Children’s University: How Does It Make a Difference?

Last five decades have witnessed the comprehensive growth of science education around the world as the science is regarded as the major tenets of innovation and economic growth. Various extant studies on science education have concentrate on how to deliver and put the science in both curriculum and classrooms. However, there are rarely researches on the evaluation of the science curriculum and its impact on the scientific skills. Likewise, despite the science curricula being implemented from the 2009 onward in Ankara Children’s University, they have not yet been evaluated so far. This is the why it is essential for the evaluation of them due to the changes in the national science curricula and technological developments. This study aims at evaluating to update, change, or reform the science curricula in terms of learning objectives, content, learning activities, and the evaluation. Utilizing the mixed method, the study group was composed of 1,218 participating children and nine science educators. Program evaluation and semi-structured interview forms were developed to collect the data. Then, the QUAN&QUAL data were analyzed by the programs. The findings are as the followings: the curricula meet the expectations of children and help them to learn something new and to develop the skills to use in daily lives. Moreover, the top three things mostly liked are the play-based activities, learning something new and learning further about animals. Science educators have mentioned that children’s sense of curiosity, their active participation, and questions throughout the enactment of the science curricula made them happy.

Are we ready? Identifying the gap between academia and software industry in the context of agile methodologies

Nowadays, there is an exponential increase in the technology industry. However, there is not enough movement to promote changes in the Computer Science curricula. This study aims to analyze the alignment between Brazilian northeast academia and the global industry regarding developing skills in the context of agile methods. This research conducted an exploratory and quantitative survey with 161 participants represented by 65 students, 85 professionals from 10 countries, and 16 university professors. The preliminary results illustrate that academics believe that they are moderately aligned with the market. However, from the practitioner's viewpoint, it is unsatisfactory. This article reports relevant findings that can help the Brazilian academy align its practices with the needs of the global software industry.

Introduction

This introduction insists that history matters. What if current divisions in America rest, in part, on a fundamental divergence in the understanding of our history? The chapter proposes that the three most prominent Christian curricula have played a role through the historical narrative they promoted for K-12 education since the early 1970s. They became more widespread in different forms of alternative schooling from Christian schools to voucher programs, and homeschooling. Their narrative has been significant in defining Americans’ understanding of the world and its history and exposes the efficacy of the alliance among certain religious interests, conservative legislators, school boards, and various corporate interests in reshaping education in the United States. The campaign for a “Christian right history” is analogous to the successful advocacy for “intelligent design” in public school science curricula. Many conservative institutions support both the inclusion of politically conservative and Christian content into school curricula.

Šolski vrtovi v Pomurski regiji

School-based learning has a long tradition in Slovenia and is now a globally recognized movement. We present the operation of school gardens in the most agricultural region of Slovenia, the Pomurje region, and their inclusion in the pedagogical process of science subjects. Half (19 out of 38) of the primary schools in Pomurje have school gardens. The decision to establish a school garden depends on the good will of the school management and the voluntary interest of the teachers. It would be necessary to include school gardening in science curricula. Garden-related activities contribute to the development of Pomurje as an important agricultural region.

The impact of perception of middle school curricula according to the next generation of science standards on conceptual comprehension and thinking skills

There is an urgent need to update the science curricula content in light of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The purpose of this research is to present a proposal of the science curricula content in light of the NGSS. Secondly, the effect of NGSS on conceptual understanding and higher-thinking skills among first-year intermediate students is also analyzed. This work is unique as no research is conducted on the topic as per the best of our knowledge. Hence, the research may motivate further studies on the topic. The semi-experimental method was used to know the impact of teaching science in conceptual understanding and higher thinking skills. The sample consisted of 62 students divided into two groups. The control group was led the “nature of material” unit in the first-year intermediate book, issued by the Ministry of Education in 1438 AH. A list of science tools was prepared for analyzing the content of science curricula in light of Next-Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Two tests were prepared, a conceptual understanding test and a higher thinking skills test. The research revealed different results: the availability degree of science for the next-generation science standards curricula in the intermediate stage was low. The developed unit’s size effect in light of these standards on conceptual understanding and higher-thinking skills among the research sample was high with a value of 0.89-0.91.