PERCEPTIONS OF TODAY’S YOUNG GENERATION ABOUT MEANINGFUL LEARNING OF STEM
The necessity of STEM knowledge is being more widely acknowledged as the priority in the development of education; however, students lack sufficient knowledge and interest in the acquisition of STEM subjects. Therefore, more attention should be paid to the teaching and learning methods that would correspond to the contemporary young generation and that would facilitate meaningful learning of modern students. Performing the survey of 256 students in Grades 10 – 12 of Latvia, students’ perceptions on how they understand and interpret their STEM learning and methods used by teachers have been explored. The questionnaire in the QuestionPro e-environment was designed according to the criteria de…
FACTORS INFLUENCING THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS’ ADAPTATION TO NATURAL SCIENCE STUDIES IN HIGHER EDUCATION
The mass-approach in higher education promotes the broadening of students’ number and diversity therefore the question about the young people’s readiness to adapt to studies becomes more and more topical. Students who enrol in the natural science faculties of the University of Latvia (UL) are motivated and have high assessment in biology and chemistry as school subjects. However, the studies already during the 1st term prove that students encounter problems to get adjusted to the study process. In order to find out the key factors that determine the adaptation of the first-year students to studies, an e-questionnaire was developed and 79 students from the Faculty of Chemistry and Faculty of…
PROSPECTIVE PRE-SCHOOL TEACHERS’ VIEWS ON STEM LEARNING IN GRADE 9: THE PRINCIPLE OF CONTINUITY IN EDUCATION
The life quality of society and the stability of national economy is largely connected with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The complex character of STEM education demands informed teaching/learning strategies in order to make the 21st century youth interested in learning. The aim of the research was to find out the views of prospective pre-school teachers on Grade 9 students’ STEM learning, thus addressing the topical principle of continuity in education. A survey of 261 prospective pre-school teachers of the University of Latvia was performed. The obtained results show that in general the prospective pre-school teachers have some notion about the level of teachin…
EXPERIMENTS WITH EVERYDAY SUBSTANCES FOR AN INTERESTING AND PRODUCTIVE LEARNING IN CHEMISTRY
A concept “Chemistry for life” developed in Germany characterises a number of the-ses generally recognised in modern didactics, from which the principle “from the simple to more difficult” and psychological laws of learning are highlighted. This concept is in par-ticular characterised by the thesis that chemistry studies should be based on student every-day notions. The foundation of chemistry studies is experimentation with everyday substanc-es. The concept “Chemistry for life” can be successfully used for acquiring chemistry in schools in Latvia by intensifying the use of experiments with everyday substances and devel-oping student inquiry skills. Key words: chemistry for life, chemistry …
STUDENTS’ READINESS FOR MASSIVE OPEN ONLINE COURSES (MOOCS) IN LATVIA
MOOCs have gained popularity increasingly more and more with their open online approach and mass engagement. They could play an important role in higher education. But the question remains whether students are ready for it. The aim of the study was to find out what students' understanding of online learning was and to what extent they were prepared for MOOCs. A research question was raised: there is a relationship among technical competencies, socio-communication competencies, self-efficacy, self-directedness and MOOCs readiness. The survey-monkey's electronic platform was used for data extraction. Open-ended questions were asked on the 4-point Likert scale. According to the research questi…
The Prospects of Transdisciplinary Approach to Promote Learners’ Cognitive Interest in Natural Science for Sustainable Development
Abstract The use of transdisciplinary approach to promote learners’ interest in the acquisition of natural science at school provides new opportunities for a complex explanation of the phenomenon and improving the quality of the process of learning. The aim of the study is to explore the learners’ cognitive interest, personal participation and the approaches chosen by teachers from the perspective of transdisciplinary approach. The study characterises students’ subjective evaluations of their personal participation and cognitive interest in the subjects of biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics, and the approaches used by teachers. The participants were 9th grade students from 17 Latvi…