Journal of Baltic Science Education

140-144

Authors: Vincentas Lamanauskas

It is obvious that the theories of Piaget and Bruner left some gaps in the assessment of the evolution of children‘s individuality. Naturally, it was noticed by such famous researchers as Maslow, Rogers, etc. who were the classics of psychology. From the viewpoint of psychology, self actualization, self-expression, etc, are notably crucial aspects while the educational process is approached as the pupil‘s intrinsic, controlled phenomenon. To some purpose, the Lithuania’s National Concept of Education (1992) maintains that humanism is the assertion of human incomparable value, freedom of choice, and responsibility. As the reform of the Lithuanian educational system is still in progress more and more attention is focused on individual training and human values fostering. The present humankind has to solve a number of serious problems. Under the threat of the ecology catastrophe, concern for physical and spiritual health care is felt. All our relations with nature turn out to be problematic. The establishment of a harmonious correlation between nature and society becomes an important task. We cannot exclusively rely on knowledge and mind in any activity as these are not overall dimensions. We also understand having no opportunities to become the lords of nature. According to Nazarenko, ecology problems can be solved taking advantages of science and technology achievements. However, the dynamics of the process should become individual and public, high virtuous and ecologic culture (Nazarenko, 1993). A psychologist Asmolov proposes that the worst of it is that culture oriented towards benefit. Therefore, the humanization and socialization of natural science education is a relevant pedagogic problem.

157-171

Authors: Nilgün Seçken

The aim of the study is to develop a valid and reliable attitude scale in order to measure the chemistry student-Teachers’ attitudes towards nano technology. During the development phase, a total of twenty-one items that included eleven negative and ten positive statements about nano technology were produced based on experts’ views. These items were statistically analysed in terms of different aspects. The data obtained through these analyses were analyzed by using SPSS software. In the study, the scale was administered to 550 undergarduate students. The data obtained was analysed through factor analysis and reliability analysis. At the final stage, the scale was found to include four factors with sixteen items. After the factor analysis, according to Varimax Rotated (rotated Component Matrix) results, has been found to be four factors and Cronbach-Alpha internal integrity of the final version of the scale was found to be 0,859.The article also includes suggestions about how this scale can be employed.

182-190

Authors: Konstantinos Ravanis, Jean Marie Boilevin

Children’s mental representations of physical concepts and phenomena are often different from those of scientists. In this paper we investigate the issue of understanding light in space as an entity by schoolchildren aged 5 (127 subjects), 8 (142 subjects) and 10 (132 subjects), before they receive any systematic teaching in school. This research was conducted through individual interviews in which the children were asked to talk about light and its results and to locate it in various experimental situations. The results of this study show that even though all the children of all ages have difficulty understanding light as an entity in space, as they grow older they make significant progress in disconnecting light from light sources. These findings allow us to seek out educational perspectives on the understanding of the concept of light in organised scholastic environments.