Exploring Students’ Ideas About Risks and Benefits of Nuclear Power Using Risk Perception Theories

Due to increased energy demand, Turkey is continuing to explore the possibilities of introducing nuclear power. Gaining acceptance from local populations, however, may be problematic because nuclear power has a negative image and risk perceptions are complicated by a range of psychological and cultural factors. In this study, we explore the views about nuclear power of school students from three locations in Turkey, two of which have been proposed as sites suitable for nuclear power plants. About half of the student cohort believed that nuclear power can supply continuous and sufficient electricity, but approximately three quarters thought that nuclear power stations could harm organisms, including humans, living nearby. Rather few students realized that adoption of nuclear power would help to reduce global warming and thereby limit climate change; indeed, three quarters thought that nuclear power would make global warming worse. There was a tendency for more students from the location most likely to have a nuclear power plant to believe negative characteristics of nuclear power, and for fewer students to believe positive characteristics. Exploration of the possible nuclear power programmes by Turkey offers an educational opportunity to understand the risk perceptions of students that affect their decision-making processes.     

Students’ Expectations of Teaching in Undergraduate Physics

This article reports on a phenomenographic‐based study of the expectations of teaching among undergraduate physics students. Data are drawn from a range of course‐contexts at each of two quite different universities — one South African and one Swedish — and five qualitatively different expectations of physics teaching are identified and exemplified. These range from presenting knowledge to facilitating personal development and agency. Implications of possible mismatches between students’ and lecturers’ expectations of physics teaching are discussed in relation to students’ learning experiences.     

Students’ Conceptions About ‘Radiation’: Results from an Explorative Interview Study of 9th Grade Students

One basis of good teaching is to know about your students?? preconceptions. Studies about typical ideas that students bring to the science classroom have been and continue to be a major field in science education research. This study aims to explore associations and ideas that students have regarding ??radiation??, a term widely used in various fields and necessary to understand fundamental ideas in science. In an explorative study, the perceptions of 50 high school students were examined using semi-structured interviews. The students were 14?C16?years old and were chosen from 7 different high schools in an urban area in Austria. Following an interview guideline, students were asked about their general associations with the term ??radiation?? as well as about their general understanding of different types of radiation. A qualitative analysis of these interviews following the method of Flick (2009) revealed that the students?? associations were, to a great extent, very different from the scientific use of the term. Several conceptions that could inhibit students?? learning processes could be identified. Consequences for the teaching of the topic ??radiation?? in science lessons, which are based on these preconceptions, are presented in the conclusion.     

Teachers’ and Students’ Conceptions of Good Science Teaching

Capitalizing on the comments made by teachers on videos of exemplary science teaching, a video-based survey instrument on the topic of ‘Density’ was developed and used to investigate the conceptions of good science teaching held by 110 teachers and 4,024 year 7 students in Hong Kong. Six dimensions of good science teaching are identified from the 55-item questionnaire, namely, ‘focussing on science learning’, ‘facilitating students’ understanding’, ‘encouraging students’ involvement’, ‘creating conducive environment’, ‘encouraging active experimentation’ and ‘preparing students for exam (PSE)’. Significant gaps between teachers’ and students’ conceptions on certain dimensions have been revealed. The inconsistency on the dimension ‘PSE’ is particularly evident and possible reasons for the phenomenon are suggested. This study raises the important questions of how the gap can be addressed, and who is to change in order to close the gaps. Answers to these questions have huge implications for teacher education and teacher professional development.     

About the Investigation of Art Students’English Study

English study is becoming more and more important.However,art students have weak English level on average.Thus,it’ s a problem for students and teachers to improve the quality of English study.In this article,it analyses the reason for the weak English level and the responding strategy.What’ s more,it encourages students to study actively and advocates teach ing based on art knowledge.     

Students’ Perception of Change in the Singapore Education System

This paper presents the findings of a research that examines students perception of the change in the Singapore Education System and how that impacts on their satisfaction and outlook. Analysis of the data obtained through a questionnaire and face-to-face interviews shows that the more favourable the perception of change amongst students, the more favourable is their satisfaction and outlook. The implication for education leaders is that it is important to understand student perception of change because they are the ultimate beneficiary of change.     

On Cultivation of Students’Communicative Competence in Language Teaching

Communicative competence is a very important concept in second language acquisition.It is of great importance to develop students’communicative competence in language teaching.Cultivation of students’communicative competence should be conducted in different stages of language teaching,including syllabus design,materials design,teaching training,teaching activities,etc.     

Third-Graders’ Conceptions About the Origin of Species Before and After Instruction: an Exploratory Study

This study examines how third-graders’ conceptions about the origin of species are affected by formal instruction and whether children can learn not only about evolution but also about natural selection. We interviewed the same group of third-grade children (8–9 years old) twice, before and after following a curriculum about these topics. Creationist answers were very rare at both pre- and post-tests. The number of evolutionist answers increased significantly after instruction. However, children learned about evolution in a piecemeal way; they gave evolutionist answers for only some of the animals they were asked about and made several errors when putting classes of vertebrates on a time line. In addition, only a minority of children learned something about evolutionary mechanisms. They said that new-born animals can be different from the parents because of mutations but did not mention differential survival. These results challenge the views, according to which, cognitive biases (i.e. essentialism, teleological and intentional thinking) make children unreceptive to evolution.     

Cultivating Students’ Cultural Awareness inEnglish Teaching

With the fast development of Chinese economy and society,the communication between China and foreign countries has been more and more frequent.And China is a country where English is taught as a foreign language.Therefore cultural differences have become more and more significant in English teaching.Both language teachers and students should be aware of the differences between eastern and western culture in their teaching and study.     

The Study of ESP Teaching and Students’ Expectation of ESP Course

With the development of economic globalization,international communication and integration,English for Specific Purpose turned up and has enjoyed much popularity since recent years. In the contemporary society,ESP teaching becomes an increasing prominent teaching course. This paper will focus on the ESP teaching and learning,especially the students’ expectation of ESP course. At first,it will introduce the great importance and background of ESP teaching. Then,it will review the definition,categories and traits of ESP. In the end,it will mainly concern about students’ expectation and perception of ESP course.The main purpose of this paper is to bring up some constructive suggestions for ESP teaching and learning. It suggests that to achieve the goal of facilitating ESP teaching and learning effectively can be realized by understanding the characteristics of ESP teaching and learners’ learning style,choosing the suitable teaching materials,creating some specific fields of this study which is relevant practically,mapping out appropriate evaluation. As for students,they should set up clear goals for ESP learning,adopt such appropriate learning method as the self-construction way,and try the cooperative learning pattern. Besides,ESP teachers also play an important role in this process. They can achieve the success of ESP teaching through planning course design at advance including considering and understanding students’ expectation of ESP course,their characteristics,learning goals and appropriate teaching materials,which all contribute to positive ESP learning experience.     

Geoethics: Master’s Students Knowledge and Perception of Its Importance

In the 1990s, the field of geoethics started its development, associated with a set of ethical principles that regulate the profession of geologists in their relationship with society and with nature. Given the importance of this field, but also its youth, 36 higher education students attending a Master’s of Geology course were surveyed (20 were from an educational branch and 16 were from a scientific branch). The questionnaire applied to them aimed to achieve the following goals: (a) to identify the knowledge of the respondents about this new field and to verify their position about the inclusion of geoethics in the curriculum, (b) to understand how they consider the importance of geological knowledge in political decisions and (c) to investigate possible differences in the thinking of the respondents, given the specificities of their educational branches. The study concluded that the field of geoethics is unknown to the majority of the respondents. However, the recognition of its importance was also verified, after getting familiar with the definition of the concept, as well as the need for its inclusion in formal education. The respondents also considered relevant the creation of a deontological code that could provide geologists with ethical guidance. They also considered that geology should influence political decisions, but they did not consistently recognise the limits of its influence, which seems to reveal the need of a deeper understanding of the specific nature of geological knowledge when compared with other sciences. Almost all the results were similar in both groups, but the students from the educational branch offered more elaborate answers about the issues present in the questionnaire.     

Students’ Perception of Co‐operative Learning in Earth Science Fieldwork

This paper reports on a small‐scale study of students’ perceptions of selected aspects concerning the organisation of, and learning from, fieldwork. Two main findings emerge. (a) In the choke of working partners, students either seek partners whom they regard as capable of making positive contributions to the fulfilment of the learning tasks, or they opt for friendship groups. In the case of the former, the qualities looked for are predominantly subject knowledge and subject‐related skills: competence in the management of group learning does not appear as a major consideration. (b) Although the outcomes from group work were invariably judged to be positive, a large minority of students appeared to regard themselves as contributors to, rather than beneficiaries from, such work. These students judged the extent of their learning from group work as low or very low.     

College Students’ Perceptions About the Plausibility of Human-Induced Climate Change

Overcoming students’ misconceptions may be a challenge when teaching about phenomena such as climate change. Students tend to cite short-term weather effects as evidence to support or refute long-term climate transformations, which displays a fundamental misunderstanding about weather and climate distinctions. Confusion about weather and climate may also reflect student misunderstanding about deep time, a concept that spans several scientific content areas. This study examines the relationships between students’ understanding of deep time and their understandings of the distinctions between weather and climate, as well as how these understandings influence students’ perceptions about the plausibility of human-induced global climate change. Undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory science class on global climate change completed measures of their (a) understanding of distinctions between weather and climate, (b) knowledge of deep time, and (c) plausibility perceptions of human-induced climate change, both at the beginning and end of the course. The study includes comparison groups of similar students enrolled in introductory physical geography classes. Results revealed that greater knowledge of deep time and increased plausibility perceptions of human-induced climate change provide significant explanation of variance in students’ understanding of weather and climate distinctions. Furthermore, students achieve significantly increased understanding of weather and climate, even with brief instruction.     

Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Beliefs About Science Teaching

In this study, a Beliefs About Teaching (BAT) scale was created to examine preservice elementary science teachers’ self-reported comfort level with both traditional and reform-based teaching methods, assessment techniques, classroom management techniques, and science content. Participants included 166 preservice teachers from three different US universities. Analyses revealed significant correlations among participants’ confidence level with assessment techniques, classroom management, teaching methods, and science content and number of science methods and science content courses taken. A significant difference was observed among the students enrolled at each university. Overall, study participants felt more comfortable teaching biology concepts than teaching chemistry concepts, physics concepts, or both.