Primary school students generally lack motivation for learning physics, which they perceive as a difficult subject. In order to overcome this problem, it is necessary to apply appropriate teaching approach. The aim of this research was to assess the educational efficiency of mind maps in physics and students’ involvement when this approach is used. A pre-test – post-test control group design was used. The sample of this research consisted of 113 seventh-grade students divided into an experimental and a control group. The students in the experimental group were taught physics using mind maps and the students in the control group were taught using conventional teaching approach. The data were collected by using two physics knowledge tests and perceived mental effort scale. The data were analyzed using ANOVA, t-test and chi-square test. The obtained results showed that the educational efficiency of teaching with the use of mind maps was greater than the efficiency of conventional teaching approach. Besides that, the students’ involvement in the experimental group was higher than the one in the control group. The implementation of mind maps in teaching physics in primary schools can increase students’ motivation for learning physics and lower their mental effort.

in the last few decades, many European countries have introduced changes in the regulation of education and higher education systems, accepting the provisions of the Bologna declaration. The purpose of this declaration is to create a single European Higher Education area with comparable and compatible academic standards and quality assurance standards across Europe. Serbia subscribed to these changes in 2003 reforming its higher education system in accordance with the declarations. Study modules have been reformed with the aim of achieving higher quality and more applied knowledge of students. The changes that have taken place have been reflected in the fundamental goal of an initial teacher education to create quality graduate teachers who are able to ensure high quality learning outcomes for all the children and young people with whom they work. The aim of this paper is to examine the effects and the challengies of initial teacher education in the context of higher education reform in Serbia. The changes that have occurred need to be seen from three angles: the initial education being implemented in several faculties within the six state universities; professional teacher training and self-evaluation and quality management of the teaching process. in the Republic of Serbia initial teacher education is realized in several forms. The primary form of initial teacher education is carried out at teaching faculties while the secondary form of initial teacher education is through the training of teachers, which is regulated by law. Some of the difficulties faced by initial teacher education programs are: the competitiveness of teaching careers with other careers that are better paid. The results in a lower student response, but also affects the funding of the teaching faculty itself. taking into account the importance of education and its impact on society, it is necessary to monitor changes in the field of teacher education continuously and systematically in order to find ways to overcome various challenges and difficulties.

Most researchers are interested in investigating the impact of a blended learning approach (BLA) on students’ performance, yet this approach’s instructional efficiency has not yet been quantified. Therefore, this research aims is to determine the impact of teacher-created online Moodle-based materials in combination with face-to-face learning on student achievement and mental effort, i.e., to determine the instructional efficiency of applied teaching approaches at physics classes in high school. For this research, we chose to teach students physical principles of direct current, which involves abstract concepts. Using BLA, students can prepare better for a real experiment in the lab, and this approach also creates a safe environment for the student while providing the ability to demonstrate the learned physical phenomena. The Moodle platform course is developed for this purpose and implemented in a BL environment. Students are gradually guided from easier to more difficult concepts in this research, considering the working memory’s capacity and the teaching material requirements. Our results show that the students who used BLA achieved higher scores on the knowledge test, and they also used less mental effort than students that used a conventional teaching approach. We also show that instructional efficiency for BLA is positive and significantly higher than the instructional efficiency of the conventional approach. This research’s results are primarily designed for physics teachers to understand the effects of the BLA better and apply teaching approaches that respect the principles of cognitive development of a child.

With the development of mobile technology emerge fundamental changes in all spheres of human endeavor. In education, new methods of remote studying are being developed, with a particular emphasis on "m-learning" (learning with the help of mobile devices). Taking into consideration that mobile devices are one of the fastest-developing forms of technology, the importance of their assistance in the process of teaching and studying has been recognized. The goal of this paper is to introduce the concept of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) in the context of industry and education as an example of disruptive technology. This concept implies that students bring their own mobile devices to the classroom and use them when learning. Using a descriptive research method and analysis of the relevant bibliography, the authors of the paper distinguish the implications for the change of university practices on the basis of critical analysis of positive and negative consequences of their use, redefined positions of the teachers and the students in the educational process, as well as the modified educational design.

O Kini se danas govori i piše, ipak, o sistemu vaspitanja i obrazovanja i o svakodnevici kineske škole malo znamo, a i to malo, često ne daje pravu sliku. Razmišljanje o kineskom bumu došlo je sa rezultatima PISA studije koja je 2009 godine u sam vrh postignuća postavila učenice i učenike Šangaja. Kojim kontekstualnim faktorima se mogu objasniti ovi izuzetni rezultati i kako oni deluju u svakodnevici kineske škole i nastave? U istorijskom kontekstu, radi se o uticajima konfucijanske tradicije koja visoko vrednuje učenje i respektuje učitelja. Ovome pripadaju i konsekvence političkog utemeljenja Narodne Republike Kine, kulturne revolucije, centralističkog upravljanja, kontrole sistema vaspitanja i obrazovanja koju sprovodi Komunistička partija.U prilogu će se predstaviti struktura sistema vaspitanja i obrazovanja u NR Kini: od predškolskog, preko vaspitanja i obrazovanja u osnovnoj školi, nižoj i višoj srednjoj školi, do prijemnog ispita kao uslova za univerzitetsko obrazovanje. Prikazaće se obrazovanje i uloga nastavnika u kineskoj školi i društvu, didaktika i metodika nastave, kao i način na koji kineski učenici uče, strategija koju koriste i stava koji zauzimaju prema učenju i znanju.