This article presents the Polish project entitled 'Detektory dla Szkol' ('Detectors for Schools', throughout the paper referred to as 'the programme'). It was developed at the Education and Training Division of the National Centre for Nuclear Research (Narodowe Centrum Badan Jadrowych, NCBJ) in Poland. The programme allows the schools to borrow…

There is evidence that education levels have an impact on people's attitudes toward vaccination. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to maximize vaccinations - one of the most efficient ways to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Young individuals play a major role in disease transmission due to their intense social life…

Over the past 25 years, the Davidson College Physics Department has developed small computer programs called Physlets. These programs were written in Java and distributed as Java applets embedded in HTML pages. Physics teachers from around the world used Physlets to author interactive computer-based curricular materials for the teaching of…

The aim of this study was to identify, classify and describe different types of vernacular misconceptions assessed with the items used in a study named "Laboratory of Thinking," Diagnosis of Science Education in Poland. We provide an outline of contemporary conceptual change theories and establish a typology of misconceptions where it…

Polish universities offer a number of chemical competitions for high school students. One of oldest is the one organized by the Faculty of Chemistry of the Silesian University of Technology. For 27 years now this annual event has been an important tool for promoting the Faculty of Chemistry and admitting new students. It offers an opportunity to…

Interdisciplinary models of teaching have been present in education systems for at least 30 years. The idea of the interdisciplinarity is to show students the contextualisation of subject knowledge, its relation to real-life problems and to build skills across traditional disciplinary boundaries. This is essential to future competitiveness since…

The ancient Eratosthenes experiment concerning the earth's circumference offers the opportunity of an inquiry-based revival in today's science classrooms: A multinational European science education initiative (acronym: OSR) introduced this experiment as a hands-on basis to extract the required variables and to exchange results with classroom peers…

The concept of oxidation state (or oxidation number) and related issues have always been difficult for students. In addition, there are misunderstandings and obscurities, which can cause improper balancing of the chemical equations (mostly in organic reactions). In particular, these problems are related to determination of the oxidation state of…

This paper presents the history of the competition First Step to Nobel Prize in Physics organized by Poland, its development from a national workshop in 1991/92 to an international competition nowadays and its organization, as well as the results obtained by the participants. (Contains 1 table.)

Peer review is a significant component in scientific research. Introducing peer review into inquiry processes may be regarded as an aim to develop student understanding regarding quality in inquiries. This study examines student understanding in inquiry peer reviews among pre-university chemistry students, aged 16-17, when they enact a design of a…

Describes biological competitions at the high school level in Poland. Argues that they can be used to enhance and maintain students' interest in the subject. (Author/YP)

Describes the secondary school system in Poland. Discusses the Integrated Medical Admission Test and it's implications for evaluating the level of knowledge on a national scale. Describes how new programs are produced. Discusses refresher courses organized for high school teachers. Lists several publications available to Polish high school…