Dimitris Koliopoulos

What factors does friction depend on? A socio‐cognitive teaching intervention with young children

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of a socio‐cognitive teaching strategy on young children. It tests their understanding of the factors that friction depends on when an object is projected across a horizontal surface. The study was conducted in three phases: pre‐test, teaching intervention, and post‐test. The sample consisted of 68 preschool children who were assigned to two groups according to age and cognitive ability, based on their responses to a pre‐test. The children in the experimental group participated in activities that were approached from a socio‐cognitive perspective while the children in the control group participated in the same activities but from a Piagetian perspective. A statistically significant difference was found (Mann–Whitney U‐test), between the pre‐test and the post‐test, providing evidence for the effect of the socio‐cognitive strategy on childrens understanding of a ‘precursor model’ for the concept of friction.

The Pendulum as Presented in School Science Textbooks of Greece and Cyprus

When we refer to scientific knowledge, we, implicitly or explicitly, refer to its three components, namely its conceptual framework, its methodological principles and its cultural aspects. The pendulum is a topic of science teaching and learning where all three of these aspects can be examined with the aim of gaining a holistic appreciation of the transformation of a natural phenomenon into a phenomenon of the physical sciences and how this can then be recontextualized into a topic of school science learning. The main objective of this study is to examine whether this richness of the pendulum as a topic of teaching is revealed in the school science textbooks in Greece and Cyprus, for both primary and secondary education. We will use an analytical mapping instrument in order to determine, whether the pendulum is introduced at some grade level and, if so, in what context. We will then use an interpretive instrument, which relies on taxonomy of science curricula into traditional, innovative and constructivist programs, in order to attach meaning to the analysis. Finally, we will formulate a series of proposals in relation to the educational value of the simple pendulum at the Greek and Cypriot gymnasium level.

Élaboration et évaluation du contenu conceptuel d'un curriculum constructiviste concernant l'approche énergétique des phénomènes mécaniques

Design and evaluation of the content of an introductory constructivist curriculum adopting an energy approach to mechanical phenomena

Informal and Non-formal Education: History of Science in Museums

Although a growing number of research articles in recent years have treated the role of informal settings in science learning, the subject of the history of science in museums and its relationship to informal and non-formal education remains less well explored. The aim of this review is to assemble the studies of history of science in science museums and explore the opportunities for the further use of the history of science in science museum education practice. Α number of mainly interdisciplinary texts from the fields of science education, history of science, scientific museology and museum education are reviewed. The review shows that the study of the role of history of science in informal and non-formal science education is heterogeneous and fragmentary. It is necessary to raise new research questions and construct new lines of research to investigate the subject in a more systematic way.

LA CLASSIFICATION DU CONTENU CONCEPTUEL DES CURRICULUMS CONCERNANT L'ÉNERGIE COMME OUTIL ÉDUCATIF

Nos ultimos anos as pesquisas sobre as dificuldades de ensino e de aprenidzagem das ciencias fisicas tem condizido o desenvolvimento a Didaticas das Cienicas Fisicas como um campo cientitifo relativamente autonomo. O quadro de pesquisa e de aplicacao proposto por esse campo tem influenciado um certo numero de modificacoes em diversos sistemas educativos. Esse artigo apresenta uma discussao e uma tentativa de modelizacao de propostas curriculares abordando o conceito de energia. E desenvolvida a hipotese de que a passagem de uma abordagem empirico-descritiva da estrutura, do conteudo e da aplicacao do conceito de energia a um estudo que utiliza conceitos fundamentais oriundos da pesquisa em ensino de Fisica oferece novas perspectivas de ensino.