This paper traces the genesis of the MIT OpenCourseWare project from its initial strategic precursors in 1999 and 2000, through its launch in 2001 and its subsequent evolution. The story told here illuminates the interplay among institutional leadership, and strategic planning, and with university culture in launching major educational technology…

This paper will outline answers to the two central questions regarding improving engineering education: (1) What is the full set of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that engineering students should possess as they leave the university, and at what level of proficiency?; and (2) How can we do better at ensuring that students learn these skills? The…

The purpose of this paper is to provide an historical perspective of the foundational points of Science, Technology and Society (STS), the reasons that STS is involved in Science Education Programs, and the effort of connecting and integrating STS into the curricula in Turkey. This study consists of two main sections. The first section focuses on…

Helping students to improve their problems solving skills is the primary target of science teacher trainees. In modern science, for training the students, methods should be used for improving their thinking skills, making connections with events and concepts and scientific operations skills rather than information and definition giving. One of…

The purpose of this study was to explore the reasons why six Malaysian students from upper secondary school are playing video games, types of games and the features preferred. A qualitative method was being used in the study. Purposive sampling was conducted in selecting the students. The findings indicated that students played video games for a…

Teachers contribute enormously to a positive social climate in science classes, particularly through their communication with students. In the study described in this article, a questionnaire [The Teacher Communication Behaviour Questionnaire (TCBQ)] developed by She and Fisher (2000) was used. TCBQ can be used to assess students' perceptions of…

According to many students, introductory physics is difficult. We are investigating what students believe makes physics difficult and what can be done to overcome these difficulties. Our investigation includes an initial free-response survey given to approximately 1400 students in an introductory physics course and a second survey, which was given…

In this paper, I discuss different types of models in science education and applications of them in learning and teaching science, in particular physics. Based on the literature, I categorize models as conceptual and mental models according to their characteristics. In addition to these models, there is another model called "physics model" by the…

This study is based on the principle that the mathematical anxiety in preservice kindergarten teachers-to-be should be removed and they should be encouraged towards mathematics. It is expected from teachers-to-be who are able to construct this confidence to prepare exercises improving mathematical ideas for their students. This study was carried…

This study investigated the effect of computer attitude, ownership and use on the computer literacy of science teachers in Nigeria. One hundred and twenty (120) science teachers drawn from the four political divisions of Ogun State, Nigeria were used for the study. Two valid and reliable instruments namely Computer Attitude, Ownership and Use…

Environmental education is considered an appropriate intervention for creating awareness of, and an understanding of the challenges of environmental degradation. The introduction of EE into the Nigerian school curricular creates a challenge of how to teach it. A majority of the teachers still employ the old, traditional "chalk and talk" method.…

This study attempts to define the contradiction between cooperative learning, which has an important place in science education, and the relative evaluation system. The fixation of the situation which was done with the data obtained from the literature also has been supported with a semi-structured interview study conducted with eighteen science…

According to the 2006 data of Turkish National Police (TNP), throughout Turkey, 1742 cases comprised of organized crime, collective or individual smuggling, nuclear stuff smuggling were recorded. Between 2000 and 2006, 11600 organized crimes had been recorded. It is known that the high number of crime is closely related to the geo-strategic and…

Teaching is a profession that needs specialist knowledge and skill. Because of this, education of teachers is a crucial process. In Turkey, educating teacher candidates begins in the secondary schools in the new system. The aim of this study was to determine the motivational levels and motivational supplies for candidate teachers in the secondary…

Violence in schools in Turkey shows an enormous increase in recent years. As it is becoming a serious problem in secondary schools, many violence cases are lasting in courts. In the current study, the aim is to examine and understand how secondary school students perceive violence and crime in schools. The study also aims to see if there is any…