Search

Enormous scientific and technological development has brought the requirement of appropriate implementation of technologies into the educational process. The use of educational technologies is determined by several factors. One of them are teachers, for whom the effective integration of educational technologies is still a challenging task. Teachers' attitude toward technology makes a crucial point in this issue. An important element that determines teachers' interest for using educational technologies is their perception of the effectiveness in the educational process and also their skills in using technology. This study presents the results of a research, which's aim was to identify whether there are any statistically significant differences between science teachers' self-efficacy and self-assessment, based on the TPACK frame, and their attitudes toward using technologies in educational processes. Science teachers rated their own TPACK moderately positive. They had the highest mean scores on the component items focusing on pedagogical knowledge and content knowledge. Lower mean scores were recorded in the components associated with technological knowledge, where teachers perceiving their technological content knowledge to be the worst one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers can develop science literacy among pupils through Inquiry-Based Science Education. IBSE helps to evolve the inquiry skills necessary for understanding the world of science and nature. To be able to improve the level of inquiry skills systematically, we need to know the current level among pupils. For this reason, we designed a multiple-choice test that measures the level of inquiry skills among 13 to 15 years old pupils. The design of the test consisted of six steps: selection of inquiry skills, construction and administration of open-ended test, creation of a database of distractors, construction of multiple-choice test, pilot testing and application of optimised test in pedagogical research. The designed test can be considered a valid and reliable research instrument and the individual test items show a relatively high discriminating power, optimal level of difficulty and a high number of functional distractors. By analysing the most common incorrect answers, we were able to identify various difficulties pupils have, regarding the application of inquiry skills in solving items. These results will help us to design appropriate strategies for improving pupils' inquiry skills in science education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pupils’ misconceptions related to human health and lifestyles can have a significant impact on the quality of a person’s life but also on the quality of life of society at large as such misconceptions can be a breeding ground for the emergence of various diseases, addictions and, in extreme situations, can even lead to death. Misconceptions make it difficult for pupils to learn more meaningfully, and therefore, it is necessary to focus on them in the teaching of biology. However, it is quite difficult to remove created misconceptions among pupils, and therefore, it is more effective to try to identify them and then choose teaching strategies or methods that will prevent their emergence. For this reason, we have constructed a four-tier test that enables a deeper examination of pupils’ understanding of scientific concepts and more objective identification of possible misconceptions. The analysis of the test results among primary school pupils (in eighth grade) in Slovakia showed, on average, 57.0% of them have acquired the correct scientific concepts in topics related to human health and lifestyles. Subsequently, we identified that, on average, 23.5% of pupils have a lack of knowledge, 10.7% of pupils have false positive/negative misconceptions, and 8.8% of pupils have misconceptions. We recorded the highest frequency of pupils’ misconceptions in items focused on the energy composition of food, second-hand smoking, and the transmission of contagious (infectious) diseases. Subsequently, we created a comprehensive list of the identified misconceptions, which can help biology teachers in making these topics accessible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholarly understanding of educational effectiveness as a relationship between desired (expected) goals and achieved results is an extremely complex matter. If we start from the assumption that striving for the effectiveness of education is a correct and socially justified intention, we need to know the tools with which we can measure the effects of education and the result we want to get closer to. But what is the real point of geographic education? Who decides what is considered a desirable outcome? And is the effort to achieve the performances defined in educational standards the meaning of education? In Slovakia, there has been no national-level research dealing with determining the effectiveness of geographical education. In our article, we examine more thoroughly only one of the possible indicators of the effectiveness of geographical education, which is the level of conceptual (fundamental from the point of view of geography) knowledge achieved. This required creating a non-standardized didactic test tool and its application to a set of adult Slovak populations. The testing results showed a relatively high average success rate of solving the tasks by the respondents (72.48%). However, it should be emphasized that the questions mapped the most important topics and curriculum from the 5th year of elementary school. Of the individual thematic units, the respondents achieved the worst results in Cartography (61.78%) and Planetary Geography (68.22%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid scientific and technological development of recent decades has led to digital technologies becoming an important part of the lives of the many people who use them to obtain information and find solutions to various problems. The most used digital technologies today include smartphones and mobile applications. Although mobile phones and the mobile applications used through them were not seen as learning tools for a long time, they have gradually found their way into schools with the aims of making teaching more attractive and to support pupils’ learning. In this context, there is a need for conceptual frameworks and methodologies that support the active and meaningful use of mobile applications to meet the stated educational objectives. By appropriately selecting mobile applications and embedding them into teaching, teachers can enable pupils to acquire knowledge, and to observe and explore various natural phenomena and processes that can be challenging to simulate in a classroom setting. Therefore, in this article, we focus on the presentation of the results of a quasi-experiment aimed at the implementation of mobile applications in the thematic unit “The Human and the Human Body” and their impact on the educational results achieved by pupils. The data obtained suggest that the use of mobile applications can have an impact on the level of knowledge of pupils in the seventh year of primary school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In Slovakia, no relevant information is available about the scientific literacy levels achieved by secondary school students. Purpose: The objective of the research was to identify the levels of scientific literacy among students in the last year of grammar school and examine to what extent this determined the subject chosen for a school-leaving exam, which is related to a student's personal preferences, as well as to the student's profile and preparation for university education. Sample: The research sample consisted of 221 students from 17 grammar schools located in various regions of Slovakia. Design and methods: To identify the level of scientific literacy, we applied the Test of Scientific Literacy Skills. Results: The students achieved the lowest success rate in the skill focused on the identification of the research design elements and its strengths and weaknesses. A comparably low success rate was also observed in the skill focused on the justification of the conclusions based on quantitative data. Other difficulties were identified in the field of understanding the basics of statistics, thus indicating an insufficient level of mathematical literacy of the students in the abovementioned field. By contrast, the highest success rate was achieved in the skill focused on the correct application of the scientific results for social purposes. Conclusions: At the end of secondary school studies, the scientific literacy among Slovak students is at the average level. No differences were observed in terms of gender. In terms of the subjects chosen by the students for their school-leaving exams, we observed that those students who took a school-leaving exam in Biology or Chemistry achieved significantly better results in the test. By contrast, the students who reported on Geography and Civics as the subject of their school-leaving exam achieved significantly worse results in the test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contribution focuses on the issue of the constructivist approach to designing of science curriculum on the example of the "Big ideas" from "Biology". The theoretical foundation of the research is the Model of the design research (Jelemenská, Sander and Kattmann 2003) and the curriculum built upon the "Big Ideas" (Harlen 2010). Pupils' ideas and identification of misconceptions were investigated by phenomenographic interview, by the analysis of the two-tier multiple choice test, through pupils' drawings and conceptual mapping. We have defined the corresponding Big ideas to the key concepts of the "Biology" curriculum, and we have designed a didactic sequence as well as activities to prevent, or even eliminate, misconceptions on the basis of research into pupil views and the identification of misconceptions. The content this contribution is our experience and recommendations for pedagogical practice with identification of misconceptions, design of the big ideas and verification of selected activities as a tool for the meaningful acquisition of science concepts and development of scientific work skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the results of the research aimed at identification of pupils' misconceptions about skeletal and movement system in the seventh grade of elementary school. As a research tool we used the phenomenological interview, which we conducted with 20 pupils of three different elementary schools. Based on a qualitative analysis of the results we identified four types of pupils' predications. In this paper we concentrate only on pupils' misconceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of our research was to identify the level of the acquired scientific literacy among Geography students studying bachelor's studies and compare it with the level of scientific literacy among students of other academic disciplines within the natural sciences. To identify the level of scientific literacy among students, we applied the Test of Scientific Literacy Skills (TOSLS). The obtained results indicate that the level of scientific literacy among Geography students, as compared to other academic disciplines, is not statistically significantly higher. However, we observed statistically significantly lower levels of scientific literacy among students in teacher training for general subjects in combination with one of the science subjects (including Geography). The lowest success rate was observed among Geography students in the item focused on the production of an appropriate graph based on the measured data. Problems were also observed in the field of understanding and interpretation of basic statistics, critical assessment of credibility of a literature source, and understanding research design elements and determination of their impact on the research results and conclusion. By contrast, the highest success rate was observed among Geography students in the skill of problem solving while using quantitative skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subject of genetics for its abstract nature is considered as one the most demanding areas of biology teaching. Its complexity increases the presence of misconceptions that are a serious obstacle to meaningful learning and have a negative impact on student education. In this article we describe the research realised at grammar schools after accessing the theme inheritance and variability of organisms. We used conceptual mapping to determine the level of the adoption of selected notions in genetic by pupils. Created conceptual maps were processed by quantitative and qualitative analysis. Conceptual mapping in our aim points to the overall structure the pupil's knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective assessment of the quality of available educational resources presupposes the existence of specific quality standards and specific evaluation tools which consider the specificities of digital products with educational ambitions. The study presents the results of research conducted on a representative sample of teachers who commented on issues related to the importance of measuring the quality of available educational resources and the hierarchy of the key characteristics of such devices. The research results clearly confirmed teachers' interest in knowing the quality of educational resources available and they requested a presentation of the resulting evaluation together with the methodological guidelines on a separate website. The teachers identified clearness, ease of use and adequacy of the educational content as the key and fundamental characteristics of such resources from a user perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with didactic research, where we investigated the level of knowledge of 6th grade students of elementary school. As a research tool, we used a non-standardized knowledge test in two versions - I, II. The tests reflected the biology curriculum around the sixth grade, topics: The life of man in human settlements; The basic structure of life; Living organisms and their structure; The construction of the body of plants and fungi; Physique invertebrates. The test results have undergone some quantitative and qualitative analysis. In this article we analyzed what mistakes the students commited solving the test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is oriented on the determination of a degree of scientific literacy of university students of natural sciences at graduate level, applying the methodology TOSLS. By quantitative and qualitative analysis of the results of testing, we found out that students have the lowest level of knowledge in skills related to recognition of characteristic features of the scientific research, as well as with the evaluation of the credibility of the source of the scientific information and with interpretation of the quantitative and statistical data. The results also revealed the differences in scores between the single-discipline and double- subject (a teacher) study programs. On the basis of the achieved results, we present in the paper the conclusions and recommendations for the teaching practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is focused on results of research aimed at the opportunities for developing of pupils' creativity in biology teaching. The impact of proposed activities to develop pupils' creativity, we investigated the implementation of the experiment in two classes of fifth grade of primary school in the teaching of thematic unit Life in water and on shore. The results of research shows that designed activities to develop pupils' creativity in factors fluency, flexibility and originality. Therefore, we believe that the content of the State curriculum program provides the space for introducing creative activities in order to develop creative thinking of pupils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]