Changes in Attitudes Towards Science–Technology–Society of Pre-service Science Teachers

This research focuses on use of a triadic teaching approach in a science–technology–society (STS) course designed for future science teachers for middle schools in Turkey. Forty-three pre-service science teachers were enrolled in a semester-long course organized around issues students identified and used throughout the semester. The triadic teaching approach includes library-online searches that lead the students to design and conduct investigations, to carrying out mini-scientific symposia, and to preparing and conducting poster presentations open to the entire student body and faculty. The results of a 30-item Likert scale, administered to the students as a pretest and a posttest, indicated that there were significant increases in positive attitudes towards STS issues from the beginning to the end of the study. Individual interviews were also conducted with the students to determine the individual effects of each component of the triadic teaching approach on their attitudes towards STS issues. All aspects of the new approach provided significant contributions to the development of more positive attitudes among the students towards STS via interviews and on all sub-scales of a survey administered that include: (1) pupil interest in STS issues; (2) teacher interest in STS issues; (3) general perceptions regarding importance of STS issues.

Turkish Pre‐Service Science Teachers’ Views on Science–Technology–Society Issues

The international science education community recognises the role of pre‐service science teachers’ views about the interdependence of Science, Technology, and Society (STS) in achieving scientific literacy for all. To this end, pre‐service science teachers’ STS views signal the strengths and the weaknesses of science education reform movements. Turkey, a country that follows the international reform movement, aims at improving citizen’s understanding of the STS interdependence to enable them to fully participate in an industrialised, democratic society. This study explores the Turkish pre‐service science teachers’ views (n = 176) on STS issues and discusses the ongoing reform efforts’ strengths and weaknesses within the context of the study findings. Data were collected through an adopted “Views on Science–Technology–Society” instrument. Analysis revealed that many participants held realistic views on science, technology, and society interdependence, while their views on technology and the nature of science were differed. Some viewed technology as an application of science, and some viewed science as explanatory and an interpretation of nature. Most agreed that the scientific knowledge is tentative but they did not present a thorough understanding of the differences between hypotheses, laws, and theories.     

Water Environment Pollution in Three—Gorge Reservoir Area and Treatment Technology

After the erecgtion of Three-Gorge Reservoir,The Water Environment in the reservoir area will be turned into water dobies like laker,and the self-clarification ability of water will also be moch slower than ever,Now,the quality of water in most segments in upper reaches of Yangtze River cannot meet the requiremets of I-II class Environment Quality Standard (GHZB1-1999),In Yangtze River,Jialing River and Wujiang River,the mian indexes such as colon bacillus,nonionic ammonia,chemical oxygen demand(COD),petroleum,phenol,total phosphorus(TP),heavy metal,etc.,have exceeded the standard limits.The water bodies of the reservoir area are facing serious risk of eutrophicatioinm.To solve that problem.A countermeasure of multi-spot diverted treatment and separate discharge is recommended,for doing this,lots of smallscale wastemwate treatment facilities employing updated activated sludge treatment technologies are to be set up.Up to now,a number of sewage treatment technologies to control eutrophication of water have been developed,which include processes of sequencing batch activated sludge(SBR),absorbing bio-degradation (AB),oxidation channel,package intermittent aeration system(PIAS),intermittent cylce extended aeration system(ICEAS),UNITANK and so on ,The Efective one to be applied in the reservoir area should convey the requirements of ecological agriculture,forestry and urban planning ,and be accompanied by legal support for appropriate exploitation of natural resources.     

Das Institute of Science and Technology – Austria

Mit BGBl I 2006/69 wurde das Bundesgesetz über das Institute of Science and Technology – Austria erlassen. Der folgende Beitrag besch?ftigt sich mit der Rechtsform, den gesetzliche Aufgaben, der innere Organisation, der studienrechtliche Ausgestaltung sowie der Finanzierung des I.S.T. Austria.     

Science and Technology in Greek Newspapers, 1900–1910. Historiographical Reflections and the Role of Journalists for the Public Images of Science and Technology

Based on our research on two Athenian daily newspapers for the first decade of the twentieth century, we present some historiographical reflections concerning the role of the daily press in the circulation of scientific knowledge, ideas and practices. From the wealth of material provided, we examine some of the ways in which scientific and technical knowledge was made available to a wider public and contributed to the creation of a general scientific literacy. Although Greece has never been in the forefront of scientific and technological research, the vast amount of newspaper articles on science and technology, but also references to science and technology in other kind of articles, show how discussions on science and technology become part of daily life in order to serve various agendas. Since newspapers address a very wide and diverse public on a daily basis they become privileged media not only for understanding the role science and technology played in the formation of modern societies, but also for examining the values and ideas attached to them and communicated to a wider public.     

The effect of a ‘Science,Technology and Society’ course on prospective teachers’ conceptions of the nature of science

The aim of this study is to assess prospective teachers’ views of some aspects of the nature of science (NOS) and the effects of a “Science, Technology and Society” (STS) course embedded with scientific investigation (SI) on these views. A questionnaire consisting of 13 items was given to 212 prospective teachers enrolled in a STS course before and after teaching. During the semester, participants were engaged in a specially designed pilot SI combined with explicit NOS instruction. Majority of the participants held traditional views of the target NOS aspects at beginning of the study. After the course there were significant changes in the conceptions of prospective teachers in majority target aspects of NOS as the results of a Sign test indicate. We suggest that the more suitable SI, performed in an active learning environment, related to target aspects of NOS must be selected to develop the more constructivist views about the NOS.     

Translator’s Subjectivity in Science and Technology Translation

Science and technology translation involves various industries and professions,with its own system of terminology and unique language features.For a translator,who is not a professional scientist or technician,it seems to be difficult to do science and technology translation accurately and properly.Consequently,it is necessary for the translator to give play to his subjectivity when translating science and technology documents or related interpretation:searching for related data to replenish necessary professional knowledge,consulting with professional technicians actively to clarify the jargon and common sayings,and thinking critically to scrutiny the source text.     

Decision‐Making in Future Science and Technology Curricula

Summaries

English

In this article, the author argues in favour of a decision‐making orientated science and technology curriculum for secondary school students. To achieve this, the curriculum should (i) expose students to open‐ended problems within their natural setting, (ii) provide students with real decision‐making situations and (iii) involve them in scientific‐technological social actions, e.g. in community institutions or industrial plants.     

Ninth Graders’ Learning Interests, Life Experiences and Attitudes Towards Science & Technology

Students’ learning interests and attitudes toward science have both been studied for decades. However, the connection between them with students’ life experiences about science and technology has not been addressed much. The purpose of this study is to investigate students’ learning interests and life experiences about science and technology, and also their attitudes toward technology. A total of 942 urban ninth graders in Taiwan were invited to participate in this study. A Likert scale questionnaire, which was developed from an international project, ROSE, was adapted to collect students’ ideas. The results indicated that boys showed higher learning interests in sustainability issues and scientific topics than girls. However, girls recalled more life experiences about science and technology in life than boys. The data also presented high values of Pearson correlation about learning interests and life experiences related to science and technology, and in the perspective on attitudes towards technology. Ways to promote girls’ learning interests about science and technology and the implications of teaching and research are discussed as well.     

The Perfect Storm—Genetic Engineering,Science, and Ethics

Uncertainty about ethics has been a major factor in societal rejection of biotechnology. Six factors help create a societal “perfect storm” regarding ethics and biotechnology: Social demand for ethical discussion; societal scientific illiteracy; poor social understanding of ethics; a “Gresham’s Law for Ethics;” Scientific Ideology; vested interests dominating ethical discussion. How this can be remedied is discussed.     

Trust in Science and Science Education — Part 1

Science & Education -     

Science,Society and Trends in Science Education‐‐some Thoughts on the Development of Integrated Science in the Educational Systems of the World

Summaries

English

Before constructing a new curriculum for any level in integrated‐science education, it is very important to establish a basic philosophy of science teaching which reflects a symbiotic relationship between education and the socio‐economic development in a particular country of the world.

The curriculum structure of integrated‐science education should broaden the basis of curricular decision and should be designated to follow the expectations of the society in providing professional intellectual training so that education can make a significant contribution to the socio‐economic growth of the country. This basic assumption which established a link between cultural and socio‐economic growth, involves a diversification of the cultural trends of science education which must become appropriate to the economic and historical context of each country in a fast changing world of work.

Therefore, by critically removing outside influences in the transmission of scientific knowledge, there should be less uniformity in the context and methods of teaching, and considerable restructuring of education for each country should occur. Thus, considering the historical and geographical differences, a new order in international division of labour would come into being.

In such a hypothesis, a research‐oriented integrated curriculum in science education can play a central role (certainly a better one than in the traditional, discipline‐oriented scheme of science teaching) in obtaining an adequate interaction between scientific education and social problems; this is required for modern cultural and economic development of the world.     

The Scientific World View,Information Technology,and Science Education: Closing the Gap Between Knowledge-Generation and Knowledge–Consumption

Scholars of science and society have documented a rising public discontent with the scientific enterprise. Low scientific literacy, and an almost instinctive mistrust of scientists and the scientific enterprise, dominate current public discourse about science-intensive matters. Ironically, this disillusionment has come at a time when the ability of scientific discoveries to inform the human condition has perhaps never been greater. New information technologies, including those for accessing data, interacting with data, and communicating with other people through space and time, may offer new pathways for bridging the large gaps that lie between the frontiers of science, students and laypeople. Examples of recent scientific discoveries that exemplify aspects of the scientific world view are reviewed, and traditional classroom pedagogy is examined in light of the habits of mind these discoveries embody. Finally, specific information technologies and model projects are reviewed. This review reveals both promise and challenges: while information technologies may foster new modes of teaching and learning, they also demand new forms of interaction among scientists, teachers, and technology/software developers, for which there are both few systemic incentives and a largely incomplete theoretical foundation.     

Relationship Among Students’ Problem-Solving Attitude,Perceived Value,Behavioral Attitude,and Intention to Participate in a Science and Technology Contest

The strong humanistic and ethics-oriented philosophy of Confucianism tends to lead people influenced by these principles to undervalue the importance of hands-on practice and creativity in education. GreenMech, a science and technology contest, was implemented to encourage real-world, hands-on problem solving in an attempt to mitigate this effect. The self-reported attitudes, values, and intentions of 684 GreenMech participants from elementary, junior high, and senior high schools in Taiwan were subjected to confirmatory analysis with structural equation modeling to test the hypothesized model. The research findings revealed that the students’ problem-solving attitude is positively correlated to their perception of their own knowledge enrichment and thinking-skill enhancement as a result of participating in GreenMech. The findings also suggest that these perceived advantages positively influenced the intention to participate in future contests. This indicates that a highly competitive contest can be used to promote awareness of opportunities, which may enhance thinking skills and enrich knowledge.     

Implementing “Big Ideas” to Advance the Teaching and Learning of Science,Technology, Engineering,and Mathematics (STEM)

Although education experts are increasingly advocating the incorporation of integrated Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) curriculum units to address limitations in much current STEM teaching and learning, a review of the literature reveals that more often than not such curriculum units are not mediating the construction of in-depth STEM knowledge. In this paper, we conjecture that the challenge of generating integrated STEM curriculum units that overcome this limitation and facilitate in-depth learning of and about STEM can be met by the use of three types of big ideas: within-discipline big ideas that have application in other STEM disciplines, cross-discipline big ideas, and encompassing big ideas. We provide a six-component framework (together with an example of the framework in action) that can be used to scaffold pre- and in-service teachers’ development of integrated STEM curriculum units based around these types of big ideas. The paper concludes by discussing possible directions for future research and development in this field.