ABSTRACT. This research examined the environmental awareness and environmental sensitivities of prospective teachers in terms of some variables. These are secondary education Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Sociology, Geography, History, and primary Science teachers. Obtaining the research data, the instrument developed by Yeşilyurt, Gül & Demir (2013) in order to assess prospective biology teachers' environmental awareness and sensitivity, was used in our study. Research was conducted using data gathered from 242 prospective teachers. Results of the study show that there was not statistically significant difference between the branches and genders according to environmental awareness and sensitivities of the prospective teachers'. Whereas, from the viewpoint of sub-dimension named environmental sensitivity, statistically significant difference was found between the branches. According to related literature, further educational implications and suggestions recommended.
Although "Reproduction, Growth, and Development in Living Things" (RGDLT) is a core topic in the Turkish science curriculum, it is known that students have difficulties in understanding. Integrating concept cartoons and argumentation into the teaching of this unit has the potential to promote students' interest and understanding. This research is the first to compare the effects of concept cartoons and argumentation-based concept cartoons on students' academic achievement in teaching sixth grade RGDLT subjects. The research was performed with two experimental groups and one control group in a secondary school in Turkey. A quasi-experimental research design was used in the research. Analysis of the post-test results revealed that the success of the group using concept cartoons was higher than the control group, but more importantly, the success of the group using argumentation-based concept cartoons was higher than the group using concept cartoons. The results of this research indicate that the academic achievement of students can be increased significantly when concept cartoons and argumentation-based concept cartoon activities are used in addition to the constructivist methods in teaching these subjects. The results of the research serve as a guide for teachers and researchers interested in teaching science and biology subjects.
Keywords: argumentation, biology education, concept cartoons, living things, quasi-experimental research
We all talk about scientific issues such as plants, genetically modified organisms, air-water-environmental pollution, and education etc. in everyday life. But such small talks are not as simple job as it was thought, because, it is necessary to have a scientific qualification in order to state true opinions about the discussed topics. However, in order to fully understand the problem here, we must answer the following questions. Do we understand these issues in a way that does not conflict with scientific facts, and can we say we fully taught the students what we understand? Are we able to use scientific concepts correctly? What matter is our answer to these questions.
To be able to develop well-equipped students in accordance with the expectations of the society is one of the objectives of every education system in every country. In this sense, monitoring student performance comparatively at international level, assessing students and schools characteristics is crucially important in order to structuring individuals’ future lives. Determining student performances in different subject areas is a way for the countries examining the performance of their education systems (Anagün, 2011). Results of these assessments and evaluations enable steering the educational policy by diagnosing/revising the failures of the system.
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