Journal of Baltic Science Education

5-16

Authors: Hezekiah Ukegbu Emereole

The conceptual knowledge of the science process of University of Botswana science students was sought through a questionnaire. Copies of the questionnaire were administered during briefing laboratory sessions in which the students had no practical lab work to do. The expressed conceptual knowledge was scored using a validated list of definitions of science processes. The analysis revealed that there was no correlation between the students’ conceptual knowledge of the processes and their demographic variables of gender, age, present programme of study, year of study, desired profession, secondary school science programme followed, their school and home environments. Their ability to provide correct conceptual definitions did not corroborate their stated level of familiarity with the science processes. No student gave correct definitions for three of the science processes, only 3% and less could give correct definitions for 10 of the 15 processes, and only for the processes of classification and communication were the percentages of correct definitions up to 23.3% and 8.2% respectively. It was suggested that science educators at all levels should ensure that their students acquire both conceptual and practical knowledge of the science processes.

27-36

Authors: Andero Vaarik, Mare Taagepera, Lembi Tamm

The aim of the present study was to follow the logic of student thinking patterns about atomic orbital structures on both the atomic model visualization and the corresponding symbolic representation levels. The students´ factual knowledge was measured by the percent correct answers with and without explanations, the misconceptions were documented, and the cognitive organization was analyzed using knowledge space theory. The study was carried out with 255 students studying chemistry at the 8th and 9th lower secondary school and 10th to 12th secondary school levels. The major findings included (1) the high proportion of correct answers on multiple-choice questions, without correct explanations, leading to false positive results which do not necessarily reflect understanding of the material; (2) the lack of a logic structure in students' thinking due mostly to the misunderstanding of symbols; and (3) misconceptions about what charges represent and the placement of electrons in ionic vs. covalent bonding.

48-54

Authors: Christoph Randler

Biodiversity has become a challenging educational topic and basic knowledge about animal or plant species, their identification and life history has been targeted as a fundamental aspect. There are few studies aiming at assessing pupils’ knowledge about vertebrates and it’s identification skills in pupils. Further, many educational practitioners and conservationists claim a significant decrease of species knowledge in today’s children and adolescents. Here, I try to quantify the knowledge about animal species using a large, illustrated questionnaire dealing with 54 vertebrate species. 879 lower secondary school pupils and 65 primary school pupils (4th graders) from three geographic regions throughout Germany participated in the study. Species knowledge was dependent on educational level and gender. It did not increase parallel to age or grade but rather reached a peak during the age of 14 years or during the 7th grade, respectively. Further, species knowledge did not decrease between the early 1980ies and 2005.