Database of Publications

Date: 2014.03.31

Posted by Luiza Wezyk (Poland)

Message: This paper describes pedagogical philosophies of Bulgarian secondary science teachers in public schools in Sofia. This research project is one of three projects investigating the status of science education in Bulgaria. The research questions are as follows: your description as a teacher, your strengths, how do your students learn, how do you learn best, good learner - what does it mean, understanding concepts. The questions are general, but very interesting to consider motivation aspects, relating to both students and teachers. The document presents results of the interview and attempts to interpret them. They indicate that teachers believe students learn by doing and students learn best by hands-on activities and by listening and reading. I think the results are common for all countries, so it is very important to draw appropriate conclusions from them. The authors try to do it, with success. Discussion of the research questions is valuable for both future researchers of similar topics and teachers who are looking for mental foundations of their work and methods to be successful. So the work is relevant, although not only for chemistry teachers.

Date: 2013.11.25

Posted by Hüseyin Miraç Pektaş (Turkey)

Message: This article is unique for the Bulgarian national context but attracts on research which has been conducted in the United States on the pedagogical philosophical beliefs of secondary school science teachers. It was jotted down in 2009 at which time there were no other studies which were conducted on this matter in Bulgaria before. A sample size of ten teachers took place and they were mainly associated with public schools in Sofia, the Bulgarian capital. The people who participated in this study had a various range of years of experience and there was gender balance among them. The Teachers Pedagogical Philosophy Interview (TPPI) produced in 1994 by Fraser was the instrument which was applied in this investigation. One interesting aspect is the fact that it is mentioned by the writers that beliefs about teaching and learning and science in Bulgaria have been altering and improving since it turned out to be a socialist state in 1990. They say that the people who responded had changed their view on the curriculum because they don’t depend thoroughly on the district curriculum and guidelines any longer and teachers told them that they were now open to outcome from students and the community. The main inference which was taken from the teachers’ answers is the fact that they were aware of constructivist teaching methodology and of applying an inquiry model but has various thoughts on how they considered these had better be implemented in their own classes. The ranging which were associated with the answers illustrated generally the fact that the teachers’ pedagogical philosophical beliefs varied between traditional (teacher-centered) and constuctivist (inquiry-based) but strong constructivist beliefs were figured out in relation with teaching strategies and perceptions of learning. It was figured out the fact that teachers implement educational research to their practices in order that they will encourage enhancements.

Date: 2013.11.25

Posted by Elif Tuğçe Karaca (Turkey)

Message: This publication presents a national research project implemented in Bulgaria which focuses on the status of science education. The test was executed on 10 teachers who had to describe themselves as teachers, talk about the student’s and also the teacher’s learning processes and they had to talk about ‘’good’’ learner and finally about the comprehension of concepts which student’s are exposed to.
An analysis of the gathered data shows that the teachers describe themselves as professionals. They are open to the students and use their experiences in order to enhance their instructions in the classroom. Here, we can say that the interaction between student and teacher facilitates the teaching and so is the learning process. A ‘’good’’ learner is described as a motivated, hard worker who is willing to learn and to ask questions in the classroom. The student’s acceptance of the new learning material – knowledge- determines the accomplishment of successful problem solving. In other words, the student’s attitude toward the new knowledge is crucially important but also the student’s comfort in the classroom is another aspect. The results have also shown that the teachers are aware of the constructivist teaching method and inquiry model and so is the application of these in their classes. Besides this, the teachers apply educational researches to their practices to promote improvements.
In conclusion, the research presented in this paper analyses the teacher’s thoughts and expectations towards their students and the conditions in the classroom. So, it is possible to say that this investigation is about the pedagogical and philosophical beliefs of the teachers. With the help of this research we see whether the implemented education in bulgarian schools are teacher-centered or student-centered and whether teachers are willing to improve their own skills in order to provide a better teaching to their students.

Date: 2013.07.02

Posted by Maria Pramuková (Slovakia)

Message: This paper is focusing on specific Bulgarian national reaserch project which shows the status of science education in Bulgaria. In the research participants were 10 teachers which were asked to describe themselves as teachers, to talk about both the students’ and teacher’s learning process, to talk about a good learner and finally to focus on the student’s understanding of concepts.
with had a range of years of experience and there was gender balance among them. The Teachers Pedagogical Philosophy Interview (TPPI), developed in 1994 by Fraser, was the instrument used in this investigation. What is very interesting for me is this changing and developing beliefs about teaching and learning and science in Bulgaria since it ceased to be a socialist state in 1990. This is the same problem in Slovakia after 1990 in education sector general not only in human sciences. The main conclusion drawn from the teachers’ responses is that they were aware of constructivist teaching methodology and of using an inquiry model but varied in how they thought these should be applied in their own classes. A data analysis showed that the teachers describe themselves as professionals and that they are open to the students. They are using their personal experience to enhance instruction. It appears that the interaction between students and teachers is a factor that aids the learning process. The teachers in Bulgaria will to improve their teaching skills towards modern methods.

Date: 2013.05.23

Posted by Koutelekos John (Greece)

Message: For the first time, this research project is investigating the status of science education in Bulgaria. The pedagogical philosophies of Bulgarian secondary science teachers in public schools in Sofia have been changing during the transition of the Republic of Bulgaria from a socialist state. In order to study the teacher’s beliefs, the researcher’s worked with an interview protocol consisting of six open-ended questions, with a numerical scoring analysis as described by Fraser (1994). The questions were focused on teaching and learning. The teachers were asked to describe themselves as teachers, to talk about both the students’ and teacher’s learning process, to talk about a good learner and finally to focus on the student’s understanding of concepts.
A detailed data analysis showed that the teachers describe themselves as professionals and that they are open to the students. They are using their personal experience to enhance instruction. It appears that the interaction between students and teachers is a factor that aids the learning process. A good learner is described as a hard worker and as someone who is willing to learn and ask questions. The student’s attitude and comfort in applying new knowledge is the key issue to problem solving.
The results of this study show that the Bulgarian science teachers are willing to improve their teaching skills towards modern methods.

Date: 2013.05.08

Posted by Claire McDonnell (Ireland)

Message: This publication is specific to the Bulgarian national context but draws on research that has been performed in the United States on the pedagogical philosophical beliefs of secondary school science teachers. It was written in 2009 at which time no previous studies had been carried out on this subject in Bulgaria. A sample size of ten teachers was involved and they were based in public schools in Sofia, the Bulgarian capital. The participants had a range of years of experience and there was gender balance among them. The Teachers Pedagogical Philosophy Interview (TPPI), developed in 1994 by Fraser, was the instrument used in this investigation. One interesting aspect is that it is noted by the authors that beliefs about teaching and learning and science in Bulgaria have been changing and developing since it ceased to be a socialist state in 1990. They report that the respondents had altered their view on the curriculum as they no longer depend completely on the district curriculum and guidelines and teachers said they were now open to input from students and the community. The main conclusion drawn from the teachers’ responses is that they were aware of constructivist teaching methodology and of using an inquiry model but varied in how they thought these should be applied in their own classes. The rankings assigned to the replies showed in general that the teachers’ pedagogical philosophical beliefs ranked midway between traditional (teacher-centred) and constructivist (inquiry-based) but strong constructivist beliefs were found in relation to teaching strategies and perceptions of learning. It was found that teachers apply educational research to their teaching practices to promote improvements. The authors conclude that a similar study that spans the whole country should be the next stage and that the information obtained from this type of investigation is very useful to allow teacher trainers to become aware of the beliefs and opinions of practicing teachers.
The publication highlights an effective means of gauging the extent to which science teachers’ opinions on teaching are teacher-centred or if they think that an inquiry model is appropriate and this is relevant in the context of the increasing focus on inquiry-based learning in science in Europe (for example, the EU Framework 7 ESTABLISH project (http://www.establish-fp7.eu/ ). It also provides some supporting evidence for those who would like to find out more about inquiry-based approaches to show that this can be an effective means of promoting meaningful learning.