Journal of Baltic Science Education

1-2

Authors: Editorial Board

Cover page, Vol. 19, No. 1, 2020, JBSE

4-5

Authors: Andrej Šorgo

For most educators, grading and marking assignments are not high on their wish lists for their teaching routines. In the context of learning, the same can be said for their students, where examinations are associated with feelings such as insecurity, anxiety, fear, and stress. For diverse reasons, such as allowing students to self-assess their knowledge or providing homework, many teachers who are more advanced in the application of ICT, are already putting quizzes and tests online. Nowadays, such tests are in most cases delivered and assessed automatically, with an automatic system. Often, such basic systems provide feedback to the students if an answer is correct and a summary of the outcome. So far, so good ˗ after testing, students know what they still have to learn and what they have already learned. Equally, teachers get the same information about the students. In this way, a teacher’s time can be spent on better purpose. However, the drawback is that tests are uniform in the format of the templates provided by the system, the philosophy of test construction and the grading by their developers. Additionally, if not controlled, such tests can even be answered by people other than the target students.

25-35

Authors: Şengül Atasoy, Seyhan Eryılmaz Toksoy, Muammer Çalık

Since concept cartoons give an important opportunity for students to achieve informal physics learning, the current research focused on pre-service teachers’ initial impressions of the concept cartoons in the school corridors and informal physics learning. The aim of the research was to determine pre-service teachers’ initial impressions of the concept cartoons in the school corridors and informal physics learning via the concept cartoons. After a 14-week intervention, a questionnaire with seven open-ended questions was administered to 542 pre-service teachers from primary, mathematics and science teacher education programmes. Their responses to the questionnaire were exposed to qualitative content analysis via two categories (advanced and poor impression). The results showed that pre-service teachers generally refered to advanced impressions of the concept cartoons. In light of the results, it can be deduced that the concept cartoons have enhanced their initial impressions of informal physics/science learning via the concept cartoons. The current research recommends that pre-service teachers should be encouraged to produce their own concept cartoons on the topic(s) they found difficult.

50-63

Authors: Yi-Chun Chen, Fang-Ying Yang, Cheng-Chieh Chang

Science learning requires visuospatial thinking. Accordingly, spatial ability is regarded as the key to learning science well, but its effects are sometimes not as significant as expected. To this end, this research aims to conceptualize spatial abilities and to clarify their relation to science learning based on an analysis of empirical studies. Content analysis of 39 studies showed that (1) intrinsic-dynamic skills are the most frequently measured, (2) the explored science topics mostly involve well-established knowledge, (3) the effects of spatial ability on science achievement are inconsistent, and (4) educational interventions are not always effective in improving students’ spatial abilities or science achievement. It is argued that domain knowledge interferes with the study results and that domain-specific spatial ability exists, referring to apply spatial-type and domain-specific knowledge. Supported by cognitive theories and empirical evidence, a model is constructed to exhibit the relations between domain-general and domain-specific spatial ability as well as their effects on science achievement. According to the model, the two spatial abilities functionally partially overlap in the operations of spatial skills, and educational experience and malleable spatial skills are reciprocal; however, improvement in general spatial ability, involving the function of the central executive system, is likely limited.

76-90

Authors: Mehmet Diyaddin Yaşar

The aim of this research was to find out the assessment literacy level of chemistry teachers in Turkey. For the purpose of the research, different types of formative assessment techniques were included in the research. This research was conducted as a case study, which is a kind of qualitative research design. The participants in the research were 12 chemistry teachers working in different high schools in Şanlıurfa, one of the largest cities in south-eastern Turkey in 2017-2018 spring term. Research data were collected with a semi-structured interview form. Content analysis was performed on the research data. According to the results, chemistry teachers did not have sufficient perception and knowledge about diagnostic and formative assessment. Chemistry teachers’ perception related to objective of formative assessment techniques was very low and it was almost unfamiliar to them. Also, chemistry teachers had little perception about how formative assessment techniques should be prepared and what is their function. Their perception related to the interpretation/scoring of the results obtained from formative assessment techniques was almost non-existent. They had serious deficiencies related to formative assessment techniques and they focused on summative assessment rather than formative assessment and related techniques in their chemistry classes.

108-120

Authors: Eli Rohaeti, Anti Kolonial Prodjosantoso, Irwanto

Promoting students’ attitudes, a part of affective domains is a major goal in higher education. Unfortunately, only a few studies were available related to the improvement of pre-service chemistry teachers’ attitudes as this domain was rarely explored using a mixed teaching approach. In this quasi-experimental research, we investigated the effect of the Research-Oriented Collaborative Inquiry Learning (REORCILEA) in improving students’ scientific attitudes. A total of sixty-four (6 males, 58 females) first-year pre-service chemistry teachers at the Department of Chemistry Education of a public university in Indonesia attended the General Chemistry course. In order to collect the data, the Scientific Attitudes Scale and Interview Protocol were administered. The data were then analyzed using t-test and thematic analysis. The results of the t-test revealed that students in the experimental group obtained significantly greater scores than the ones of the control group regarding their scientific attitudes. After analyzing the interview data qualitatively, students who were exposed to non-traditional teaching approach had stronger learning interests and enjoyed the chemistry lectures. In conclusion, REORCILEA model could be considered more effective in improving students’ scientific attitudes compared to conventional teaching methods.

142-156

Authors: Johnson E. Upahi, Umesh Ramnarain

Open-ended problem-solving skills have been identified as employable skills, which undergraduate students will need to have in order to cope with real-life problems in their workplaces after graduation. However, the development and assessment of these skills have been inconsistent across courses offered in universities. This research examined undergraduate students’ ability to engage with open-ended chemistry problems, and the influence of their working memory space on problem solving. The research is a descriptive research design that employed a survey method for collection data. A purposive sampling technique was used to recruit 665 students from 19 chemistry departments in Nigerian universities. The students’ ability to solve open-ended problems was measured in terms of their performance and was found to be below average (< 50). The female students outperformed their male counterparts in the chemistry open-ended problem-solving test (ChemOPST). A strong positive correlation was found to exist between students’ working memory capacity and their performance in the ChemOPST. The research concludes on the need for experiential-based learning of chemical concepts which could help students build a knowledge base that is required to engage with problems that have real-life applications.

174-176

Authors: Editorial Board

End page, Vol. 19, No. 1, 2020, JBSE