by J. Biggs and C. Tang, Maidenhead, England,
Open University Press, 2007, 360 pp., £29.99, ISBN-13: 978-0-335-22126-4

Teaching for quality learning at university

A New Engagement? Political Participation, Civic Life, and the Changing American Citizen. By Cliff Zukin, Scott Keeter, Molly Andolina, Krista Jenkins, and Michael X. Delli Carpini. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. 253p. $19.00. Should we be really worried about declining public engagement? Or should we accept that it is merely changing shape? This book describes substantial alterations in the ways Americans are involved in public life, particularly younger citizens, and analyzes a wide range of empirical data with the goal of understanding the implications—both negative and positive—of these emerging patterns of participation.

/pdf/a-new-engagement-political-participation-civic-life-and-the-no7rq6z3ws.pdf

A New Engagement? Political Participation, Civic Life, and the Changing American Citizen

According to WHO, the permissible limit of arsenic till 1993 was 0.05 mg. /L of drinking water. In 1993, WHO modified the maximum level and brought it down to 0.01 mg./L. According to the report of School of Environment Studies of Jadavpur University (1992-1993), West Bengal has 6 districts, affected by arsenic contamination of ground water. The present paper attempts to find out the vulnerability and impact of arsenic on human being. A detailed survey was conducted at Dahapara village of Murshidabad district to assess the present condition of the area giving emphasis on the identification of sources of arsenic pollution.

Review of Research.

/pdf/real-world-research-2nd-ed-by-colin-robson-3i4s3quyl7.pdf

Real World Research (2nd ed.) by Colin Robson

In the last two decades, global citizenship education (GCE) has become a catchphrase used by international and national educational agencies, as well as researchers, to delineate the increasing int...

/pdf/an-ideology-critique-of-global-citizenship-education-2m4ksvdv3n.pdf

An ideology critique of global citizenship education

With increased focus on sustainability and socioscientific issues, dealing with issues related to citizenship is now seen as an important element of science education. However, in order to make the ...

Toward citizenship science education : what students do to make the world a better place?

This article presents and evaluates a model made for climate change education – the bicycle model. The model was created based on an extensive literature review, from which, essential aspects of cl...

/pdf/bicycle-model-on-climate-change-education-presenting-and-3pmyvjmev5.pdf

Bicycle model on climate change education: presenting and evaluating a model

This study uses qualitative content analysis to examine 355 open-ended questions, presented by 16–19 –year-old international students, to find out what students want to learn about climate change. ...

/pdf/identifying-and-addressing-students-questions-on-climate-2qfoiz41i3.pdf

Identifying and addressing students' questions on climate change

Non-formal education has been suggested as becoming more and more important in the last decades. As the aims of non-formal education are broad and diverse, a large variety of non-formal learning activities is available. One of the emerging fields in many countries, among them Finland and Germany, has been the establishment of non-formal laboratory learning environments. These laboratories were established in universities and research institutes to aim at enriching opportunities for primary and secondary school students to do more and more intense practical work, e.g. in chemistry. The primary rationale of these laboratories, in the beginning, was mainly to raise students’ interest in the fields of science and engineering, possibly inspiring them to pursue a career in these fields. However, recently the movement has started offering more programs aiming at all learners, but especially those students who are sometimes neglected in traditional science education in the formal sector. A focus on all learners is suggested to help raise students’ level of scientific literacy when connecting practical science learning with the societal and environmental perspectives of science. Chemistry learning connected to sustainability issues offers many contemporary topics that are often not yet part of the chemistry formal curriculum but can easily form contexts for non-formal learning. Because of its flexible character, non-formal education can help implementing aspects of sustainability into chemistry education and also can take a gander at the growing heterogeneity of today's students. This paper derives a joint perspective from two non-formal chemistry education initiatives from Finland and Germany focusing education for sustainability for both talented and educationally disadvantaged students in the foreground of a more general perspective on non-formal and sustainability education in chemistry.

The potential of the non-formal educational sector for supporting chemistry learning and sustainability education for all students – a joint perspective from two cases in Finland and Germany

This study investigated the number and nature of gifted female and male students' scientific, societal, and moral questions concerning science. The participants ( 𝑁 = 6 5 8 ) of this study were 16–19-year-old international students from 55 countries and two continents, Asia and Europe. They applied to participate in the Millennium Youth Camp held in 2011 in Finland. The students came from scientifically and mathematically oriented schools, and they had shown an interest towards science through competitions, school success, and their own research. The students were asked to formulate questions they would like to get answers to during the camp. The nature and number of the students' questions were analyzed with qualitative and quantitative content analysis. The results showed that the boys asked more scientific questions than the girls, and the girls asked more societal questions than the boys. The students asked less questions about morality than scientific or societal questions. The most common questions about morality were related to pollution and fresh air, environmental problems, and water protection. The results point to the need for teachers to teach socioscientific issues and discuss moral questions related to science.

/pdf/a-cross-cultural-study-of-gifted-students-scientific-3xp8j8dq8v.pdf

Sakari Tolppanen

Papers

Toward citizenship science education : what students do to make the world a better place?

Bicycle model on climate change education: presenting and evaluating a model

Identifying and addressing students' questions on climate change

The potential of the non-formal educational sector for supporting chemistry learning and sustainability education for all students – a joint perspective from two cases in Finland and Germany

A Cross-Cultural Study of Gifted Students' Scientific, Societal, and Moral Questions Concerning Science