Problems of Education in the 21st Century

511-512

Authors: Editorial Board

Contents, Vol. 79, No. 4, 2021, PEC

516-543

Authors: Michal Černý

Information literacy is a critical topic in contemporary pedagogy and information science, it is ranked among the essential competencies for the 21st century, and in recent years, it has received increasing research interest. The problem, however, is that the research is focused mainly on primary and university (college) contexts and only rarely analyses secondary school settings. This paper, therefore, focuses on a group of high school students and on whether the literature's idea of their needs corresponds to their actual needs. Based on the analysis of 32 documents indexed in the Scopus and Web of Science databases, the paper identifies seven significant discursive areas addressed in the literature, both theoretically and empirically. These are the relationship of libraries and librarians to the development of information literacy, information evaluation, the relationship of information literacy and learning competencies, connection with other competencies, emphasis on constructivist approach, the social dimension of information literacy and its possible use for self-actualization. These topics form a specific research discourse, which they set out. In the second phase of the research, focus groups (8 groups in 4 schools, 41 students) on information literacy are studied through the seven essential discourses mentioned. Although our sample lacked reflections on the relationship between the library and high school students, the remaining six fundamental discourses appeared in the testimonies of high school students (Libraries and librarians, evaluation of information, learning competencies, connection with other literacy, constructivist approach, the social dimension of information literacy, information literacy as a means of self-actualization). The findings show that the main difference between literary discourse and student responses is in the perception of libraries as centres of information literacy development and that students prefer the school or their teachers in their place.

554-567

Authors: Anatolii Ivanchuk, Tetiana Zuziak, Oksana Marushchak, Anatolii Matviichuk, Viktor Solovei

Technical literacy is a component of professional competence of the pre-service technology teacher. However, the course content of technical disciplines in the pedagogical universities of Ukraine is not consistent with the content knowledge subsequently used in teaching practice of a technology teacher. Also, there is a need in general technical literacy of the students, yet it is developed only in its engineering design aspect. In the paper, it was proved that for the general technical literacy of pre-service technology teachers the basic concepts are the following technical phenomena: motion transmission, changes in kinematic parameters of motion, changes in force parameters of motion. Natural and scientific foundations of the machine drives were used as the basic topic-specific knowledge. It was hypothesized that effectiveness of teaching technical literacy to children would raise if the narrative about the technical phenomena is included in the content of the “Utility machinery” course for the pre-service technology teachers. The pedagogical experiment was performed in the Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University (Ukraine). It included ascertaining, formative, and control stages. At the ascertaining stage of the pedagogical experiment, the students’ readiness level to study technical phenomena was determined. At the formative stage, the students’ readiness to develop children’s technical literacy was measured. At the control stage, students’ readiness level to develop technical literacy was estimated in experimental and control groups. Theoretical value of the results is in substantiating technical topic-specific content knowledge as necessary for the pre-service technology teachers. Practical significance of the results is in implementation of the narratives about technical phenomena in the learning practice of the students of pedagogical university.

585-596

Authors: Kamil Arif Kırkıç, Feriha Uludağ

Achievement in a course mostly depends on the students' characteristics and how teachers make their courses effective for their students' learning. Although different characteristics of teachers and students can affect learning outcomes, new approaches like STEM may cause new characteristics which affect students’ achievement as STEM attitudes. This study examines the correlation between secondary school students' STEM attitudes and their achievement in the Technology and Design Course (T & DC). A correlational survey model was applied in the study. A total of 400 students studying in the seventh and eighth grades constitute the sample of the study. A personal data form and STEM attitude test were utilized to collect data. Pearson Correlation Analysis and Regression Analysis techniques were used in the data analysis process. As a result of the analysis, it was found a positive and significant correlation between students' Technology and Design Course achievement and STEM attitudes. Students' attitudes to STEM predict their achievement in the Technology and Design Course by 5.1%. Students developing positive STEM attitudes can further enhance achievement in the (T&DC), which enables students to acquire the necessary design skills to produce technology in the future.

611-625

Authors: Ly Thi Bac La, Nga Thi Thu Nguyen, Anh Thi Thuy Truong, Thu-Giang Tran, The-Thang Nguyen

Cohesive speech has commonly become regarded as one of the essential aspects of language development, especially for pre-schoolers. This study aimed to shed light on the cohesive speech of pre-schoolers (CSP) knowledge base. Three hundred ninety-five publications close related cohesive speech research of 5-6-year-old children were collected from the Scopus database. By using the bibliometric approach, the results showed the growth rate of publications over time from 1970 to 2020. In this period, the top five countries, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil and France, have published over 60% of total documents. Besides, four main interests of authors in this field were discovered: “language development”, “speech pathology outcomes”, “speech therapy”, “language intervention”. Among these themes, “speech pathology outcomes” was the most relevant one. Another finding, in recent years, scholars focused on aspects of autism spectrum disorder of pre-schoolers. More importantly, the achievements of this discipline have considerably made positive contributions to various fields both in terms of theory and practice, especially in language and linguistics, speech and hearing, psychology, and medicine. Overall, these studies highlight the need for many other studies, particularly relevant to pre-schooling when new generations should be better prepared to be happy in school by their future cognitive developments.

640-656

Authors: Duygu Turgut, Zeha Yakar

Considering the recent rapid developments in science and technology, it is quite important for individuals to be able to make decisions about their own future and their children's future for the society in which they live and to know how to establish a balance of risk and decision. For this reason, teacher training programs should be planned to internalize pre-service teachers' awareness of responsibility. Regarding this point, the development of pre-service science teachers' bioethical values was examined on a class level basis using survey research. Research sample consisted total of 286 pre-service teachers of Science Teacher Training Program. Bioethical Values Questionnaire was applied to determine pre-service teachers’ bioethical values. As a result of analyses, it was determined that pre-service teachers’ bioethical values increased according to their class levels they attended. It was stated that pre-service science teachers’ bioethical values related to sub-dimensions of “Benefits of Biotechnology Applications”, “Science and Ethics”, “Reproductive Technologies and Cloning” and “Control of Genetic Interventions” were increased based on participants’ class levels. In addition, the results of the study revealed that pre-service teachers also had some concerns about the benefits of biotechnology applications.

674-685

Authors: Barbara Zaman, Francka Lovšin Kozina

Today’s world is facing a problem with the growth of textile products and in particular, textile waste, which already represents a serious environmental problem. From the point of view of ensuring sustainable handling of textile products, it is thus very important that individuals have the appropriate knowledge, attitudes and skills for sustainable handling of textile products or that they are properly ‘textile literate’. After all, appropriate textile literacy enables individuals to act according to the concept of sustainable development. The purpose of this research, which included 80 students from three Slovenian schools, who had completed their lower secondary education in the 2018/2019 school year, was to find out what their basic textile knowledge was and how they transferred it into their daily lives. Ninth graders were found to be deficient in basic textile skills, with girls having statistically significant better knowledge than boys. The girls were also statistically significantly better at recognising the connection between the acquired knowledge and everyday life and achieved a better result in terms of sustainable handling of textile products. The research findings can help teachers to be aware of the critical points in textile teaching in the context of sustainable development. The results also suggest that the current placement of textile content in the fifth grade, without further upgrading of the content in higher grades is not optimal. Most of the surveyed students had high grades in the fifth grade, but knowledge that is vital from the point of view of the sustainable behaviour of an individual is low in the ninth grade. These results can provide useful information for school policy makers who want to follow modern concepts of sustainable development.