Опубликована Апрель 10, 2014
This study investigates noise pollution levels in two elementary schools. Also, “noise level awareness and sensitivity training” was given for reducing noise pollution, and the effects and results of this training were evaluated. ‘Sensitivity’ training was given to 611 students and 48 teachers in a private and a public school. Questionnaires, sound meter observations, and the reflections of the student teachers participating in the study were used for collecting data. The findings showed that noise levels measured in both schools were much higher than national and international upper limits. The data obtained through the first questionnaire indicated that students and …
Опубликована Июль 7, 2014
The aim of this case study was to examine pre-service science teachers’ (PSTs) perceptions of their Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) development after creating digital stories based on science topics drawn from the national curriculum. A total of 21 PSTs enrolled in Introduction to Computers II participated in the study. Data were collected through a demographics questionnaire, a TPACK diagram, an open-ended questionnaire, interviews, and observations. During the study, feedback was provided to participants during each step of the digital storytelling process: writing the stories, finding related pictures, matching the pictures to the stories; and preparing the digital files. The …
Опубликована Апрель 10, 2013
The present study aimed to explain elementary teacher candidates’ energy conservation behaviors by using Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) Theory. Participants in this study were 512 students at Faculty of Education from two public universities in Turkey. Of the 512 students, 35.5% were enrolled in the early childhood education program, 30.9% were in the elementary science education program, and 27.7% were in the elementary mathematics education program. The rest of the participants were pursuing a graduate program under the department of elementary education. The results of multiple linear regression analysis reflected that VBN Theory could successfully explain the participants’ energy conservation behaviors. The …
Опубликована Апрель 10, 2013
In this paper, it is aimed to investigate the persistence of misconceptions in the topic of the human blood circulatory system among students in different grade levels. For this reason, after discussions with biology educators, two tests consisting of open-ended questions were developed by the researcher and administered to students in four different grade levels. The first test was administered to 319 5th and 7th grade students in elementary school and the second one was administered to 400 1st and 4th year university students studying in the departments of elementary school teaching, science education and biology education. Data were analyzed …
Опубликована Июль 7, 2014
The purpose of this study is to investigate the environmental attitudes (EA) in the population of 15-year-old French students and, to check if the French student population presents similar EA categorization as described in the different models in the literature (e.g. the Model of Ecological Values, Wiseman & Bogner 2003). The second aim of this study is to identify the different factors influencing students’ EA. We analyse the results of the questionnaire-based Relevance of Science Education Project carried out in France in 2008 as a part of a wider international comparative study ROSE (Relevance Of Science Education). The hierarchical ascendant …
Опубликована Янв. 10, 2013
The present study explores the use of a conventional school ground of a primary school and its potential as a space for creative play and environmental learning. Children’s play behavior and views of the school ground are explored, as well as their vision for its improvement. The research constitutes part of a wider school ground project and was carried out in a primary school in Volos city, Greece, during the 2010-2011 schoolyear. Geographical and participatory design methods were used that capture children’s experience of space and their will for participation in redesigning their school ground. They included mapping of the …
Опубликована Янв. 10, 2013
Science teachers frequently select science news articles as supplementary teaching materials; however, the literature indicates that students encounter difficulties in examining and evaluating the news content and textual elements. This paper reports an instructional strategy of utilizing science news articles and investigates its effectiveness in enhancing students’ cognitive learning outcomes. In this quasi-experimental study, 118 seventh graders from four classes in one secondary school in Taiwan took part in the Science News Instruction (SNI). After eight weeks of instruction about Genetics and Reproduction, all students were requested to present their written arguments to the selected science news article. Two of …
Опубликована Янв. 10, 2013
Achieving a sustainable future requires that individuals adopt sustainable behaviors, which are often learned and cemented at a young age. Yet, traditional education efforts have been inadequate in fostering transformative change, in part because many programs focus on fact-heavy, teacher-centered techniques while neglecting the practices that behavioral and sustainability scholars highlight as central to creating change. To address this gap, the present research integrates three critical yet mostly disparate bodies of research— educational pedagogy, behavior change, and sustainability competencies. This interdisciplinary approach to education was implemented and evaluated with a small group of students during an intensive summer program and …
Опубликована Окт. 10, 2012
Learning about global problems, such as climate change, is not only a cognitive endeavor, but also involves emotions evoked by the seriousness and complexity of these problems. Few studies, however, have explored how young people cope with emotions related to climate change. Since coping strategies could be as important as the emotions themselves in influencing whether young people will acquire knowledge concerning climate change, as well as ethical sensibility and action competence, it is argued that it is important for teachers to gain insight into how young people cope with this threat. Thus, the aim of this study was to …
Опубликована Июнь 4, 2012
The purpose of this study is to construct a structural equation model to examine the links among attitudes, values, and behaviors pertaining to sustainability, participation in outdoor recreation as well as gender and tendency to follow mass media for university students. The data were collected by on-line administration of a survey to 958 students at Middle East Technical University during February-June of 2008. It needs to be stressed that gender emerged as a strong factor explaining sustainability-related attributes. It was reflected that female students having higher tendency to follow media held more favorable attitudes and behaviors toward sustainable life styles, …