This paper reports on the thoughts 6-year-olds and 9-year-olds have related to the serious issue of air and sea pollution. More specifically, twenty seven 6-year-olds and thirty 9-year-olds attending two state schools in Volos, a small provincial town in Greece participated in the research which assessed the students' competence to think…

The purpose of this paper is the investigation of the prevailing forms of in-service training, the detection of the dominant pedagogical discourse they promote as well as their contribution to the shaping of the teacher's individual theory of education (I.T.E.). The research was conducted using semi-structured interviews with a sample of 11…

The focus of this paper is how changes in school governance in one state primary school in a city in central Greece have resulted in a significant degree of inclusion for Roma children. This inclusivity runs counter to the disturbing occurrence of the social and ethnic segregation of a group of locally resident Roma children within schools. This…

Mathematics textbooks are a predominant resource in primary school in Greece, as well as in many other countries. The present study reports on both a content analysis of Greek mathematics textbooks with regard to the types of word problems represented in them and a quantitative analysis of children's achievement in these problems. For the purpose…

The present study explores the use of a conventional school ground of a primary school and its potential as a space for creative play and environmental learning. Children's play behavior and views of the school ground are explored, as well as their vision for its improvement. The research constitutes part of a wider school ground project and was…

The study is based on an implementation of the basic steps of the Change Laboratory methodology (Engeström, Virkkunen, Helle, Pihlaja & Poikela, 1996) at the University of Ioannina. It was derived by a discussion with master's students during a course about science education curricula in pre-school and primary education and their effectiveness…

The classroom, the teacher and the students, mostly, through their activities and contacts, as well as their daily presence and personality form the classroom atmosphere that is unique and different from any other (Bikos, 2004: 104. cf. also: Bakirtzis, 2002) and it helps or hinders the school progress of each student and school process in…

In the light of the European Union's interest in creativity and innovation, this paper, drawing on data from the EU project Creative Little Scientists (2011-2014), explores the teaching and learning of science and creativity in Early Years education. The project's conceptual framework, developed from detailed analysis of relevant literatures,…

This Forum issue discusses the centrality of the fieldwork in doctoral research. The inevitability of researchers' influence and of their values apparent during and after their fieldwork calls for a high degree of reflexivity. Since the standard methodology textbooks do not sufficiently guide on addressing such challenges, doctoral researchers go…

Thirty-six pupils from three sixth-grade classes (ages 11/12, n = 75) in Greece were interviewed pre- and post-intervention in a piece of research on explanations of chemical phenomena. Software concerning chemical phenomena was incorporated in a teaching scheme, where the particle theory was used. After a 13 hour intervention, pupils'…

There is a growing body of research examining the impact of science field trips on pupils' learning in science education and the factors that influence their success. However, there is a limited number of studies that focus on the way teachers' beliefs influence their practices in an informal science-learning venue. This research aimed to…

The purpose of this article is to analyse and interpret the effect of the primary school teachers' trade union in Greece insofar as the formation and realisation of education policy is concerned, and, more precisely, insofar as it concerns the issue of teacher evaluation. The research material used comes from the filing and analysis of the…

In response to extensive research exposing students' poor understanding of the particle theory of matter, this article argues that the conceptual framework within which the theory is introduced could be a limiting factor. The standard school particle model is characterized as operating within a "solids, liquids, and gases" framework.…

The aim of this work is to raise awareness of sexual minority issues with a special focus on the primary school domain in Greece. Greece is considered a conservative country where most people regard homosexuality as taboo and non-heterosexual people as an invisible group. Research data from interviewing primary Greek teachers showed that…

This article focuses on the application of functional behavioral assessment (FBA) to design a positive behavior intervention (PBI) for a boy with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) who encounters serious difficulties at the mainstream school because of behavioral problems and physical limitations. After the definition of problem behavior and its…