BULGARIAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND EDUCATION POLICY

3

Authors: M. Todorov

Book Review: no abstract

11

Authors: B.V. Toshev

The Bachelor education in chemistry is presented in the Universities of Sofia, Plovdiv, Shumen and Blagoevgrad. The chemistry education in the University of Sofia has a long tradition. The paper examines the rules and criteria for obtaining the Eurobachelor label, developed by the European Chemistry Thematic Network (ECTN). The comparative analysis of the existing program with these European criteria shows that the eventual application of the University of Sofia for that label seems to be untimely at the present moment.

16

Authors: S.V. Watve

Difference in groups of gifted individuals, having undergone and not having undergone enriched educational programme (EEP) was investigated. Males, identified as gifted in school age, 27 from EEP and 26 from normal schools were studied in their late thirties. Standardized intelligence test, and factual data were used to measure their academic, practical and social accomplishments. The experimental and control groups and their subgroups were compared statistically and qualitatively. Out of statistically compared 18 variables, five were found to be significantly different. The groups differed on variables from academic and social accomplishments; EEP contributed to difference in academic and social areas- especially, school to academic and youth activities to social. This can be implemented to design and modify existing EEP.

17

Authors: M. Karakas

Present study examines undergraduate students’ understanding of nature of science (NOS). The researcher analyzes survey data collected from 52 undergraduates (mostly freshman) at a Private Research University in Northeastern U.S., who were enrolled in a Biology course. Present study reveals that there is no significant difference of the understanding of NOS among science majors, non-science majors and undecided group of undergraduate students and that they hold contemporary views about some aspects of NOS and traditionalist views about other aspects. This study calls for improving the teaching of NOS in high school and college classrooms.

19

Authors: Z. Ozdilek, M. Ozkan

A needs assessment process was conducted to determine the difficulties and requirements of a science unit as an example how needs assessment process can be used in science education in Turkey. A 40-item teacher questionnaire containing four dimensions related to a chemistry unit named “Travel to the Inner Structure of Matter” as presented in the current curriculum materials was administered. The questionnaire was completed by 130 elementary school science teachers in order to get their views and suggestions for revising the unit. The Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient was found to be .93 for the questionnaire. Descriptive statistical methods were also used in analyzing the survey data. It was concluded that science teachers recognize some deficiencies in the unit’s aims and goals, teaching program, teaching strategies, and evaluation procedures. As a result of this study, it is suggested that instructional designs and revisions of existing materials for science units can be undertaken using a deliberate needs assessment process—in particular a process that —relies both on the existing research related to a topic and teachers’ expert input regarding instruction.

113

Authors: B.V. Toshev

In this paper 178 educational primary research journals are listed with their scopes, peer-review rules and their place in the world system of abstracting, indexing and evaluation. It is supposed the information to be of benefit for the Bulgarian researchers in the field of education.

7

Authors: J.E. Hollenbeck

The science education program at Indiana University Southeast (IUS) is successful with the adoption of a constructivist based philosophy and the National Science Education Standards (NSES). Teachers graduating from the science education program of Indiana University Southeast are qualified to be ranked as “highly qualified educators” as defined by the ‘No Child Left Behind’ Act. With the breadth and depth of knowledge and pre-service teaching experience and classroom work, IUS students are better prepared for teaching. Teacher graduates from the IUS science education program report a high degree of professional success after graduation.

13

Authors: M. Karakas

Researchers acknowledge the professional development of science teachers as the most critical component in reforming science education. Teachers’ needs for professional development in science education are not always met by existing pre-service preparation programs. This paper argues that by incorporating problem-based learning strategies in pre-service science methods courses we can graduate more reflective practitioners, as it is the case in the medical profession.

18

Authors: M.A. McAdams, A. Demirci

Higher education has been charged with the development of professionals to serve the rapidly developing spatial technology industry, but is just beginning to arrive at a consensus concerning the types of courses, sequence of courses and specialty areas. Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge (DiBiase et al., 2006) developed under the auspices of the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS) represents a major step in Geographic Information Science (GIScience) education which may lead to more consistency among programs in Geographic Information Science (GIScience.) Concurrently, there are movements for the accreditation of GIScience programs and formal GIS certificates. However, there is a significant gap from these promising but incipient efforts to the coherent development of GIScience programs at the university, college or technical school level. What should be the direction for those who are developing GIScience programs in institutions of higher education in the absence of more definitive direction? In this confusing transitory environment, the authors in this paper propose an outline or “road map” for the development of an interdisciplinary GIScience program.

26

Authors: Z. Kostova, E. Atasoy

The article reports the results from an investigation of the ecological and general scientific knowledge of students in the upper grade of elementary school (8th grade, 15 year old) in Bulgaria and Turkey with the aid of a questionnaire, containing 40 terms from ecology, geography, biology, chemistry, nature conservation, health and nutrition. It has allowed us to investigate the effects of several factors such as the students` social status (Turkey), the science education in school, school entrance exams in biology (Bulgaria), the interrelation between environmental and scientific knowledge, evaluation and self-evaluation, analysis and self-analysis. On the basis of the results and the conclusions of their analysis the students` achievements in respect to the state educational standards have been evaluated. Furthermore, adequate measures are recommended to teachers in order to overcome the deficiencies and shortcomings in students` knowledge and understanding. The research identifies several problems for future investigation.

4

Authors: J.E. Hollenbeck

The cry for the integration of mathematics and science is a result of American students’ results on international exams. Literature that advocates this integration of science and math n the United States dates actually back to before the 20th century. Berlin and White (1999) reported that the first article about integrating science and mathematics was published in 1905. If we want to improve the learning of students in mathematics and science, good mathematics teachers should have the freedom to develop strategies that will allow students to construct their understanding of mathematics in their mental frames of reference. Likewise, science teachers should be able to connect the appropriate mathematics links to their program. Effective use of mathematics in science will strengthen each discipline and allow the learners to link for themselves the “language” and description of the universe.

7

Authors: B.V. Toshev

Education and research belong together - this expresses the very university idea. Research should provide the new scientific results. These should be published. The system of scholarly journals is organized in two levels. The first level includes the primary research journals and scholarly journals with more expanded audience. The second level includes the secondary research journals. A few Bulgarian journals are presented there. Citation analysis is of an importance mainly because it is heavily used in science policy and research evaluation professionals. The most popular indicators in such considerations are the impact factor (IF), the immediacy index (II) and the response time (t1). The meaning and application of these parameters are explained. The incorrect use of the impact factor in the Bulgarian evaluation practice is mentioned. The new indicators that would characterize quantitatively the scientific achievements of the researchers are proposed: efficiency e=nk, n and k - number of author's publications and thet citations, respectively, and personal impact factor PIF=q/m where q is the number of citations in a given year of m author's publications, published in two previous years. The problem of assessment of higher education institutions is considered in detail. The change of three indicators at least should be identified during the years. These are: S=Q/P (Q stands for the number of citations for a given year for the whole faculty N, which publishes in the year of question P publications), L/M and M/N, M,L - number of prospective/graduated students for a given school year.

8

Authors: D. Michalopoulos

As it occurred in West, Aristotle’s thought was in Byzantium the main organon of philosophical meditation within the frame of the Christian Faith. Nonetheless, from the ninth century on it was a revival of Platonism that took place – of Neo-Platonism at the beginning and of Platonism itself at the end. The Church, initially indifferent, became suspicious only when, at the turning of the fourteenth to the fifteenth century, the Platonism seemed to engender somewhat a latent paganism; but the Patriarchate was not then able to fight that tendency. So only after the 1453 capture of Constantinople by the Ottomans, Gennadius Scholarius managed to root out from the Greek lands Platonism and its crypto-pagan extension. Be that as it may; the main paradox of the Balkan history is that in the early seventeenth century some leading Greek scholars endorsed the materialist interpretation of Aristotle’s thought – as it was taught in the University of Padua by Cesare Cremonini; and as a corollary this materialistic philosophical system began being taught in both Constantinople and Athens. It was that very way that the Enlightenment took birth in the Balkans – and somehow became a State ideology - long before its prevalence in France. And of course all this had as a result a turn toward Physics and Chemistry with far-reaching consequences.

9

Authors: N. Demiralp

Geography studies the relationship between human and the earth and pay attention to space, place and environment. In its simplest definition, maps are language and communication tools in transferring knowledge of an area in the science of geography which studies the space. Thus teaching and teaching how to use maps is quite important. This is not valid just for all matters of geography education; they can be used at any point, level, age or grade in teaching. This is because map reading involves transferring a piece of information by coding it on a platform and the users to read and interpret the information by encoding it according to their needs. Thus, we can say that teaching maps and teaching how to use maps is the transformation or translation of a piece of knowledge from life, with the appropriate language. In order for this kind of teaching and learning to be accomplished it is a must that the map maker and the map user to know the common language of maps, which is map language, and for them to know qualities, types and limitations of maps. To gain this kind of knowledge, students must see every type of map from the simplest to the most complicated and study and analyse them, as well as get to know their different usages.

12

Authors: M. Kousathana

Constructivism has undoubtedly a major theoretical influence on contemporary science and mathematics education. Recent ‘reforms’ in the Greek educational system are based on constructivist ideas and constructivism is presented in Greece as the only ‘non traditional’ method of teaching, and constitutes the main perspective taught both at undergraduate and postgraduate level in the Greek University. This article explores the constructivist philosophical base and its influence in chemical education. Recent ‘reforms’ in the Greek educational system, based on constructivist ideas, weaken chemistry teaching and reduce chemistry in the curriculum. The philosophical base of constructivism is related with some main philosophical dimensions of chemistry.

12

Authors: A. Ozdemyr

The compelling ideal of modern architectural education associated with Boyer’s (1990) framework is a scholarly collaboration by a relationship between teaching and research. Research enhances teaching through the introduction of new topics and methodologies. Research-based teaching stimulates better communication between students and lecturers as researchers. Students’ comments and questions can improve the subject of future research. A model of research-based teaching can be structured to teach both research findings and processes. This model can be well integrated to current curriculum with emphasis on research-oriented teaching in which students take part in the research process. In this process, instructors use their research experience during their interactions with students. This paper discusses the establishment of the link between research and teaching in the built environment with cases from studio-based learning in Landscape Architecture discipline. The argument is that studio-based education should be accepted as a pedagogical method to take part in teaching research to make connections between architecture and other disciplines. This effort will position the education into a research-based setting and make proposals to re-orient curriculum so that researchers can teach what and how they research.

13

Authors: A. Mee

This paper critically examines the role of government policy with respect to e-learning as an agent of change in the higher education sector. The potential impact of e-learning on the structure and organisation of the higher education sector has become a central issue for managers at institutional level and government policy makers across the globe. There is clear evidence from a range of policy documents from various nations of a general acceptance that an imperative exists to engage with the ‘knowledge economy’ in order to secure or retain a competitive economic advantage in the global order. It is seen that emerging digital technologies have a central role to play in this task and many governments have been active in promoting the development of e-learning as an agent of improvement, capacity building and organisational change in the higher education sector. Evidence is available that such technologies, supported by government policy, have served to enhance the quality of the student experience within the existing organisational and pedagogical frameworks which characterise the majority of higher education institutions. There is, however, little evidence of radical restructuring or the ‘transformation’ of existing institutions into the ‘virtual universities’ envisioned by some early commentators. This paper explores the wider policy context within which governments must work if they are to reap the full benefits of emerging technologies.

17

Authors: R. Genkov, L. Genkova

The theory of multiple intelligences was presented by Gardner in 1983. The theory was revised later (1999) and among the other intelligences a naturalist intelligence was added. The criteria for distinguishing of the different types of intelligences are considered. While Gardner restricted the analysis of the naturalist intelligence with examples from the living nature only, the present paper considered this problem on wider background including objects and persons of the natural sciences.

18

Authors: V. Lamanauskas, M. Vikoniene, R. Vilkonis

Many researches of last years specify necessity of perfection of natural science education at all levels of an education system and especially at a level of a primary and basic school. The main accent of process of natural science education in a primary school should become a different sort of researches and experiments. The weak interest of the youth to natural sciences, and especially - to chemistry, is one of the most acute problems of the present education. There are many reasons for this unflavored situation is amongst these is the insufficient attention to a component of chemistry in the content of a primary education. For the period of primary school pupils does not receive the basic initial knowledge in chemistry and research skills. On the other hand, teachers of primary classes are not prepared at a sufficient level in sphere of modern natural science education. At the basic school fastening knowledge and skills in the chemistry, received in a primary school proceeds. It is very important, that before studying chemistry as an independent subject, students have received adequate representation about the basic phenomena of the nature. The integrated course of natural science subjects should promote it. In this article results of research in which students of the fourth and eight/ninth forms have taken part are presented. Students should explain such phenomena as diffusion, dissolution, condensation, evaporation, burning and others. The assumption is done that students have propaedeutic knowledge and are capable to give the explanation, as they understand the given phenomena. On the other hand, in the program of a primary school some themes in chemistry are stipulated. In this aspect the given research shows natural science literacy of students of a primary school. Research puts forward a thorny question - how to guarantee development of knowledge and skills in chemistry at the basic school.

30

Authors: E. Dainov

Transition to democracy requires restructuring the institutions, beliefs and practices of a society. Failed education reform ensures that transitions remain fragile, thus creating political risks, while the market place suffers from a mismatch of skills sought and skills offered, thus undermining economic stability. Reforms fail under indecisive governments, lacking in public support, incapable of overcoming entrenched interests. Institutionally, the Bulgarian education establishment continually evaded reform by de-legitimating and sidetracking it, thus helping entrenched interests preserve the status quo. Culturally, the public continually suspected that “reform” would undermine national identity and close upward mobility avenues. Future reform attempts would have to begin with restructuring education away from a heavily-centralized and state-run system, and towards competition and accountability, beginning with decisive de-centralization.