Journal of Baltic Science Education

267

Authors: Editorial Board

Contents, Vol. 12, No. 3, 2013, JBSE

271-288

Authors: Gül Ünal Çoban

Situating arguments as a central element in the design of inquiry learning environments is important for engaging learners in the coordination of conceptual and epistemological goals. The purpose of this study was to find out the effects of inquiry based laboratory activities which are supported by argument maps on the prospective science teachers’ science process skills and epistemological views. A quasi experimental research was conducted with sixty 3rd grade prospective science teachers of a faculty of education in Turkey for over 3 months. The results displayed that although the inquiry supported by argument maps had significantly affected the science process skills of prospective science teachers’, it did not affect their epistemological views. It is thought that it may take some time and special efforts to see the effects of inquiry supported by argument maps on the epistemological views of prospective science teachers.

299-311

Authors: María Brígido, Digna Couso, Ciro Gutiérrez, Vicente Mellado

A descriptive and comparative study is made of the emotions that prospective primary teachers in three Spanish universities have about teaching and learning the natural sciences, differentiating between approaches to the content of Biology/Geology and Physics/Chemistry. The study was carried out using a closed-response questionnaire which was completed by 315 primary education bachelor's degree students in the Universities of Extremadura, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and the Autónoma of Barcelona (UAB). The results showed that in their recall of their secondary education, most of the prospective teachers have positive emotions towards learning Biology/Geology and negative towards learning Physics/Chemistry. With respect to their future teaching in primary education, there predominated positive emotions towards Biology/Geology, and negative emotions towards Physics/Chemistry, except for the UAB students who reported more positive emotions than negative in this latter case. There was an increase of positive emotions in their expectations of their future teaching of all the science content, and a marked decrease in the negative emotions, relative to the emotions that they had experienced as students of these subjects in secondary school.

322-336

Authors: Abdurrahman Ilgan

Given the worldwide interest in improving student academic attainment, it is important to the examine the variables impacting college students’ achievement. This research aimed to predict student achievement in an undergraduate level Scientific Research Method Course (SRMC) offered by Celal Bayar University, Turkey. This quantitative research adopted a descriptive correlation survey design. 198 sophomore college students were the participants of the study. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to examine how independent variables such as attitudes, competence in teaching methods, length of studying time, gender predict student achievement in SRMC. The findings showed that selected predictors accounted for 33.4 % of students’ academic achievement in SRMC. Specifically, 23% of this variance were explained by the total study hours; 9.4 % of it originated from students’ attitudes toward the lesson; and 2% of it originated from the students’ perceptions of the necessity and importance of the course. Further, these findings are positioned with respect to the previous research on predicting college student achievement.

352-364

Authors: Lutfi Incikabi, Mehmet A. Kurnaz, Murat Pektas

This study aimed to investigate LDE mathematics and science questions in terms of cognitive requirements (knowing, applying and reasoning) and structural properties (conceptual, algorithmic and graphical). The methodology adopted in the current study was document analysis. The results of this study indicated that LDE science assessments emphasized conceptual questions, while mathematics questions were more algorithmic in structure. In addition, both mathematics and science items de-emphasized graphical representations. In terms of their cognitive requirements, both science and mathematics LDE items neglected the cognitive domain of reasoning. Moreover, science questions mostly met in the intersection of knowing and conceptual, while mathematics questions often required students to apply knowledge on algorithmic questions. This study also concluded that the distribution of question requirements differed from year to year. Some implications regarding the results included that implementing a nation-wide assessment that neglects graphical representations contradicts the target goal of the mathematics and science programs in Turkey. The fact that the LDE was designed to determine the level of students’ learning yet neglects reasoning questions also presents a contradiction to the curricular aims.

378-388

Authors: Alexandru Balog, Costin Pribeanu, Vincentas Lamanauskas, Violeta Šlekienė

The rapid expansion of social networking websites is raising several issues regarding the influence on the individual and social behavior of users. It is without doubt, that social networking websites are a phenomenon of a contemporary society, which has to be explored in various aspects. It is only because SNW are becoming more and more important for the whole society, especially for the youth, after all, they undoubtedly change the world. Their penetration is observed in various society life spheres. Education is not an exception. It can be stated, that SNW change educational processes. However, the main question is: how change? Can they harm, or maybe on the contrary – help in terms of education. Having carried out empiric research, a hierarchical and multidimensional measurement model was developed to explore the negative effects of these websites. The model has been tested on one sample and cross validated on another sample. It has been stated, that SNW negative effects is a multidimensional construct, having several facets that describe distinct aspects.