Problems of Education in the 21st Century

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Cover page, Vol. 62, PEC, 2014

5-7

Authors: Vincentas Lamanauskas

The importance of science and technology is obviously increasing. Such spheres as biotechnology, environmental security, biochemistry, synthetic biology, neurobiology and other have been strongly affected and even changed by science and technology progress. And that affect is growing. It is paradoxical, but over the last decade a decreased youth interest in science and technologies has been observed in many world countries. One of the first serious research studies on that question was initiated and carried out by IOSTE (International Organization for Science and Technology Education, http://ioste.nmmu.ac.za/). The research “The Relevance of Science Education”, http://roseproject.no/) showed that there are essential differences among various countries. One of the most worrying problems is, that in so-called developed countries (e.g., Japan, Norway, Finland, Great Britain and other) the youth interest in science and technologies is poor, the biggest part of youth do not relate their career with science and technologies. Whilst, in so-called developing countries (e.g., Uganda, Philippines, Trinidad and Tobago, Botswana and other) the youth relate their future career with science and technology development and think that this is a guarantee for better life and success. The first international comparative research was carried out in 2004 and repeated in 2008. The results, basically, were similar. Later, the researchers carried out various comparative research studies applying additional variables, for example, (Human Development index, HDI). Again, the same tendency was confirmed, to be more precise, an inverse correlation relationship was obtained. The countries, whose HDI is high, the youth’s interest in science and technologies is poor, and on the contrary, in the countries whose HDI is relatively low, the youth are interested in science and technology development. Though, these results are quite well known in academia, however, they are very important from the political and practical point of view (Lamanauskas, 2014). PISA and TIMMS research studies showed the same tendencies as well. Though the youth in developed countries understand the importance of science and technologies, however, this does not mean a lot to them. One of the most probable causes of such situation is, that at school it is not shown or (insufficiently shown) the importance of science and technologies for future career possibilities. Why isn’t this shown? Again, a lot of things determine such situation. First of all, science subjects and especially math are taught at school referring to formulas, theorems, blindly following the textbooks. Apparently, there is a lack of practical examples, real situations and problem solutions. It is understandable, that this requires much bigger resources – both material and intellectual. Thus, it is necessary to increase the possibilities for pupils to get acquainted with the practical appliance of sciences and math. This includes the attendance of university, plant laboratories, museums and other.

21-28

Authors: Adela Bradea, Karla Peter

In Romania, the curriculum is traditionally strongly based on disciplines, the teachers being primarily specialised in one discipline only. Developing transferable competences requires new ways of teaching and learning, which transcend the traditional boundaries among disciplines. As they are being developed, these competences become important factors in the process of learning competences specific to certain disciplines, while also help the individual to adapt to the dynamics of a complex reality. Thus, given the importance of transferable competences, along with the reform of the curriculum, in the Romanian educational system optional disciplines were also included. The aim of this study was to analyse that, although there is a legislative framework, the development of activities that include multiple learning objectives or results that cross the traditional boundaries among disciplines, is still poor. The strategy used for the study was a complex one. It combined both quantitative research methods and qualitative ones: literature review (framework documents on educational policies), a statistic analysis, a questionnaire-based survey. The results have demonstrated the need for change in school organization and culture, so that the transferable competences acquired become indeed competences for life.

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Authors: Mati Heidmets, Kadi Liik

There is a widely recognized concern over the poor reputation of the teaching profession and lack of attractiveness of the school as a workplace. The aim of this study is to ascertain to what extent the leadership style of the school principal is related to the set of variables describing different aspects of teachers’ wellbeing at the school - teachers’ burnout, job insecurity, teachers’ emotional and cognitive identification with the school and turnover intentions. 305 teachers working in 12 public schools in Estonia were surveyed. Results indicate that the more transformational leadership style prevails over transactional leadership style, the stronger affective and cognitive identification with their school teachers perceive, while the level of teachers’ job insecurity and burnout is lower and they consider the likelihood of leaving their school smaller. Thus, the school principals’ leadership style can be considered as a factor shaping the teachers’ wellbeing at school as well as their emotional attachment to the school as a workplace.

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Authors: Aneta Mechi

With the aim of dealing with educational cross-domain problems that are likely to appear in each course regardless of the teaching domain, the teachers can either take the initiative to help or they can choose not to intervene. Despite the helpful recommendations to make all pupils participate (UNESCO) or no child left behind (NCLB in the United States), most teachers are unaware of their differential helping behavior when they are faced with an ambiguous or problematic educational situation. In line with the bystander effect literature and stereotype content model, the mechanism that underlies the decision of not helping is identified as the feeling that drives an individual to get into the given situation: the feeling of being concerned (FBC). FBC is supposed to redirect individuals away from hasty, biased conclusions and lead them to some distance from any information (i.e., social cognitive flexibility). It is hypothesized that the more one feels concerned by the situation, the more distance he or she tends to take based on the available information. In a current online survey, the participating teachers in training first gave their opinions about the proposed statements (i.e., the social cognitive flexibility measures), then they read one standardized scenario of the educational situation, and finally they responded to questions related to the perceived possibility of helping the pupils in the scenario. The quantitative results (according to ANOVA) show that the teachers with a high FBC report a higher perceived possibility to help and show a higher level of social cognitive flexibility compared to those with a low FBC. These results are supported by significant correlations and are discussed in terms of their implications for the teachers’ practice.

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Authors: Matthew Osaigbovo Ovbiebo

Around 20-24% of South African rural workers in the Eastern Cape are illiterate and unfamiliar with modern and more productive methods of practicing their occupations. Given the challenges that are associated with rural workers, it is important to determine the problems and the prospects they experience, and the ways of providing them with training and skills acquisition. The researcher used empowerment theory as the point of departure for a theoretical framework, and a qualitative explorative study was followed to gather and analyse the data. Data were collected by means of focus group discussions, analysed ethical issues were not left out. The findings from the study revealed that the education which the rural worker would require would contain both formal and informal education. The significance of the findings is to develop the creative ability of the rural worker, to ultimately assist him through the process in creating necessary skills and knowledge for maximum production in their work and standard of living. It is also an articulation of the diversified programmes, which could allow many rural workers to become more productive and fulfilled in their endeavour.

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Authors: Nyet Moi Siew, Chin Lu Chong, Kim On Chin

Testing creativity in general has been well researched, but little has been reported on the development of instruments to test scientific creativity among primary school students. This study describes the development and validation of scientific creativity test for primary school fifth graders. A Scientific Creativity Structure Model (SCSM) was used to guide the development of test items through three dimensions called trait, process and product. Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TCTT) were used to evaluate test item answers. Two equivalent, parallel scientific creativity tests were developed each of which consisted of 4 items posed in the form of: technical product, advances in science or scientific knowledge, understanding of scientific phenomenon and scientific problem solving. The scientific creativity test was validated through analysis of item response data of 206 fifth grade students from two Malaysian primary schools. The scientific creativity test was found to have high internal consistency, inter-scorer reliability and face validity. Both Form A and Form B of the test had an acceptable discrimination index range. The test showed a weak positive, but significant correlation between the items in product and process dimensions, but a very strong correlation between the three trait dimensions of SCSM. Test items on science problem solving have a strong indication loading on spatial analytical thinking. The Item analysis suggests that this test would be useful in assessing scientific creativity of the fifth grade students with further review on test items measuring science problem solving.

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End page, Vol. 62, 2014, PEC

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Cover page, Vol. 61, PEC, 2014

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Authors: Boris Aberšek

Questions about the nature of the teaching/learning process originate in ancient Greek philosophy. What is the role of language? What is the relationship between the individuals? Are we free in our choices? Important ancient philosophers, Democritus, Plato, Aristotle and Lucretius answered these questions in different ways, while Descartes, Spinoza, Hume, Kant and many others continued where they left off. Even today in the Age of Technology, contemporary researchers from the fields of philosophy, cognitive science, neurobiology, and artificial intelligence ask similar, albeit technologically informed, questions. Among these, there are also questions about the relationship between humans and machines, and implications which they carry for solving traditional problems within philosophy, i.e. the mind-body problem, mental causation problem and the problem of consciousness.

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Authors: Janez Bregant

The study argues for the claim that a correct argumentation, i.e. a non-fallacious or good reasoning, should be the essential part of the education process, which is not always the case. The bad argumentation makes human standards and interpersonal relationships worse, and leads to the growth of social conflicts and an instable society. If the legislature, executive and judiciary branches of power did not listen to good arguments, our lives would not be as good as they are since the state might pass bad, dangerous and unjust laws. A person trained in critical thinking starting in their youth would be able to tell a difference between good and bad arguments and recognize the fact that accepting the former and dropping the latter is the only way to avoid the above mentioned negative characteristics of a society. By teaching pupils how to employ the prescribed standards of a correct argumentation using everyday examples helps them to avoid adopting certain views on the ground of their popularity, affections produced in observers, their popularity etc., which are classic examples of logical fallacies. An early training in critical thinking could make obvious the fact that, a democracy consisting among other things also in a social, racial and gender equality, after all, does not mean that sometimes left arguments win and sometimes the right ones, and that there is no difference between them in the long run.

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Authors: Uroš Jagodič, Jacob Staines, Samo Kralj, Robert Repnik

The key reason behind the richness of different structures and patterns displayed in nature is the universal mechanism of symmetry breaking. It shapes configurations at all length scales encountered in universe. Structures reached via symmetry breaking transitions are commonly described in terms of order parameter fields. One of the simplest systems where symmetry breaking concepts have already been explored in detail, are various liquid crystal (LC) phases. The reason behind this is rich variety of structures exhibited by LCs and their convenient experimental accessibility. Consequently, a wide spectrum of different theoretical tools have been developed in LCs. In this contribution the orientational ordering of housing block in San Francisco, which we choose as a typical large-city representative, was studied. Following nematic LC analogy we determine the local degree of ordering. The structural pattern of the city displays a domain-type pattern. The average degree of ordering within a domain strongly correlates with crime rate within it. Therefore, the results confirm an intuitive expectation that structures define properties. This model can be used as a helpful tool in education as it provides a way of understanding complex topics with the help of well-known every day phenomena.

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Authors: Ana Koritnik, Metka Kordigel Aberšek

The study investigated the impact of children’s literature reception on literacy at children with mild mental retardation in the process designed on the adapted receptive model of children’s literature didactics. An experiment of a one-group pretest-posttest design was conducted on the sample of seven children with mild mental retardation. In the period of one semester their literacy program was supported with children’s literature education according to the adapted model of receptive children’s literature didactics. After that, their reading competence was tested with the Assessment scheme of reading competence (Pečjak at. al., 2011), which was focused on two dimensions of the reading process: reading comprehension and the quantitative and qualitative data of students’ reading performance. Among the last one a) reading speed was measured, b) reading rhythm was observed, c) reading mistakes were counted and classified, d) reading accurateness was observed and e) reading expression was measured. The results show the positive impact of the adapted model of receptive children’s literature didactics on students’ reading competence – the reading speed, the reading rhythm the accurateness of reading performance and the reading expression improved and the number of reading mistakes decreased.

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Authors: Marjan Krašna, Tomaž Bratina

Today's student population is rightfully categorized as digital natives. From the beginning of their education, they used ICT. The technological gadgets, internet, and social networks are like a glove to them. Such generation of students require more than just textbooks. In the 2013 University of Maribor establish a task force for e-learning materials development. The goal was to identify the optimal technological, didactical and financial approach to the long process of e-learning materials development. Members of the task force have many workshops presenting different views, acquired experiences from their previous projects, technological constraints, prediction, etc. During these workshops it was decided it would be the best to prepare different types of e-learning materials and test them by the students. From their feedbacks we could set the guidelines for large scale production. At the Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and Faculty of Education students needs to acquire also the digital competences to become successful teachers. For special didactics study programs different types of e-learning materials were produced with different technological approach. The concept was to upgrade the previous deliverables (PowerPoint slides) and narrate them. Narrated slides would enable students to refresh their lectures and should be used as blended e-learning materials. Narrations were prepared in different format: textual narration, voice narration and video narration. But later it was decided that these types are not enough and a mix of narratives (integrated multimedia learning materials) could be used on individual slides depending on the content of the slide. Students first receive the lecture in the classroom and in the same week they need to study associated e-learning materials and write their review of corresponding e-learning materials. In their review students were required to log the required time for studying the e-learning materials; benefits and drawbacks; potential improvement of e-learning materials; and open text of impression of using e-learning materials. Effectiveness and outcomes were tested with the electronic quizzes. Students were highly motivated with these new types of learning materials and provide us valuable feedback. Most efficient were text narrated learning materials, but the favourite was integrated multimedia learning materials. Video and audio narrations take them more time to study since they were constrained with the speed of speech of the recorded lecturer.

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Authors: Marija Ropič

Learning letters is associated with a long-term learning. Two basic models are present in obtaining letters in a systematic literacy in Slovenia and abroad. One represents a separate acquisition of the uppercase and lowercase printed letters (sequentially) and the other deals with letters simultaneously. In practice, teachers often asked themselves, especially in times of reforms in literacy, which model of the acquisition of the letters in initial literacy is more efficient. The research focused on the effect of the two most frequently chosen procedures for acquiring letters of structured literacy in Slovenia, namely the simultaneous treatment of the uppercase and lowercase printed letters (lowercase cursive letters and upper-case cursive letters) and consecutive treatment of letters (uppercase printed letters, lowercase printed letters, lowercase cursive letters, and at last, uppercase printed letters). Furthermore, the focus of the research was on the impact of gender on the ability to write. The incidence of errors was observed in terms of selected procedures for acquiring the letters in groups and gender. At the same time, the effect of consolidation of writing individual letters (uppercase and lowercase printed letters in 2nd class, and lowercase and uppercase cursive letters in 3rd class), was examined.

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Authors: Andrej Šafhalter, Srečko Glodež, Boris Aberšek, Karin Bakračevič Vukman

In recent years 3D modeling has been increasingly utilized during product design in lower secondary schools as well. Its greatest advantage over classical technical drawing and 2D drawing software lies in the fact students are able to observe the object they are designing from all the viewpoints of a virtual three-dimensional space. Since thinking and visualization in the process of object design also appear in three dimensions, the mental manipulation and guesswork required from students in order to add another dimension to an object pictured on a level plane are no longer necessary. Additionally, 3D modeling has a range of contributions to the cognitive development of children, which was also the subject of this research. The central question raised was whether students are able to improve their spatial ability by using modeling tools. The research included 196 students aged between 11– 15 years, of which 95 were placed in the experimental group and 101 in the control group. Spatial ability was measured using pre-test and post-test.

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End page, Vol. 61, 2014, PEC

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Cover, Vol. 60, PEC, 2014

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Authors: Paolo Bussotti

In some previous contributions of mine written for Scientia Educologica’s journals (Bussotti 2012; Bussotti, 2013; Bussotti, 2014) I dealt with the possible use of history of mathematics and science inside mathematics and science education. There is an abundant literature on this subject and I only tried to offer some ideas on possible educative itineraries in which history of mathematics and science could play a role. I had no claim to supply elements for a general theory on the relations history of mathematics-mathematics education and history of science-science education. In this editorial, I would like to deal with a possible interdisciplinary link between philosophical education and mathematics. This link is given by the infinity. The following considerations are valid for all those countries in which some high schools exist where philosophy is taught and, in general, for every course at a philosophical faculty in which the problem of the infinity is faced. Furthermore, they can also be useful in the teaching of mathematics at the high school when the concepts of infinity and infinitesimal (typically while dealing with calculus) are introduced.

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Authors: Isaac Olakanmi Abimbola, Esther Ore Omosewo, Johnson Enero Upahi

The National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) is Nigeria’s plan for prosperity. The plan focuses on four key strategies: reorienting values, reducing poverty, creating wealth and generating employment. In realizing the plan, education is recognized as the vital transformational tool and a formidable instrument for any socioeconomic empowerment. Policy frameworks for education were developed to propel and sustain the NEEDS initiative. The NEEDS set six goals (with targets) for education, and each of the goals is keyed to each of the policy thrust. This study, therefore, attempted to assess the extent to which the targets of NEEDS for education are implemented. A structured questionnaire was developed to elicit 250 university lecturers’ views on the extent of implementation of the education policy thrust of the NEEDS. It was found that, the targets of each of the goals of the plan that were originally designed to be a medium–term development strategy; spanning year (2004-2007) have not been fully realized 10 years after its inception. Conclusion was drawn and recommendations were made, among which are: the NEEDS planners and operators should set specific, realizable targets and time framework of human development, for students to become self-sufficient in the areas of basic needs through skills acquisition and job creation.

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Authors: Diana Carmela Di Gennaro, Erika Marie Pace, Iolanda Zollo, Paola Aiello

In a time where inclusive education has become the underpinning framework of reference for educational policies globally, effective strategies for a smooth and sustainable transformation of educational systems need to be identified. Recent literature on teachers’ attitudes has suggested that the adoption of inclusive policies, although necessary, is not sufficient for its implementation. Particularly, it has highlighted that the successful creation of inclusive environments requires critical reflection on the beliefs and values underpinning the attitudes towards the practical implementation and long-term sustainability of inclusive education. The research presented in this article outlines the historic evolution of the principles characterising inclusive education in Italy and Europe. It then delineates the competencies required for teacher capacity building in inclusive contexts and provides an overview of the founding principles supporting critical reflective practice. In conclusion, it proposes a guided strengths-oriented process aimed at enhancing critical reflection during initial and in-service teacher education courses in order to give teachers the opportunity to reflect on the beliefs and values shaping their practice, as well as explore new routes to bring about improvement and build strategic alliances to be able to handle the complex nature characterising current school contexts.

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Authors: Carmen Fernandez

In recent years the profession of teaching has reached a maturity to the point of being considered a producer of own knowledge necessary to the practice. The teacher is no longer seen as a technician, but as an intellectual actor and the specialized literature advocates teaching as a profession, and it recognizes that the teacher has “knowledge base”, a set of skills that are developed during his teaching activity. The Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) is a concept that seeks to represent the teachers’ professional knowledge and it has been widely used in the literature about teachers' knowledge. It has proved a fruitful model for investigations aimed to document the knowledge that makes one a good teacher. Despite the relevance that the PCK is, the consensus on what is the PCK is still far from being achieved and many researches propose different models and concepts for the PCK, sometimes conflicting. Many works brings the PCK and speak of it as if it were a clear concept and do not clarify which model / conception are using, which makes investigations on the PCK difficult and ends up attracting a lot of criticism. Thus, this study aims to look critically at the various models proposed in the literature most used and point differences and similarities so that an overview can be built with more insight and analyze their use and validity. The study will also present some ways to have access to PCK and the relation between PCK and teacher education is also discussed.

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Authors: Clara Mauaie, Lucy Sayuri Ito, Agnaldo Arroio

Currently, the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Mozambique (MISAU) is developing a Project to strengthen the technical and pedagogical skills of health teachers at the training institute (FORSA-MZ), supported by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The aim of this project is to prepare teachers for a decentralization process. In this context, Media Literacy is recognized as an essential area to promote the critical view of citizens to be able to contribute to the assessment of a democratic society. In this society, citizens should be able to access the mass media critically and to express themselves via this media, as producers. In this context, an educational program was designed to support the teachers’ improvement of skills in using different media in the classrooms in the Republic of Mozambique. This program was developed in 15 different health training institutes by JICA and MISAU. Data were collected for the analysis of pre and post questionnaires, interviews and the materials produced during the courses (comics, photonovels, videos, for example). The results showed that the decentralization of pedagogical tool production and teachers’ empowerment were an important achievement of this educational program, and the media literacy is supporting them to develop their autonomy.

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Authors: J. Alexandre Pinto, J. Bernardino Lopes, António Alberto Silva, Carla A. Santos

Usually elementary teacher education has pitfalls in developing important dimensions of scientific literacy (SL) through science teaching. So, to refine some Teacher Education Program (TEP) characteristics is important to potentiate their positive attitudes towards links amongst science technology and society themes (STS) so that they may improve their students’ SL. This study aims at identifying characteristics of a TEP that promote teachers’ key attitudes about STS and develop dimensions of teaching practice transferral to teachers’ practices to foster their students’ SL. It reports a longitudinal case study (3 years) to refine characteristics of a TEP, answering the questions: a) what features should a TEP have, to improve consistently positive attitudes of teachers about STS?, (b) which gains in teachers' attitudes towards the STS were obtained from the implementation of TEP? The TEP incorporated, progressively, findings based on literature and other characteristics resulting from improvements, namely: (a) exploring contexts and using materials and equipment from daily routine; (b) developing epistemic practices related with experimental work in open challenge activities; (c) transferable teacher mediation traits. The TEP, with the referred characteristics, allowed teacher to develop important attitudes about: scientific inquiry, willingness to engage in issues related to science and science as a social enterprise.

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Authors: Katri-Liis Vainio, Rea Raus

This article aims to find ways to support a learner in a holistic manner, applying Myers-Briggs Typology Indicator (MBTI) as a methodological tool to facilitate learning process by considering learner individualities. Suggestions how to use MBTI in short-term courses of adult training, concentrating on feedback, performance, communication needs are made, based on the results of a study conducted among participants of the voice training. As the MBTI results can be understood and grouped in several ways, this study also compared the results with 3 different versions: Hanson & Silver (1995), Schroeder (1993) and Keirsey & Bates (1978, 1998) findings. Results were found matching most to the findings of Hanson & Silver (1995). This study reveals the typology of learners as Introverts and Extroverts, Analytical Thinkers, Social-Reflective Feelers and Holistic Visionaries. Although the research gives only preliminary conclusions, it gives certain recommendations how to approach different learners during the learning process.

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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.

15-24

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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Cover page, Vol. 58, 2014, PEC

5-12

Authors: Paolo Bussotti

In the period 2012-2013 I got the qualification (abilitazione) to teach history and philosophy in the Italian high schools. The course I followed was called TFA (Tirocinio Formativo Attivo, Active Formative Training). The final examination was constituted by various proofs. Two of them were the written presentations of one educational itinerary in history and one in philosophy. Both of them had to be structured in a series of interconnected lessons. In this editorial I will expose, with some minor modifications, the translation of the educational itinerary I prepared for philosophy. It concerns the scientific revolution of the 17th century. The interest of this itinerary is not limited to the schools in which philosophy is taught, but it can also provide ideas useful in a course of physics at the high school or of history and philosophy of science at the university. What follows is divided into two parts: 1) a general presentation of the aims and methods followed in the lessons; 2) the lessons of the educational itinerary. In my training in philosophy – developed in September and October 2013 in an Italian scientific high school – I presented the following lessons concerning the scientific revolution.

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Authors: Christian Brandmo, Dijana Tiplic, Eyvind Elstad

This study investigates how the achievement goal theory and its measures can be utilized to understand the school principals’ achievement goals for leading. The achievement goal theory is an analytical tool little used when studying educational management. This explorative study aims at developing a measure of principals’ achievement goals for leading, by using a factor analysis of the scores of 270 Norwegian principals. The analysis shows a clear distinction between principals’ mastery and performance goals for leading. Mastery goals for leading were positively correlated with constructs such as principals’ efficacy beliefs for leading, autonomy and teacher-principal trust, while performance goals were weaker or not significantly correlated with these constructs. The study suggests that the context and organizational factors are influencing principals’ purposes of achievement behaviour. Given the increasing emphasis on the accountability of school leaders, the current study suggests the achievement goal theory as a fruitful approach when studying educational leadership.

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Authors: Selma Dundar-Coecke

The purpose of this study is to understand whether the developments in physics, particularly in quantum theory, can have an impact on education. Throughout the research a mixed method strategy was used. Previously, we obtained qualitative data from a focus group which consisted of six physicists working at CERN. From this qualitative data a research question emerged, on which we report here. The data were obtained by survey and subjected to chi-square analysis, as well as frequency distributions. Based on the obtained results, the possible impact of developments in quantum theory on education are discussed, hereby aiming to contribute to the philosophy of science in an educational framework. Consequently, this discussion produces three rich topics for future investigation.

82-98

Authors: Sirpa Kärkkäinen, Katri Hämeen-Anttila, Kirsti Vainio, Tuula Keinonen

Being a part of health education from primary school to the university level, medicine education is a fairly new opening in the field of education. The purpose of this study was to clarify Finnish primary school teacher students’ (N=21) perceptions about medicine education. Data was collected in several ways: a questionnaire, shared blog writings and group discussions. Teacher students’ perceptions about the content of medicine education were quite limited. Although they were well aware of the importance of the proper use of medicines, they also highlighted the discussion of misuse, which is not in accordance with the aims and methods of medicine education. Teacher students only mentioned a few methods on how to teach the proper use of medicines, having themselves had few experiences of medicine education from their own time at school. In teacher education, medicine education could be developed using teaching methods that particularly concentrate on the critical search for information, also emphasizing the importance of modeling, and co-operation with parents and health experts. This study increases and broadens researchers’ and teacher educators’ knowledge about the challenges of medicine education both in teacher education and in schools.

108-117

Authors: Francka Lovšin Kozina, Nina Ponikvar

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of gender, age, parent’s education, scholarship and students’ education on students’ confidence in their financial management capability and knowledge. In the research, 259 students participated from two different faculties – the Faculty of Education and the Faculty of Economics. This investigation has revealed that the likelihood of students’ confidence in their financial management capability and knowledge is significantly smaller for students who do not specialize in economics or business studies, and for female students. The likelihood of confidence in their financial management capability and knowledge also statistically significantly increases with the father’s educational level, but, interestingly, not with the mother’s. The results also showed, although it is not statistically significant, that students on scholarships on average express a higher confidence in their financial management capability and knowledge. Therefore, the adequacy of the current educational policy (formal and non-formal education) should be considered.

127-143

Authors: Aļesja Šapkova

The importance of teachers’ beliefs for students’ learning is highlighted from different sources showing that teachers’ beliefs affect their teaching approach that, in turn, affects students’ achievement. The studies of mathematics teachers’ beliefs in Latvia brought out a contradiction between teachers’ constructivist beliefs on teaching and learning and their traditional routine work while revealing match between some traditional beliefs on teaching and learning and traditionally-oriented instructional practice. The aim of the present study is to explore the possible relationships between the traditional beliefs and practice of mathematics teachers and their students’ achievement in mathematics. For this purpose the Latvian data from two international research projects was analyzed: Singapore National Education Institute project “Non-cognitive skills and Singapore learners – international comparison” and project “Nordic-Baltic comparative research in mathematics education” (NorBa). The sample included 190 mathematics teachers and their 2828 students from grade 9 representing different regions of Latvia, schools with different programs of education, rural areas and cities. The results suggest that the traditional beliefs of teachers are connected with lower students’ achievement in mathematics test, while teachers’ traditionally oriented self-reported practice is positively related to the achievement of their students. The research will discuss the reasons for the outcomes of this study that may refer to a certain extent to other European countries in the sphere of mathematics education that are currently trying to introduce reforms in their systems of education, as well as countries where students demonstrated lower achievements than OECD average in the mathematics test of PISA 2009.

156

Authors: Editorial Board

End page, Vol. 58, PEC, 2014