This study tested and integrated the effects of an inquiry-based didactic method for preschool science in a real practical classroom setting. Four preschool classrooms participated in the experiment (N = 57) and the children were 4–6 years old. In order to assess children’s attention for causal events and their understanding at the level of scientific reasoning skills, we designed a simple task in which a need for information gain was created. Compared to controls, children in the post-test showed significant learning gains in the development of the so-called control of variables strategy. Indeed, they executed more informative and less uninformative explorations during their spontaneous play. Furthermore, the importance of such programmes was discussed in the field of STEM education.

* Note: This paper was published as an inadvertent duplicate publication with an another journal.

Creativity is regarded as one of the cornerstones for economic and social progress in every society. There are two possible ways to get creative people to work for an enterprise or community. The first is by attracting creative employees by good working conditions – a solution for those who can afford such an approach. For communities that are not so rich, the only solution is to foster creativity by education and by helping small and medium enterprises to create products based on creative ideas and innovations. In Slovenia, proposals for nourishing creativity and innovations emerge from the government thus forgetting that creativity does not start at University or on the first day of employment. To increase creativity, immediate action should be taken throughout the educational system, recognizing that society needs not only creative artists but scientists, economists and engineers as well. Through the analysis of the legislation, syllabi and textbooks, it can be recognized that they do not promote or even allow creativity in science education; even more, they can be regarded as creativity killers. In such a way key documents and teaching resources are placing creative science teachers in the position of guerrillas in a battle against prevailing teaching methods influenced by highstakes external exams or measurable outcomes. To improve science creativity, the legislation should be changed to give creativity appropriate value, and teachers must be educated to use methods that increase creativity in students, with the aim of producing open minds that will be able to work in a creative way.

The purpose of this study is to understand in an exploratory way pupils´ perception of science and the image of scientists at primary and secondary school levels. Data was collected by means of a survey questionnaire and a drawing representing pupils´ depiction what scientists do during their working hours. A questionnaire anchored on a Likert scale was filled by 204 primary and 229 secondary school children. Pupils from this sample considered science classes enjoyable, helped to understand issues covered by media, that science is a body of knowledge whose goal is to make life more comfortable to people. A total of 433 drawings were collected at 3 urban and 1 rural schools. Drawings illustrated scientists in scientific activity, mainly working alone, wearing lab coat and eyeglasses. Scientific specialization included chemists, biologists and a few technologist and astronomers. Educational implications are discussed.

This qualitative study was designed to introduce STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) activities to pre-service science teachers and identify their views about STEM materials. In this context, a competition was organized with 42 pre-service science teachers (13 male- 29 female) who took Instructional Technologies and Material Development course in Elementary Science Education Department in Siirt University. The competition consisted of 5 categories: balloon powered car, mousetrap car, water rocket, spaghetti bridge 1 (durability) and spaghetti bridge 2 (visuality). Structured interview form developed by researchers was used as data collection instrument. The results were analyzed with the conventional content analysis. Results indicated that participants (especially females) are more willing to use STEM materials in their future teaching life. Participants mostly believe that STEM materials facilitate learning, enhance retention and increase self-confidence. However, there are also pre-service science teachers who believe that preparation of STEM materials is difficult, takes too much time and not appropriate to students’ levels.

This study explored in a sample of 560 high level education students their judgment formation to perceived self-efficacy to solve mathematical tasks. Students had to read 36 experimental vignettes describing educative scenarios to learn mathematics. Each scenario presented four manipulated pieces of information (learning modality, task difficulty, task relevance, and structure). After reading each scenario students were required to provide judgments regarding their believed self-efficacy to solve mathematical tasks described in the vignette by using a scale. Results showed that in regard to how students perceived their self-efficacy they could be grouped in two clusters (high and moderate). Most relevant factors to their judgment formation were task difficulty, task relevance and structure. Here, both groups used the same cognitive algebra mechanism to integrate factor information. Here, students valuated academic performance and feedback (e.g. difficulty and relevance) as most relevant even when they are conscious that learning is a primordial target. These and other results are discussed in the paper.

The aim of this study was to explore the degree to which a professional development (PD) program designed using GeoGebra influences a group of Turkish middle school teachers’ beliefs in relation to mathematics and role of GeoGebra in mathematics education. In order to collect the required data, the PD course was established to provide six teachers with an opportunity to obtain practical experiences with and necessary knowledge about the use of GeoGebra in mathematics education. In this context, a multiple case study approach was utilized, in which mathematics teachers were observed and interviewed using a variety of procedures to expose qualitative data about their beliefs and the dynamics of their beliefs changes during the course. The main findings illustrated that teachers’ beliefs were transformed to some extent in favour of the use of GeoGebra, as well as using constructivist ideas in their mathematics teaching and learning can be attained through the GeoGebra based PD course. In fact, the relationship amongst stated beliefs and intended teaching practice is complex and the social issues were very influential on teachers’ pedagogical decisions. This research also introduces some suggestions for researchers who focus on professional development of mathematics teachers relative to their beliefs..

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of lessons conducted in out-of-school learning settings on 5th graders science achievement within the scope of a guidance material that was prepared to be used in out-of-school learning settings in accordance with the “Let’s Solve the Riddle of Our Body” chapter objectives. The pretest / posttest equalized control group design, which is one of the quasi-experimental designs, was used in this study. The sample of this study was composed of a total of 31 5th grade students (15 were in experimental group, 16 were in control group) that were selected from secondary schools in the first semester of the 2015-2016 academic year in Tokat Province. Let’s Solve the Riddle of Our Body Chapter Achievement Test (LeSROBAT) was administered before and after the implementation of the guidance material to measure the students’ achievements and retention. The lessons were conducted as suggested by the current curriculum in the control group. The data were analyzed using independent samples t-test and covariance analysis (ANCOVA). As a result of the analyses, it was found that the LeSROBAT post-test scores of experimental group were significantly higher than the control group. Within this context, it was concluded that the out-of-school learning settings positively contributed to academic achievement and the guidance material that was developed within the scope of this study was effective. The results of retention test analyses didn’t reveal any significant difference between the posttest and retention test scores of experimental and control groups. When the LeSROBAT retention test scores were examined, it was observed that the scores of experimental group was higher than the control group.

Children have a basic knowledge of birds that they observe during their everyday life either in their garden, other gardens, round the house, walking in the local area or in the yard on school gardens. A total of 515 children, aged 3 to 16 (249 girls and 266 boys) enrolled in southern Brazilian public preschools, primary school and secondary schools, were invited to participate in this exploratory study. A semi-structured interview was conducted with 206 pupils asking to name which birds they knew, where they had seen these birds, which ones live around home, which they had seen further away. Additionally, they were asked which birds they knew from a list and the source of this knowledge where they had learned about the birds. They were asked to draw on a sheet of paper a representation of what the word “bird” meant to them. Results show the importance of everyday observations rather than beyond formal education in the children knowledge. Children from the earliest years notice birds in their everyday lives, and build a bank of knowledge, gradually acquiring an understanding of adaptation to a variety of habitats. Children notice birds in their lives to differing extent and sources according to the culture in which they are immersed. Experiences of seeing or finding out about birds are encapsulated for many children in the form of narratives and contribute to their mental models of birds and their habitats on which they will drew in formal science later (Biology and Environmental Education). Educational implications are discussed.

In this work, we have analyzed the opinions of teacher candidates of French as a foreign language on the method that should be used in the teaching of reading-comprehension, one of the main linguistic skills. At the end of the Fall Semester of the 2011-2012 academic year, a survey constituted of three open-ended questions was carried out among teacher candidates studying at the French Language Teaching Programme of the Faculty of Education of Uludag University. Among the 120 students enrolled in the Programme, 64 have participated in the survey voluntarily and expressed their opinions. Students have been priorly informed about the study and the link of the survey prepared via Google Docs has been sent to them through an e-mail where they were asked to fill in the study in Turkish. In the scope of the present work, only student opinions relating to option b of the study's second question -i.e. on the method that should be used in the teaching of the reading skill in French- have been taken into consideration. In this qualitative work based on a case study pattern, opinions have first been sorted out through the content analysis method and have been classified; then, they have been compared with and discussed in the light of opinions and suggestions that already exist in literature. Lastly, findings have been interpreted and presented as a determination.

To determine the effectiveness of a peer tutorial strategy in the school achievement of English to high school students, whose mother tongue is not English, we made a comparison of two groups; in one, peer tutoring was carried out through the support of high average students and compared with the results of a group that did not receive the intervention. The tutors were 121 students who scored higher than 80 points in the initial exam and accepted to participate in the program. The group of tutees was formed by those who obtained scores lower than 65 and accepted to be tutored (101 formed the experimental group and 112 the control group). The peer tutoring was done in the classroom with the monitoring of the teacher, lasted 11 weeks, and focused on taking class notes and comparing them, giving feedback and clarifying doubts for 30 minutes after the teacher's explanation. The results of the midterm exam and final exam were analyzed through the Student's t-test, showing significant differences in the group that was tutored compared to the low-performing students who did not receive the intervention. The procedure was effective, finding that the use of peer support can improve school performance. It is necessary to monitor the profile of the tutors and systematize the tutorial strategy.

In the present study, the aim was to investigate 9th grade students’ geometrical figure apprehension. To this end, the Figure Apprehension Cognitive Processes Test (FACPT), constructed by the researchers of the study, was administered to 51 ninth grade students, with whom clinical interviews were also conducted. As a result of the data analysed, it was found that the perceptual, discursive and operative types of apprehension of more than half of the students were not at enough level for high school geometry. Most of the students were found to be unsuccessful in recognizing the various sub-figures present within a geometric figure, in transforming verbal information to visual information, in deriving at verbal information based on visual information, in arriving at conclusions without being influenced by the appearance of a figure, and in decomposing and recomposing geometric figures. This shows that teachers need to focus on not only conceptual knowledge but also the structure of the figure apprehension processes of students prior to geometry classes.

The aim of this study is to reveal the suggestions of guidance and psychological counseling candidates (GPC) in dealing with math anxiety. The study analysed 50 GPC candidates’ opinions and suggestions on math anxiety. The research study utilized case study method. The participants were asked to respond what kind of studies they would suggest to their clienst in order to overcome math anxiety once they begin to work in their profession. The interviews transcripts were converted into written documents. Content analysis was made on those documents to find GPC candidates’ suggestions and opinions. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that the reasons of math anxiety can vary from individual to individual. Therefore, it was emphasized that the studies to determine the causes of math anxiety should be specific for each individual. Then, consultancy service should be formed based on the assessment of reasons that cause anxiety for each person. If the individual's math anxiety is caused by environmental factors such as teachers, families and peers, guidance and psychological counseling services should be offered to these environmental factors.

Currently, it is taken for granted that teachers have to take into account the conceptions in order to achieve some efficient learning, the latter are generally resistant and may hinder the learning. Studies have shown that learning amounts to make conceptions evolve which play a determining role in the appropriation of scientific concepts such as neurotransmission, which is the subject of our study. This concept is present in the Life Science syllabus as early as high school. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of an interactive approach on the evolution of students' conceptions of neurotransmission. For this purpose, a questionnaire was administered to the first two years’ students (second year) in the Life Sciences stream at Dhar El Mahraz Faculty of Science in Fez during the academic year 2016-2017. This questionnaire was in the form of a pre-test and a post-test on learning/teaching of neurotransmission. The results of the study showed that the approach which was adopted had a positive effect on the evolution of the students' conceptions of neurotransmission in that it apparently contributed to a conceptual change for them.

Preschool education is fundamental to shape children’s aptitudes and skills in early life. Ecuador is following a global education trend for starting-up mathematical thinking at earlier development ages, but this is only reflected in vehement curricular changes that are not supported properly. As a result, the safeguarding of a good children’s education appears to be lessened. This work aimed to evaluate the mathematics thinking practices in preschools of Pasaje city, Ecuador. The investigation employed a descriptive approach, hence data were collected from 65 teachers and 810 parents from public and private preschools by means of interviews and questionnaire in an attempt define some causes (teacher’s education, children’s socio-economical and family circumstances) that impair the initiation of the numerical, spatial and metric and geometric aptitudes in children. The results showed that not only preschool practices but also the home environment linked to socio-economic status appear to have positive or unfavorable influences on their children’s education.

The structure sense is a part that must be learned in order to help understand and construct connection in abstract algebra. This study aimed at building the pattern of a structure sense as a profile of the structure sense in group property. Using a qualitative study, the structure sense of group property was explored through lecturing activity of abstract algebra course from two individual assignments given to the students. The students who could provide the best answers from the first and second individual assignments were chosen to be the respondents. The data from the second assignment, then, was analyzed through presentation, interpretation, coding, making a pattern, leveling and continued with clarification through an interview. The results of the study show that there were six patterns of structure sense answers and five levels of structure senses made by the students as the profile of structure sense. The conclusion is the inability to recognize the structure of the set elements, operation notations, and binary operation properties is one of the causes of the constraints in structuring the proof construction of the group. Thus, a thinking of mathematics connection is needed in structure understanding as a connection between symbol in learning and the symbol of abstract.

This descriptive and correlational study investigated the effects of using PSPP in learning Statistics on students’ attitudes and performance. The respondents of the study were 200 Grade 11 Senior High School students who were enrolled in Probability and Statistics subject during the Second Semester of School Year 2018-2019. The respondents were randomly selected from those classes across the different academic strands that used PSPP in their Probability and Statistics subject through stratified random sampling. The results revealed that the students have favorable attitudes towards learning Statistics with the use of the PSPP software.  The students became more interested and engaged in their learning of statistics which resulted to an improved academic performance.

The purpose of the study was to examine and evaluate the impact the “flipped classroom” model-based learning environment accompanied by multimedia-based textbook entitled “Ukrainian language (for professional purposes)” provides for the language proficiency and learning styles of the university students majoring in language and literature teaching. A multimedia textbook “Ukrainian for Special Purposes” was designed for the study. A multi method approach was used to gather feedback and quantitative methods were used to analyze the data. Specifically, a 2X2 split-plot design was used to analyze the quantitative data and the two-way ANOVA for Mixed Measures was used to designate the main effects for column and row factors and their interaction effect related to the efficacy of the experiment. Textalyzer software was used to process the students’ responses to survey questions. The results reported a shift in student preferences in learning, including a greater desire to engage independently with computer-assisted work, quicker problem solving, increased motivation to study, and improved time management and lifelong learning skills. The study may better inform building the learning process for the students with limited learning opportunities or studying the distance learning model. Despite the experimental group involving only the students majoring in Economics, this methodology could be applicable to teaching Ukrainian for specific purposes to other majors, such as: Psychology, Educational Management, etc. The research is advancing the knowledge of integration multimedia tools into teaching, and specifically the use of multimedia textbooks in the “flipped classroom” settings to deliver the language course to the students majoring in literature and language teaching.

The article reveals the problem of empirical research of training higher education institutions teachers in the context of the master’s degree programme. This study specifies and adapts the methods of diagnostics, criteria for conducting teacher training which are reasonable, psychologically and pedagogically approved and could be implemented in the institutions of higher education of different profiles. It was found out that the training of a teacher within the boundaries of the master’s degree programme of institutions of higher education is an actual task of three-level training of a specialist in Ukraine and requires a differentiated approach for institutions of higher education of various profiles. The components of the programme, based on their comparative characteristics, the status of teacher training in higher education institutions of different profiles with the application of certain criteria, indicators and levels were determined. Comparative analysis of the results of determining the levels of activity empathy and pedagogical reflection formation at the final stage of the study showed objective differences in teacher training in the context of the master’s degree programme of institutions of higher education of different profiles. The perspective directions of the problem under consideration are the study of the didactic conditions of effective teacher training for the master's degree in higher education and the development of the Concept of master’s training in higher education institutions on this basis, the analysis of the influence of the main factors on the formation of a teacher of a higher educational institution in the context of a master’s degree programme, in the profile professional training.

This research study presents the PGBE model for teaching and learning percentages with students of Grade 7 when their cognitive development enables the conceptual understanding of percentages as proportional statements, and offers the possibility for more effective matching of them with fractions and decimal numbers. The abbreviation PGBE presents the interrelation of the poster method and three instructional models through which different types of students’ mathematical knowledge about percentages can be built. Hence, P stands for the poster method through which the recognition of students’ previous knowledge about percentages can be done, G represents different grids that can be used for building concrete type of knowledge about them; B signifies the bar model for developing students’ proportional understanding of percentages, and E represents the extended bar model for fostering students’ principled-conceptual understanding of percentages. The effectiveness of the implementation of the PGBE model is assessed by organizing two cycles of piloting and conducting the experimental method with 263 students of ten Grade 7 classes. The results of the study show that the implementation of the PGBE model has had an impact on the learning of students, stimulating an in-depth learning and a long lasting knowledge about percentages for this cohort of students.

The development of the revolution era 4.0 which increasingly rapidly demands the wider community to have the ability to think creatively mathematically. One effort to improve the ability to think creatively is through quality education. Quality education can be improved through to train thinking using the right learning model. This study aims to see which results are more effective in improving students' thinking skills between the two learning models applied. The two models are Problem Based Learning (PBL) and Aptitude Treatment Interaction (ATI) models. This research method uses quasi experimental method with a posttest only control test design not control group. This study uses two group subjects with two experimental classes. The analysis of the data used the hypothesis testing of the non-correlated 2-sample t-test. Based on the research results obtained Aptitude Treatment Interaction (ATI) models have a better effect on students' creative thinking abilities compared to Problem Based Learning (PBL) models.