Journal of Baltic Science Education

553-554

Authors: Editorial Board

Cover page, Vol. 15, No. 5, 2016, JBSE

556-558

Authors: Boris Aberšek

The virtual reality, artificial intelligence and gamification have the potential to complement existing educational approaches to science education, instruction and students' knowledge construction. By students becoming part of a phenomenon, they gain direct experiential intuitions about how the natural world operates. In a virtual reality environment, students themselves can be moving, cantering their attention on different phenomena and designers can heighten this saliency by using multisensory cues to convey multiple, simultaneous representations of relative problems as a serious mind game.

575-587

Authors: Nataša Dolenc Orbanić, Darja Skribe Dimec, Majda Cencič

Photosynthesis is one of the fundamental processes on Earth and it ranks among the most demanding science concepts for students, associated with a number of misconceptions. For improving students’ understanding and learning outcomes the constructivist approach has proven to be one of the most effective. In this research the constructivist teaching model of photosynthesis (CTMP) was designed and its effectiveness on students’ understanding was tested. Students (N=201) from Slovenian primary schools (aged 11–12 years) participated in the research. CTMP was used in the experimental group (EG), while the traditional teaching approach was used in the control group (CG). Students’ learning achievements were evaluated using the paper-and-pencil tests. The test items were classified into three groups based on Bloom’s taxonomy: (1) knowledge, (2) comprehension and application, and (3) analysis, synthesis, evaluation. Mann-Whitney U-test showed that the EG had better learning outcomes than the CG. Statistically significant differences were found at the highest cognitive level. The CTMP contributes to the improvement of teaching and learning of photosynthesis, fosters the development of higher-order thinking and offers opportunity for integration of the constructivist approach in science classes, which will help to increase the quality of acquired knowledge and to raise the level of scientific literacy of the population.

602-616

Authors: Nyet Moi Siew, Ruslan Mapeala

This research was conducted to evaluate the effects of Problem-based Learning (PBL) with Thinking Maps (TM) teaching method (PBL-TM) on Fifth Graders’ science critical thinking. The critical thinking skills evaluated were Comparing and Contrasting, Sequencing, and Identifying Cause and Effect in physical science. A quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test control group design was employed in the research. The sample consisted of 270 Fifth Graders (age 11 years old) from three primary schools in Tawau, Sabah, Malaysia who were all randomly selected and assigned to PBL-TM (n=90), PBL (n=90), and Conventional Problem Solving (CPS) (n=90) teaching groups. The 30-item Test of Science Critical Thinking was used as the pre-test and post-test. The three thinking maps used were Double Bubble Maps, Flow Maps, and Multi-Flow Maps. A MANCOVA was conducted on the post-test scores with students’ pre-test scores as the covariates. The result indicated that students in the PBL-TM group significantly outperformed their counterparts in the PBL group who, in turn, significantly outperformed their counterparts in the CPS group in Comparing and Contrasting, Sequencing, and Identifying Cause and Effect. The findings suggest that thinking maps, which were explicitly infused into problem-based learning is effective in promoting critical thinking among Fifth Graders in physical science lessons.

630-641

Authors: Özgür Özcan, Sevim Bezen

Mental models help us understand the formation of objects, the development of the process and to state an opinion about it. Therefore, in this study, we understand a mental model as ‘an internal representation, which acts out as a structural analogue of situations or processes. Although mental models are the representations of knowledge created during a cognitive activity, they are also reflective of personal beliefs. This study intends to exhibit prospective teachers’ mental models for the arguments they use in describing the relations between the concepts of force and velocity. In line with this intention, the study employs phenomenographic study method. This study has found that prospective teachers have three different mental models for relating the concepts of force and velocity. One of them is a scientific model called “Newtonian Model”. The other two models were determined to be unscientific models and called “Aristotelian Model” and “Impulsive Model” respectively. By bringing these models into light, we were informed of the scientific and unscientific arguments the prospective teachers used in interpreting the relationships between force and velocity. In other words, this study exhibited how prospective teachers organized and structured their knowledge about these concepts.

653-656

Authors: Editorial Board

End page, Vol. 15, No. 5, 2016, JBSE