. Results obtained in the studies reinforce the idea of the important role of financial education in preparing young people to make their own economic decisions.

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Authors: Agneta Simeonsdotter Svensson

The purpose of this study is to produce knowledge about the impact of pets on preschool children's desire to learn and their development. The research question asked is: What do children learn from and with pets: The example of dog and cat? Socio-cultural theories and developmental pedagogy are used in order to study children’s learning in the preschool. The socio-cultural theories are based on a model describing interactions between people presented by Vygotskij (1978) and further developed by Säljö (2011). This study employed a qualitative exploratory research method with the aim of gaining knowledge concerning a group of 24 children, aged 4-5 years. Individual interviews were used as the method of data collection. The results are presented as two main categories: 1) The pet supports the child in their learning and development process 2) The child is the teacher of the pet. Each main category comprised two subcategories: 1a) Developing empathy and emotions, 1b) Being good at school-related tasks, 2a) Teaching the pet playful exercises, 2b) Teaching the pet to obey. The results show that pets provide children with positive experiences and a sense of feeling good. The children said that they could talk to all the animals and that the animals are listening. When a child is doing activities with an animal or tries to teach an animal some exercises, the child receives a response from the animal. This leads on to new experiences and an increased knowledge regarding social behavior. Using pets for educational purposes in the home, preschool and school, might stimulate an interest in animal care and a commitment to the world´s wildlife and fauna in general.

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Authors: Editorial Board

End page, Vol. 59, 2014, PEC