Asia-Pacific Science Education (APSE): Building Visibility and Supporting Scholarship in Our 10th Year

A divulgação de informações sobre as parasitoses negligenciadas nos livros didáticos é uma estratégia relevante em seu controle pelo fato de estes serem recursos muito utilizados em sala de aula. Assim, objetivou-se analisar os recursos textuais e visuais sobre as parasitoses negligenciadas em livros didáticos de ciências do 6º e 7º anos propostos pelo PNLD 2014. Foram analisados três livros do 6º e dois do 7º ano com fichas avaliativas. As parasitoses negligenciadas foram contempladas principalmente nas obras do 7º ano. Abordagens resumidas e incorretas foram observadas em exemplares de ambas as séries. Os recursos visuais evidenciados foram, predominantemente, esquemáticos em todos os livros. Portanto, estes resultados demonstram que os conteúdos avaliados foram abordados de forma limitada para serem utilizados como suporte teórico nas aulas de ciências.

Injuries are an inevitable part of sports, sometimes even able to stop sports activities indefinitely. It is not easy quickly to restore the body’s functional capabilities and return to sport after the injury, therefore negligence and too rapid return to sport activities make it possible to experience repeated injuries. The most common injuries are of a knee, ankle, hands, muscle, bones fractures, head contusion, back, spinal damage. The main causes of these injuries are named: body contact, inappropriate footwear, inventory, failure to comply with the rules of safe behaviour, foul play, accidental injuries, and various movements that influence irregular body position causes some structural damage in the body. It is very important to take care of preventive measures as they help avoid and/or reduce risk of injuries. It can be observed that athletes use orthoses, taping bands, protections for face, teeth, special clothing and footwear during the sport. The protection against injuries includes: technical, strengthening, stabilization, stretching, coordination exercises and other means deemed necessary. As indicated in literature, women have a higher risk of injuries, but in general, injuries are frequent and suffered by many engaged in sport. The study intended to find out whether the students athletes suffer many injuries, what kind are they, and what steps are taken to reduce them. The aim of analysis is to define the injuries inherence in various sports and their risks factors of LUES (Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences) 3–4th year students. The object of research was LUES 3–4th year students’ specific injuries in various sports and their risk factors. Research methods: literary analysis, questionnaire, quantitative data analysis. The research objectives are: 1. To find out what sports injuries suffer 3–4th year students of Physical Education speciality. 2. To review the LUES students suffered injuries, depending on sports. 3. [...]

A pesquisa de abordagem qualitativa desenvolvida com os professores do 4º e 5º anos da Secretaria Municipal de Educação no município de Uruaçu-GO teve como objetivo analisar as Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais (DCN) e os Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais (PCN) do Ministério da Educação para o Ensino de Ciências e se novas tecnologias têm sido utilizadas nas aulas de Ciências na escola objeto de estudo. O trabalho investigou se a implementação das DCN tem contribuído com a prática pedagógica do professor e com o processo de ensino e aprendizagem dos alunos. A investigação se justifica pelo fato de que a formação e a prática dos professores tem sido alvo de preocupação. A pesquisa teve como fonte de coleta de dados: registros escritos (análise documental a partir de questões norteadoras); questionário estruturado e observação das aulas. O questionário destinou-se a identificar o perfil do sujeito, a formação profissional, concepção de Ciências, ações pedagógicas e uso de tecnologias. Além dos instrumentos citados, foram utilizados como notas de campo as falas orais (interações discursivas) do pesquisador com os professores participantes. As observações das aulas foram realizadas no período de maio a outubro de 2015 e possibilitaram a compreensão da prática pedagógica utilizada. Como produto final foi elaborado duas Sequências Didáticas como tema: para o 4° ano, Ciclo da vida dos seres humanos: nascer, crescer, reproduzir, envelhecer e morrer; já para o 5º ano o tema foi Saneamento Básico: água tratada. Conclui-se que os resultados deste estudo possibilitem que os professores dinamizem o ensino de Ciências e que contribuam para que os alunos tenham uma maior aprendizagem.

Being teachers of mathematical and physical sciences in some secondary schools of the Town of Mbandaka, we always noted the difficulties which certain pupils have to solve or calculate some problems utilizing the decimal numbers. This study aims at detecting the kinds of difficulties which these pupils of 8th year of basic Education in the Town of Mbandaka have, level of study by which the concepts in connection with the decimal numbers are exploited much. The investigations carried out within the framework of this research, lead us to conclude that the majority of our pupils of 8th year of the basic Education of the town of Mbandaka in Democratic Republic of Congo have difficulties certainly to restore the definition of a decimal number and being able to handle it in the various situations utilizing it. What can undoubtedly have negative consequences in their courses.

Anxiety, specifically in situations involving speaking, is characterized as a type of fear that manifests through observable symptoms. Public Speaking Anxiety is a prevalent issue among students during classroom presentations, affecting their confidence and performance. Despite its significance, there remains a lack of comprehensive understanding regarding the specific factors that contribute to this form of anxiety in educational settings. From these observations, it's apparent that not all individuals possess the same speaking and presentation skills. While some may excel as confident speakers, others might experience speaking anxiety, especially when addressing large audiences or during classroom presentations. Hence, the researcher intends to assess the factors contributing to students' public speaking anxiety specifically during classroom presentations. The objectives of this study are to assess to the major contributing factors for student speaking anxiety in classroom presentation. This study was conducted in Bonga University, particularly in college of educational and behavioral sciences in 4th year psychology students. This study was conducted both quantitative and qualitative approach of the study. The total population of this study is all 4th year students from psychology educational and behavioral students. Bonga University from these, females is 15 and males students are 20, total 35 students in are the population of this study. The researcher was collected data from the respondents by using self-administration questionnaires. The first variable shows that from 35 total participant 20 (42.86 %) were male and the rest of 15 (57.14 %) were female. there are numerous effect on children’s academic achievement from those effects the study was concerned and discussed on the impact of public speaking anxiety to student’s academic achievement. The primary objective of the study was to explore the contributing factors for students’ public speaking anxiety in classroom presentation. The consequence of speaking anxiety are emotional, educational, and social, shyness and retile affect the social skills necessary for children to make friends, shy students tend to confine their aspirations to vocations that require little oral communication. Practicing complete speech several times would certainly give the speakers an edge. They can practice it with a small number of people they are at ease with.

This research is motivated by the importance of STEM knowledge for pre-service science and mathematics teachers in the 21st century. This research aims to analyze the STEM knowledge of pre-service science and mathematics teachers. The research method was carried out by distributing questionnaires with STEM knowledge indicators to the sample. The sample in this research was 86. They were 59 pre-service science teachers and 27 pre-service mathematics teachers, with different years of education, namely the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year of Universitas Negeri Semarang. The results of this research show that the average understanding of pre-service science and mathematics teachers regarding to the STEM-based learning in the definition aspect is 4.11, objectives are 3.94, benefits are 3.94, aspects are 3.69, components are 3.71, characteristics is 3.75, and implementation is 3.86. This proves that pre-service science and mathematics teachers' understanding of the definition of STEM-based learning is very good, while pre-service science and mathematics teachers' understanding of the objectives, benefits, aspects, components, characteristics, and implementation of STEM-based learning is good.

Teacher training process must stimulate reflective thinking skill because this skill is crucial to improve teaching and learning capability. Indonesian version of standardized instrument to assess the development of reflective thinking skill in teacher training program is still limited. This research aimed to adapt Reflective Thinking Questionnaire (RTQ) to Indonesian version, investigate its quality, probe pre-service chemistry teachers’ level of reflective thinking, investigate relationship between reflective thinking and GPA, and compare between 1st year and 4th year pre-service chemistry teachers’ reflective thinking skill. RTQ is a 16 items 5 point Likert scale questionnaire purposed to measure reflective thinking in 4 subscale levels: Habitual Actions (HA), Understanding (U), Reflection (R), and Critical Reflection (CR). Each subscale was assessed by 4 questionnaire items. With the help of four science education experts who are fluent in both languages, RTQ was first translated into Indonesian and then its empirical result was substantiated. The translated RTQ was given to 147 pre-service chemistry teachers from Department of Chemistry Education, Raja Ali Haji Maritime University, Indonesia. Data were analyzed using Rasch model method. Result indicated that the instrument and all 16 items nicely fit the Rasch model. The data also showed good reliability (Cronbach alpha .84). Result of this research also indicated that Understanding received the highest mean (17.70), followed by Critical Reflection (16.50), Reflection (16.48), and the lowest mean was Habitual Action (14.60). Non-parametric analysis was used because normal data distribution is not observed. Based on Wilcoxon Test result, significant difference between all subscales levels were detected, except for CR-R. Spearman Correlation result indicated that correlation between reflective thinking and GPA was not significant. Based on Mann-Whitney Test result, significant difference between 1st year and 4th year college students’ reflective thinking was only detected in CR. The implications relate to reflective thinking skill were discussed to improve the quality of learning process and its’ evaluation.

ABSTRACTAlthough studies repeatedly show both the importance of teachers’ science subject matter knowledge (SMK) and the fact that teachers have limited SMK, there are few opportunities for teachers to formally enhance their understanding of science after entering the classroom. Therefore, there is significant need for teachers to develop their SMK through classroom experience. In this longitudinal study, we explore the development of new secondary science teachers’ SMK by analyzing concept maps constructed in their 1st year of teaching and in their 5th year of teaching. We present a scoring system that reliably accounts for both the quality of connections and knowledge structure. Based on the findings presented, we conclude that these new chemistry teachers’ SMK did not change significantly from their 1st year of teaching to their 5th year of teaching. Implications for teacher educators and future research are presented.

This article is an experience report on Science Teaching in Elementary School in the early years. The work aims to promote awareness of conservation and preservation of the Igarapé Sucupira, through an educational action presented during classes in the 4th and 5th year classes on Environmental Education. During the course of the classes, it was possible to develop two proposals, one for an educational intervention and the other for the creation of a solid waste collection network, domestic waste thrown into the water, was the problem presented by the students later seen in the search location. The community that lives on the banks of the stream played a fundamental role together with the school and other institutions in the municipality. From this perspective of partnerships with the innovative idea obtained in the construction of the network so that it can be made on a larger scale to be used in the stream's water pipes, thus making it possible to capture discarded waste, reducing environmental contamination, not only caused by bottles, pets. The research is qualitative and exploratory in nature.

Informal science education institutions (ISEIs) are critical partners in public science education, as they support the science efforts of school systems by providing authentic opportunities for scientific inquiry. This study reports findings from an evaluation of urban advantage (UA), a collaboration between the New York City Department of Education and eight ISEIs designed to improve science education in New York City (NYC) middle schools. Now in its 10th year, the program harnesses the resources and expertise of NYC's ISEIs to (a) enhance the science content knowledge of middle school science teachers, (b) develop teachers' skills at using inquiry-based approaches in their classrooms, and (c) improve the science achievement of middle school students. We examine whether the UA program has led to increased student achievement on the eighth-grade New York State standardized science exam for students in participating schools; in supplemental analyses, we examine the effects on longer term (ninth-grade) outcomes. We use a difference-in-differences framework with school fixed effects to estimate the impact of attending a UA school in eighth grade on science achievement. Our key outcome is performance on New York State's eighth-grade intermediate-level science assessment; longer term outcomes include enrollment at specialized science, technology, engineering, and math high schools as well as taking and passing the high school (Regents) science exams. We find that attending a UA school increases student performance on the eighth-grade science exam by approximately 0.05 SD, and there is some evidence of small effects on Regents taking and passing rates.

A Microbiologia é o um ramo da Ciência que se dedica ao estudo dos seres microscópicos e a relação desses com outros seres e ainda com o meio no qual estão inseridos. Esse é um conteúdo de grande relevância dentro e fora do ambiente escolar, porém abordar conceitos dessa área no ensino de Ciências nas escolas é um grande desafio devido a sua abstração e falta de materiais e recursos. Nesse contexto o presente trabalho, teve por objetivo analisar as contribuições de uma atividade experimental sobre as bactérias. Para isso, foi desenvolvida uma atividade experimental com estudantes de quatro turmas do 7º ano do Ensino Fundamental de uma escola pública no Munícipio de Ibirité, em Minas Gerais. Os dados obtidos foram provenientes da observação dos pesquisadores envolvidos e de um relatório preenchido pelos estudantes após a realização da atividade. Os resultados obtidos demonstram que a atividade experimental contribui para os processos de ensino e aprendizagem sobre os microrganismos, em especial as bactérias. Assim, sugere-se que atividades experimentais sejam inseridas de forma efetiva no ensino de Ciências.

In Science teaching, students' lack of interest and motivation in building their knowledge in school spaces may be associated with the difficulty in relating scientific curricular concepts to the situations they experience in their daily lives. Thus, the great challenge arises of bringing scientific knowledge closer to the students' context, making learning meaningful. Thinking about teaching that promotes Scientific Literacy (SL), Science Teaching by Investigation (STI) is an approach capable of stimulating students' interest and active participation in the teaching-learning process. Thus, the objective of this study was to identify the contributions of STI and Significant Learning (SL) to promoting SL among students in the 8th year of Elementary School. In the methodological path, data collection was carried out through an Investigative Teaching Sequence (SEI) with the theme “Reproductive mechanisms”, built according to the assumptions of Carvalho (2013). 144 students were impacted with a didactic approach that aims to bring curricular scientific concepts closer to students' innate curiosity about the object of knowledge “Reproduction”, causing greater engagement and enchantment with “doing Science”.

In order to improve the retention of science teachers, studies have focused on understanding the issues teachers encounter and identities they construct. Most studies examined the early years of teaching science. However, fewer studies of professional trajectory and identity examine the departure/dropout of mid-career and late-career science teachers. Using a case study, this research addressed the question, “what are the changes in teaching identity for mid/late career secondary science teachers who chose to leave the profession?” The study extended existing research in following (for seven years) two urban teachers (Judith and Barbara) who were first introduced to the author as participants in a professional development (PD) project. Data collected during and following a four-year PD experience included teacher reflections, interviews, focus groups, observations, teacher artifacts, and researcher notes. Judith entered the PD having completed her fourth year and left at the end of her ninth year. Barbara entered having completed her 14th year and left teaching at the end of her 20th year. Data were analyzed drawing on identity theory and social practice theory. Each teacher’s case (story) was presented as her identity was formed and reformed. A cross-case analysis then provided five themes (wanted to teach, maybe a leader, leaving with deliberation, still a teacher, happy) that became evident from the teachers’ stories. Although no longer teaching high school science, neither teacher saw herself as a “dropout”. Both still associated with “teacher”. Interestingly, both attributed the PD as shaping their trajectory to eventual departure from teaching.

Este artigo descreve uma experiência de aplicação da gamificação com uso das plataformas Kahoot, Wordwall, como também Formulário Google. Para este estudo a gamificação surgiu como uma estratégia promissora para envolver os alunos em um ambiente de aprendizado divertido e interessante, incentivando processos reflexivos de tomada de decisão. Possibilitou a integração da tecnologia no ensino de Ciências no 4º ano do ensino fundamental. Atividades de gamificação foram implementadas em colaboração com os professores do ensino fundamental de uma escola pública, direcionando para um maior engajamento dos estudantes em sala de aula. Foi desenvolvido um estudo que analisou as plataformas ao integrar elementos lúdicos e design de quizzes ao processo de aprendizagem dos estudantes, reforçando a necessidade de adaptação e inovação na educação. Os resultados indicaram melhorias significativas nos resultados de aprendizagem dos alunos, refletido em participações ativas e melhorias nas avaliações. A tecnologia integrada a disciplina de Ciências do 4º ano do ensino fundamental, possibilitou a integração dos estudantes através de estratégias de criatividade e dinamismo para resolver as situações vivenciadas no cotidiano.

El objetivo de este artículo es evaluar la eficacia del Flipped Classroom en el aprendizaje de Science en la etapa de Educación Primaria. Este modelo al utilizar diferentes metodologías y estilos de enseñanza parece adaptarse al perfil individual del estudiante. Las transformaciones a las que se enfrenta la sociedad en el ámbito científico-tecnológico exigen repensar y adaptar la educación científica. En un centro de la Comunidad de Madrid que participa voluntariamente se han seleccionado dos grupos naturales de 4º curso, con 27 estudiantes en cada uno de ellos. En un grupo se utiliza el método Flipped Classroom y en otro se utiliza un método más tradicional centrado en el uso del libro de texto y explicación docente. Finalmente después de 8 meses de intervención se evalúan los conocimientos en Science, observándose puntuaciones significativas más altas en el grupo que aprende con el método Flipped Classroom.