Teodora Kolarova

• PhD
• Professor (Associate) at Plovdiv University

The purpose of this study was to determine and assess the impact of non-formal educational activities on the development of metacognitive skills in middle school students (11- to 14-year-old). The research was conducted with 48 students (N= 48) from 5th-grade to 7th-grade classes at urban public middle schools in Gabrovo and Sofia (Bulgaria). The p...

The article describes a study focused on assessing in what extent main aspects of scientific literacy are represented in the school curricula of the subjects The Human and the nature” V – VI grade and Biology and health education VII – X grade (junior high school stage and first high school stage). In line with its purpose, a content analysis was u...

The aim of this study was to assess how and in what extent main aspects of the scientific literacy were represented in Bulgarian science education standards for the junior high school. A content analysis was used as an appropriate method of this particular research. The analysis focused on four dimensions of the scientific literacy – cognitive-epis...

This study investigated the influence of the explicit reflective based approach on students’ understandings about the nature of science(NOS) in the context of 10th – 11th grade biology education. An instructional model was proposed on the ground of two major ideas:(1) teaching through explicit references to or discussion of NOS aspects (“tentativen...

The aim of this study is to analyze the most frequently used definitions of the term "scientific literacy" in the specialised literature and be integrated into a holistic construction essential features which are commonly identified. The methodological basis of the study are the ideas of epistemological constructivism. The theoretical analysis is f...

The study was aimed at identifying possible levels at which the intellectual reflection manifests in secondary students from grade 9th to 11th and trends in its development during a three-year experimental teaching in „Biology and health education“. The methodological basis of the study is the conception of reflective approach which is specified t...

Abstract. The primary objective of this study is to outline the trends in science education research based on content analyses of publications from 2011 to 2015 in four Bulgarian educational journals: “Chemistry: Bulgarian Journal of Science Education”, “Strategies for Policy in Science and Education”, “Bulgarian Physics Education” and “iContinuing...

Summary: The study performed an attempt to transfer the general ideas about the nature and the types of reflection from abstract to technological form. This form was prepared for practical application in decision-making of controversial bioethical issues, simulated in learning environment. The technological modifying of the reflection’s ideas was b...

Modern biotechnology will have a large impact on society and requires informed decision-making and critical attitudes toward biotechnology among the public. A written survey was used to explore these attitudes of 160 high school students (aged 15 to 19 years) divided into two groups depending on whether they elected biology as an optional subject i...

This article has substantiated the need to use innovative didactical means -cognitive tests with a reflective close for the formation, development and diagnostics of the intellectual reflection in the study of classical and molecular genetics in the 9 th and 10 th grade. There are presented authors' versions of tests with a reflective close to acti...

This paper reports a pedagogical research that studied high school student's ability to reflect on their learning and personal qualities in the context of genetic issues taught within the compulsory biology education. A reflective approach was used to enhance the level of reflective thinking, and to provide directions of personal growth as well, wh...

The products of modern biotechnology processes such as genetic engineering, DNA testing, transgenic organisms, therapeutic and reproductive cloning have increasing impact on the society. Although, these scientific techniques have many benefits, their social and ethical effects are controversial. It is important for young people to have not only bas...

Decision making about socio-scientific issues (SSI), such as the applications of genetic engineering and gene therapy, is an important aspect of modern science education worldwide. The objective of this study was to explore how 17- to 18-year-old high school students make decisions about treatment of cystic fibrosis by means of gene therapy. A qual...

The presented material is an attempt of examining the dynamic of the personal reflection amongst 15-17-year-old students who study molecular biology, genetics and cellular engineering biotechnologies. This is a longitudinal educational research. In the study are included 90 pupils from 9-11 grades of two Bulgarian secondary schools from a village a...

The paper advocates for the application of reflective approach to the Biology teaching in the secondary schools (9th -11th grades). The main features of this approach are carefully described. The corresponding model of teaching is proposed. This model was successfully used in three secondary schools in Bulgaria. The results of this longitudinal stu...

This paper provides a rationale for the inclusion of bioethics in the undergraduate biology education in Bulgaria. Thus, at the Faculty of Biology in the Plovdiv University “Paisii Hilendarski”, a bioethics course was established, designed to increase students’ awareness of social and ethical issues posed by advancement of the biosciences and parti...

This article is an attempt to reconsider of the traditional view how to form and realize the goals in biological education at 9th grade using the newest achievements in Philosophy, Logics, Psychology, and Pedagogy. Our starting point is that the ability to form and realize goals is directly connected with the formation of self-consciousness and per...