STEM is the acronym of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics fields. STEM education refers both to teaching and learning in the above-mentioned disciplines, but especially to teaching and learning a new discipline based on the integration of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. The present survey aims to investigate the opinion of a sample of 110 respondents, students from Romanian universities, taking into account: a) their experience in STEM fields during high school studies; (b) the engineer's profession and the engineer's skills; c) the factors that influenced their option to study one of the STEM fields. The results show that the respondents have been interested in STEM fields since secondary and high school; this interest determined them to choose to continue their studies in a STEM field. Also, the majority of respondents agreed that the choice of their university specialisation was influenced by the teachers who taught them the subjects that they study at the university during their school years. The data also show that the students are convinced of the importance of the engineer's profession as well as of the engineering knowledge and skills.
For the professional training of university students in the field of Geography, at the Faculty of Geography, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, the curricula in all years of study, at the Bachelor's level, include two field trips organised by the faculty, where professors coordinate the activities. The aim of our paper is to realise proposals for improving these activities. Therefore, we chose to find out the opinions of a sample which was represented by university students in their 3 rd year of study, at all specialisations within the field of Geography (Geography, Geography of Tourism, Cartography, Hydrology-Meteorology, and Territorial Planning). We collected the data (students' answers) using an online questionnaire. They informed us about the reasons they had for taking part at the respective field trips, about the efficiency of diverse activities, about students' diverse roles during fieldwork and the usefulness for their learning and training, about what they recommended and preferred. They also realised a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis of the field trips they participated at. Taking into account the findings, we concluded that students considered field trips relevant for their professional training and we were able to provide a series of recommendations for improving them, based on students' opinions and suggestions.
Engaging university students into meaningful learning activities enables critical thinking and understanding (i.e. active learning), instead of memorising knowledge (i.e. passive learning). In this context, we researched the way students at the M.Sc. level learn, at the specialisation of Regional Planning and Development, in the Faculty of Geography, at Babeş-Bolyai University, in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The aim of the activity was to discover the best means for students to analyse urban cultural landscapes. We offered them plenty of images (i.e. aerial photos) of a series of historical urban centres in Romania (ClujNapoca, Brașov, Sibiu, Oradea, Timişoara, Bistriţa) and, while working individually, we asked them to analyse the elements of the city centre and of the urban landscape: the features of the square, its arrangement, the features and the functions of the buildings. Students were also asked to use other sources of images (e.g. Google Earth, Google Maps, etc.) to complete the task, and then they used ArcGIS (a specialised software). In the end, we provided them with an observation protocol that they had to complete with the identified urban elements. We concluded that their in-depth analysis, enabled by an observation protocol, determined students' in-depth learning of the evolution characteristic of historical urban centres.
The presented study aims to identify the relations between metacognitive skills and science performance. Data were collected from 211 Romanian adolescents in the seventh and eighth grades, who completed the Junior Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (the version for 5th- 9th grades). The results indicate that adolescents generally use metacognitive skills when learning science subjects and that some metacognitive skills are associated with better performance in science. Nevertheless, adolescents seem to encounter difficulties in using diagrams and pictures that facilitate the learning process, in evaluating the outcomes of their learning process and in using different learning strategies, in accordance with specific learning situations. Given the importance of metacognitive skills in science performance, we argue that it is essential for teachers to understand how to develop a culture of metacognition in science classrooms.
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