VÝZNAM UČITEĽA PRÍRODOVEDNÝCH PREDMETOV PRI FORMOVANÍ POZITÍVNYCH POSTOJOV ŽIAKOV K VEDE A TECHNIKE.

The importance of developing positive attitudes towards science is widely known, and it reflects a general interest and a need to define more explicitly what measures can be taken to improve students‘ attitudes towards science. In our research, we compared attitudes towards science among three target groups – teachers of natural sciences, their students, and future teachers of natural sciences – current students of Education. Therefore, we are in particular interested in the ways in which a teacher can improve students‘ attitudes towards science, as significant studies highlight the great influence of teachers and teaching styles on students‘ attitudes towards science and school science. We, then, analyzed the teaching process from the students‘ and teachers‘ points of view. In the third part of the research we aimed at identifying critical areas in teaching, and we monitored their connections with attitudes towards science and technology. We also examined which aspects influence the teachers‘ lesson planning process. The research results showed that students‘ attitudes towards science are the weakest among our target groups. Practical work in science was identified as the most critical area in the teaching process. The most critical area in teaching from the teachers‘ point of view was also practical work in science, which correlates with the length of the teachers‘ experience, but also with lesson planning. On the basis of identifying critical areas in teaching natural sciences, we proposed further measures for improving students‘ attitudes towards science, since students‘ attitudes were evaluated as the weakest area among our target groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]