Didactics is a Science in its Own Right. The First Edition of sciED Journal Has Been ****************************************************************************************** * Didactics is a Science in its Own Right. The First Edition of sciED Journal Has Been Pub ****************************************************************************************** Didactics is a Science in its Own Right. The First Edition of sciED Journal Has Been Publi It might seem that the flood of newspapers, various magazines and scientific literature on leaves no room for new projects. Yet there are still topics that tend to be overlooked eve have a large potential not only as to the size of their audience but also as to their genu and long term contribution to a society depending on education. One such project on the sc market is the electronic project sciED – Scientia in educatione. Its editor-in-chief, doc. Stehlíková, Ph.D., head of the Department of Mathematics and Mathematic Didactics at the F Education of Charles University, describes the project. Launching a new journal is not an easy task so the reasons behind its creation doc. RNDr. difficulties which inevitably accompany the launch of a new scientific journal.Ph.D., head One might say that there are enough magazines but, for example, in the field ofof Mathemat are journals which either focus on the popularization of mathematics or on schoDidactics a then there are those for teachers of mathematics. But you cannot publish a reseEducation o didactics in a journal for teachers of mathematics; it would need to be a methoeditor-in-c something attractive for the teachers. We can also publish articles in general pedagogical Pedagogika, Orbis Scholae or Pedagogická orientace, but they don’t quite match the focus o We are lucky that various field didactics, at least in mathematics and a number of other s existed as independent scientific disciplines for many years in our country but in fact we forum of our own. It means that research papers written by our doctoral students and ourse had no public platform. We published them mostly as part of foreign conference proceedings journals but we believed we could present them to a Czech audience as well. So we agreed w which are in a similar situation: they have popularization magazines but no scientific jou could publish articles in Czech as well. While it is important to publish abroad and in a and I applaud that of course – I believe on the other hand that our domestic audience shou the results of our research as well. There being no such forum was therefore one of the re project. What was the immediate impulse for overcoming the long term absence of a scientific platfo didactics and science didactics? The main impulse came last year when an expert group from the Education Ministry’s Accredi assessed the levels of doctoral studies in mathematic and science didactics. They also cam our doctoral studies (which had received accreditation as early as 1992, so it is one of t doctoral studies in this country and the only one which is called mathematic didactics; ot different names). We passed the assessment test successfully. The expert group was led by Stuchlíková who told us something along the lines of, ‘Why don’t you try and take the lead didactics research in the whole country?’ But I don’t want to produce norms and instruct o they should conduct research or what research into mathematic didactics should look like. and I thought that if there were a specialized journal, the form of sharing our findings w natural form. We would publish high quality research articles, and other people in other d mainly doctoral students who are learning how to conduct research, might use them as inspi journal would take the lead, but in a natural way. Let me get back to whom your journal is targeted at. You mentioned the scientific public i mathematic and science didactics, and then the audience which is the same as your writers, students, master’s students, your colleagues from the faculty or other research institutio abroad, and also school teachers of mathematics and sciences. If I looked at your journal of a teacher who teaches those subjects at a primary or secondary school, I might think th one thing but practical education evolves in its own direction and at its own pace. What w find in your journal for his or her practical work? Our journal is not targeted primarily at teachers. Let me start with what they will not fi will not find methodical instructions. If that’s what they are looking for, they can look magazines which I believe are numerous, in mathematics in any case, at least two in the Cz if they are interested in the way children think in mathematics or what motivation they ha physics, they can take a look at our journal. They might find articles examining for examp communication patterns influence the understanding of mathematics, what types of questions to good mathematical knowledge etc. They will find inspiration there, but not straightforw instructions or specific directions. If they are interested in the way children think and the knowledge of mathematics or other sciences, they can turn to our journal. According to which criteria did you design the structure of the journal? Is it based on di is it divided into sections? It is not structured according to fields but rather according to the nature of the article want to publish research articles and also theoretical studies. It is a section-based maga of whether the article concerns mathematics or some other subject. The first issue feature Theoretical Studies, Research Studies, and Surveys – those are actual surveys of doctoral assume we will also publish discussion topics and news about research in individual fields about different research projects or doctoral studies, news about dissertations underway e Where should sciED be heading? Do you have a goal or a vision? Yes, our vision is to improve the quality of didactic research in the Czech Republic, whic strong vision because it is not altogether easy. Last year, the evaluation expert group ex of research in those fields around the country and concluded that there were shortcomings needed to be done. Our further ambition is to consolidate the terminology and criteria of in individual field didactics. Subject didactics are somewhat disintegrated in that each o language and methods, which may be similar because we more or less borrow them mainly from research and also from abroad. So we would like to consolidate the terminology somehow but done from a position of power – such as an expert in general didactics saying: ‘That’s wha That could also be one of the goals of the journal – collecting research articles from dif one platform where the terminology and quality criteria could gradually converge. Is there a direct link between the improvement of mathematic and science didactics and res fields and better pedagogical practice in schools, reflecting eventually in the final outc of knowledge among the students? That’s what I believe but it is a long term goal. It is not a straight line – when researc out, it looks perfect and seems to work, it’s not always applied in schools right away. Th different in schools and it may not work. Then you need to look for adjustments. Eventuall research should aim at – not at perpetuating itself but rather producing impulses for scho From the point of view of the individual field didactics represented in our journal I can definitely heading towards that goal, but when there is an amendment or a proposed amendme school education, we want it to be based on research rather than some intuitive feeling. I spot on, but it may not, or the situation can turn out to be much more complex, which is w actually shows. When research was started into children’s thinking in mathematics and othe found out that it was not as straightforward as we had imagined. From this point of view a been achieved but the road to practical outcomes is not straightforward at all as experien around the world. But we definitely have that ambition. Thank you for your time. Translation: Pavla Horáková sciED - Scientia in educatione [ URL "http://www.scied.cz/Default.aspx? PorZobr=1&PolozkaID=122&ClanekID=333"] (Marie Kohoutová)