Showing papers by "Laura Monica Gorghiu published in 2018"

Teachers’ Perceptions on the Relevance of Specific Health Education Topics in School

Abstract: This paper illustrates the results obtained through the analyzing of the teachers’ feed-back, expressed at the graduation moment of the accredited training program “Modern Approaches in Health Education”, organized in the frame of the Erasmus+ project “Let’s make it better! Raising the awareness of the triad nutrition-health-food safety in school education”, coordinated by Valahia University Targoviste, Romania. Two Modules and 8 related topics were designed, consisting in 18 hours of courses and 36 hours for practical training, in the format of face-to-face and on-line meetings. 67 trainees - from which 98,5% women - graduated the program dedicated to primary and secondary education. Three concepts were identified as the most important to be learned by students in school - Food Composition and Food Groups, Food Hygiene and Related Risks and Food Labelling -. On the other hand, New Food Products and the Impact of the Food Industry on the Environment were considered less important, despite the efforts and care concerning the environment protection, shown in the last years at the legislative and consumers’ level throughout the world. Related to competencies, attitudes and values, the most important topics in order to be developed in school were: Awareness of the Relationship between Food and Health, Changing in the Food Consumption Manner and Personnel Hygiene. The Self-esteem related to the Physical Aspect and the Appetite Control were overwhelmingly considered less important (by more than 90% from respondents). Almost 95% from the interviewed teachers agreed that the presence of trainers (especially teachers) - through which the Education for Health is promoted - is vital. But a higher percent agreed that it is not enough to discuss about a specific topic related to the Education for Health, in order to change the students’ behavior.

A Point where Science and Research Meet Young Students and Interested Stakeholders – The European Researchers’ Night

Abstract: As already known, one of the most attracting event organized for general public is represented by the European Researchers’ Night, which targets to bring near Science and Research all the interested actors, having actually a major coverage in more than 30 countries and almost 300 cities, being organized on the last Friday, in September.On the other hand, this event offers a good opportunity for disseminating the outputs designed in several projects that have as objective to promote science and scientific literacy to different target groups, starting from the young learners, to various stakeholders, less or not involved in research activities. In this respect, in the frame of the FP7 project called IRRESISTIBLE, in Romania, the European Researchers’ Night was organized at the National Complex Museum “Curtea Domneasca” Târgoviste (History Museum & Museum of Romanian Police), gathering scientific demonstrations, interactive presentations, experimental activities and discussions, but also a dedicated Science exhibition, named: “The World of Nanomaterials and Solar Energy”. Most of the visitors were young students, but also general public was interested to participate to this event. The paper illustrates some aspects related to the participation to the event, but also the feedback recorded from the participants concerning responsible research and innovation aspects that have to be retrieved in the educational practice.

The Relevance of Continuous Training Programmes Dedicated for Teachers from Pre-University Education

Abstract: The didactic profession has a major social importance. However, its attractiveness decreases drastically, both among potential aspirants to the status of teacher – the students, and among those who practice this profession, whether they are at their debut, whether they have already accumulated enough experience at the chair. In this context, investing in the initial and continuous teachers’ training is essential, if we really want to improve the efficiency and quality of the educational process, to have a high/advanced education system, in which to practice the teachers with vocation, dedicated both to children and school. Regarding to the continuous training of teachers, it is necessary that all those responsible for the process - from the Ministry of the resort to the programme providers - to provide opportunities for the training and development of professional competences in agreement with their own training needs. Our study has the assumption that teachers from pre-university education sometimes demonstrate a low motivation for participation in continuous training programmes, because in many situations there is a hiatus between the curriculum offer of the providers of such programs and their real needs for processing and development of professional competences. For this purpose, we have organized two focus-groups, having as participants teachers for pre-school education and teachers for primary education, in order to identify their opinions on the relevance and effectiveness of continuous training programmes at which they have been participated in recent years.

A Comparative Analysis of the Moodle and Edx Educational Platforms from a Tutor-Student Perspective

Abstract: Traditional eLearning platforms are teacher centred and do not allow open and free access to education. To follow a course on a traditional platform the students must have a certain profile (knowledge background) and, at the end, they obtain new knowledge / abilities / competences. In 2011-2012 have been developed the first MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) platforms with the aim to vastly increase access to education. The MOOC platforms have some differences compared to traditional eLearning platforms: the number of students in a course can be very high (tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands), the role of the tutor is less significant, the learning assessment is based on surveys and peer assessments and courses may be enriched with multimedia and hypermedia materials. Among MOOC platforms, open edX is a very popular platform developed by a consortium of universities from USA. Due to the fact, this platform can be installed for free, it is under continuous development, scalable and well documented, it has been chosen for many educational projects. This paper presents a comparative analysis between a traditional learning platform (Moodle) and a MOOC platform (open edX) taking into consideration the data achieved in four educational projects.

Responsible Research and Innovation in Science Teaching - Romanian Teachers’ Reflections Expressed in an On-line Course Organized on edX Environment

Abstract: Even the Responsible Research and Innovation (hereafter RRI) concept is not yet clarified at the scientific literature level, it is more and more frequency used, being promoted in the European Union policies (Owen et al, 2012) and programs in Science and beyond (Owen et al, 2013). At the educational level, RRI refers mainly to the idea that the future EU citizens have to possess the necessary skills to manage complex issues related to emerging technologies, and more, they are sufficiently informed about how science works. In the context of achieving of those educational goals, European Union funded - since 2014 - a big number of European projects, in order to bring closer research and innovation results to the large public. The FP7 ENGAGE Project (Equipping the Next Generation for Active Engagement in Science Equipping the Next Generation) is one of those approved projects that started in January 2014 and lasts till March 2017.This paper emphasizes our findings concerning the teachers’ reflections about challenges and prospects related to implementation of RRI specific aspects in Science lessons, collected at the end of the 1st edition of the on-line course entitled "Methods of promoting RRI dimensions in Science Education". This course was organized in an on-line format, through the edX environment, by Valahia University of Targoviste, in November-December 2015.

WEB CONFERENCING - A Tool for Knowledge Transfer between Universities and Business Organizations

Abstract: It is commonly accepted that universities are an important source of new knowledge, especially in the science and technology sector. The mechanisms to transfer this new knowledge from academia to business organizations are widely discussed by many authors. This paper presents how web collaboration environments may help in distance knowledge transfer and also a web conferencing example meant to stress the factors which led to a successful web meeting for knowledge diffusion. There is presented also the positive feedback of the attendees, in the conditions of low participation rate in previous similar experiences.

New Trends In Teaching Sciences: A Case Study From The Engage Project

Abstract: Starting from the premise that Science and Technology represent areas where progress is accelerated in a considerable manner, the educational systems realize more and more the need to overcome the traditionalist paradigm of teaching Sciences and replace it by a constructivist one. In this environment, the student is learning by doing through an individualized process of socio-scientific knowledge building. The ENGAGE Project - Equipping the Next Generation for Active Engagement in Science - is a research project financed as part of the EU agenda dedicated to “Science in Society”, aiming to promote Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) in the educational practice, trying to familiarize teachers and secondary school level students with a training methodology based on scientific investigation (IBSE). This gives to students the opportunity to express their opinions, to develop competences related to critical thinking and investigation. This paper summarizes the teachers’ perceptions related to the implementation of the ENGAGE designed-patterns Science lessons in the classroom, exploiting therefore the proposed activities illustrated in the engagingscience.eu portal. In this sense, a questionnaire with 3 items was developed and administered, with pre-formulated multiple-choice answers, using a five steps Likert-type scale. The answers were processed with the help of quantitative research methods and correlated with a range of information collected during a focus group discussion. The results configured the conclusion that using ENGAGE designed-patterns Science lessons, the quality of teaching and learning has increased significantly, but also the student’s motivation and interest for Science activities have recorded an important growth.

Integrating Food Education in Everyday Life of Young People

Abstract: Nutrition and food education measuresshould be applied starting from early education, in order to encourage and to sustain the adoption of healthy and sustainable diets, which will materialize in the citizens’ quality of life and society welfare. These measures should primarily be targeted at students both during the formal and informal activities. Theoretical aspects learned in the framework of the lessons in classrooms can be well integrated in practical educational approaches, based on meaningful experiences, which increases overall effectiveness.Science snacks laboratories and Cooking laboratories were proposed to the primary and secondary level students, in close cooperation with the higher education students, with the aim to: achieve practical skills; better understand what means ‘’nutrients’’ and how they influence the people life; urge them to think every day life on their dietary choices; better understand the messages of the label related to a certain food; sustain the transgenerational education and improve the communication and the networks creation among the young people; give the first information concerning the entrepreneurship in food production as viable solution for the family prosperity in economical and work satisfaction terms; to draw them near to a career in science and technique.The production of food was the response of the Needs Analysis, being a request of the students from all the six countries of the EduforHealth partnership. The young people enthusiasm and the knowledge acquired were to a great extent, encouraging the teachers to sustain the increasing of the number of practical activities in school education.The particular case of implementation in Romania is described below.