Research of technical knowledge and creativity development of children in pre-primary education through interactive whiteboard

The introduced study represents methodology and results of research focused on utilization of interactive whiteboard as didactic technology mediating information through multimedia worksheets applied in education process in pre-primary education. Its aim was to determine whether it can significantly increase the level of children’s acquired knowledge in the field of technical skills education and whether it can positively influence the development of children’s creative skills as a sign of their motivation. We observe that this issue in the way it is theoretically and practically established in this study can contribute by proposing education standards and set of multimedia worksheets in the technical field in Slovak pre-primary education.     

The Nature of Scientific Practice and Science Education

There is, broadly speaking, an agreement within the international science education community that comprehension of the nature of science (NOS) should be a key element in the scientific literacy of citizens. During the last few decades, several didactic approaches have emerged concerning what and how to teach NOS. Also, one of the basic objectives of science education is for students to become familiar with the skills typical of scientific practice; however, there is little reference to their need to also acquire meta-knowledge about scientific practice (i.e., an understanding of the nature of scientific practice). Among other reasons, this may be due to NOS being essentially identified in most of the predominant proposals with the nature of scientific knowledge. But why not plan the teaching of science to be in tune with real scientific practice for students to learn about the nature of scientific practice at the same time as they are learning science? The answer to this question has given rise to a proposal grounded in ten essential pedagogical principles for the teaching and learning of science in secondary school. These are the principle of formulating questions, the principle of creativity and imagination, the principle of experimentation, the principle of procedural diversity, the principle of errors as opportunity, the principle of modeling, the principle of cooperation and teamwork, the principle of argumentation and discussion, the principle of communication, and the principle of evaluation. The purpose of this article is to present the justification and fundaments of these principles.     

A sociocultural perspective on mediated activity in third grade science

This ethnographic study of a third grade classroom examined elementary school science learning as a sociocultural accomplishment. The research focused on how a teacher helped his students acquire psychological tools for learning to think and engage in scientific practices as locally defined. Analyses of classroom discourse examined both how the teacher used mediational strategies to frame disciplinary knowledge in science as well as how students internalized and appropriated ways of knowing in science. The study documented and analyzed how students came to appropriate scientific knowledge as their own in an ongoing manner tied to their identities as student scientists. Implications for sociocultural theory in science education research are discussed. John Reveles is an assistant professor in the Elementary Education Department at California State University, Northridge. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2005. Before pursuing his Ph.D., he worked as a bilingual elementary school teacher for 3 years. His research focuses on the development of scientific literacy in elementary school settings; sociocultural influences on students' academic identity; equity of access issues in science education; qualitative and quantitative research methods. Within the Michael D. Eisner College of Education, he teaches elementary science curriculum methods courses, graduate science education seminars, and graduate research courses. Gregory Kelly is a professor of science education at Penn State University. He is a former Peace Corps Volunteer and physics teacher. He received his Ph.D. from Cornell in 1994. His research focuses on classroom discourse, epistemology, and science learning. This work has been supported by grants from Spencer Foundation, National Science Foundation, and the National Academy of Education. He teaches courses concerning the uses of history, philosophy, sociology of science in science teaching and teaching and learning science in secondary schools. He is editor of the journal Science Education. Richard Durán is a Professor in the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education, University of California, Santa Barbara. His research and publications have been in the areas of literacy and assessment of English Language Learners and Latino students. He has also conducted research on after school computer clubs, technology and learning as part of the international UC Links Network. With support from the Kellogg Foundation, he is implementing and investigating community and family-centered intervention programs serving the educational progress of Latino students in the middle and high school grades.     

Pedro Gutiérrez Bueno’s Textbooks: Audiences, Teaching Practices and Chemical Revolution

Pedro Gutiérrez Bueno wrote two editions of a chemistry textbook between 1788 and 1802. The paper offers a comparative view of both editions taking into account Gutiérrez Bueno’s biography, his intended audience and the changes related to the so-called chemical revolution. Some conclusions are at odds with common images about scientific revolutions and the role of textbooks in science. The analysis aims to shed some light on the multiple historical forces shaping textbooks and the way in which scientific change is assimilated by their writers. This research was partially supported by the program BHA2002-04611-CO3-02     

Books and articles of academic interest

Books and articles of academic interest     

The second year of life as a developmental turning point: Implications for «sensitive» caretaking

In the context of the transactional view on development, important changes in the second year of life are highlighted which demand parental adaptations in caregiving practice. The discontinuous growth of enriched cognitive functions in the toddler, as exemplified by Piagetian theory on development of intentionality and symbolic thinking and by recent findings about the emergence of self-awareness and mastery-motivation, meshes with changes in caregiving dimensions. The caregiver, seen as a catalyst for the development of cognitive and social competence must adjust himself to the developmental tasks the infant is coping with. The concept of sensitivity is examined in terms of two important aspects: the social and the didactic. From a Vygotskian standpoint, didactic strategies are very important for cognitive competence. Parents have to facilitate self-initiated learning and to adjust to the infant’s increasing cognitive functions. The influence of a didactic «matching» on overall parent-infant interaction quality, and especially on the quality of attachment, is stressed.     

Visions of educational development in the post-socialist era

The paper attempts to characterize and explain the social, political and economic climate underlying educational dilemmas and visions in Czechoslovakia and other Central European countries after the collapse of communist regimes. The new democracies are becoming huge laboratories of social and educational reform — issues of great importance to comparative education. The most urgent dilemma is whether to restore the pre-war educational system, or to follow the mainstream of educational development. Educational policy is also seeking to find a specific solution to a second dilemma: statism versus liberalism in organization, funding, structure and curriculum. The hindering factor is underestimation of the significance of educational policy in the global reform process. Finally, the author quotes Havel's vision of a new politics of education based on consciousness and self-recognition of mankind.

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Zusammenfassung Dieser Artikel versucht, das soziale, politische und wirtschaftliche Klima zu charakterisieren und zu erklären, das den Schwierigkeiten und Vorstellungen im Bildungswesen der Tschechoslowakei und anderer zentraleuropäischer Länder nach dem Zusammenbruch der kommunistischen Regierungsformen zu Grunde liegt. Die neuen Demokratien entwickeln sich zu riesigen Laboratorien sozialer und erzieherischer Reform — Themen von großer Bedeutung für die vergleichende Erziehung. Das dringendste Problem ist die Frage, ob man das vor dem Krieg bestehende Bildungssystem wieder einführen oder der Hauptrichtung der bildungspolitischen Entwicklung folgen soll. Die Bildungspolitik sucht außerdem nach einer spezifischen Lösung für ein zweites Problem: Planwirtschaft kontra Liberalismus in Organisation, Finanzierung, Struktur und Curriculum. Störfaktor ist die Unterschätzung der Bedeutung einer Bildungspolitik im globalen Reformprozeß. Abschließend zitiert der Autor Havels Vision einer neuen Bildungspolitik, die auf Bewußtsein und Selbsterkennung der Menschheit basiert.

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Résumé Cet article tente de caractériser et d'expliquer le climat social, politique et économique sous-jacent aux problèmes et aux visons de l'éducation en Tchécoslovaquie et dans d'autres pays d'Europe centrale après la chute des régimes communistes. Les nouvelles démocraties se transforment en d'énormes laboratoires de réforme sociale et éducative, questions qui sont toutes d'une grande importance pour l'éducation comparée. Le problème le plus urgent est de savoir si l'on doit restaurer le système éducatif d'avant la guerre ou si l'on doit suivre le courant majeur du développement de l'éducation. La politique éducative cherche aussi à apporter une solution spécifique à un deuxième problème, à savoir étatisme ou libéralisme dans l'organisation, le financement, la structure et les programmes d'étude. Le facteur qui fait obstacle est la sous-estimation de l'importance de la politique éducative dans le processus de réforme globale. Enfin, l'auteur cite la vision de Havel d'une nouvelle politique d'éducation fondée sur la conscience et la reconnaissance naturelle de l'humanité.

     

The role of student-generated externalizations in strategic multimedia learning and how current (web-)technology fails to support learner engagement

In two studies, we investigated how learning strategies can support learning from multimedia. In the first study, 112 students learned from a web-based learning environment. On the basis of a strategy, one group of students took typewritten notes. The second group of students wrote a summary. Producing typewritten notes did not benefit learning any more than writing a summary. In the second study, 100 students learned the same subject matter from print. On the basis of a strategy, the first group produced written notes, the second group highlighted, wrote notes, and produced sketches. The third group wrote a summary. The students who highlighted, wrote notes, and produced sketches outperformed the other students. The students who produced written notes only did not learn more successfully than those who wrote a summary. The results suggest that externalizations in general and sketches in particular may play an important role in multimedia learning.     

Facilitating small-group learning: A comparison of student and staff tutors' behavior

This study focused on students' observations of student and staff tutors' behavior during two academic courses, using a thirtynine-item rating scale. The study took place within an integrated problem-based law curriculum. Six major factors in tutors' behavior were identified. Differences between student and staff tutors' performance were investigated. The results showed that student tutors were better at understanding the nature of the problems students face in attempting to master the subject-matter. Student tutors were also more interested in students' daily lives, study experiences and personalities. In addition, student tutors referred to end-of-course examinations more frequently than staff tutors to direct student learning. Alternatively, staff tutors used their subject-matter expertise more often and displayed more authoritarian behavior than student tutors. No differences were found with respect to tutors' focus on cooperation among group members. The results are interpreted in terms of the nature of the knowledge and experiences of students and staff with regard to problem-based learning and its requirements.     

Locus and nature of perceptual phonological deficit in Spanish children with reading disabilities

The aims of this study were (a) to determine whether Spanish children with reading disabilities (RD) show a speech perception deficit and (b) to explore the locus and nature of this perceptive deficit. A group of 29 children with RD, 41 chronological age-matched controls, and 27 reading ability-matched younger controls were tested on tasks of speech perception. The effect of linguistic unit (word vs. syllable) and type of phonetic contrast (voicing, place and manner of articulation) were analyzed in terms of the number of errors and the response time. The results revealed a speech perception deficit in Spanish children with RD that was independent of the type of phonetic contrast and of linguistic unit.