Improving Quality of Science Teacher Training in European Cooperation
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E-learning

The Science Education Tools and Ways of Producing them in the Collaboration Process

• To define the peculiarities of science education;
• To perceive that the efficiency of science education and the quality of education results are determined by a mutual collaboration between a teacher and a student;
• To know the tools and ways ensuring favourable conditions for a qualitative process of science education and to have knowledge of the factors determining a choice of science educations forms.

The content of natural science education gives a chance to the dynamics and structure of the educational process. However, the adaptation of natural science knowledge system depends on both the teacher (choosing and applying teaching methods and forms, etc.) and the pupil (the methods of learning, motivation, general abilities). The diversity of teaching and learning content, forms and methods, activities are typical of natural science education. All that makes the educational process effective: develop intellectual knowledge and skills, set out conditions for intense pupils’ activities, shape thinking, foster aesthetic feelings, etc.

• the textbooks, workbooks and other sorts of teaching / learning material of natural science profile, including observation and experimentation, should be creatively used as an integral part of a balanced curriculum of the educational process. The course of natural science education is mostly auspicious for the development of children’s quick eye;
• pupils have to be provided opportunities and conditions to versatile research, raise questions (general and problematic), to establish and define the main direction of activities. Textbooks should be used to extend and improve knowledge;
• the integration of natural science material reading and individual experimentation is suitably effective.

The natural science knowledge and skills gained by pupils in the educational process form the content of teaching natural and world science. Anyhow, the process of natural science education includes the teacher and children’s activity based on direct and indirect relations. Children are interested in the classes of science when the content of the taught material is comprehensible, attracts attention and imagination, encourages to intensively work and is problematic. A highly effective component of natural science education is the presentation and examining of problems. It can be expressed in three ways: 1) asking questions about the relevant subject; 2) presenting demanding tasks; 3) facing serious problems.

• successful natural science education is a sample of the most important concepts of natural sciences (natural science). They explain the main structure of natural sciences and increases the learner’s natural science perception moving to the higher form;
• successful natural science education is a sample and discernment of the concepts that deepen and broaden general natural science understanding;
• the understanding of concepts plays a leading role at school as well as in everyday life as they create an opportunity for people to better understand each other, predicates about verbal communication (Arends, 1998);
• in order to explain concepts and phenomena, primary school pupils’ thinking peculiarities (ontogenetic aspect) definitely require picturesque specific cases. The most advantageous way to reach an effect is practical children’s activities.

Secondary natural science education, first of all, is very complicated for the teacher. It is concerned with teacher competence as well as with his/her motivation in terms of the interaction with nature. Far more relevant aspect is that teachers arrange activities from the position of the adult, i.e. they somehow ‘obtrude’ the opinion upon children.

• the number of the pupils in the classroom / group;
• an environment / place of the educational process;
• the contingent of the pupils agreeably to the parameters of psychophysiology;
• the applied teaching technology;
• the balance between the teacher and schoolchildren’s activities;
• a teacher’s natural science and general didactic competence;
• the style of a training process organization, etc.

Modern didactics highly recommends to apply the methods that make the teacher and the pupil’s activity more heightened and intense. The following methods could be recommended: netting, the volition-aversion method, interview, nine ribbed “diamond”, mixed priority, free writing, the method I know-I want to know-I have learnt, the method of intensive specifying, “The book of natural complaints”, the essays of variable length, etc. (Lamanauskas, 2001). Work in groups and work with projects become particularly relevant.

• an integrated environment (content, process, forms, activities, etc.) helps pupils to properly aware that human being and nature is a concern for a number of scientists of different areas and that the concepts of the unity between nature and human being, the majesty of nature, the limitation of universal perception are further formulated;
• the combination of natural science integration with the knowledge (in a broad sense) of other areas (humanities, social, arts, etc.) creates conditions for pupils’ socialization, makes their intrinsic world ecologic (the issue of the ecologic worldview and ecologic consciousness formation), inspires warm feelings of love, duty, respect and responsibility for nature (ecologic imperative);
• the forms of integrated natural science education (classes, excursions, conferences, etc.) produce the media for expressing scientific, creative, spiritual, aesthetic components. Every learner runs an opportunity to obtain interesting and useful information, to express creativity and initiative, to more precisely acknowledge the world.

• the decision has to be made in order to find out the kind of the applied model of integrated natural science education (interdisciplinary, internal integration, etc.);
• the main didactic consistent patterns are evaluated (the hierarchy of the elements of the educational system): Educational objectives (Why to teach? What to teach?) → educational content (What to teach?) → educational methods (How to teach?) → training aids /resources (What is used for teaching?) → educational forms (Where and when to teach?) → control and diagnostics (What are educational results?);
• integrated natural science education curriculum is designed (it reflects the elements of the educational system). Scrupulous attention should be directed to content sampling. Content requires purposefulness (for example, ecologic – environmental protection and value-based orientation of content);
• the curriculum of integrated natural science education is implemented and corrections are made.

The integration of natural science education with other educational subjects should present pupils the knowledge of natural sciences as well as the material produced in the textbooks and workbooks that are linked with the current affairs of school, with the customs and traditions of the schoolchildren and their relatives of the inhabited locality. The closest natural objects such as the park, forest, lake, mound, etc. are not out of the way. Hereby, the learners are encouraged to show interest in an environment of their inhabited locality, are stimulated to know more and more, their thoughtful evaluation of nature is developed, etc. Integral natural science education requires a different approach to the educational process itself.

• a class / lesson;
• educational / sightseeing excursion (regional, ethnographic, biology studies, etc.);
• home tasks;
• practice;
• field research practice (research work in nature creates a considerable opportunity for developing moral and psychophysical qualities: diligence, independence, humanism, the delight of knowledge, practical research knowledge is acquired, etc.);
• extracurricular / coextensive training (coteries, sections, clubs, etc.);
• projects (local, regional, national or even international level);
• centres of interest, etc.
• advice.

1. narration (length; content; systematization; true to life; picturesqueness);
2. interpretation (delivering questions, encouragement to observe, compare, assess, estimate, summarize, conclude, etc.);
3. discourse (reproduction; interpretation; heuristics, etc.);
4. the usage of published sources (helps to show interest in data sources and their search; stimulates self-studying, curiosity; fosters emotions, etc.;
5. demonstration – observation (real visuals are used; observation and assessment; pupils are given work-material);
6. demonstration – observation of technical training aids (instructional videos or their passages; transparencies; audio-recordings; compact discs; computer programs, etc.).
7. didactic games (employed in different stages of the training process; stimulates the whole educational process, etc.);
8. eco-mysteries (drama performance elements are applied, etc,).

1. observation – (short-term and long-term seasonal observations of natural phenomena; recording observed data; the use of simple devices, etc.);
2. experimentation – (objects and phenomena research; the observation of research conditions and factors; the assessment and interpretation of the obtained results; knowledge acquisition and skills development, etc.);
3. practice work - (modelling; graphic work; work with devices; work with a project, map, globe, etc.);
4. experimentation.

The success of natural science education determines a well organized educational process, properly produced didactic teaching/learning material as well as available teaching resources (stock).

One of the main problems in science education is visualization. Students usually have many problems understanding dynamic three-dimensional processes.

• ChemSense: Shared Responsibilities within A Knowledge Building Environment
  http://chemsense.org/
• ChemViz: Chemistry Visualization of Atomic and Molecular Structures
  http://chemviz.ncsa.uiuc.edu/
• The Molecular Workbench Project
  http://workbench.concord.org/
• Virtual Molecular Dynamics Laboratory
  http://polymer.bu.edu/vmd/

• virtual fields trip;
• case studies;
• debates;
• role play;
• posters;
• mysteries;
• mini-conferences;
• concept maps;
• predict-observe-explain (POE);
• engage, explore, explain, elaborate, evaluate (Five Es);
• portfolios;
• oral presentations;
• multimedia presentations;
• collaborative work;
• creating board games etc.

1. Point out the specificities of science education (i.e. identify the differences between the above mentioned process and oral, mathematical and artistic education).
2. On the basis of the specified arguments prove that the quality of science education and the achieved results is determined by a mutual interaction (direct and indirect) between a student and a teacher.
3. Fill in the table.
   
   

   Tools required for stimulating and maintaining the process of science education	Methods of making the process of science education effective	Factors determining a choice of science education forms
   1.	1.	1.
   2.	2.	2.
   3.	3.	3.
   ...	...	...

   
   
4. Which of the teaching methods will you suggest for the teaching of integrated science in secondary school level?

• beforehand lesson planning foreseeing optimal visual and training aids, choosing relevant teaching / learning material and considering the strategy of evaluating students’ achievements;
• creates helpful teaching / learning environment using modern tools that help with offering favourable possibilities of observing and testing virtual environment;
• vividly presents relevant attractive theoretical teaching / learning material in the classroom, primarily focuses on describing concepts and terminology.

The described situations only show that certain aspects of science education are paid scant attention which makes the impact on the quality of both the self / educational process and the results of self / education.

1. Identify the problems a teacher can face during the educational process.
2. Referring to the above introduced example, create a model of the science education process based on the principles of a direct interaction between a student and a teacher and constructivistic teaching/learning.

There are different strategies and methods for teaching science. Also there are many different ways in which science teachers can effectively teach students. The problem consists in that how to choose the most effective methods and strategy in each concrete situation. It is obvious, that the information itself is known as the content; how that content is shared in a classroom is dependent on the teaching methods. For example, lecture is a way of providing students with basic knowledge. On the other hand it is well known that lecture has the least impact on students as well as the lowest level of student involvement. It is not so good from point of view of constructivistic teaching. The one of the main points of constructivistic approach is to increase the level of impact and involvement for students. It is clear that reflective inquiry has the highest level of student involvement. On the other hand, reflective inquiry offers opportunities for students to use knowledge in a productive and meaningful way. Different methods can be effectively used in science teaching: lecture, reading information, audio-visual presentation, demonstration, observation, field trips, interviewing, brainstorming, small group discussions, experimenting, problem-solving activities etc.

This term meant that when teachers take students by the hand and lead them on a voyage of discovery (discovery learning theory), stimulating their observation and experimentation skills (learning by doing), imagination, curiosity and reasoning capacity – enhances students` intellectual and manual capacities remarkably.

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