A CROSS-NATIONAL STUDY OF THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT IN CHEMISTRY CLASSES AT ALBANIAN,KOSOVAR, ROMANIAN AND TURKISH SECONDARY SCHOOLS

This study is part of a cross-national research entitled In the past and now: Constructivist practices in teaching chemistry—Bulgaria, the Balkans and Europe. The purpose of the research is to explore science secondary classroom environments in terms of the constructivist approach. The study has been carried out at international schools and state schools in Albania, Kosovo, Romania and Turkey. The data collection methods were three surveys: the What Is Happening In This Class? (WIHIC), the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) and the Test of Science-Related Attitudes (TOSRA). The questionnaires were given to 747 secondary school students. The results show that in the majority of the surveyed classrooms, a blended traditional-constructivist type of environment is present. The highest scores for all three questionnaires were given by students of the international school in Kosovo. The traditional and test-oriented teaching in the Turkish schools surveyed explains the low degree of satisfaction and enjoyment of science lessons among Turkish students.