Gamtamokslinis ugdymas / Natural Science Education

5-16

Authors: Vincentas Lamanauskas, Rytis Vilkonis

Modern geography - one of the most integrated and systemic spheres of scientific knowledge. On the other hand a subject of geography complex enough, difficultly studied. The basic purpose - to create good conditions the student for successful studying questions of geography at a modern level. One of ways - application of modern technologies. Now it is applied two basic technologies: Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Earth Observation (EO). Very good opportunities for studying geography are created with the Internet. It is obvious, that use of the Internet for teaching/learning still on a low level for the different objective and subjective reasons. First of all it is necessary to create conditions for teachers to raise qualification. It has to be stated that the Internet possibilities in the teaching process are insufficiently used. On the other hand, in principal there are no reliable studies, which would reveal the actual situation in this field. Therefore, the object of our study is the usage of the Internet for teaching geography. The main aim of the study is to analyse the situation of the usage of the Internet for teaching geography and highlight the hindering/encouraging factors of its usage in the teaching process. The most important study tasks have been formulated: • To analyse the situation of the usage of the Internet for teaching geography; • To identify the hindering/stimulating factors of Internet usage for teaching geography; • To highlight the experts’ opinion about the expected development perspectives of Internet usage for teaching geography in the nearest five years period. The study employed expert inquiry. The type of expert inquiry – “Delphi study”, containing several experts’ inquiries (stages). The data of every round are generalised and repeatedly submitted to the experts. Such procedure is repeated several times, most often 3-4 times. The study was carried out in September – December 2005. In opinion of 20% of experts use of the Internet the nearest five years considerably will grow up. Other experts (80%) have expressed opinion, that the increase will be insignificant. Experts are uniform in opinion, that the establishment of computers at schools yet does not solve a problem. Teachers of different subjects should have access to the Internet in classrooms. The opportunity to create search system in the Lithuanian language is important too. Some conclusions were indicated: • For last five years a situation in use of the Internet has a little changed. On the one hand on the Internet it is a lot of information on geography, with another - lack of the information in the Lithuanian language is obvious. Moreover the information authentic (valid) only partially. • It is established, that main hindering factors in use of the Internet are: Lack of computers and connections to a network of the Internet, poor knowledge of foreign languages, poor school technical possibilities, lack of modern techniques (methodics) of use of the Internet for teaching geography etc. • It is established, that main stimulating factors in use of the Internet are: the opportunity to interest pupils geography, opportunities of an exchange of the modern information, application of different methods of teaching, the possibility to take part in different international projects etc. • It is predicted, that use of the Internet should grow a little the nearest five years. Positive influence will render change of the content of education and improvement of professional skill of teachers of geography. On the other hand the material resources of schools constantly improves, the level of living standards grows in the country.

25-29

Authors: Gedas Batulevičius

School curriculum introduces pupils to some aspects of the pattern of life, science and culture, which, in the society’s opinion, are a very important part of the educational process. One of the aims of school is to prepare pupils for life. Knowledge is essential, but skills and attitudes are not less important in the educational process and we can develop them by preventive research works. Preventative research works at Vilnius Jesuit Gymnasium have been included into the course of biology. The aim of the research was to demonstrate the effect of some chemicals on a living organism practically. The article presents the methodical instructions for the following research works: • The effect of the cigarette smoke on the germination and development of plants; • The effect of the cigarette smoke on the vegetation of plants; • The effect of inhalants on the germination, development and vegetation of plants; • The effect of alcohol on the germination and development of plants; • The effect of alcohol on the vegetation of plants. The research work is a very effective part of the prevention programme because students analyse final results with great interest, get involved into discussions, try to find causes, search for information and ask questions. This type of research work is very convenient because it is possible to carry it out in the classroom, it is not necessary to have sophisticated laboratory equipment and the results are seen in short time. The research works are integrated into the curriculum and help to achieve the goals set in general programmes and educational standards.

37-44

Authors: Asta Kuckienė, Rita Makarskaitė-Petkevičienė

Environmental protection is one of the most topical spheres in natural science education. Problems regarding integration of environmental protection into the content of education have been broadly analysed by E.Šapokienė, V. Lamanauskas, etc. Environmental protection education is emphasised in universal programmes, general programmes, other education documents, the Public Environmental Education Strategy of the Republic of Lithuania and Action Programme. It is not surprising that one of the goals of general education school is to convey the system of environmental knowledge and skills and to form value principles of environmental protection in a democratic school environment, which promotes students’ initiative. The aim of this article is to present the results of research – the analysis of the 1st form textbooks which allowed to identify the number and the particularity of environmental elements in them. The results revealed that the biggest number of environmental protection elements was in the textbooks of environment cognition (‘Aš ir pasaulis’ (Me and the World) – 10 topics, ‘Raktas’ (Key) – 18 topics which integrate environmental knowledge, develop skills, abilities and value principles). Environmental protection was integrated into 7 topics of native language textbook ‘Šaltinėlis’ (Springlet). The textbooks of mathematics, fine arts and technologies included 1-3 environmental elements integrated into their topics. Though the subject itself is very favourable for environmental education, no elements of it were observed in the textbooks of music education. It is obvious that the authors of the textbooks for 1st forms demonstrate a holistic approach to education and environment. The range of environmental activities in the textbooks prepared by them is wide.

51-57

Authors: Elena S. Tselesh, Tatyana N. Vorobyova

The methods of realization of chemical experiment dealing with the reactions of metal reduction from solutions by electrolysis and cementation are discussed. Teachers can use the presented experiments in such sections of school chemistry course, as "Metals", "Electrolysis", “Oxidation-reduction reactions”. It is shown that given chemical experiment can be realized at various levels of pupil cognitive activity, including demonstration and laboratory experiments, facultative and practical works in chemistry and school research projects.