Problems of Education in the 21st Century

5-8

Authors: Vincentas Lamanauskas

The title of the article does not promise a positive attitude towards education. The reader can feel impressed that the only purpose of the author is the criticism of education with no positive points. However, this is a wrong position as any vivid detail can be clearly noticed. On the other hand, both positive and negative sides need to be considered and in this case, improvement and modernization are not the only ways. A steady increase in welfare is a myth, thus there is no need to discuss which area of life looks is described. When mentioning progress in education and modernization, we must face the other side of the road full of phenomena of degraded education which is not new in Lithuania. The last decade has generated discussions on this issue at different levels, although this is unfashionable and finally useless from different points of view. The most pressing problem is that the concept of degraded education has not been accepted as reality up to now. Therefore, the above introduced points should be plausibly argued.

20-29

Authors: Bernard W. Andrews

ArtsSmarts, a national arts education initiative, supports artists collaborating with teachers to implement arts instruction in partnership with school and community organizations. This study was undertaken after policy interventions were undertaken by the partners to refine 214 arts education projects across Canada. Findings indicate that the projects emphasized student exploration, creativity and arts integration across the curriculum, and teachers undertook an increased role in organizing and participating in the projects. Most projects were offered at single sites in urban settings, and projects were extended over the school term to increase their impact on learning. Visual arts was the most common arts discipline and grade five was the dominant grade level in which arts partnership projects occurred within the national arts program.

41-50

Authors: Martin Bílek, Ivana Šimonová, Jan Lašek

The paper deals with research activities run at the University of Hradec Kralove, Faculty of Education and Faculty of Informatics and Management, Czech Republic, which relate to information and communication technologies implemented in the process of instruction in various subjects. Particularly the role of a virtual learning environment (VLE) is mentioned and discussed, and information about core current projects is provided. The project work is understood to be a tool of VLE reflection, which is considered both from generally accepted points of view, and some new approaches are also introduced.

60-86

Authors: Michalis Evripiotis, Vassilis Orfanos

The introduction of technology in general and especially information technology in education is a big change in the educational concepts which has taken place during the last two or three decades all over Europe. Besides, Europe through the process of continuous education improvement tries to maintain maybe the unique but also so much decisive comparative advantage that it possesses against all the other countries of our planet that is nothing else but the quality of its human potential. This article presents with brevity the important steps that the main European countries have made in the introduction of modern technologies of information technology in the primary and secondary education, as well as the process and the problems of their introduction in the Greek school. We believe that this experience will be very useful in a country like Lithuania that has already made very important steps in this sector simultaneously with its successfully continuing transition in the market economy system.

97-104

Authors: Blanka Frydrychova Klimova

The article firstly discusses cultural differences between Western and Central European cultures as far as the academic register is concerned. Moreover, the fact why Czech students have a lack of experience in writing is explained. Secondly, the most problematic areas – linguistic and stylistic – (e.g. articles, word order, indirect speech, long sentences, register . . . ) the first-year students at the Faculty of Informatics and Management in the Czech Republic have to pay attention to when they write an academic paper in English are being analyzed. Thirdly, a new approach to writing at a university level is introduced and a few challenging assignments how to make writing more attractive are explored in the article. Thus, the reader might experience how students increase their communicative competence in writing, their motivation, cultural awareness and responsibility when, for instance, they write an article for Wikipedia.

124-136

Authors: Vincentas Lamanauskas, Violeta Šlekienė, Loreta Ragulienė

It is accepted that ICT makes the process of teaching/learning more effective and beneficial whereas the education system starts functioning faster. The development of ICT and the process of globalization determine alteration in the education system as well as in the whole society. The implementation of new technologies in the educational process raises new possibilities for both teacher and learner, enhances education quality and makes the educational process more versatile. A crucial point is that employing ICT must be highly efficient in the process of training would-be teachers of sciences. The students graduated from comprehensive or upper secondary (gymnasium) schools have a broad knowledge of mastering ICT the major part of which are PCs, palmtop computers, mobile phones, different kinds of audio, video and digital players etc. In this case, we encounter a problem of how to properly develop the acquired abilities in the further process of studying. Thus, the object of our research is the ability of the fourth-year undergraduates to use information and communication technologies. The aim of research is to gain information concerning the fourth-year students’ opinion on the application of ICT in the process of studies. The research A Student and Information and Communication Technologies was conducted in January – March, 2010. Research sample consisted of 322 respondents who were 4th year university students. To analyze research data, the measures of descriptive statistics (absolute and relative frequencies, popularity/usefulness/necessity indexes) have been applied. The surveyed fourth-year undergraduates have almost unlimited possibilities of using a computer, mobile phone, the Internet and an electronic data storage device - USB flash drive. The students almost daily use the basic functions of the mobile phone (writing SMS, calling). However, calling to other people using a mobile phone and sending SMS are a more frequent occupation of females as male students are tend to search for information on the Internet and send and receive e-mails. Considering all aspects of using information and communication technologies among the surveyed fourth-year students that graduated from city or regional schools, no statistically significant deviation has been noticed.

146-157

Authors: Jane Mattisson, Teri Schamp-Bjerede

This article discusses an on-going pilot project for improving essay writing at Kristianstad University, Sweden. It presents a so-called boilerplate which has been designed for Master’s-level English students. This e-learning tool is used as a cognitive tool that facilitates learning with as opposed to learning through technology. The boilerplate is part of a joint learning system (Kim & Reeves, 2007) in which there are three equal participants in the learning process: the tool, learner, and activity. As technology is increasingly implemented in education, there is a need to understand pedagogical processes that not only take into consideration the student, but how the technology is used by the student. Our paper discusses the e-learning tool created at Kristianstad University, and looks at the first, preliminary results of its use in connection with pedagogical issues, usability, and interaction.

166-178

Authors: Ineta Ruškuvienė, Dalia Augienė, Domas Auga

The article analyses structural and intensity features identifying parents and pedagogues’ social attitudes towards education of disabled children. The performed research allows to assert that the structure of attitudes towards educability of disabled people contains the following components: recognition of personality and social value of a disabled person, recognition of their abilities, pedagogical pessimism, fatalism, humanistic pedagogics, segregation, inferiority of a disabled personality and their family, orientation to social – every day education priorities, the underestimation of special education needs, archetypical fears of socializing with a disabled person, pedagogue’s function as a family substitute. In fact, all these components integrate into two main educability construct dimensions, pedagogic pessimism and pedagogic optimism. Features of commonness and individuality identify parents and pedagogues’ social attitudes towards educability of mentally disabled people. Commonness lies in the educability model, its structure. Individuality means that parents’ social attitudes towards educability of their disabled children are oriented (with respect to attitude intensity) to a person, whilst pedagogues’ – into education and integration process. The intensity of parents and pedagogues’ social attitudes changes depending on social –demographic factors. The attitude’s intensity (positive and negative evaluation range) to their disabled child’s educability is conditioned mostly by parents’ psychological state. Professional motivation, age, professional activity place, the type of educational institution condition pedagogue attitude’s intensity the most.

5-7

Authors: Vincentas Lamanauskas

An international cooperation is undoubtedly an important issue. Science is science and it has an international character. Moreover, such cooperation is crucially important for scientists from former Soviet Union countries, because they had no possibility to communicate with colleagues from abroad or such cooperation was strongly limited. It is obvious if we want to obtain the necessary scientific information about different things, to enlarge technological possibilities of societies and so on, generally speaking, to make our world more safe and better, international cooperation among scientists is essential. Only all together we will be able to meet a broad range of global challenges today and tommorow.

16-24

Authors: Yordanka Dimova, Margarita Panayotova, Darina Uzova

The article aims to introduce the reader with the results from the second part of a survey on the concept of “Nature” in the minds of 13-year-old Bulgarian students. This time, we focus on the question: What biological objects and knowledge are reflected in the verbal associations of the students? The method of study used is a chain associative experiment carried out following the S (stimulus) – Ri (reactions) pattern. Each participant is required to write down the first 7 words that come to their mind when the word "nature" is pronounced. 1400 reactions are used to reconstruct the associative fields objectifying the conscious and unconscious layers of the cultural concept of ‘nature’ in the linguistic consciousness of the participants (100 students in the 6th and 100 students in the 7th grade). We analyze 988 words-reactions that have connection to the biological aspects of the concept of “Nature”. We have also described how the associative experiment became a stimulus for organizing a competition for best painting and essay on the subject of “Me and Nature” at a school in Sliven.

33-44

Authors: Janis Gedrovics, Jari Lavonen, Jekabs Raipulis

In the last few decades the analysis of data, obtained from different science and technology education related international surveys, has produced some new viewpoints such as the diversity of cultures, the trends of globalization, different theories such as postmodernism, self-determination. Within those researches different reference factors have been investigated to obtain results, possible to explain different phenomena observed in the society. In our research some indexes such as Human Development Index (HDI) and Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) normally used in sociological research have been used with the aim to find correlations with the international ROSE (The Relevance of Science Education) project data. The items in the ROSE questionnaire are measuring students’ general interest in science and technology and their interest in different content and contexts of science and technology as well as students’ science and technology related experiences. Based on our analysis, there were relatively high correlation between the mean values of different national ROSE variables and responding HDI index.

54-63

Authors: Tuula Keinonen, Sirpa Kärkkäinen

In science and environmental education, one of the objectives is to prepare students for participation in the decision making. To be able as an informed citizen to make decisions, it is important to learn to present an argued point of view. The everyday sense of argumentation suggests that participants present claims, defend their claims, and rebut the claims of their opponents. The study focuses on practising university students’ argumentation in an authentic situation and also the way students argue. University students familiarized themselves with a proposal to change a provincial plan. After reading the plan, they assumed to the role of a resident of the area in question and wrote to the planners starting their opinion. We had two different cases: the first case was in science education course and the other case in environmental education course. In the second case students wrote to the Wiki-environment and the opponent commented on the argumentation. These writings (N=17) were analysed by content analysis. Although the students used scientific knowledge, especially ecology, in their argumentation, it often consisted of personal feelings about the effect of the plan on their own lives.

76-86

Authors: Simeon Mbewe, Vivien Mweene Chabalengula, Frackson Mumba

This study explored pre-service teachers’ familiarity, interest, and conceptual understanding of science process skills. A sample comprised ninety one primary school pre-service teachers at a university in the Midwest of the USA. Participants were enrolled in two science education courses; introductory science teaching methods course and advanced science methods course. The introductory science methods course is mainly focused on developing science process skills among pre-service teachers while the advanced science methods course is focused on content and pedagogical knowledge. Data were collected through a questionnaire. Results showed that pre-service teachers had higher familiarity and interest levels in science process skills, but very poor conceptual understanding of the science process skills. Their incorrect definitions of science processes ranged from not having any idea to tautology. Moreover, most participants interchanged definitions of some science processes notably measuring and quantification; and predicting and inferring. The findings have implications for science teaching, learning and teacher education.

99-108

Authors: Sławomir Postek, Maria Ledzińska, Jakub Czarkowski

Our main focus is to highlight the most important challenges in distance education aimed at adults: specific psychological challenges coming from adult development, the problems of quality and evaluation, and the effect particular distance education forms and their content (interactivity, salience, and multimedia additions) have on adult learning. In the opening section, theoretical grounds for how adults learn, treat learning, how they function in informational stress and in the role of a pupil are presented. This is than followed by the discussion of pedagogical aspects (motivation, self esteem etc) of results evaluation and didactical difficulties of planning high quality distance learning. Finally, a review of research results into how different types of material content affects adults’ perception and comprehension and how retention and transfer and influenced in effect. In the summary, we move on to discuss how b-learning (blended) and c-learning (complementary) could be employed in order to facilitate adult distance learning and propose research fields to explore in this area.

117-129

Authors: Tiina Tambaum

In summer 2009, a qualitative study among the late middle-aged and older people in Estonia was carried out in order to find out the functions of the Internet for the older generation and the expectations and fears of the elderly for the Internet. By this study, it was tried to find out what are the needs of the elderly for which they prefer to use the Internet; what kind of contents or functions do the elderly miss in the Internet; what kind of role-taking and contents are unpleasant or scaring for the elderly Internet user. Semi-structured interview was used, 34 elderly Internet users were interviewed during seven interviews. The study indicated that the interviewed elderly find the Internet primarily as an environment for everyday practical operations and it is not perceived as an entertainer. Of the contents available in the Internet, the elderly are disturbed by the negativism, superficiality, obscenities, humiliation and excessive concentration on the topics of private lives. The waste of time and the risk to express itself incorrectly or wrongly are felt as dangers of the Internet usage among the elderly. The article gives recommendations for carrying out the Internet training for the elderly and explains which Internet functions and contents could be chosen as the content of the Internet skills training in order to create and maintain the interest and satisfaction of elderly learners. The results referred to the need to continue the study on the expectations of the elderly Internet users and to study thoroughly the attitude especially of the elderly men to the Internet as a tool of communication and the role of the Internet games in the lives of the elderly and Internet training.

5-11

Authors: Vincentas Lamanauskas

A contemporary environment solves highly relevant issues of environmental protection, natural usage, ecology, etc. In order to overcome all serious obstacles, it all requires our new approach and efforts of the experts’ of different fields. The global matters are our general concern. This is ipso facto because none of the problems is isolated. Most of them are mixed, versatilely determined and originally undivided. Thus, the process of the correlation awareness is rather complex and hardly achievable. The decision is possible only if the points are thoroughly examined in a close correlation. On the other side, the mentioned issues cannot be the only scientists’ concern. This is a business of the whole society and school as “the scale of human activity started reaching the elemental natural processes. The ideal of partnership between nature and human being changed when the latter has become the lord of nature in reality... The ecology era is considered to have been started because neither science nor practice can dispose of ecology problems.

21-28

Authors: Halimah Awang, Noor Azina Ismail

Students’ experience and satisfaction influence student retention rate and contribute directly to the building of good reputation of a university. The student retention rate is likely to be high if their expectations are met. Thus it is not surprising that universities continue to conduct regular surveys concerning students’ expectations and perceptions as part of their quality improvement exercise. This study looked at the various aspects of undergraduate students’ experience pursuing an economics program in a public university in Malaysia. Gap analysis was employed to examine the difference between students’ expectations and satisfaction level for a given statement related to academic as well as non-academic life. The two most important aspects ranked by the students concern lecturers’ knowledge in their respective field and the students’ sense of pride about the faculty are also the aspects in which they are most satisfied. Generally the students’ expectation of the faculty is very high and the gap scores indicate statistical significance for all items related to teaching and learning, faculty life as well as facilities and support services.

37-46

Authors: Rudīte Čevere, Sandra Sproģe

The analysis and comparison of quality assurance of the development processes, quality models and quality evaluation of the results in software development allows observing a set of similar characteristics through the same concepts in the sphere of education, particularly in the studies of information technologies. Comparison is based on the quality assurance in accordance with the requirements of ISO 9001 standard and Quality Life Cycle Model of software development described in ISO 9126 standard. Similar approach may be applied during the formation of a quality life cycle scheme for the study process and quality model of an education system. A short review of the most popular methods of quality assurance of processes and product quality models used in software development and in education represents the comprehensive attention which has been paid to the quality assurance almost in all spheres of activities for the past years. Involvement of lecturers and students of information technologies in quality evaluation of the study courses is described as part of this process. The review of results and processes which is a well-known method of work in software development can be used in this evaluation. The present paper applies an approach, terminology and the concept of quality from ISO 9001 and ISO 9126 standards.

64-70

Authors: Geert Franzenburg

Based on coaching and educational experiences with Latvian and German students, the importance and characteristics of intercultural training and coaching may be demonstrated. Besides targeting to an increase of intercultural sensibility for a group of participants, intercultural coaching focuses on accompanying the individual’s specific processes and provides support to the individual working internationally. As such intercultural coaching focuses strongly on the requirements of the targeted group and cannot be standardized. Each and every situation and interaction has its own individual context and history. International coaching should therefore be part of a target or specific goal oriented agreement which acts as the basis of a relationship between coach and client; thus, the coach has the task to analyze the spontaneous dynamics, the meanings and the consequences of the new situation. The research describes theoretical aspects of and practical experience with intercultural coaching concerning educational situations and contexts (communication, learning, teaching, counseling), following the different aspects of intercultural coaching in educational situations (language, history, mentality).

83-95

Authors: Tiiu Kuurme

Low satisfaction with school expressed by Estonian students has inspired the author to ask what is the influence of everyday school conditions upon young people’s world of experiences. The author concentrates on the question how students perceive the school institution’s attitude to them and discusses about educational effects of these attitudes. Theoretical background of the approach is in existential phenomenology and its conception of man whose being actualises through different situations. Connected with that the part of the question mentioned above is: How cares the forming person about his or her being in school situations? The students’ reflections how they are valuated by school were studied using semi-structured open questions. The research was focusing to the questions how is own meaning to the school perceived and how does school notice student as a subject. The answers were analyzed by phenomenological experience-studying method. The research results showed that school attitudes to students instrumentally and superficially. It was found that students perceive that the school sees them first of all as role fulfillers and that they cannot trust school in problems connected with them as human beings. Students, however, perceive that they have a certain amount of opportunities to change school as well.

109-119

Authors: Julius Maiyo, Joan Owiye, Caroline R. Nandi

Education has been identified as a tool for fostering the development of knowledge, skills, attitudes, values and ideals necessary for individuals to play a productive role in any society. The signing of the various global policy frameworks such as the 1998 United Nations convention on the rights of the child (CRC), the 1990 Jomtien world conference on EFA, the 2000 world education forum (Dakar, Senegal) and the 2000 Millennium Development goals (MDGs) demonstrated the commitment by governments to the well being of children. In regard to this, Kenya fully implemented FPE in 2001 and also partially free secondary education in 2008. However, there are social challenges facing the management of schools in the wake of the craze to achieve high mean scores which go against the rights of children as stipulated in the Children’s Act (2001) and in turn affect retention and participation of the children in education. Overemphasis on the cognitive aspect of education, while overlooking the other potentials that a child has, leads to discriminatory acts that may hinder full participation of a child in education. This study therefore sought to identify the social challenges facing heads of schools in the enactment of the children’s rights and also establish ways of dealing with the challenges identified. A case study methodology was used to achieve in-depth and detailed information. The study was carried out in Bungoma East District of Western Province where 10% of secondary schools were purposively sampled. The research tools employed included; questionnaires, interview schedules and focus group discussions (FGD) to collect information from students, Heads of departments (Guiding and counseling), Heads of schools and District quality assurance and standards officers (DQUASO). Data was analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Descriptive analysis was used to report the results of the data. The study found out that Principals and DQUASO (District Quality Assurance and Standards Officer) were aware of the children’s Act and policy on repeating but societal expectations and school policies made it impossible to implement the same. Of the teachers sampled, 72% were aware of the children’s Act but upward job mobility influenced their position as regards acts of discrimination in education. Only a small percentage (13) of the children sampled were aware of their rights yet they did not understand that acts of humiliation as regards achieving of low grades in examinations were actually acts of discrimination that goes against their rights in education. The study too found out that there is no serious follow up by the government on the implementation of the policy on repeating and the enactment of the children’s rights 2001. Parents seem to stand on the fence helplessly as their children go through acts of humiliation with regard to their grades in examinations. The study recommends the government to endeavor to implement to the fullest both the children’s act, specifically in education and the policy on repeating in schools in order to seal the gaps that allow for discriminatory acts in the school system.

134-140

Authors: Felicity Murunga

Free Secondary Education introduced by the Grand coalition government in 2008 was a major leap in the right direction in Kenya’s education system. It opened doors to millions of youths who had missed a chance to get education and improve their lives. This paper provides an international concept of Providing Education for All (EFA). It follows up the historical development of Secondary Education in Kenya since independence to date. The paper endeavors to articulate the challenges which have hitherto emerged in implementing this popular programme which, if not addressed urgently, might undermine the gains made so far. The Free Secondary Education programme has overwhelming support from Kenyans and Africans in general; they see it as a potent instrument that can enable communities in the region to extricate themselves from object poverty, thus empowering them economically. It is therefore imperative for Kenyans to acknowledge that Free Secondary Education is not a luxury but a necessity for equitable social and economic development. The paper is exclusively based on secondary documentary data.

153-162

Authors: Maria Theodosopoulou

The teaching community plays an important role in promoting Lifelong Learning. In european level teachers’ competences have been described and efforts been made to encourage their active participation in Lifelong Learning (LLL). It is widely recognized that LLL culture should start at an early age and, thus school and teachers are to promote it to students. In a holistic perspective school is a central point for promoting LLL not only within its gates, but also a link between LLL and the community. Examining the role of teachers in a LLL school, as well as experiences and practices of greek teachers regarding notions like continuing professional development, mentor, collaborative learning, self directed learning provide us insight about them as lifelong learners and placing LLL in a strategic framework.

170-184

Authors: Anne Uusen, Mare Müürsepp

The National Curriculum is a document that prescribes the bases of teaching. All the issues in the National Curriculum are compulsory for each teacher. The issue of spelling skills in the curriculum has always had an active feedback, either positive or negative, among mother tongue teaching specialists in Estonia. Therefore, before starting the next curriculum reform, it is reasonable to analyze former versions and to research what is actually fulfilled or not in the real school life. The modern viewpoint of teaching spelling, described by keywords such as the usage of language and focusing on the text, is the basis of renewing the syllabus of mother tongue in Estonia. It means that orthography is taught and evaluated from the basis of informal teaching approach or in other words, by taking into account the language using situation and/or the language using purposes in teaching orthography. It has a clear and convincing scientific basis and ground, which is described also in the current article. Strong scientific ground and the results of studying the writing skills in students` independent pieces of writing gave a foundation to claim that the curriculum reform team in Estonia is on the right path. The results of the study also confirmed that orthographical skills and knowledge are acquired more effectively and consciously, when they are learned in the environment, where they are really needed or in other words, connected with the process of writing texts. The fact that the most frequently used words are written correctly even at the end of the first stage of compulsory school, makes it possible to draw more attention to teaching syntax, punctuation and writing different texts in different purposes at the 2nd stage of compulsory school.

5-9

Authors: Vincentas Lamanauskas

Why the 21st century scholars start raising their voices while facing troubles and difficulties in the field of education. To identify the situation, it is worth having a closer look at the present schooling system. Post-modern life and education more and more frequently are coming into force. Superficiality becomes a common phenomenon. Only available regularly used and easily with no effort achieved attractive things are greatly appreciated. What is more, only minimal efforts are taken to gain a broader educational background. Quite a few countries display similar tendencies. On the other hand, education is frequently treated as a product or a kind of service. The laws of the wild market fail to get round this area of life. The chosen life style (including education) rather than the meaning of life and education itself often play a crucial role.

25-35

Authors: Anass Bayaga

The purpose of this empirical study was to investigate the difficulties of learning statistics and probability amongst students pursuing Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) programme in University of Fort Hare in South Africa. The approach was a mixed method, sampling 43 students, in which case a quantitative analysis (RM-ANOVA, RM-MANOVA & ANCOVA) dominated to test four propositions. The findings revealed four conclusions: (1) students receiving deliberate instruction in how to solve problems do become better and are able to ‘think statistically’ (2) there was good reason to suggest that students’ level of specific mathematics skills impact on their statistical ability (3) in contrast, there was not enough supporting evidence to suggest that students’ intuitive notions of probability does get stronger with age and lastly (4) efficacy of computers in guiding design of instruction is an important component of statistical learning. Most important implication of the study was that the use of strategies to improve students’ rational number concepts and ratio/proportion reasoning assists to recognise and confront common errors in students' statistical and probability thinking.

44-57

Authors: Ya'arit Bokek-Cohen, Nitza Davidovich

Similarly to other industries, the academic world has increasingly become a 'global village', in which foreign-born instructors constitute a large proportion of university faculty. Most studies on foreign-born faculty members have documented various difficulties in the integration of foreign-born instructors in academic institutions. This paper presents data indicating the successful integration of foreign-born instructors in Israel’s largest public college, and identifies the factors that contributed to this success. Data are based on several measures used to assess faculty members on an annual basis in teaching, research, administration, and community service. Linear discriminant analysis (LNA) was performed to examine whether faculty assessment scores distinguish between Israeli-born and foreign-born instructors. Findings show that foreign-born instructors have become successfully integrated in the institution. Four complementary explanations for their successful integration are proposed. We conclude with a discussion of managerial implications for institutions seeking to diversify their staff and successfully integrate foreign-born instructors FBF in higher education institutions.

71-79

Authors: Daina Celma, Ausma Golubeva

As today is the time of rapid changes, the activities of academic personnel become more and more complicated. This also refers to study program managers, who are the responsible persons for higher education study programs. Study program managers are not specially trained to manage study programs. It is usually assumed that anyone with enough academic experience and specific academic degree can become a study program manager and manage it through its existence. However, being a study program manager entails a wide range of different responsibilities which underlies a need for study program manager to possess many competences that a manager in any other organization or position should have - specific knowledge, skills, abilities and also -preferably- certain personal traits. Taking this relevant issue into account, a research was carried out in two Universities of Latvia, where both lecturers and study program managers were asked to fill in questionnaires in order to define a set of professional competences a successful and effective study program manager should possess. Besides, it was concluded that study program managers do need further education and training regards improving their competences and acquiring new ones. Not surprisingly, this need for further education was more stressed by the lecturers than by study program managers themselves.

93-103

Authors: Vaike Kiik-Salupere, Jaan Ross

Increasing competition among musicians on the contemporary scene means additional requirements in terms of preparing of versatile and competitive singers, i.e. students who have acquired stable and high-level technical skills and who cope with the competitive environment. Therefore the additional ability of the voice teacher emerges: that is to support the student emotionally in the lesson, and equip the student with knowledge to deal with performance anxiety. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven eminent voice teachers and interviews with an ad-hoc-designed questionnaire were conducted with the students of classical singing at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (14), at the Tallinn Georg Ots High School of Music (13), and with the singers of the Estonian National Opera choir (30). The five-point balanced Likert scale was used in the questionnaire. The collected data were subject to statistical analysis. Cluster analysis was applied to those correlations in the obtained data, which were statistically significant (p<0.05). Analysis of interviews and answers to the questionnaire demonstrated that besides to the training of technical skills, attention must be paid to the psychological training of classical singers. Results demonstrate that younger students tend to expect more care from their teachers than their older counterparts. Almost all of the respondents are willing to obtain more knowledge about how to learn to cope with stress. The voice teachers admitted that the majority of their students have problems with performance anxiety. Educational institutions which prepare music performers, including classical singers, have to ensure that their students achieve a high level of technical skills and that they have the necessary mental skills to deal with the performance situation.

109-117

Authors: Marzena Okrasa

Investing in human capital, in knowledge and skills, impacts the economy’s development - similarly as investing in new technology. A good and effective employee, who as an adult will be capable of adjusting his or her qualifications to changes in technology, should as a child have access to pre-school education. It should be emphasized that the period of early education is very rarely linked to human capital development. Research has shown that the childhood period is crucial to the subsequent development of intellectual potential and social skills. Preschools and schools, where children are taught social skills, determine – in a broad perspective – how a person’s life chances will be utilized. Early care and education should, thus, be the main target of investments in the field of education and innovations. Poland has the lowest indicator of access to pre-school education (38.2% for children between 3-5 years of age). As it is necessary for more children to access pre-school education, alternative forms of pre-school education should be taken under consideration. The article outlines chosen forms of alternative pre-school education developing in Poland.

135-145

Authors: Anne Uusen

Reading skills, reading interest, understanding of text and other aspects connected with reading have been researched quite a lot during the last decades in Estonia. A number of studies have reached the conclusion that basic school students in Estonia are rather good readers. However, teachers often claim that teenagers tend to read less and less and also in newspapers there are complaints about bad reading skills of youngsters. One of the reasons of the above mentioned attitude is that we tend to define the concept of reading differently and if somebody complains because of students' low reading interest, he/she mostly refers to reading belles-lettres or fiction. Living in the 21st century demands much more from teenagers as readers than it did in the past century and many well-known reading researchers stress the need to be able to properly do our jobs, and simply, to live and manage an everyday life. In these two areas we need to be able to understand what all kinds of written messages are about. The content of the broader meaning of reading and the concept of reading literacy is discussed in the current article. Also an overview of the results of the study about reading activeness and reading preferences, the goal of which was to find out what kind of texts are authentic for the students and to start a larger study for analyzing the amount of time teenagers spend with reading, what they read etc., is given in this article. Based on the results of the study it became evident that students read quite a lot, but they rather read newspapers and magazines than belles-lettres or fiction. The most frequent texts that students read in the newspapers are news. Also comic strips, TV-programs and book reviews are read rather often. A positive finding was that a large proportion of students read belles-lettres quite often. The results of the conducted questionnaire provided the basis for improving and completing the questionnaire for a larger study as well as food for thought about broadening the assortment of reading materials for students and for making Estonian language lessons more pragmatic as well.

156-169

Authors: Albert Ziegler, Diana Schimke, Heidrun Stoeger, Peter Merrotsy

It is often not possible to realize ideal evaluation standards when it comes to evaluating modifications to educational settings. In this article theoretical and practical problems in the evaluation of modifications in educational settings are discussed. Based on these considerations the ENDIT model of evaluation is presented. It comprises five minimal standards necessary for a convincing evaluation: 1) effect establishment, 2) control of the novelty effect, 3) discriminant validation, 4) superiority over compared to implicit control groups, and 5) time-delayed control group. The five standards are explained and their utility for research is demonstrated, by way of an example, through the evaluation of a visualization tool that was introduced in order to increase participation in an e-mentoring community. Participants in the investigation comprised 231 female high-school students participating in the e-mentoring community CyberMentor that aims at increasing interest and participation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).

182-190

Authors: Nada Bizova

The report shows on current problem of inclusive approach to leisure time education of children with special educational needs. The inclusion represents educational paradigm, which caused changes in traditional educational system. As it is signed in UNESCO 2006, it is inevitable to create inclusive environment, in order to bring opportunities for active connection into educational process for all children, gain education with appropriate quality level and successful integration in society. In report, we analyzed functions and principles of inclusive education in leisure time and some particularities of inclusive education in chosen organizations. There are also pointed out current problems and perspectives, based on inclusive education analysis in Europe.

199-205

Authors: Olga Kravchenko

The object of this study is educational literature, which forms the profile of a graduate (bachelors program focusing on the “Advertising and PR”). The subject are the principles and methods of organization of educational content, that increase the efficiency of interaction of students with educational literature. The aim of the research – to prepare a comprehensive description of the model-scheme profile of a textbook on socio-humanitarian disciplines. Problems that are solved: 1) identification of the relevant parameters of the methamodel of a modern active high school textbook, 2) development of a model-construct of the textbook, preparing future advertising specialists for project work, and 3) an experimental realization of the model-construct in the format of the training manual for a specific contingent. The purpose of the article – for the model constructs to reveal the potential of modularity in the organization of content in an interactive traditional format textbook. We believe that the developed model-scheme of a modular textbook will allow using its informational and didactic components optimally. Methodology of the Research. As a methodological framework for the creation of the model-construction we used the recommendations in optimization of textbook as a carrier of information, developing “mental activity” of student, his professional and personal competence, motivation, personal activities and communicative reflection (Antonova, 2004; Buga, 1987; Kanke 2007; and others). Results of the Research. The model of the textbook is developed on the basis of an approved modular training manual on the working-out of an advertising product (Kravchenko 2004, 2006; Kravchenko, Novikova 2008). The use of modules allows providing a wide range of multi-level training information. We highlight four content levels: two structurally indicative (1, 2), informative (3) and referential (4). The first level deals with the means of navigation in the structure of the textbook – headings and subheadings. The second level is represented by operators – the system of “keywords”, which follow in a particular order and have the orienting function: clarify the concept, authoritative opinion, research, interesting facts, trends, discussion, master-class etc. A certain mini-module stands behind each operator – the actual information (the third level). The function of the fourth level is references to various sources for further independent work (referential part of the textbook). Discussion. A modular textbook is chosen as an optimal model of a new-generation secondary school textbook. The main attention is focused on the principles of clarity and fixed format. In this article the idea of modularity has been developed further in the aspect of optimization of the content of the high school interactive textbook. Conclusions. The main advantages of the developed model-constructor of a modular textbook are: compactness, optionality, interactiveness, regulated access to informational resources, and a possibility of developing an individual cognitive style, student’s mobility and adaptability.

5-8

Authors: Vincentas Lamanauskas

The extracurricular activities of natural science education (EANSE) is one of the most significant fields of natural science education. The field hides inside numerous opportunities of choice. Whatever advanced natural science education is – it omits the functions and do not provide the opportunities that could be offered by the EANSE. Teaching is not and cannot be limited only by classes at any stage of the educational system. Pupils gain new experience in the extracurricular activities that is very important to broadening of creativity and other properties relevant to modern life. The usage of the latest information technologies, communication and cooperation, group work, the change of ideas and a critical approach towards social reality are the greatest abilities of human being in a new century. School has to devote an exceptional attitude towards its development. Hence, the system of extracurricular activities should exhaustively be used as this is a place where schoolchildren can acquire knowledge and experience that cannot be obtained at school, i.e. different methods can be applied and the attitude that they are the users of nature as well as responsible for its evolution and protection can be fostered. It should be remembered that an affective value-based aspect is very important to the correlation with nature. It includes a need to feel concern about the environment, to communicate with nature and to feel being an integral part of it (Makarskaitė, 1995).

15-19

Authors: Pavel Doulík, Jiří Škoda

The article deals with branch didactics (subject methodology) current issues related to its gradual establishment within the fields of scientific disciplines. Branch didactics is analyzed with reference to its variable aspects of development and its gradual determination based on the original branch of science it evolved from. The article is also focusing on staffing as well as the consequences of the individual role of staffing within the development and directing of branch didactics. Such topics as pedagogues´ competencies together with their optimum qualifications are brought up. The article is concluded by frame definitions of main branch didactics activities, concentrating on its aspects of irreplaceable and individual fields of science.

27-35

Authors: Sirpa Kärkkäinen, Tuula Keinonen

Technology education in the Finnish comprehensive school is an integrated subject, “Technology and the Individual” being one of the cross-curricula themes. It is accepted that students’ conceptions are related to their teachers’ conceptions. From the viewpoint of primary technology education and the development of primary teacher education, it is important to know teacher students’ perceptions of technology and technology education. This study focuses on how primary teacher students think about technology. Results showed that teacher students understand technology from quite a limited perspective, thinking that technology in their everyday life is mostly based on domestic appliances, computers and mobiles. Although the teacher students’ perceptions of technology were limited, their overall experiences towards it were positive. After the cross-curricula course, they viewed technology more broadly, understanding e.g. the history of technology, technological responsibility and its impact at the individual, social and global level. Emphasis was placed on the teacher students’ abilities to apply technology and use it with their pupils in their future teaching profession. Despite limitations, the study provides insight into teacher students’ perceptions of technology and it also contributes for further understanding in the area of cross-curricula themes.

46-54

Authors: Todar Lakhvich

The analysis of aesthetic potential of Chemistry visualization is carried out, taking in account philosophical, didactic, psychological and socio-cultural aspects. The issue is discussed in terms of the concurrent existence of two different subsystems referred both to Beauty and Utility which can be found in presentations of chemistry knowledge. To be aesthetic means the need to be accepted as attractive one, and thus Chemistry ought to change its paradigm to form new attitude to Chemistry knowledge. The concept can be regarded as for valuable acquisition (and thus very useful!) to learning process. To be useful means the need to be accepted as utile. The latter have been the main intention for the last centuries which turned the Chemistry into generator of the most unexpendable resources for industrial development. And it looks very attractive when people gained the highest plane of intelligence to admire the Beauty both natural and man-made objects. Finally both Beauty and Utility potentials derived from Chemistry visualization can be effectively elaborated within the integrated Philosophical Concept of Beautility. Theoretical study based on profound concepts from Science and Chemistry philosophy as well on few empiric researches carried out by author in the field of Chemistry Didactics.

63-69

Authors: Julia Lorke, Katrin Sommer

This investigation focuses on how one of the best established and most efficient methods for the separation of substances – chromatography – is taught in secondary school. A questionnaire-based study with teachers (N=76) was used to get a first glance at the situation in schools. The results show that various chromatographic techniques (PC, TLC, GC, HPLC) are taught in secondary school using different context settings. All teachers use paperchromatography as a students‘ experiment analyzing e.g. colour pens in 7th grade. A far less amount of teachers cover more complex techniques such as gas chromatography e.g. in 12th grade. A detailed insight was attained by analyzing 37 chemistry lessons of 18 classes in 7th grade. It could be shown that a broad variety of experiments, remarkable differences in the use of scientific concepts to explain how chromatography works and in the application of media occure.

84-93

Authors: Lewis McAnally-Salas, Gilles Lavigne, Carolina Armijo de Vega

The educational design of seven on-line courses was analyzed with the aim to relate the professors' pedagogic knowledge and technological abilities with the course design. The courses already imparted where analyzed in the LMS where they were designed (Virtual U, Moodle and Virtual UABC). Assessments were carried out to evaluate the quality of the designs, also semi structured interviews and questionnaires were done to determine the professors' knowledge and perceived abilities. The professors were selected looking to cover all the possible combinations among high (T) and low (t) technological abilities and high (P) and low (p) pedagogic knowledge. Seven courses were selected; two with professors who had high technological abilities and high pedagogical knowledge (TP); two with professors with high technological abilities and low pedagogical knowledge (Tp); two with professors with low technological abilities and high pedagogical knowledge (tP); and finally one with low technological abilities and low pedagogical knowledge (tp). The analysis showed no relationship between the coherence and structure of the course design with the professors' technological abilities and pedagogical knowledge. Analysis of the interviews suggests that the most important element for a coherent and well structured educational course design is the professor's interpersonal relationships and the informal fellowship communications with experience in on-line education.

103-112

Authors: Panayiota Stavroussi, Panagiotis F. Papalexopoulos, Dionisios Vavougios

This literature review aims at discussing current educational perspectives in the specific field of science teaching to students with mild to moderate intellectual disability. The present critical approach focuses on the availability and appropriateness of teaching methods and learning strategies that might effectively support science education of students with intellectual disability, given the cognitive characteristics, the learning difficulties and competencies of these students, the particular academic and learning skills associated with the acquisition of science concepts, and finally the perspective of promoting the access of students with intellectual disability in the general educational programs. Discussion of the evidences reveals a complex picture, which suggests further empirical verification of the research findings specifically in regard to the inquiry learning method and its implementation on science teaching to students with intellectual disability. Given the implementation of the appropriate instruction methods and learning strategies, science education and even more inclusive science education with an emphasis on hands-on activities and real life experiences could yield benefits, at least for students with mild to moderate intellectual disability, related to their everyday functioning in the context of functional academic skills acquisition.

119-127

Authors: Jerusa Vilhena de Moraes, Sonia Maria Vanzella Castellar

In this paper we will present a part of our thesis: a proposal of problem based learning inside the Geography teaching as an alternative way to the scientific literacy and the citizenship. The research was developed under the context of Elementary School and the Middle School I and II teacher training, and it can contribute to a higher and wider reflection on propositions to the improvement of pedagogical practices and the learning of scientific concepts. This proposal can allow a link between practice and theory: help to organize classes, not just emphasizing the content, but the learning of some scientific concepts and, at the same time, the abilities and proceedings linked to different areas of knowledge. Scholars dealing with teaching (Lambros, 2002; Leite & Esteves, 2006, and others) have been showing that this methodology enable the students a more independent and meaningful learning of scientifical concepts, helping them to develop the competencies and abilities linked to the logical reasoning and cooperation. We will present two different cases to discuss if this methodology can allow an integrated learning process and if they contribute to an improvement of the teaching.