scholarly journals A CROSS-AGE COMPARISON OF SCIENCE STUDENT TEACHERS’ CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING OF SOIL EROSION

2018 ◽  
Vol 76 (5) ◽  
pp. 601-619 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sibel Er Nas ◽  
Muammer Çalık
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Mental Models ◽  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Alternative Conceptions ◽  
Science Student ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The One

The relevant literature has shown that student teachers hold alternative conceptions of soil erosion. Even though Turkish science student teachers are expected to teach the concept of ‘soil erosion’ in lower secondary schools (grades 5-8), none of the earlier studies have explored their conceptual growth and/or mental models throughout a 4-year undergraduate program. Indeed, science (student) teachers, who play a pivotal role in teaching the sustainability of soil as an environmental heritage, are able to transfer their environmental knowledge and mental models to younger generations. Therefore, the aim of this research was to elicit science student teachers’ (SSTs) understanding of soil erosion. In a cross-age comparison, the sample of the research was comprised of the first-year (n=54), second-year (n=62), third-year (n=60), and fourth-year of a four-year science education program (n=65), a total of 241 SSTs, enrolled at the Department of Science Education in Karadeniz Technical University in Turkey. A questionnaire with 4 open-ended questions and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. The results indicated that the majority of the SSTs confused the concept of ‘soil erosion’ with the one ‘landslide’. For this reason, the current research suggests the development of analogies and computer simulations to overcome this confusion. Keywords: conceptual understanding, cross-age, mental model, science student teacher, soil erosion.

scholarly journals Use of portfolios to correct alternative conceptions and enhance learning

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-43
Author(s):  
Takawira Kazembe
Keyword(s):  
Student Teachers ◽  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Alternative Conceptions ◽  
First Year ◽  
Science Student ◽  
Teacher Training College ◽  
Primary School Student ◽  
New Information

Forty first-year primary school student teachers at a Teacher Training College in Masvingo Province, Zimbabwe, participated in an action research study, employing the science student portfolio, during February to July, 2008 . They used the portfolio to record their prior knowledge about the lesson topic, new information learnt during the lesson, and how the new information related to their prior knowledge. Comments on lessons, monthly tests and assignment scores, reflections and a page-long conclusion were also recorded in the portfolio. The monthly test scores improved as the study progressed. Interviews revealed that alternative conceptions emanated from teachers, peers, textbooks, and the failure of students to understand teachers’ explanations. Students’ and administration’s comments revealed stakeholders’ satisfaction with the portfolio’s effectiveness.

scholarly journals Primary Student Teachers’ Understanding of Basic Ideas of Nature of Science: Laws, Theories and Models

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Constantina Stefanidou ◽  
Constantine Skordoulis
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Nature Of Science ◽  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
International Policy ◽  
Primary Student ◽  
Basic Ideas

Nature of Science is an integral part of scientific literacy which researchers and international policy-making institutions highlight as the purpose of science education. The notions of scientific law, theories and models are crucial for understanding the Nature of Science. These notions are better grasped in the historical context of Nature of Science.  For this purpose, appropriate instructional sequences, based on semi-structured interviews, were designed and implemented to investigate whether and how the student teachers of Primary Education can perceive these concepts. The study revealed that after particular difficulties were confronted, student teachers were able to grasp firmly the notions of scientific law, theories, models and the relationships among them.

scholarly journals “Stepping up the ladder in safety”: An interpretative phenomenological analysis of how LGB clients experience their therapists’ sexual orientation

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 211-223
Author(s):  
Tsabika Bafiti ◽  
Maria Viou ◽  
Prodromos Tarasis
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Orientation ◽  
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis ◽  
Therapeutic Process ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Phenomenological Analysis ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
And Bisexual ◽  
The One ◽  
Systemic Family Therapy

Relevant literature has explored the issue of disclosure of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) therapists to heterosexual or LGB clients. But how do homosexual or bisexual clients understand and experience their therapist’s heterosexual orientation, known or assumed, in relation to the therapeutic alliance and the therapeutic process? In this qualitative study, we used the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to examine eight semi-structured interviews with LGB clients in a family-oriented therapy in Greece. Analysis revealed two themes of higher order, each having three subordinate themes depicting the client’s experience of the therapist’s sexual orientation: 1. Focus on the therapist’s sexual orientation: (a) as a hypothesis (b) as a factor of acceptance (c) as a factor of professional capability and 2. Focus on other therapist features: (a) gender (b) personality traits (c) practice of professional role. The therapist’s sexual orientation or the one perceived by the client was not a neutral issue in therapy and the cultivation of the therapeutic relationship but was only one part of the process. The way all these issues were processed and approached by clients was related to their personal history and phase of therapy. Suggestions for future research include conducting a research on clients from different therapeutic perspectives since it was carried out only on participants in long-term systemic family therapy.

Studying the consistency between and within the student mental models for atomic structure

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 893-902 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolaos Zarkadis ◽  
George Papageorgiou ◽  
Dimitrios Stamovlasis
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Education Research ◽  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Mental Models ◽  
Atomic Structure ◽  
Latent Class ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Northern Greece ◽  
Model Consistency ◽  
The One

Science education research has revealed a number of student mental models for atomic structure, among which, the one based on Bohr's model seems to be the most dominant. The aim of the current study is to investigate the coherence of these models when students apply them for the explanation of a variety of situations. For this purpose, a set of six tasks describing different everyday situations was given to 225 students of the 10th and 11th grades of secondary schools from Northern Greece. Quantitative analysis of the students’ responses using Latent Class Analysis (LCA) showed that there is no consistency between models across the tasks and that the context of the task affects the distribution of students’ responses across models. Qualitative analysis showed a variety of pieces of knowledge from different models that students combine when manipulating the tasks, which possibly causes a lack of consistency within each one of the models. The findings are discussed in terms of between and within model consistency, and the conclusions contribute to the debate concerning the coherentvs.fragmented knowledge hypotheses. The empirical evidence provided by the analysis clearly demonstrates that student mental models for atomic structure were not coherent when applied in different everyday situations. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Lifelong Learning and continuing education: Opinions of teachers and student teachers of preschool education in Greece

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-100
Author(s):  
Thanassis Karalis ◽  
Evangelia Mantadaki ◽  
Dionissia Lemioti
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Continuing Education ◽  
Lifelong Learning ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Preschool Education ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Educational Sciences

In the following article we are going to present the findings of a qualitative research that uses semi-structured interviews for data collection. This specific research aims to look into the views of pre-school teachers (Pre-school Education) and student teachers (students of the Department of Educational Sciences and Early Childhood Education) on the content and importance of lifelong learning and continuing education. At the same time the research compares the views of these two groups as regards lifelong learning and continuing education based on how these terms are coined in relevant literature. The findings show that there is no discrepancy in opinions as both groups consider lifelong learning and continuing education as the medium that will eventually help an educationalist improve both on personal as well as professional level.

Are creative comparisons developed by prospective chemistry teachers evidence of their conceptual understanding? The case of inter- and intramolecular forces

2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 689-719 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gulten Sendur
Keyword(s):  
Hydrogen Bonds ◽  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
Prospective Teachers ◽  
Van Der Waals ◽  
Van Der Waals Force ◽  
Alternative Conceptions ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Covalent Bonds ◽  
Chemistry Teachers ◽  
Intramolecular Forces

The aim of this study is to determine prospective chemistry teachers' creative comparisons about the basic concepts of inter- and intramolecular forces, and to uncover the relationship between these creative comparisons and prospective teachers' conceptual understanding. Based on a phenomenological research method, this study was conducted with 101 prospective chemistry teachers studying in the Chemistry Education Department at a state university in Turkey in the academic year 2011–2012. The research made use of two data collection instruments, a creative comparison questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The concepts of “non-polar covalent bonds, dipole–dipole force, hydrogen bonds, ionic bonds, covalent bonds, polar covalent bonds, and van der Waals force” were set out in the creative comparison questionnaire and the prospective teachers were asked to complete the sentences about these concepts (example: ionic bond is like .......... because ...........). Content analysis techniques were employed in the analysis of the creative comparisons set out in the questionnaire. The analysis of the data revealed that the prospective teachers generally developed their creative comparisons based on the formation and strength of the different bonds and that they also had alternative conceptions, particularly regarding the formation of covalent bonds, hydrogen bonds, and the van der Waals force. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in order to learn more about this and obtain detailed information about the level of understanding of the prospective teachers. Twelve prospective teachers were selected for the interviews on the basis of the creative comparisons they had developed in the creative comparison questionnaire. The analysis of the interviews showed that the level of conceptual understanding of the prospective teachers was not tightly linked to the complexity of their creative comparisons. However, it was seen that the creative comparisons submitted by the prospective teachers could be used to infer their conceptual understanding. Also, these creative comparisons could be helpful in determining what the prospective teachers' alternative conceptions were.

scholarly journals Middle school students’ conceptual understanding of earthquakes

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 ◽  
pp. 01024
Author(s):  
Döne Toprak-Dereli ◽  
Funda Savaşcı-Açıkalın
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
Alternative Conceptions ◽  
Eighth Grade ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
School Students ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Grade Levels

The purpose of the study was to investigate middle school students’ conceptual understandings of earthquakes. Data were collected by using Understanding Earthquakes Test [1] and semi-structured interviews. Participants were a total of 1024 middle school students from the fifth to the eighth grade studying at ten different schools in Istanbul. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with thirty six students selected based on their test scores for three levels of understanding as high, middle, and low level. Findings of the current study indicated that students have lack conceptual understanding of earthquakes with many alternative conceptions. Students mostly from all grade levels seemed to have more scientific understanding in terms of protecting ways from earthquakes damage rather than explaining what earthquakes are and how earthquakes happen.

scholarly journals EDUCAÇÃO SEXUAL E ATUAÇÃO DOCENTE NA ESCOLA INCLUSIVA: COMPROMISSOS SOCIAIS DO ENSINO DE CIÊNCIAS

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 245
Author(s):  
Andreia Lelis Pena ◽  
Juliana Eugênia Caixeta ◽  
Gerson De Souza Mól
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Science Teachers ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Federal District ◽  
Sexual Education ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Social Commitment ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
The One

Science Education must assume its social commitment to Sexual Education and Inclusion, because it is responsible for the elaboration of pedagogical contexts that enable the construction of scientific concepts related to body and sexuality. In order to do so, science education must position human sexuality as a complex phenomenon, whose teaching must consider biological, psychological and social phenomena, and contemplate diversity as inherent in human groups. In this work, we seek to investigate the perception of Science teachers about Sexual Education and the understandings about the sexuality of students with specific needs, in inclusive schools of the Federal District. The relevance of this research is anchored in three aspects: first, the invisibility of the theoretical and methodological discussion that articulates sexuality and disability; according to the repercussion of this invisibility in the non-teaching and; third, in the possibilities of initial and continued training of science teachers in the subject matter. It was a qualitative investigation whose information was generated through semi-structured interviews with eight teachers and analyzed with the support of WQDA software. The teachers' perceptions about the sexuality of people with disabilities, outlined in this research, showed advances on the one hand, that is, on the recognition of many teachers that people with disabilities are subjects of desire; but also stagnation, when there are still teachers who have not been able to recognize their sexuality or how to act in the classroom in order to approach different ways of being and living together, considering sexuality. The analyzes presented reveal the importance of planning proposals for initial and continuing training for Science teachers, with a view to meeting the social commitments of Science Education towards inclusive and sexual education, which implies in defending and promoting the essential right to education person to human development in its entirety, including sexuality and its teaching, in a plural and bio-social perspective.

The Other Entrepreneurs - Migrant Economies as Spaces for Social Innovation?

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-271
Author(s):  
Claudia Lintner
Keyword(s):  
Social Innovation ◽  
Close Relation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Structural Level ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Migrant Entrepreneurship ◽  
False Dichotomy ◽  
Migrant Entrepreneurs ◽  
The One

This article analyses the relationship between migrant entrepreneurship, marginalisation and social innovation. It does so, by looking how their ‘otherness’ is used on the one hand to reproduce their marginalised situation in society and on the other to develop new living and working arrangements promoting social innovation in society. The paper is based on a qualitative study, which was carried out from March 2014- 2016. In this period, twenty semi-structured interviews were conducted with migrant entrepreneurs and experts. As the results show, migrant entrepreneurs are characterised by a false dichotomy of “native weakness” in economic self-organisation against the “classical strength” of majority entrepreneurs. It is shown that new possibilities of acting in the context of migrant entrepreneurship are mostly organised in close relation to the lifeworlds and specific needs deriving from this sphere. Social innovation processes initiated by migrant entrepreneurs through their economic activities thus develop on a micro level and are hence less apparent. Supportive networks are missing on a structural level, so it becomes difficult for single innovative initiatives to be long-lasting.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document