Professor Vassilia Hatzinikita is former Dean of School of Humanities at the Hellenic Open University, academic leader of the Master in Educational Sciences and coordinator of Applied Educational Research module and Director of the Laboratory of Research & Development in Education and Psychology (R & D EducPsy Lab). She studied chemistry at the University of Athens and continued her post-graduate studies at Université Paris VII (DEA in Education) and the University of Patras (PhD in Education). Her fields of expertise and research interests include: Educational research methodology, scientific literacy (PISA), science education, students’ and public images of science and scientists, students’ conceptions of scientific phenomena, science textbooks, visual representations in science, analysis and development of educational (e-)materials, (adult) distance learning, training and evaluation in distance education, gender and cultural inequalities and discrimination, gender equality planShe has published an important number of research papers in peer-reviewed journals, books and conference proceedings and has developed teaching material for the Master’s in Educational Sciences (HOU). She has participated in a great number of research programs and has been member of the Board of the Greek Education Research Centre and of the Greek Teacher Training Organisation. She has also been a member of the panel of experts in the working group: “Mathematics, Science and Technology” of the EU, Greece’s National Representative in the “European Network of Policy Makers for the Evaluation of Education Systems” and National Project Manager and member of the Governing Board of the PISA program (OECD). Address: Hellenic Open University School of Humanities Parodos Aristotelous 18 26335, Perivola, Patras Greece
Abstract. This paper explores the different types and characteristics of preschool children'... more Abstract. 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, ie, explanations containing both naturalistic and ...
The International Journal of Learning: Annual Review, 2008
At structure level, a scientific explanation includes three components: claims, evidence and reas... more At structure level, a scientific explanation includes three components: claims, evidence and reasoning. According to the relevant bibliography, the pupils have difficulty in providing evidence in order to support their claims and use reasoning linking the evidence to their claims. ...
The International Journal of Learning: Annual Review, 2007
The research on the image of the scientist, as conceived by non-specialists (such as students and... more 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 ...
The International Journal of Learning: Annual Review, 2009
Two of the basic dimensions characterizing the quality of the dialogic argumentation developed by... more Two of the basic dimensions characterizing the quality of the dialogic argumentation developed by the pupils in the classroom is the content (ie, the accuracy or adequacy of the various elements in the argument when they are evaluated from a school science knowledge perspective) ...
ABSTRACT The paper analyses distance learning material used in the ‘Continuing Education &amp... more ABSTRACT The paper analyses distance learning material used in the ‘Continuing Education & Lifelong Learning’ (CELL) and the ‘Applied Educational Research’ (AER) module of the Masters in Education at the Open University of Cyprus with the aim to unveil the sort of pedagogical practices promoted within the two modules. To this end, the Bernsteinian concept of framing, involving instructional rules was used. Results of the analysis reveal that the CELL module is largely oriented towards definite arrangement of instructional rules, by introducing strong framing in the educational process, while the AER module establishes a generally weak framing. Moreover, the findings disclose tensions between the principles of distance and adult education, with the former implying explicit and rather ‘close’ direction of study, and the latter advocating flexibility in adult learning.
The international journal of science in society, 2009
ABSTRACT Visual communication, i.e. the use of images in order to produce messages, constitutes a... more ABSTRACT Visual communication, i.e. the use of images in order to produce messages, constitutes an autonomous system of meaning – making, parallel to language, with its specialized codes and ‘grammar’. Visual representations play a central role in texts related to science, either these texts address scientists, or the non-specialized, general public. Therefore, the ability of students to understand and explain scientific phenomena depends – at least partly – on their ability to use the codes of scientific imagery. The present study aims at exploring the types of visual codes that the children use and at estimating their degree of compatibility with the codes normally used for the illustration of scientific texts. The study presents an analysis of 50 drawings produced by Greek elementary school pupils (11- 12 years old). The drawings concerned global environmental issues (namely ozone depletion and global warming), which involve complex scientific processes. The pupils’ drawings are analyzed along three dimensions: a) the type of representation, that is the degree to which the drawings follow the conventions of the scientific visual language; b) the function of the representation, i.e. if it mainly narrates an event, analyses an entity to its constituent parts, or it classifies different entities according to specific criteria; c) the degree of abstraction and elaboration (formality) of the visual code. The results of the analysis indicate that at the time of leaving primary school children are already familiar with the basic rules of ‘visual grammar’. They successfully use codes and conventions of the visual language of science in order to describe and explain graphically complex mechanisms, even when their representations are inadequate in comparison with the scientific explanation of the depicted phenomena.
The International Journal of Learning: Annual Review, 2007
Pupil's conceptions appear to be particularly resistant to modification during teaching inte... more Pupil's conceptions appear to be particularly resistant to modification during teaching interventions. One approach to this difficulty that has been developed in Science Education focuses teaching and learning on the elaboration of pupils' obstacles, which form a kind of 'hard ...
Abstract. This paper explores the different types and characteristics of preschool children'... more Abstract. 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, ie, explanations containing both naturalistic and ...
The International Journal of Learning: Annual Review, 2008
At structure level, a scientific explanation includes three components: claims, evidence and reas... more At structure level, a scientific explanation includes three components: claims, evidence and reasoning. According to the relevant bibliography, the pupils have difficulty in providing evidence in order to support their claims and use reasoning linking the evidence to their claims. ...
The International Journal of Learning: Annual Review, 2007
The research on the image of the scientist, as conceived by non-specialists (such as students and... more 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 ...
The International Journal of Learning: Annual Review, 2009
Two of the basic dimensions characterizing the quality of the dialogic argumentation developed by... more Two of the basic dimensions characterizing the quality of the dialogic argumentation developed by the pupils in the classroom is the content (ie, the accuracy or adequacy of the various elements in the argument when they are evaluated from a school science knowledge perspective) ...
ABSTRACT The paper analyses distance learning material used in the ‘Continuing Education &amp... more ABSTRACT The paper analyses distance learning material used in the ‘Continuing Education & Lifelong Learning’ (CELL) and the ‘Applied Educational Research’ (AER) module of the Masters in Education at the Open University of Cyprus with the aim to unveil the sort of pedagogical practices promoted within the two modules. To this end, the Bernsteinian concept of framing, involving instructional rules was used. Results of the analysis reveal that the CELL module is largely oriented towards definite arrangement of instructional rules, by introducing strong framing in the educational process, while the AER module establishes a generally weak framing. Moreover, the findings disclose tensions between the principles of distance and adult education, with the former implying explicit and rather ‘close’ direction of study, and the latter advocating flexibility in adult learning.
The international journal of science in society, 2009
ABSTRACT Visual communication, i.e. the use of images in order to produce messages, constitutes a... more ABSTRACT Visual communication, i.e. the use of images in order to produce messages, constitutes an autonomous system of meaning – making, parallel to language, with its specialized codes and ‘grammar’. Visual representations play a central role in texts related to science, either these texts address scientists, or the non-specialized, general public. Therefore, the ability of students to understand and explain scientific phenomena depends – at least partly – on their ability to use the codes of scientific imagery. The present study aims at exploring the types of visual codes that the children use and at estimating their degree of compatibility with the codes normally used for the illustration of scientific texts. The study presents an analysis of 50 drawings produced by Greek elementary school pupils (11- 12 years old). The drawings concerned global environmental issues (namely ozone depletion and global warming), which involve complex scientific processes. The pupils’ drawings are analyzed along three dimensions: a) the type of representation, that is the degree to which the drawings follow the conventions of the scientific visual language; b) the function of the representation, i.e. if it mainly narrates an event, analyses an entity to its constituent parts, or it classifies different entities according to specific criteria; c) the degree of abstraction and elaboration (formality) of the visual code. The results of the analysis indicate that at the time of leaving primary school children are already familiar with the basic rules of ‘visual grammar’. They successfully use codes and conventions of the visual language of science in order to describe and explain graphically complex mechanisms, even when their representations are inadequate in comparison with the scientific explanation of the depicted phenomena.
The International Journal of Learning: Annual Review, 2007
Pupil's conceptions appear to be particularly resistant to modification during teaching inte... more Pupil's conceptions appear to be particularly resistant to modification during teaching interventions. One approach to this difficulty that has been developed in Science Education focuses teaching and learning on the elaboration of pupils' obstacles, which form a kind of 'hard ...
The International Commission on Science and Literature DHST/IUHPST, the Chair of Science, Technol... more The International Commission on Science and Literature DHST/IUHPST, the Chair of Science, Technology and Gender Studies, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists, Paderborn University, the Department of Sociology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, the postgraduate program on Science Communication of the Hellenic Open University and the Institute of Historical Research/National Hellenic Research Foundation organize an international workshop focusing on the Communication of Science, Philosophy and Literature. The CoSciLit workshop is already an established part of the prestigious “Hermoupolis Seminars” that have been organized for more than 30 years every July in the Cycladic island of Syros.
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Papers by Vassilia Hatzinikita