School of Humanities

The research on the image of the scientist, as conceived by non-specialists (such as students and educators), has
displayed a series of stereotypical characteristics in their representations of the members of the scientific community and
the nature of their activity. The conceptions the educators handle of science and scientists play an important role in the
construction of the students’ representations of these matters, as these conceptions form a ‘hidden curriculum’, which affects
decisively their teaching practices. In this way, the educators who adopt stereotypical images of the scientists and their
activity tend to have a negative impact on the students’ attitude towards science and scientists, which affects the future
personal, professional and social choices of the students. The purpose of the present study is to explore the images of the
scientist as they are depicted in the drawings of educators. In particular, this study aims to explore the extent to which the
stereotypical model of the scientist is possessed by the educators and the type of activities considered scientific, according
to educators’ sex, represented scientist’s sex and the level of education the educators are employed in. The interest of this
study lies in the fact that there are hardly any other pieces of similar research conducted in Greece, although they would
be necessary because they could become a decisive first step in designing teachers’ preparation programs (e.g. syllabus
and educational material) in a way that the educators could form a more relevant, meaningful and egalitarian image of
science and the scientist as well as improve their attitudes towards them. The methodology employed in data collection and
analysis is a modified version of the ‘Draw A Scientist Test’ (‘DAST’, Chambers, 1983; She, 1998). The DAST was administered
to ninety-five (95) educators of primary, secondary and tertiary education and vocational training. Each educator
was originally asked to draw a male or female scientist in their workroom before they produced a second drawing representing
a scientist of the opposite sex. The analysis of these drawings shows that the educators hold stereotypical images.
Moreover, there are some interesting findings concerning the impact of educators’ sex and level of education they are employed
in on the image of the scientist they hold as well as on the type of activities considered scientific

This paper explores the different types and characteristics of preschool children's explanations of plant growth and rain formation. The children's explanations were categorized as naturalistic, non-naturalistic, or synthetic, i.e., explanations containing both naturalistic and non-naturalistic parts. In regards to plant growth the children tended to rely on synthetic or on naturalistic explanations, which involved direct and indirect agents (such as water, a person, fertilizers, roots) enabling the plant to grow. Non-naturalistic explanations of plant growth, or the non-naturalistic parts of synthetic explanations, were mainly animistic (anthropomorphic). In the case of rain formation the children most frequently used non-naturalistic explanations, which were mainly teleological or metaphysical. The naturalistic explanations recorded on rain formation, as well as the naturalistic parts of synthetic explanations tended to have a non-agentive character, i.e., children considered rainwater as preexisting in containers such as the clouds. Overall, the explanations recorded about plant growth tended to be more complex than the ones for rain formation. It is suggested that science activities designed for preschool children should take into account the types and characteristics of their explanations in order to select which phenomena are appropriate for this age group, and aim at fostering the children's ability at formulating naturalistic explanations.

The aim of the present study is to compare the science competencies that students need to demonstrate during school examinations on the one hand and when they participate in PISA on the other. Through their comparison similarities and differences will be detected. To this end, 1.357 test item sets relative to the subject of Biology used in the Gymnasium examinations (lower secondary education) and
50 PISA science items from the category “living systems” and the context life, health, environment were analyzed. The results of the comparative analysis indicate a clear differentiation between the competencies that students need to
demonstrate during the school examinations of Biology in Gymnasium and the competencies that students need to demonstrate in order to answer the PISA items correctly. The fact that students have to demonstrate unfamiliar competencies during their participation in PISA could be a factor –among others– that explains the low performance of Greek students in the PISA study.

A research-based approach in science education suggests the didactic elaboration of pupils’ conceptions about science concepts at a more general level and particularly at obstacle level. Obstacle elaboration mainly aims at developing pupils’ competence to identify obstacles in new problems and control new manifestations of the obstacles so that they could avoid them in case they reappear. The present paper focuses on the evaluation of a teaching sequence which aims to develop pupils’ competence to identify an obstacle that refers to thermal equilibrium states. A teaching sequence, relevant to “identifying” the obstacle, was designed and implemented in primary school pupils (aged 11-12). The qualitative analysis of pupils’ oral and written discourse during the teaching sequence brings out the differences among the “pathways” followed towards the development of pupils’ competence to identify the obstacles as well as the contribution of different teaching situations to the identification of obstacles by the pupils.

The paper presents a part of an evaluation study undertaken by the Hellenic Open University (HOU) regarding the design and implementation of Supplementary Digitized Educational Material (SDEM: Video, Hypertext, Webcast) which was developed in order to support a number of undergraduate and postgraduate modules. The aim of this paper is to examine the HOU students’ views about the quality of each module’s SDEM they used during their study. More specifically, students’ views about (a) content presentation (b) instructional and pedagogical methodology (c) technical specifications and (d) quality of interface of the SDEM were studied by adopting a quantitative approach. The relevant data were selected with the use of an online-based questionnaire, specifically developed for this evaluation study, administered through a user-friendly web application form. The research findings indicated that students consider Hypertext as the least effective mode of digitized material whereas Webcast is viewed most favourably especially in the pedagogical dimension. Finally, postgraduate students face more serious challenges than undergraduates not only in the pedagogical aspect but also in terms of the SDEM’s technical specifications.

One of the keystones of science education is teaching the communication of science: written, oral, or visual. This study aims at comparing visual material included in PISA science test items related to the field of biological systems and in Biology test items set at the end-of-year school-based advancement and discharge examinations, intended for 7th and 9th grade Greek students of the Greek 'Gymnasium'. More particularly, visual material is investigated along the following dimensions: (a) The frequency of its inclusion in evaluation test items; (b) Its type (photographs, drawings, flowcharts, cutaway exhibitions, maps, graphs, tables)

Language is essential in doing science and shapes the construction and communication of scientific ideas. The language of science is an integration of texts, visual images (i.e. diagrams, pictures, graphs, maps, tables, charts) and mathematical expressions (i.e. equations). Learning and teaching science means also learning and teaching the media of science communication. This study aims at comparing visual material included in PISA science test items related to biological systems and in assessment tasks in Biology school textbooks intended for 7th and 9th grade students in Greece. Specifically, the following dimensions of the visual material were analyzed: -

Multimodality, i.e., the use of various semiotic modes and their interconnections to produce different meanings, is a prevalent premise in education. Multimodal texts commonly make use of images, which constitute an autonomous system of meaning-making, with particular codes and "grammar." Science-related texts are mostly multimodal, since they rely on images for analyzing and understanding scientific phenomena, despite the lack of expertise of the public they are addressed to. Therefore, being able to read science-related multimodal texts and interpreting their visual elements, constitutes a crucial component of scientific literacy. This paper presents outcomes of a pilot study in a kindergarten class, which involved science activities oriented towards enhancing young children's ability to "read" and produce images representing classifications of different types and functions: timelines, tables, Venn-diagrams, bar graphs, etc. Personal, semi-structured interviews with children prior to and after implementation of the activities were used to evaluate their emerging competency in decoding visual representations of classification and ordering. Results indicate that most children developed their ability to "read" relatively complex images, and interpret graphic symbols (e.g., lines, arrows), in order to deduce relations between entities and classifications of different forms.