Objectives of the research
Taking into account the international and Hungarian research on the integrated science teaching and learning processes for schoolchildren, we focus on the following areas in our research: 1) the role of the scientific thinking and interest of children in scientific cognition; 2) developing the emotions and motivations of children for natural sciences; (3) taking into account and harmonizing the level of linguistic development of children in the expression of scientific concepts and phenomena in words; (4) integrated education of the disciplines of natural sciences; 5) supporting environmental education through science education.
The aim of our project consists primarily of research covering the above fields which are ongoing throughout the entire four years of the project, which includes the analysis of:
1) the scientific conceptual knowledge and integrated approach of the pupils in grades 1-4 of the Hungarian primary school;
2) motivation, interest, attitude, discrete emotion, subject self-image towards science learning;
3) the structure of the strategic elements of scientific problem solving at a given age;
4) characteristics of the comprehensible reading of science texts, the use of scientific terminology at a given age;
5) mathematical skills related to science learning;
6) the impact of integrated science education on the environmental attitude of schoolchildren;
7) background factors influencing scientific literacy, in particular the school environment;
8) the effects of the applied development programme.
Another objective of the research project is the integrated science literacy development programme, which we intend to implement in grades 3 and 4 in primary school, after the sensitization completed in grades 1 and 2 for natural sciences. The development is carried out through the cooperation of the scientists and primary school teachers participating in the project.