Papers

Date: 2014.10.17

Posted by hristo kolev (Bulgaria)

Message: The paper focuses on two main methods of teaching namely those based on inquiry and those based on argumentation. The authors point out that these are strategies that make each and every teacher candidate responsible for their education. Although they report that to be a successful technique it is quite possible that in certain groups of people that approach won`t work. Making people responsible for their education can only be applied in cases where a distinct affinity towards knowledge is present. Most teachers wouldn’t even bother asking questions and making inquiries of any kind. However putting the teacher in the position of a scientist that analyses data and makes experiments is really useful in getting to that state of mind that they can transfer to their students.
The argumentation based approach demonstrates the fundamental principles of the scientific method. It is crucial that all teachers and their students practice making theories, researching topics and using experiments to validate ideas. It was noted that most of the teacher candidates gained the insight that argumentation can improve various skills such as critical thinking, questioning and scientific thinking.
The article clearly shows two successful strategies used to improve both the methods that teachers use and the way students are being taught science. These methods are clearly effective in developing the essential skills that are needed when studying abstract ideas and theories. In this way science classes would not only provoke interest but inspire students towards being more critical and knowledgeable about the world around them.

Date: 2014.06.03

Posted by Antonio Jesús Torres Gil (España)

Message: This publication refers to learning based on research through experiments carried out with students and masters’ candidates. The relevance of this article is due to both learning star experiences that tend to be performed successfully in the teaching of science and are a clear example of application of constructivist theories and a renewed science education. In the document, the authors argue that activities carried out with the use of this methodology have positive results and help to the understanding of chemical concepts in addition to the motivation of students is higher than in traditional teaching. While the publication does not suggest how to use ICT in teaching of chemistry activities, it is useful to understand how the use of argumentation and research in the classroom help the learning of concepts related to chemistry and the nature of science, to develop skills such as critical thinking, and improve the self-esteem and motivation of the students.

Date: 2014.05.14

Posted by Manuel Fernández (Spain)

Message: This is an interesting article with important didactic implications since it can provide guidelines for chemistry teaching. According to his article, each student has a different method for capturing and processing information. Therefore, this research studies the effects of using different teaching methodologies instead of using only one, taking into account different learning styles as well as the subject matter. Of these methodologies, emphasis is placed on inquiry and argumentation based methods. The results obtained indicate that the best results were obtained in the groups where this strategy was applied in contrast to the control group. Furthermore, attitudes improved and students felt more comfortable when performing group work.
In my opinion, this article is useful and should be recommended reading for science teachers, particularly chemistry teachers.

Date: 2014.04.29

Posted by Antonella Lotti (Italy)

Message: This paper clearly describes what Inquiry – based learning is and its 3 forms: structured inquiry, guided inquiry and open inquiry.
The authors briefly describe teaching activities in chemistry education which used inquiry based learning in Turkey: they report Kizilaslan and Koseoglu and Bayir teaching activities with the method called “Questioning – searching learning “.
In the third part of their paper, the authors illustrate another method called “Argumentation Based Science Learning” which put high school students in an active position. Students go in laboratory setting and they are divided in small groups. They ask questions, they formulate hypotheses, they gather data, they test their hypothesis, and they share among groups what they have discovered. In that way they learn investigation process and Chemistry principles and they are very motivated.
The paper has also a good list of references.
There are some mistakes in English grammar.
A weak point of the paper is that there isn’t a real systematic review of educational activities for teaching Chemistry in Turkey and there is not a description in English of the learning and teaching activities in class rooms.

Date: 2014.04.03

Posted by Katarína Javorová (Slovakia)

Message: Publication shows examples from successful implementations of the teaching activities in the field of chemistry in Turkey by inquiry based and argumentative method. The authors shows that the most important way of support students' structural reasoning is to assimilate the scientific subjects to everyday teaching.
The biggest problem for science teacher’s are to create teaching methods and strategies how students can imagine and understand these abstract concepts. The way is this inquiry-based learning, where students convert information into knowledge by asking questions, research and analyzing data and the Argumentation-Based Science Learning and the authors describe a background of the implementations this method in Turkey. The authors mention not only advantages of this method but also potential risks of implementations. Publication includes a thesis that using only one teaching method will be insufficient because of the students’ different features.

Date: 2014.03.21

Posted by Lucie Piecková (Czech republic)

Message: The paper presents examples resulting from successful implementations of the teaching activities in the field of chemistry in Turkey by inquiry based and argumentative method. Authors discuss that the science education is possible if the students are able to structure logically the scientific subjects and terms in their minds. Science teacher’s biggest problems are to create teaching methods and strategies how students can imagine and understand these abstract concepts.
The authors shows effective solutions to overcome this problems: The Inquiry-based learning, where students convert information into knowledge by asking questions, research and analyzing data and the Argumentation-Based Science Learning. Authors say that if the class based on this approach is planned or implemented well, the student’s understanding important concepts will become easier. This result is really nice example of successful experience in chemistry teaching inTurkey.
The authors describe a background of the implementations this method in Turkey. There mentioned not only advantages of the method but also potential problems of implementations in the paper. I find this paper as a useful and adequate to the Chemistry is all around us- network project.

Date: 2014.03.07

Posted by Luiza Wezyk (Poland)

Message: The document presents examples of successful implementations of the teaching activities in the field of chemistry in Turkey by inquiry based and argumentative method. It pointed out year 2013 as the beginning of mass implementation of the modern teaching methods in Turkey. The authors suggest that the most important way of support students' structural reasoning is to assimilate the scientific subjects to daily life, what is very consistent with the general idea of the project Chemisty is All Around Network. The authors describe a background of the implementations, but their conclusions are not specific to their country. The inquiry-based and argumentation-based methods are presented clearly and very helpful for everybody, who would like to investigate them later. The authors mention not only advantages of the method but also potential risks of implementations. As the conclusion, the document includes a thesis that using only one teaching method will be insufficient because of the students’ different features. Many observations, described in the paper, seem very helpful for other teachers/researchers.