Problem solving in the physics classroom. An analysis with secondary school students

The teaching of science, and specifically physics, has been associated with the acquisition of knowledge with a particular emphasis on problem solving, as an activity that brings students closer to the methodology and meaningful learning of science. However, problem solving is perhaps one of the sources of failure in physics teaching, which requires a careful analysis of this didactic activity. Therefore, the aim of this work is to analyze the development of students’ problem-solving skills in a physics course. An analysis is presented using the quasi-experimental method through the application of a pre-test – post-test, for which a methodological intervention was used based on the problem-solving competence, which focused on identifying errors and difficulties by the students themselves and thus favoring the learning and development of this competence, which allowed the academic progress of the students to be analyzed. It is concluded that the intervention supported by problem solving improves students’ performance, in addition to the positive assessment they make of the process, as well as its influence on the change in pedagogical practice.

Evaluation Conducted With University Teachers on the General Physics Courses Taught at the National University of Costa Rica During 2014 and 2019

Objective. Evaluate the General Physics courses (theory and laboratory) of the Science Teaching career with the university teaching staff, in the period from 2014 to 2019, to identify the strengths and weaknesses in the methodology and propose new educational strategies. Method. The research was conducted through a virtual survey with the LimeSurvey software to the teachers who have taught Physics courses for the Science Teaching career in the last five years; the survey was applied to the total population of 20 teachers, but only 12 of them answered it. The instrument was designed by the teaching staff working on the project to improve the laboratory manuals. The instrument analysis was carried out with the help of an Excel spreadsheet provided by the LimeSurvey software. The instrument was validated by IDESPO staff of the National University regarding the relevance of the content of the statements, the clarity of the questions, and the coherence with the objective of this study. Results. The structure and organization of the General Physics courses have a positive assessment by the teachers, who also showed a preference for the traditional lecturing; but even so, they are willing to train and learn new teaching strategies. Conclusions. The results of this investigation show that teachers are open to technological change and to working on the challenges that government policies have proposed.

EFFECTIVENESS OF OBSERVE AND RELATE SELF - APPROACH (ORSA) IN ENHANCING THE GRAMMATICAL COMPETENCE: A

The study determined the effectiveness of Observation Response and Self-Approach (ORSA) in improving the grammatical competence of Grade 7 learners of Looc Integrated School. This study used the quasi- experimental design and pretest/ posttest questionnaire. ORSA was used as an approach to teach students grammar including WH questions, verb, and prepositions. This was limited to selected Grade 7 students with the lowest grammatical competence. The ORSA study was taken from the name of the author itself, a new way to assess students through positive assessments that explores the learner’s innate talents and skills and to reassure and to encourage the development of strength in students. It is also centered on the pedagogical approaches and emphasizes the use of positive assessment as to its unique feature in evaluating students’ performance utilizing non-threatening assessments that motivated the students to develop self-efficacy and eventually become an independent learner whose competencies acquired are internationally aligned and acceptable even during this new normal in the time of pandemic. The idea of ORSA can be anchored on Locke’s idea of reflection. Before applying the approaches, students got lower scores. After being exposed to the approaches, their mean scores increased. It can be implied that through the use of ORSA, the students think and question that they have learned through the persuasion of the teacher, they believed in themselves and in what they have learned. ORSA and K to 12, the two groups of student-participants have different levels of grammatical competence. As observed in the obtained means, students exposed to ORSA achieved higher grammatical competence as compared to students exposed to K to 12 teaching approach. This connotes that ORSA is proven effective in enhancing the grammatical competence of the students

Why are Célestin Freinet's «free texts» relevant again?

Introduction. The scientific and pedagogical heritage of the outstanding French humanist teacher of the first half of the twentieth century. Célestine Freinet (1896-1966) is extensive and diverse, and is of considerable value for domestic education. The purpose of the article is to reveal the relevance of the idea of using free children's texts in the pedagogical process put forward by Freinet and implemented by him in practice. This idea is particularly important in the work of general education and vocational schools in modern conditions characterized by the accelerated development of distance learning, the constant introduction of technological innovations, as well as the introduction of anti-epidemiological restrictions. Research methods are: a critical analysis of the works of S. Freinet, foreign and domestic authors, researchers of his pedagogical heritage, as well as biographical and historical methods. The research is based on an axiological approach that allows us to identify the value essence of the phenomena and facts to be studied. Results. The study contains biographical facts that characterize S. Freinet as an outstanding teacher and humanist. The article reveals his tireless activity in organizing teachers from different countries in international pedagogical organizations, which aimed at spreading advanced pedagogical ideas and humanistic traditions. The scientific views of Freinet on the use of free children's texts, which remain relevant to this day, as well as a number of other pedagogical views, are comprehensively analyzed. Discussion and conclusions. A critical, but generally positive assessment of S. Freinet's ideas from the standpoint of modern pedagogical science is given. Among them are the organization of education, the relationship between teachers and students, the social purpose of the school, etc. The scientific novelty of the study is to identify the relevance of a number of ideas of an outstanding French teacher, and, above all, about the use of free children's texts in domestic education, which has not previously been the subject of the study of domestic comparative teachers. S. Freinet is included by the author of the article in the book «100 great teachers». In 2021, the 125th anniversary of his birth is celebrated.

Słowa pochwały – o semantyce pewnych przymiotników oceniających

The article concerns several dozen adjectives expressing a general positive assessment in Polish. The analysis aims to reveal the concepts that motivate the semantic development of the adjectives listed above from other, more specific meanings to the evaluation meaning. The author concludes that evaluative adjectives are motivated by concepts from several specific semantic circles, e.g. ‘large size’, ‘light’, ‘rarity’, ‘unreality’ etc.

educational role in COVID-19 terms of ethnodesign graphic function in higher education practical activities

The research aims to establish the effectiveness and assessment of the educational role of graphic function of ethnodesign, as well as to determine the feasibility of using didactics outside the classroom practices in art education in the terms of COVID-19. The methodology of study is based on a qualitative approach designed to analyze the results of the research experiment, which provides for comprehensiveness in the study. The method of experiment in work is basic, also applied methods of interviewing and observation. The hypothesis is that in the development of art specialties curricula should be used extracurricular practical classes, where educational components of the graphic function of ethnodesign, as they form creative and educated professionals, actualize educational aspects. The result of the research is the establishment of positive assessment by the participants of educational process of using the graphic function of ethnodesign for educational purposes during practical extracurricular classes since this methodology contributes to the development of creativity and has significant innovative potential in revealing the creative abilities of art students, where students actively influence educational process together. The perspective in the research work is the further implementation of educational and training projects dedicated to the methods of teaching design courses.

Selected factors of internationalisation and their impact on the SME perception of the market risk

Research background: Internationalisation of entrepreneurial activities provides an ample opportunity for the growth and sustainability of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). When making their business activities international, SMEs are facing various obstacles. Investigating the key factors of internationalisation and their impact on SME decision making constitutes a key factor of the research work. Purpose of the article: The main purpose of the paper is to examine the impact of selected factors of SME internationalisation on the positive perception of the market risk. Higher export costs, differences in legal environment, taxes, and linguistic and cultural differences were set to be the significant factors influencing the positive perception of the market risk. Bearing the main purpose in mind, the Visegrad Four (V4 ? Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary) were examined. Methods: The questionnaire in mother tongue of each country in online and paper form was used. The questionnaire consists of 77 questions divided into several sections. Likert five-point scale was used to allow the respondents to express their opinion. In total, 1585 responses were completed. A regression analysis was used to verify the statistical significance of the independent variables and to quantify the causal relationships (determining the direction and strength of the effect) on the dependent variable. As the variables are of one metric, a linear regression model (LRM) was selected to validate the hypothesis. Findings & value added: The internationalisation of SME activities brings along many risks and barriers that SMEs need to overcome if they want to enter international markets. Many SMEs consider the barriers and restrictions to enter foreign markets to be severe. Therefore, they decide to do their business domestically. It was established in the research that only 30.2% of the respondents expanded their business activities internationally. The biggest impact on the positive assessment of the market risk was found to have linguistic and cultural differences. They do not have a negative effect on the positive perception of the market risk, so they do not hinder SMEs in their international expansion. The second most important was the factor of the export costs. The factor of possible increased costs is quite important for SMEs in making their decisions whether to expand internationally or not. This factor also shapes a positive approach to assessing the market risk by SMEs. In the research, SMEs confirmed that potential higher costs do not represent a major barrier for them in shaping their attitudes towards the market risk. The remaining factors being analysed, namely differences in legal environment and taxes, did not have a significant impact on the positive assessment of the market risk internationally. The practical implications can be found in new information about market risk in process of internationalisation provided from four selected countries.

Search for Harmony in the Works of Multimedia Artist Mariia Kulykivska and Photographer Mark Neville

The article examines the concept of “harmony” as a state of contradictions and its role in modern art, particularly, in actionism, as well as the theories of the inner “man” and “self”. The works of artists Mariia Kulykivska and Mark Neville, who form a creative format of modern Ukraine, are studied. It is analyzed how “the art of action”, despite its somewhat revolutionary and pretentious nature, can embody the unity of opposites. It is argued the phenomenon of modern art is precisely in harmony that creates “higher” values and generates a positive assessment of reality, suppressing its flaws and problems. The author concludes actionism has completely integrated with its multifaceted form into Ukrainian sociocultural space, and therefore it gradually frees itself from outdated stereotypes and formalized approaches, adapting to the best examples of world artistic experience.

СЕМАНТИКО-КОМУНІКАТИВНА ХАРАКТЕРИСТИКА ЛЕКСИКИ ПОЗИТИВНОЇ ОЦІНКИ В СУЧАСНІЙ АНГЛІЙСЬКІЙ МОВІ

The article deals with the content space of positive assessment in modern English, which is formed under the infl uence of the type of assessment (moral and ethical, aesthetic, intellectual, social, emotional as well as the assessment of physical and empirical characteristics of the evaluation object), the obje ct of evaluation (person / non-person), and the nominative plane of subjects, actions and qualities that can potentially be positively assessed. The units used to positively assess moral, ethical, and emotional characteristics of the evaluation object correlate with the object of the “person” assessment, and units that correlate with a positive assessment of empirical features correlate with the object of the “non-person” assessment. The study reported in the article was conducted at the lexical and semantic levels. Semantics of the content plane of positive assessment is mainly laid down by three main verb ideas of “love”, “appreciate”, “improve”. Common for all parts of nominative thematic spheres are “love”, “friendship”, “pleasure”, “intelligence”, “harmonicity”, “respect” and others. The largest number of thematic planes can be noticed in adjectives and adverbs. Analysis at the lexemic level proved that multivalued words, in which all values would be evaluated, are rather few. In most cases, the evaluative value appears in the vocabulary of positive evaluation as the main one. Only in a small number of lexemes, semantic variants are formed in the process of development of semantic structure of lexemes. Within the semantic structure, lexemes are sometimes combined by semantic variants, which have an opposite score. All this indicates that the assessment in a number of cases is secondary: it is formed as an indication of the secondary characteristcs of the sign. If the score is at the “top” of a lexeme’s semantics, it can usually be applied to a large number of disparity characteristics of various objects. The assessment depends greatly on the situation in which it is used, that is, on the contextual environment and the nature of the speech act. Sociolinguistic aspects of communication as well as expressive stylistic color of the speech act play a special role in the variability of speech assessments. Adjectives that express the assessment and indicate any sign of the subject more often than other parts of the language are independently used to form the evaluative context. However, a signifi cant number of estimated nouns and verbs rarely appear in the context of isolation. These words require the explication of the estimated signs of the reference, which creates the possibility of sharing the evaluated words of diff erent parts of the language in the same context. Key words: vocabulary of positive semantics, register, semantic space, “plus-score”, melioration, derogativeness.

Gloss to the Resolution of the Supreme Court of 26 February 2021, III CZP 24/20 [on the Interpretation of the Will]

The resolution with gloss concerns the rules for interpreting a will. The Supreme Court stated in it that an interpretation of a will should be performed taking into account all circumstances, including those external to the will and using all means of evidence. The Supreme Court decided that it is the court adjudicating in the case for inheritance acquisition, assessing the evidence gathered in a specific case, that should assess whether it is actually possible to establish the will of the testator. The author of the gloss accepts the thesis of the resolution, but argues with the position of the Supreme Court contained in its justification that only the rules for evidence assessment constitute an instrument allowing one to establish the testator’s will. In the opinion of the author of the gloss the functional interpretation of Art. 948 of the Polish Civil Code (k.c.) indicates limits to the interpretation of the will. After all this is a process that renders it possible to determine the testator’s will in a manner that does not raise any doubts. Therefore, if the interpretation of the will of such fails to secure such a degree of certainty, even despite a positive assessment of the evidence gathered in the case, the court should state that the inheritance has been acquired under the Act.