The influence of content knowledge on pedagogical content knowledge – the case of teaching photosynthesis and plant growth

The aim of the research was to investigate the effect of the amount and quality of content knowledge on pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). The biological content photosynthesis and plant growth was used as an example. The research sample consisted of 10 primary and 10 secondary (biology) teacher students. Questionnaires, lesson preparation task and an interview were used to collect data. Primary student teachers' were not aware of students’ conceptual difficulties and had problems in choosing the most important content. Neither of the groups had knowledge on suitable experiments and demonstrations, which indicates that PCK should be explicitly taught. The usefulness of PCK and some related constructs in initial teacher training is discussed

Educational Partnerships as a Way Towards Quality Education for Sustainable Development and a Way Towards Sustainable Society: The Case of Slovenia

Education partnerships are essential in endeavor for quality education for sustainable development. The understanding of the sustainable development is very complex and has to be interdisciplinary and take into consideration different sustainable dimensions and correlations between those areas. The holistic approach is a method for understanding the sustainable development in such way that it would enable preservation of environment and at the same time assure economic and social development. It becomes more and more important that youth could acquire competences for the sustainable way of life during their schooling so that they would know how to make proper decisions regarding the choice of energy resources, the use of natural resources and sustainable planning.The main objectives of this paper are (1) to identify which institutions should be actively involved in partnerships, (2) to investigate inclusion of sustainable development into school curricula and to determine which competences should be developed, and (3) to disclose opportunities to improve teacher performance and to achieve learning objectives from the field of the sustainable development. The article is based on review of literature and researchers about educational partnerships for ensuring education for sustainable development in Slovenia as well as on examination of previous research findings about inclusion of sustainable development in school curriculum. Analysis of inclusion of sustainable development in teaching and learning process is based on questionnaires for pupils, parents and teachers. The preliminary research has been carried out in autumn 2008, but it has limitation because of a small sample which has been taken into research. The article presents some proposals how teachers could improve their performances by including activities in teaching and learning processes which could have an impact on pupils perception how necessary is preservation of natural heritage as well as could have an impact on their behavior towards sustainability.The presentation of research findings points out that the current understanding of the sustainable development in schools in Slovenia has its own limitations which should be taken into consideration in further planning and implementation of activities in education to achieve the national agenda of the sustainable development of Slovenia.Key words: Education; Sustainable development; Partnerships; Competences; Teacher performance; Learning objectivesRésumé Les partenariats éducatifs sont essentiels dans l'effort d'éducation de qualité pour le développement durable. La compréhension du développement durable est très complexe et doit être interdisciplinaire et prendre en considération les différentes dimensions durables et les corrélations entre ces domaines. L'approche holistique est une méthode pour comprendre le développement durable de telle façon que cela permettrait à la préservation de l'environnement et dans le même temps assurer le développement économique et social. Il devient de plus en plus important que les jeunes puissent acquérir les compétences pour le mode de vie durable au cours de leur scolarité afin qu'ils sachent comment prendre des décisions appropriées concernant le choix des ressources énergétiques, l'utilisation des ressources naturelles et la planification durable.Les principaux objectifs de cette étude sont (1) pour déterminer quelles institutions devraient être activement impliqués dans des partenariats, (2) pour enquêter sur l'inclusion du développement durable dans les programmes scolaires et de déterminer quelles compétences doivent être développées, et (3) de divulguer les possibilités de améliorer les performances des enseignants et d'atteindre les objectifs d'apprentissage du domaine du développement durable. L'article est basé sur l'examen de la littérature et des chercheurs sur les partenariats éducatifs pour assurer l'éducation pour le développement durable en Slovénie ainsi que sur l'examen des résultats de recherches antérieures sur l'inclusion du développement durable à l'école curriculum. Analyse de l'intégration du développement durable dans l'enseignement et le processus d'apprentissage est basé sur des questionnaires aux élèves, parents et enseignants. La recherche préliminaire a été réalisée à l'automne 2008, mais il a limitation, car d'un petit échantillon qui a été pris en recherche. L'article présente quelques propositions façon dont les enseignants pourraient améliorer leurs performances, en incluant les activités dans l'enseignement et les processus d'apprentissage qui pourrait avoir un impact sur la perception des élèves combien nécessaire est la préservation du patrimoine naturel ainsi que pourrait avoir un impact sur leur comportement envers la durabilité.La présentation des résultats de recherche souligne que la compréhension actuelle du développement durable dans les écoles en Slovénie a ses propres limites qui devraient être pris en considération dans la planification et l'exécution des activités dans l'éducation pour atteindre les priorités nationales du développement durable de la Slovénie.Mots clés: Education; Développement durable; Les partenariats; Compétences; La performance des enseignants; Les objectifs d'apprentissag

Students (ages 6, 10, and 15 years) in six countries knowledge of animals

This article considers the knowledge students (ages 6, 10, and 15 years) have of animals from a cross-cultural perspective. Students from six countries (Brazil, England, Finland, Iceland, Portugal, and the United States of America) were asked to free-list as many animals as possible and state where they had seen or learned about the animals. The results were analyzed and they indicate that 1) Students are aware of animals. 2) Students are more aware of mammals as examples of animals. 3) There is a globally shared folk biological knowledge of animals. 4) Students learn about animals during socio-cultural interactions. The educational implications are discussed.CIEC – Research Centre on Child Studies, UM (FCT R&D 317

Preparation and characterization of new organometallic compounds synthesized by using metal vapours

A method to vapourize thorium metal, which had not been employed previously, was developed and the method of vapourizing zirconium metal was improved. Several new organometallic compounds were synthesized using the metal atom vapourization technique. The vapour reactions of thorium, zirconium and tungsten with several different ligands were examined. The structures of the new compounds were elucidated mainly from their 1H NMR, 13C NMR, IR and Mass spectra. Some of the products were investigated by elemental analysis and molecular weight determinations. The application of thorium vapour to organometallic synthesis proved disappointing. More fruitful investigations arose from the study of zirconium vapour. The first examples of metal vapour reactions leading to oxidative addition of zirconium atoms to carbon-hydrogen and carbon-carbon bonds of alkanes at cryogenic temperatures were presented. This kind of behaviour is uni q ue among the metal atoms studied up to this time. An investigation of an interesting organometallic compound derived from zirconium and pentamethylcyclopentadiene was carried out. Several previously unknown arene complexes of tungsten and zirconium as well as the first example of the novel zerovalent six-coordinate complex hexakis(diethylaminodifluorophosphine)tungsten were prepared. High vacuum and inert atmosphere methods were used for handling these air sensitive compounds

Knowledge of environmental issues : where pupils acquire information and how it affects their attitudes, opinions, and laboratory behaviour

Tuula Asunnan kasvatustieteellinen väitöstutkimus osoittaa selvästi, että tiedotusvälineet ovat luonnontieteiden opettajien ohella yläasteikäisten koululaisten tärkeimmät ympäristöasioita koskevan tiedon lähteet. Tulos asettaa suuren haasteen kemian ja muidenkin aineiden opettajille ja tutkijoille sekä tiedotusvälineille. Näiden tulisi ympäristöasioihin liittyvien uhkien ohella tuoda esiin myös tieteen saavutuksia, jotta oppilaiden asenteet kemian opiskelua ja kemian teollisuutta kohtaan kehittyisivät myönteisemmiksi. - Jos kemian ja yleisemminkin luonnontieteiden opetuksen yhtenä päämääränä on kasvattaa ympäristövastuullisia ihmisiä, on opetuksen ja oppimisen avainkysymyksenä nähtävä ympäristömyönteisten asenteiden ja ympäristöopetuksen pedagogiikan kehittäminen. Koska ympäristöasenteet kehittyvät myös koulujen opetusohjelmista riippumatta ja koska tutkimus selkeästi osoittaa tiedotusvälineiden suuren roolin oppilaiden tietolähteenä, tulisi opettajien entistä enemmän kiinnittää huomiota myös oppilaiden medialukutaidon kohottamiseen, Asunta päättelee.This study concentrates on the area of environmental education and environmental attitudes and behaviour. The main purpose of the study is to pay attention to the environmental knowledge of students as well as to explore the environmental concerns, attitudes and behaviour of Finnish secondary level students in order to be able to educate environmentally concerned and aware students through developing teacher training. As a comparison the environmental knowledge, attitudes and self-reported behaviour of students of one German school were studied. Promoting environmental awareness as well as an environmentally responsible lifestyle can only be realised through information, and therefore students' main information sources on certain general environmental issues were studied and analysed. The changes during the years 1994 to 2000 were examined. Four schools in Finland representing different areas participated in this study and, against the background of the Bologna agreement on the equalisation of education in European countries and in order to gain some international perspective in this study, one large school from Frankfurt-am-Main was included. In this study teacher interviews, two written questionnaires as well as classroom observation and videotaping were used to acquire information. The pupils involved included secondary level pupils, meaning class grades 7, 8 and 9 in Finland and grades 8, 9 and 1 in Germany. The total amount of 883 students (243 German and 640 Finnish) participated in the main part of the study, which consisted of two types of written questionnaire. These written tests were introduced in 1994-1996 and 2000. The German students only took part in the written tests. The study clearly stated that the main important information sources on environmental issues for secondary pupils are mass media and science teachers. It also proved that environmental concepts are very familiar to students and that most students have slightly more confidence in the information gained from television than from their science teacher. According to the study, the difference between schools in Finland concerning students' general environmental attitude was almost significant. This difference was mainly due to two schools in Central Finland. It was quite astonishing that students' environmental attitudes in the country school proved to be more negative than in the suburban school. The very alarming finding in this study was that students' attitudes towards studying chemistry, as well as towards chemistry and the chemical industry in general, have become more and more negative during the five-year period of this study. In general boys' attitudes towards chemistry and the chemical industry were more positive than girls'. Within those German students representing just a random sample from one school in Frankfurt-am-Main boys' attitudes seemed to be significantly more positive than girls' in both the 1996 and 2000 studies and the difference has increased since the girls' attitudes have become more negative, just like in Finland. The general negative attitude towards studying chemistry has grown in both countries. The study gave no evidence that either a positive environmental attitude or positive general environmental behaviour leads to environmentally responsible behaviour in the chemistry laboratory