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The life quality of society and the stability of national economy is largely connected with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The complex character of STEM education demands informed teaching/learning strategies in order to make the 21st century youth interested in learning. The aim of the research was to find out the views of prospective pre-school teachers on Grade 9 students' STEM learning, thus addressing the topical principle of continuity in education. A survey of 261 prospective pre-school teachers of the University of Latvia was performed. The obtained results show that in general the prospective pre-school teachers have some notion about the level of teaching/learning requirements in Grade 9 of the basic school, the integration of STEM and teaching/learning strategies. They acknowledge cognitive interest, inquiry-based learning and the importance of STEM knowledge and skills in the national development as significant, but little value is given to the exploration of nature in out-of-school time and to the importance of mathematical skills. More experienced respondents assess STEM learning higher. The given research raises the issue of the principle of continuity in education and gives a possibility to understand better the needs of prospective teachers in order to improve teacher education programs at the University.

The necessity of STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics] knowledge is being more widely acknowledged as the priority in the development of education; however, students lack sufficient knowledge and interest in the acquisition of STEM subjects. Therefore, more attention should be paid to the teaching and learning methods that would correspond to the contemporary young generation and that would facilitate meaningful learning of modern students. Performing the survey of 256 students in Grades 10-12 of Latvia, students' perceptions on how they understand and interpret their STEM learning and methods used by teachers have been explored. The questionnaire in the QuestionPro e-environment was designed according to the criteria describing meaningful learning considering the peculiarities of the young generation. Respondents' answers were analyzed with the help of the SPSS program, using the methods of non-parametric statistics. Many representatives of the young generation tend to avoid difficulties which confirms a typical feature of this generation -- to achieve an immediate result easily and quickly. These students also have a weaker understanding about the importance of STEM that testifies the lack of the learning motivation. The majority of students consider that it is necessary to acquire STEM only at school, failing to connect it with the everyday life. The study describes the national context, yet the presented trends could be significant also on the international level for understanding meaningful learning of STEM.

The mass-approach in higher education promotes the broadening of students' number and diversity therefore the question about the young people's readiness to adapt to studies becomes more and more topical. Students who enrol in the natural science faculties of the University of Latvia (UL) are motivated and have high assessment in biology and chemistry as school subjects. However, the studies already during the 1st term prove that students encounter problems to get adjusted to the study process. In order to find out the key factors that determine the adaptation of the first-year students to studies, an e-questionnaire was developed and 79 students from the Faculty of Chemistry and Faculty of Biology were surveyed. Institutional and personal factors that are focused on the application of transferable skills are mainly those that affect the students' adaptation in the first term of studies. At the same time such issues of the academic factor as students' prior knowledge in biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics and their skill to learn independently are intrinsic for students' successful studies.

The rapidly changing economic, financial and social conditions require new knowledge and competences in order to be able to understand them, adapt to the new requirements and remain competitive and successful in the globalised social environment. Widening the access to lifelong learning is one way in which this could be achieved. A special role in this process is given to universities as promoters of lifelong learning. E-learning is a means of promoting the changes in academic studies and providing an opportunity to integrate non-formal and informal learning elements into formal education. Individualisation, learning opportunities flexible in time, as well as the e-environment can facilitate the development of students' competences. This article presents a study conducted during the implementation of an inter-university master's programme, "Educational Treatment of Diversity" (in Spain, Latvia, Germany and the Czech Republic) in 2008-10. The research question was: which challenges for widening of opportunities were secured in e-learning in order to promote students' generic competences as a learning outcome? (Contains 3 tables.)

The use of Open Educational Resources (OERs) in higher education is becoming increasingly urgent. Therefore it is essential to find out students' views on the opportunities and challenges gained by applying OERs. In the current research there were 127 students involved from different faculties of the University of Latvia. In order to find out their views on the OERs an explorative qualitative research was carried out using online structured e-interviews. The obtained data were processed with qualitative data processing software AQUAD 6.0. The code system was created by the author of the article based on the latest insights on OERs. The model of generalisation was applied. For probing the generalisability of the findings the qualitative data were transformed into quantitative and hidden relations were revealed as Spearman rank correlation by the use of SPSS 11.0. Constructed linkages were checked. The results show that the majority of students do not have a clear understanding of Open Educational Resources, although they are essentially using OERs in the study process. They have different views depending on the level of study. Thus an opportunity could be effective usage of different types of OERs as a challenge for students to develop their computer literacy, foreign language and information literacy skills to become more informal learners, bridging formal education with complementary resources and making learning more self-organised and self-directed, focused on active learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]