The present study aimed to determine level of pre-service chemistry teachers‟ environmental literacy and their perceptions on environmental education. This study was realized during the fall semester of 2006-2007 academic year with the participation of 60 students enrolled in five-year chemistry teacher education program. The data collected by administration of Environmental Literacy Test and Environmental Education Perception Survey were analyzed by descriptive statistics and content analysis. The pre-service chemistry teachers strongly emphasized promotion of feelings of concern for the environment, development of awareness and sensitivity to the total environment, and gaining social values to protect the natural resources through teaching on environmental issues. The results also revealed that these participants had favorable attitudes toward the environment and feelings of personal responsibility to create a better environment. However, pre-service chemistry teachers did not have a sound understanding of environmental issues. Although the participants were lack of necessary subject matter knowledge, they were willing to integrate environmental issues into their teaching practice. Thus, chemistry education students are potential candidates as environmental educators and their education programs may be strengthened in this respect.    

“Non-native organisms are a major threat to biodiversity”. This statement is often made by biologists, but general conclusions cannot be drawn easily because of contradictory evidence. To introduce pupils aged 11-14 years to this topic, we employed an educational program dealing with non-native animals in Central Europe. The pupils took part in a lesson giving general information about the topic, followed by a species identification quiz. Attitude, emotions and state of knowledge of each pupil were surveyed throughout the program using standardized questionnaires (pre-/post- and follow up tests). One week after the first lesson, a field trip followed, focusing on one out of two non-native bird species in the city of Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The first species was the Ringnecked Parakeet (Psittacula krameri) from the Indian subcontinent, and the second species was the East Asian Swan goose (Anser cygnoides). Life history information was delivered through a teacher and own observations during the excursions and after four weeks, the newly gained knowledge was tested in a third lesson. The “goose group” scored higher in goose-related questions, whereas the “parakeet-group” scored higher in their topic. The most impressive aspect of the whole program was, that the pupils rated the field trip per se as highest, and secondly, learning about unfamiliar species. Interestingly, the general attitude towards non-native species did not change as a result of this educational intervention.

This study explored the effectiveness of an inquiry-based cellulase laboratory unit in promoting inquiry in undergraduate students in biotechnology. The following tools were used to assess the students’ achievements and attitude: conceptual understanding test, concept mapping, students’ documents, CLES questionnaire, students’ self reflection, and interviews. Judging from their conceptual understanding test results and concept mapping, students gained significantly more content knowledge on enzyme-substrate interaction and its application. In addition, students’ reports on their projects revealed that they have developed their critical thinking, scientific process skills and abilities to apply knowledge on enzyme cellulase to industrial application. The students reacted positively to this teaching strategy as demonstrated by results from questionnaire responses, students’ self reflection and interviews. The success of this inquiry-based laboratory unit might be due to both the context which was of interest to students, and the instruction method which ranged from a guided to a more open inquiry. Most importantly, the teacher in this study had mastery of both content and pedagogical techniques. This inquiry-based cellulase laboratory unit provided significant benefits for teaching and learning science for biotechnology students. It promoted acquisition of content knowledge and skills such as asking good questions, predicting, problem solving, drawing conclusion, and communication. This inquiry-based laboratory unit may serve as a guideline or framework for implementing a dynamic instruction with a range of inquiry level for the undergraduates.
 

The purpose of the present study was to examine and compare the effectiveness of virtual frog dissection using V-Frog© and physical frog dissection on learning, retention, and affect. Subjects were secondary students enrolled in year-long life science classes in a suburban high school (N=102). Virtual dissections were done with V-Frog©, a virtual reality software application that allows users to work with a virtual specimen that can be cut and explored in ways that are therefore unique for each individual user. The study employed a pretest, posttest, delayed posttest design using the pretest as a covariate in the analysis of the posttest and delayed posttest. Scores on a posttest administered immediately following treatment indicated that the virtual group learned more than the physical group (p<.001). Delayed posttest scores indicated there were no effects for treatment found. In the area of affect, survey results were fairly even between the two groups. Students did not show superior retention using V-Frog©. However, it should be noted that with no additional instructional cost, students could repeat the virtual dissection to improve retention. The results of the study indicated that the V-Frog© provides a viable alternative to physical dissection that produces effective learning outcomes and may be appealing to teachers and students for a number of practical and/or ethical reasons.

This study examined the level of awareness, knowledge and practices of secondary schools students with regard to waste management. Few studies have captured waste management problems in Nigerian educational institutions, particularly the views of students. Using a structured, self-administered questionnaire, 650 students were surveyed from six secondary schools in two of the four educational zones of Ogun State. Data collected were subjected to percentage, mean, standard deviation, t-test and chi-square statistical analyses. Findings revealed that secondary school students from the sampled zones were aware of waste problems on their school compounds, but possessed poor waste management practices. The study showed that propensity for waste management practices differ by sex, class and age of students. Significant relationships were observed between students‘ sex, age and class and their level of awareness, knowledge and practices of waste management.

The basic aim of this study is to investigate the content of textual and pictorial material of Slovenian science textbooks and notebooks on topic states of matter. The paper presents the results of the analysis of educational material from two randomly selected publishers for students aged 6 to 14 in the Slovenian primary and the lower secondary school. One topic area (states of matter) was selected to be analysed. The first part of the analysis includes exercise and images analysis according to the selected framework, and the second one content analysis identifying key concepts and connections between them according to the national curriculum recommendations. Results show quite a few similarities between the analysed programmes (number of pages, type of items) but some differences could be detected when comparing the type of images in the educational material. The content analysis of the selected textbooks also shows that they retain the content directed by the national curriculum, but the ways (examples, content of the images etc.) in which authors present the topic differ.