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 describing meaningful learning considering the peculiarities of the young generation. Respondents’ answers were analyzed with the help of the SPSS program, using the methods of non-parametric statistics. Many representatives of the young generation tend to avoid difficulties which confirms a typical feature of this generation – to achieve an immediate result easily and quickly. These students also have a weaker understanding about the importance of STEM that testifies the lack of the learning motivation. The majority of students consider that it is necessary to acquire STEM only at school, failing to connect it with the everyday life. The study describes the national context, yet the presented trends could be significant also on the international level for understanding meaningful learning of STEM. Keywords: meaningful learning, STEM education, teaching/learning methods, today’s new generation
This paper presents some results of the research on ‘Adult education resources to reduce youth unemployment’, which is a part of the project ‘Implementation of the European agenda for adult learning’. The research applies a mixed-method approach (quantitative and qualitative data analysis). The purpose of the paper is to identify the most/least-efficient non-formal and informal learning methods, forms, and initiatives to promote youth entrepreneurship and employability in Latvia as well as to show the relationship between the profile of young adults and their opinion on these methods, forms, and initiatives. The findings show that the young adults stressed the importance of cooperation with employers in organising educational activities, field trips as well as the necessity of having internships, projects, and meetings with entrepreneurs to learn from their experience. The most efficient non-formal and informal learning methods, forms, and initiatives to promote youth entrepreneurship and employability in Latvia are as follows: internship in a company or institution, projects, other persons’ experience and success stories, and training enterprises. The least efficient ones are mentoring, business incubators, coaching, individual work/action plan for the young people, business clubs, and business start-up funds/grants. The opinion of young adults on all aspects of non-formal and informal learning methods, forms, and initiatives depends on their profile (gender, education level, employment status, learning experience, etc.).
This paper presents an analysis of the quality of the adaptation of the transnational teacher training programme for character education “Arete catalyst” to the socio-cultural context of Latvia. Based on the theory of cultural adaptation of educational programmes, and on a qualitative analysis of documentary sources, the quality of the adaptation was discussed by comparing the features of the adapted programme with Latvian societal needs and policy makers’ guidelines for character education (research question 1), and with the legal and institutional requirement for teacher training (research question 2). The findings revealed that the adapted Latvian programme responds widely to the needs of Latvian society and of the educational sector regarding character and virtue education, and addresses values and virtue education, as foreseen in the governmental guidelines for upbringing at school. It also complies with the Law of Education and the regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers regarding the professional development of teachers, and with the rules for approval and implementation of teacher training programmes at the University of Latvia. The adaptation process described can be useful for academics adapting existing programs to new socio-cultural contexts. This work should be continued by piloting and refining the adapted programme.
STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education nowadays is considered priority. To implement it successfully, students must acquire not only STEM “hard” skills, but also “soft” skills, therefore the choice of teaching/learning methods is essential. Problem-based (PrBL) and projectbased learning (PjBL) aim both at the acquisition of science content using real life examples and the improvement of IT skills, critical thinking, decision-making, civil responsibility and cooperation skills. The aim of the research is to find out the use of PrBL and PjBL in the teaching/ learning of STEM in the context of national reform of Latvia. The design of mixed methods was used in the research. The correlative research was performed using QuestionPro e-platform and surveyed 128 STEM teachers and 257 secondary school students to collect quantitative data. As Latvia now is implementing the education reform, the case study for qualitative and quantitative analysis has been carried out using the AQUAD data processing programme and researching the secondary education biology basic course curriculum. This research identified that it was advisable to use practical cases, real everyday examples and project work that would increase students’ interest in science subjects to enable them to solve problems creatively by integrating the content of all STEM subjects. The biology curriculum mainly stresses students’ reproductive than productive work with information, the development of critical thinking by participating in discussions and cooperating, while not enough attention was paid to the use of problem solving in the teaching/ learning process and the implementation of the interdisciplinary project. The use of sensors, practical laboratory works and field study as specific methods of biology are little represented in the curriculum, which is a serious disadvantage. This means that the basic curriculum of biology in the context of national education reform is more oriented to the acquisition of transversal skills, not the development of competent science literacy.
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