In the school subject of the natural sciences it is imperative that the students are given opportunities to ”talk science”, since the dialogues that occur in the classroom have a significant importance for the students’ abilities to engage in meaning-making in their learning process. Hence, the student and teacher interaction in the classroom and the feedback given there play a significant role in the students’ learning process. The aim of this study is to contribute to the development of formative assessment tools that can mediate the students’ meaning-making in natural sciences subjects in upper-secondary school. I have designed and tested a method of oral peer-assessment that enables dialogue-interaction in the natural science-classroom where the students, under supervision of the teacher, get to use each other as learning-resources in groups. The oral formative peer-assessment has been conducted in form of a design-based study in two upper-secondary school classes where each teacher taught natural sciences. The data collected include conversations in small groups, between groups and with the teacher. Data was analysed based on different types of talk (exploratory, cumulative and disputational talk) and type and level of feedback that was given in the classroom. The results showed that the students were given different opportunities for meaning-making, where the lack of subject-knowledge, difficulties with peer-assessment and physical artefacts were seen to significantly affect the learning process. The analyses of the interaction in the classroom showed that the teachers, in both studies, gave a direct feedback, where the students got the opportunity to compare and support their results in a dialogue with each other and the teacher. This type of feedback is considered highly efficient for learning. This study shows that the oral formative peer-assessment is a tool that teachers can use, and adapt to their practices, in order to create interactions in the classroom that can increase the students’ meaning-making. / I de naturvetenskapliga ämnena är det viktigt att eleverna ges förutsättningar att ”prata naturvetenskap” eftersom talet som sker i klassrummet har en mycket stor betydelse för elevernas möjligheter att skapa mening i det naturvetenskapliga lärandet. Interaktionen i klassrummet och den återkoppling som ges har därför stor betydelse för elevernas inlärning. Med syfte att bidra till utveckling av redskap för formativ bedömning som kan mediera elevernas meningsskapande i naturvetenskaplig undervisning på gymnasiet, har jag designat och testat en metod som möjliggör dialogisk interaktion i det naturvetenskapliga klassrummet där eleverna under ledning av läraren gruppvis får använda varandra som läroresurser i en muntlig kamratbedömningsövning. Den muntliga formativa kamratbedömningen har genomförts i form av en designbaserad studie i två gymnasieklasser där ämnesområden i naturkunskap behandlades av lärarna. Datainsamlingen inkluderar samtal som har förts inom grupper, mellan grupper och med läraren. Data analyserades utifrån olika typer av samtal (exploratory, cumulative och disputational talk) och typ samt nivå på den återkoppling som gavs i klassrummet. Elevsamtalen inom grupperna visade att delaktigheten var stor men att typen av kommunikation gav eleverna olika förutsättningar till meningsskapande där bristen på ämneskunskaper, ovana vid kamratbedömning och fysiska artefakter kan anses vara av stor betydelse för läroprocessen. Analysen av interaktionen i klassrummet visade att läraren i de båda studierna använde direkt återkoppling som gav eleverna möjlighet att jämföra och motivera sina resultat i en dialog med varandra och läraren, vilken anses vara en typ av återkoppling som är mycket effektfull för inlärningen. Studien visar att den muntliga formativa kamratbedömningsövningen i sin ursprungliga form är ett redskap som lärare kan använda och anpassa till sina praktiker för att skapa interaktioner i klassrummet som kan öka elevernas meningsskapande.

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This thesis focuses on matters of "building" natural science literacy by innovation for teaching. Contains of exploration of facts concerning traditional transmissive teaching and innovative teaching, natural science literacy in education, and paradigms of natural science education. The application part chooses exemplary unit Mammals, analyses study material for this topic throughout many schoolbooks of Natural science for primary schools, and develops innovation to educational goals and its content. Innovation of teaching of this topic has been introduced based on accumulated knowledge.

This study aims to apply a design theoretical perspective on museum educators in a natural sciencemuseum to see which didactic choices they make. This study proceeds from the following questions: How is the scientific content of the exhibition orchestrated? Which semiotic resources do the museum educators uses? How do the museum tutors reason for their didactic choices? The study is based on seven observations of five different museum educators teaching seven different classes in the younger ages in one specific exhibition. It is also based on one interview with three of the museum educators. The design theory of learning, which is the theory that this study is analysed through, is mostly based on the studies by Staffan Selander and Gunther Kress (2010). The result of the investigation shows, in short, that the scientific content is orchestrated like a journey through time where different sceneries represent the geological ages of the earth. The museum educators uses a combination of multiple semiotic resources. The interview showed what the museum educators wanted to be the key words in their teaching: understanding, curiosity, desire, to arouse interest and willingness to take on the science glasses and ask yourself questions like 'How can you know that?' and 'How can you find out?'.

The aim of this work is to prepare an educational program with the elements of inquiry teaching (BOV) and at the same time to make sure whether the suggested activities from the point of view of the aims of teaching natural science at the 1 grade of the basic school are effective. This thesis shows some possibilities how to work out with this method and how to incorporate it to the process of teaching. As a purpose - built example there were used topics connected with the physiology of plants. Different teaching methods appropriate for the realization of BOV in the frame of the Educational program with respect to the relevant content of the textbooks of natural science are applied here. The thesis was dealt within the bounds of the project GA JU č. 065/2010/S a GA JU č. 078/2013/S

Presented thesis focuses on the analysis of the current state of natural science corners in Czech grammar schools and of their use in teaching about nature. All fundamental information was obtained through a survey using questionnaires. The analysis is based on a cross-sectional survey amongst 47 teachers that at present teach at grammar school (1st to 5th grade). Every subjects was asked to fill in a questionnaire containing 19 questions regarding natural science corners in subject's school. Presented graphs show the frequency of the most common answers from the pool of all obtained answers. The results clearly indicate the prevailing opinion of teachers on corners of natural science and shed light on their typical way of use in teaching about nature. Furthermore, the thesis also includes suggestions of educational activities that can be organized in a corner of natural science.

Since 1997, curriculum implementation was introduced in South African schools. A timetable was given to all schools to implement C2005 in each grade for each year. The study had attempted to identify major factors that hindered or promoted the implementation of C2005 in two schools in Mpumalanga. A case study was conducted where one learning area, namely, natural science was investigated. Each school was visited for an entire week by the researcher. During the visit, the researcher conducted individual interviews with principal, two science teachers and two focus group interviews composed of five learners. Observations of natural science lesson were made of which two of them were recorded on video camera for further analysis. Practices, which were captured in classes, were compared to Rogan and Grayson (2001) model of curriculum implementation. In the final analysis, the study compiled a profile for each school. Both schools rated poorly (level one) in the implementation of C2005. The capacity to support innovation was poor in one school. The study also found that teachers in their attempt to implement C2005 were actually moving from 'frying pan into fire'. Lack of resources and intensive training was creating stress and making most of teachers want to leave the profession. Recommendations were also provided by the study for short and long-term considerations. / Dissertation (MA (Research Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Psychology / unrestricted

The problem in this study is to determine the worth of natural science as an incentive to the learning of the retarded pupils in the group, and as a means of orienting the new pupils in the group.

The aim of this work is to contribute to the process development of the ECF light bleaching sequence Q(OP)D(PO) by providing a better understanding of the bleaching of softwood kraft pulp. There are few published studies on this type of sequence, and more knowledge is needed on how to reduce environmental impact, improve cost-effectiveness and ensure a high pulp quality. Firstly, this research showed that using a pH buffer to stabilize the pH at a near-neutral level during bleaching with chlorine dioxide can lower the formation of adsorbable organically bound halogens (AOX) without altering the bleaching efficiency. A near-neutral pH decreases the formation of strongly chlorinating species so that the AOX content in the bleaching effluents is reduced by up to 30%. The increased pH in the near-neutral pH D stage compared with the reference lowered the chlorine dioxide consumption, resulting in a higher kappa number and viscosity. A lower degradation of hexenuronic acid correlated well with a lower AOX content in the effluents, affirming earlier theories that hexenuronic acid has an important impact on AOX formation. Secondly, this research aimed at studying bleachability in (OO)Q(OP)D(PO). The bleachability was defined as delignifying and brightness gain bleachability, which is suited to ECF light bleaching sequences. The delignifying and brightness gain bleachability were used to evaluate the stages in (OO)Q(OP)D(PO) in regard to the unbleached kappa number. When comparing different stages, it is possible to distinguish the bleaching efficiency in each stage. For this ECF light sequence, the bleachability depends on the purpose of the stage. It was found that in the stages that are mainly delignifying (OO and D), a higher unbleached kappa number is beneficial for the delignifying bleachability, although the brightness gain is not improved. However, in the stages that are mainly brightness increasing (OP and PO), the brightness gain bleachability is improved by a lower unbleached kappa number. Thirdly, the bleaching of the pulp samples in this study with the ECF light sequence was most effective with a kappa number around 32 after cooking. Although an even higher kappa number resulted in a higher yield after cooking, it seemed that this bleaching sequence cannot preserve the yield gain. Kappa number 32 also gave the best results in regard to brightness ceiling and viscosity. On the other hand, kappa number 27 was the most favourable with regard to yellowing and chemical charge. / <p>Examinator: Helena Håkansson, lektor, Karlstads universitet</p>

8 Abstract About fifteen years ago, the Czech education system underwent a curricular reform. Thanks to that, schools have gained more freedom, but also responsibility how education will look in their case. The implementation of the reform was accompanied by various expectations but also by misunderstandings and problems. A revision of Framework Education Programme (FEP) is now planned. At the moment, however, it is not yet clear what will be the subject or the goals of this revision. This work aims to examine the current situation in the field of natural science and to subject selected school educational programs (SEP) to quantitative analysis. SEPs are understood here as one of the possible indicators of how some ideas from the Framework Educational Programs for Lower Education were conceived and developed by teachers. The thesis focuses mainly on areas that have been newly accentuated by the curricular reform. These are topics of key competences, interconnection of subjects (either within cross-curricular topics or interdisciplinary links through selected curriculum) and last but not least the topic of methods and forms of teaching and work with the content itself. All online SEPs of Prague lower secondary schools (plus ten unpublished on the school websites) were analyzed, taking into account only the...