6992 research outputs found
Sort by
European first-year university students accept evolution but lack substantial knowledge about it: a standardized European cross-country assessment
Get PDFInvestigations of evolution knowledge and acceptance and their relation are central to evolution edu‑
cation research. Ambiguous results in this feld of study demonstrate a variety of measuring issues, for instance difer‑
ently theorized constructs, or a lack of standardized methods, especially for cross-country comparisons. In particular,
meaningful comparisons across European countries, with their varying cultural backgrounds and education systems,
are rare, often include only few countries, and lack standardization. To address these defcits, we conducted a stand‑
ardized European survey, on 9200 frst-year university students in 26 European countries utilizing a validated, com‑
prehensive questionnaire, the “Evolution Education Questionnaire”, to assess evolution acceptance and knowledge, as
well as infuencing factors on evolution acceptance
Interactive handbook with art diary to support education to strengthen personal, social and learning competence
Get PDFIn 2018, the Council of the European Union placed personal, social, and learning competence among the eight key competences for lifelong learning. Existent master's thesis focuses on the importance of planned nourishment of personal, social, and learning competence in children. We will strive to design material for children that could be used to support education to reinforce the latter. We will analyse the individual cases of personal, social, and learning competence in detail and provide evident positive impacts of systematic strengthening of the studied competence in children in the theoretical part. The factors in education that can significantly influence the optimal development of personal, social, and learning competence, will be explored. We will try to determine how, accordingly to gender differences, education to enhance this competence, bearing in mind the personal needs, can be based individually. We will be interested in how artistic expression can have a beneficial effect on the reinforcement of the studied competence. We will analyse pre-existing guidebooks for children dedicated to personal growth. The research approach will be qualitative, as for what the empirical part is concerned, we will write and design a guidebook based on theoretical findings, which will inspire children to ameliorate the competence discussed through a story with interactive exercises. The guidebook’s appendix will be an art diary, through which children will reflect artistically on the content provided and think about its value in everyday life
Recognizing, preventing, and addressing peer violence among girls
Get PDFIn my master's thesis, I focused on dealing with relational violence among girls in primary school. I was interested in how young girls, teachers and parents respond to relational violence, how it can be identified and prevented and how to intervene. In the theoretical part of the master thesis, I presented the bibliography of Slovenian and foreign authors related peer violence and relational aggression. I looked at the individual roles in peer violence, explanations for its occurrence, differences between violent behaviors of boys and girls, risk factors, consequences, as well as recognizing and preventing relational violence and responding to it. It is generally believed that relational aggression among girls occurs because "that is just the way they are". However, my theoretical and empirical work shows that the causes are rooted in gender-specific socialization and social expectations for the behavior of girls.
The main purpose of the research was to find out about the girls' experiences of relational violence, how they respond to it and how teachers and parents respond to it. It is mainly their expectations that determine which behaviors are rewarded with high social status and which with a low one, so I was interested in finding out what is expected from the girls in their environment. I was also interested in how the girls feel when they are confronted with any sort of relational aggression. The participants were girls from the ages of 12 to 16. The research data was obtained through interviews, which showed that the role in relational aggression and the self-esteem of the individual are very much related and so are the role and the number of girlfriends and their personalities. All the girls had experienced at least one form of relational aggression: singling somebody out, manipulating, lying, spreading false rumors and secrets, blackmailing or talking behind one’s back. None of the girls felt that this behavior was appropriate, however, two students often do it for their amusement, but very rarely discuss it with their parents at home. In terms of school grades, peers, teachers and parents do not have specific expectations that would significantly impact the development of relational violence but they do expect the girls to behave nicely, not to be loud, not to speak their minds and not to be high-spirited. Therefore, the environment has an important influence on the development of relational aggression, since girls express their anger, aggression and disagreement in subtle and sometimes mean ways. As shown by the answers of the interviewees, important factors in preventing such events are illuminating the subject, discussing it with the class teacher and resolving any difficulties among students as they come.
By presenting the topic of relational violence among Slovenian girls and by conducting the interviews, I have shed a light on the reasons and the consequences of this type of behavior as well as on the ways to identify, prevent and resolve relational violence. This could also serve as the basis for further research on this topic
Training to develop reading skills and motivation through a guided reading approach in the presence of a therapy dog
Get PDFIn our paper we designed and researched effect of training for developing reading fluency, reading comprehension and reading motivation, which was based on the approach of guided reading and therapeutic influence of a dog. These reading skills are the key to development of literacy which enables the readers to have a quality life and a lifelong learning. Students and grownups with reading disabilities are facing diverse challenges when it comes to literacy. Our training was designed to help a student with reading difficulties. It included adjusted and translated program of guided reading and a presence of a therapy dog because different researchers showed their efficiency in developing reading skills and literacy. Guided reading is a known approach to reading development in English countries and therapeutic effects of presence of animals in educational systems are recognized more and more in Slovenian school system, too.
In our research we tested training´s efficiency by measurement of progress of a student with reading difficulties who was included in training. We tested his reading fluency, reading comprehension and reading motivation before and after the training. For measuring reading skills we used test of reading comprehension Noben pes ni zadosti, one minute test of reading out-loud Ptica in slon (for measuring reading fluency and reading comprehension) and Vprašalnik bralne motivacije za mlajše učence for measuring reading motivation. From the test SNAP we used 2. test (measuring phonological awareness) and 3. test (reading made-up words for measuring reading speed and reading accuracy) and from Test motenosti v branju in pisanju we used tests Branje besed I in II (measuring reading speed and reading accuracy). For formative collecting of information about student´s reading skills we used translated and adjusted forms for measuring reading skills. We were also curious how will the presence of therapy dog effect student’s reading motivation. A smaller part of training was carried out without the presence of a therapy dog so we could compare its influence on reading motivation of our student. We gathered information about reading motivation of our student with self-evaluating scale at the end of every session. Training proceeded in student´s school. We started training in the middle of April and carried it out till the end of school year. It included 14 sessions of 45 minutes to which we added extra sessions where we collected information about student´s reading skills before and after the training. Training was individualized but because of its structure it can be used in different situations by other special education teachers. Comparison of information collected at the beginning and at the end of training showed student´s progress in reading speed, reading rhythm, expression and one of the aspects of reading motivation (a perception of reading as hard activity). In reading comprehension and other aspects of reading motivation (competence in reading out-loud and interest in reading) the progress was not recognized. Comparison also showed that therapy dog did not have any kind of influence, positive nor negative, on student´s reading motivation. With result analysis we concluded the partial efficiency of training for developing reading skills and reading motivation through a guided reading approach in the presence of a therapy dog
First aid content inclusion in the education process of the future preeschool teachers
Get PDFFirst aid is the help that we provide to an individual at the place of injury, it is the basic care of injuries in order not to worsen the condition or even endanger life. In order to be able to help the injured person, it is good to renew and upgrade our knowledge of first aid. The same applies to professional workers in kindergartens, as children are real little researchers, who often acquire one or another injury on their way to discovery.
In the theoretical part, I used the literature to define what first aid is and what injuries we can encounter when working with children. In doing so, I focused on recognizing the symptoms of a particular injury or situation and how to help the child in this situation. In the following, I took a closer look at the curricula of three subjects attended by a student of the Preschool Department of the Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana, and looked for contents that can be connected with the contents of first aid.
In the empirical part, with the help of questionnaires from kindergarten professionals, I checked which injuries/conditions of children the educators most often encountered in kindergarten, what is their opinion about their own ability to provide first aid, how do they renew their knowledge of first aid and what kind of first aid education they want.
The results showed that a large part of the respondents encountered the contents of first aid already during school, but they still think that there could be more of these contents. They are of the opinion that even during the time of employment, the kindergarten could organize more trainings on this topic - but on average they are satisfied with the quality and the implementation of the conducted trainings. On average, they described their theoretical and practical knowledge as good, but they are most likely to blame for this (in some places compulsory) education on this topic, which is organized by the kindergarten every few years
Development of web-based tool for promotion of selfregulatory learning
Get PDFThe main objective of the dissertation was to develop and evaluate the tool for providing written feedback, by means of which teachers would like to encourage self-regulation of pupils’ learning and behaviour. Pupils who are capable of greater self-regulation of learning and behaviour have better learning outcomes. The teacher's principles and strategies for classroom management influence the development of self-regulation of individual pupils' learning and behaviour and the classroom climate. For effective classroom management, teachers need appropriate skills to create conditions in the classroom under which pupils can achieve good learning outcomes. When implementing classroom management strategies, teachers must take into account that gender differences in pupil self-regulation and social skills increase during adolescence; girls use self-regulation strategies for learning more often and regulate their behaviour better than boys, and they also differ in the range of strategies used. The development of self-regulatory skills takes place from early childhood to adulthood. Through appropriate professional feedback, teachers can guide pupils to develop self-regulatory skills, i.e. self-observation, imitation, self-control and self-regulation of learning and behaviour. Professionally designed and appropriate feedback encourages pupils to accept it proactively and contributes to greater pupil motivation to learn and consequently to better learning outcomes. Digital technology plays an important role in monitoring the development of self-regulatory skills over time and enables the recording, collection, processing and analysis of collected data on pupils' schoolwork, learning outcomes and behaviour. Digital technology enables rapid exchange of feedback and thus to monitor pupil progress, learning achievements and behaviour in the school context more effectively. The way the educational stakeholders, i.e. pupils, teachers and parents of pupils, are prepared for the use of use digital technology in education is significantly influenced by their digital literacy and their attitudes towards technology. With the help of digital technology, extensive databases of digital data on pupils’ progress, learning achievements and behaviour can be easily processed and effectively presented through visualization, so that teachers, school management and school policy makers can obtain general and comparable information on the state of education in Slovenia.
In the empirical part of the dissertation we present the research results aimed at the development and evaluation of an online tool for the promotion of self-regulation of learning and examine the impact of digitally transmitted written feedback on the development of pupils’ self-regulation of learning and behaviour. The tool that we named Pripomoček PPI (the tool for giving praise and necessary improvements) was implemented as a software module and integrated into the school management information system. Based on the analysis of the written feedback in the online environment of the information system, collected before the research in this dissertation, we found that teachers in Slovenia give their pupils much more negative comments than praise in written feedback. Therefore, we designed the tool Pripomoček PPI to make teachers aware that positively oriented feedback has a positive effect on pupils' self-esteem and perceived learning competence. In cooperation with the teachers, we created various content categories in the tool Pripomoček PPI to describe the strong areas of the pupils' schoolwork and behaviour.
In the first section of the empirical part of the dissertation, we present the process of developing the tool for giving written feedback in a digital environment. In this process we analysed the teachers' satisfaction with the functionality of the classroom management information system (e-Assistant), which includes several modules. The analysis of teachers' opinions on the usability of the module Pohvale in Pripombe (“Praise and Negative comments”) showed that teachers are satisfied with the functionality of the existing module Pohvale in Pripombe and consider it useful for providing written feedback. We also analysed teachers' opinions on the adequacy and frequency of recording and providing feedback to pupils and their parents, as well as their opinion on the importance of monitoring different areas of a child's development. We found that teachers are aware of the importance of feedback and that they believe that frequent and continuous feedback is important to create a stimulating learning environment and to promote pupil progress, and that teachers are willing to write feedback to pupils even if they believe that they are already very busy. For all the areas of observation of child development identified, most teachers felt that it is important to observe the individual pupil. Based on the analysis of the data collected, we also identified and defined the criteria for the evaluation of the tool, which we used in the evaluation process when continuing the research.
In the second section of the empirical part of the dissertation we present the results of the analysis of the pupils' learning and motivation strategies, their self-regulation of learning and the results of the analysis of the teachers' perception of the pupils' self-regulation of learning over a period of three months. Based on the analysis of the pupils' self-assessments we found that the pupils improved their learning self-regulation in a statistically significant way, whereas the pupils did not improve their learning self-regulation based on the analysis of the teachers' perception, but even reduced it in a statistically significant way in the case of the factor Demonstrating critical thinking in a learning situation named by the author. It should be noted that self-assessments were not given by the same students as assessed by teachers, so we did not calculate correlations. Due to a number of other possible effects, such as the impact of the novelty of the introduction of the tool Pripomoček PPI and the research assumption that the improvement of pupil self-regulation cannot be exclusively due to the use of the tool, we believe that the ability of pupils to self-regulate their learning and behaviour should be observed over a longer period of time. We should also consider using different methods and ways of data collecton when measuring students self-regulation.
In the third part of the empirical research we investigated the communication between teachers, pupils and parents using the tool Pripomoček PPI. The analysis of the collected anonymized written feedback from teachers to pupils over a period of six years and the qualitative analysis of the stratum sample of collected written feedback by individual subcategories of pupil monitoring showed that pupils from Slovenian primary and secondary schools who participated in the survey received much more feedback with suggestions for improvement of their school work than praise. The teachers participating in the survey wrote to their pupils a lot of written feedback concerning the completion of school tasks and homework. Teachers of grades 1 to 5 and secondary school teachers wrote more praise to their pupils than guidance on what and how they could improve their school work and learning, while subject teachers wrote more guidance on what and how they could improve their learning or behaviour to their pupils than praise. Teachers praised girls statistically significantly more than boys and gave boys statistically significantly more guidance on what and how they could improve their learning or behaviour than girls.
The analysis of the tool Pripomoček PPI from the perspective of the end users, i.e. teachers, pupils and parents, has shown that the tool Pripomoček PPI enables teachers to observe pupils learning and behaviour and that it is a suitable tool to motivate pupils to do school work. According to the teachers, the use of the tool Pripomoček PPI has not had any impact on their own motivation for teaching, their own effectiveness in teaching, their own achievements in teaching and in other work at school, their responsibility for their work or their own professional development, but at the same time the teachers believe that the use of the tool Pripomoček PPI has increased their sensitivity to the perception of individual areas of pupil learning and behaviour and increased the frequency of including these areas in written feedback and communication with pupils. Teachers felt that their written feedback provided through the tool Pripomoček PPI did not affect the pupils' ability to self-regulate learning, but most of the parents involved in the study noted the positive effects of using the tool Pripomoček PPI on their child's response to oral and written feedback, on the child's inner motivation to learn, on the child's time management for learning, on the child's choice of learning methods, on the child's monitoring of its own learning strategies, on the trust, the communication and the respect between the child and the teacher, the child and the parents and the parents and the teacher. The positive effects of using the tool Pripomoček PPI on the quality of collaboration between pupils, parents and teachers were also noticed by all pupils participating in the study, who are convinced that the feedback they received using the tool Pripomoček PPI has improved their learning, behaviour and learning outcomes. The usefulness of the tool Pripomoček PPI was confirmed by all pupils participating in the study and by most parents. Most of the participating teachers felt that they did not need written instructions on how to use the tool, as they felt that the tool led them to use it intuitively, that they did not recognize major systemic problems and that their data entry errors could be easily corrected, that they learned quickly to use the tool or could remember easily how to use it, that they were satisfied with the tool and would recommend it to others
Teaching the concept of energy through experiments
Get PDFEnergy is one of the more complex physical concepts used in various fields of science. In primary and secondary school, we encounter this concept mainly in physics, but also in chemistry and biology. The concept of energy is difficult to understand because we cannot directly measure or see it, but we can measure or observe the various properties of objects that cause an object to have the energy. Due to the abstractness of the concept, it is necessary to demonstrate different energy transfers in physics lessons, which can be done by experiments.
The main goal of the research was to optimize experiments that show the conversion of different energies and allow comparison of energy change with temperature change. I collected these experiments into a collection of experiments. The collection of experiments allows pupils or students to see for themselves which properties of the objects energy depends on and in what ways energy can be converted.
I conducted a qualitative evaluation study as a multiple case study on a random purpose sample of six vocational high school students. The research verifies the adequacy of the collection of experiments. It focuses on the comprehensibility of the instructions of the experiments, the execution of the experiments, and the advantages and disadvantages of the entire collection.
I found that the instructions are correctly written, but it is recommended that the implementation of some experiments should be demonstrated earlier for a more fluid independent work of students. When performing experiments, an increase in motivation was observed in the performers. The understanding of the energy concept has also improved markedly. The collection of experiments is suitable for implementation in primary and secondary schools, but before the implementation it is necessary to check their prior knowledge and adjust the course of experimentation accordingly
Computer didactic game in science lessons for elementary school students in grades 1 to 5
Get PDFActivity, diversity, and dynamism are just some of the descriptors that describe Science lessons. In Science lessons, it is important that the teacher inspires students, introduces them to the subject itself with a variety of methods in which students participate, learn a lot and deepen their knowledge. The teacher must choose the teaching methods carefully and use them at the appropriate time and with the appropriate learning topics. The method of didactic game and information and communication technology (hereinafter ICT) provide a wide range of possibilities for the introduction of Science content in teaching.
For the purposes of the master's thesis, we created a computer didactic game based on the topic Human, which appears in the curricula of Environmental studies and in Science and Technology from the first to the fifth grade of elementary school. The purpose of the research was to determine how students and teachers accept the created computer didactic game, what is the progress in knowledge after playing the didactic game, to what extent students achieve Science learning objectives in biology and physics, how students evaluate the deepening of knowledge with the developed didactic game and what didactic game adaptations teachers point out. We were also interested in the experience of teachers and students with computer didactic games and how much they used them in distance teaching.
The study involved 5 classes, 6 students and 1 teacher from each class, a total of 30 students and 5 teachers from the selected elementary school. Research data were obtained through knowledge tests (pre- and posttest), semi-structured interviews and participatory observation. Before we gave the students a didactic game to play, we conducted a pre-test, which provided information about the prior knowledge of students. After the implementation of the didactic game, we gave the students a post-test, which was identical to the pre-test, so that we could determine the progress in knowledge. After the test, we conducted a short semi-structured interview with the students in order to obtain information about the students' opinions and their experiences with computer didactic games. The purpose of the semi-structured interview with the teachers was to identify the strengths and the weaknesses of the game and their opinion about it, the teacher's work with ICT in school and distance teaching, and suggestions for adaptations and improvements of the didactic game.
Our results show that our computer didactic game is professional, aesthetic and suitable for deepening knowledge in the topic Human. The didactic game was well received and evaluated by the students and the teachers. There was also an improvement in the students' knowledge after the didactic game, as the average post-test results were better than the pre-test results. The teachers stated that they rarely use computer didactic games in class and in distance teaching. The latter also depends on the competence of teachers in the use of ICT devices. The computer didactic game Human is valued as suitable for distance teaching. Teachers said they would reduce the amount of text in the game, add voiceover, sort questions by difficulty, and add the option to choose a typeface (uppercase or lowercase). The results of the master's thesis will serve as an encouragement for teachers to use more computer didactic games for various topics in Science lessons as well as in other subjects, as they motivate students, encourage their activity and the acquisition of various competencies. The developed computer didactic game was updated and supplemented and is available to teachers so that they can use it in their classes. In this way, they will be able to save time and perhaps using our computer didactic game will encourage them to create a similar didactic game on a new topic on their own
Teaching introductory programming with ozbot robots in the second triad of primary school
Get PDFIn the master's thesis, we will present the performance of learning activities for teaching initial programming with Ozobot robots in the second educational cycle of elementary school. In the theoretical part, we will present in more detail the concept of computational thinking which is of essential significance in the computer science lessons, as well as the key competence that students should acquire in the 21st century. We will briefly present learning theories and modern learning approaches that are important for the performance of the planned learning activities. We will focus on two theories of learning, constructivism and constructionism, which are essential for our approach to learning. In modern learning approaches, we will present problem learning, pair programming, and computerless coding in more detail. Because the lessons are based on working with Ozobot robots, we will also present the Ozobot robot, physical computing, robot teaching, and visual programming language in more detail.
The purpose of our research was to ascertain to what extent it is possible to improve the performance of students in learning programming and computational thinking in the 4th grade of elementary school by a set of planned lessons for teaching initial programming with Ozobot robots. Learning activities were carried out in a set of four lessons. The initial activities which were dedicated to getting acquainted with and learning different computer concepts were based on a computerless coding approach. This was followed by physical computing activities with the use of the Ozobot robot. In the first set of activities, students programmed using color codes. In the second set, they used the Ozoblockly application for programming. In the empirical research, we tested the initial and final understanding of computer concepts important for the programming of the Ozobot robot by an educational test. Through an unstructured interview, we gained insight into how the students understand the word robot. We also gained insight into the students’ final knowledge by the analysis of the students' products that were programmed during the lessons
Training on solving exponent equations and inequations with a student with learning difficulties in mathematics
Get PDFStudents' general learning difficulties can stem from inappropriate educational interactions, some internal factors, or the environment. Cultural and linguistic diversity, meanwhile, are often underestimated factors that can cause a learning difficulty. Also, students who are slower to acquire knowledge are expected to progress more slowly in acquiring school skills and knowledge, as their level of performance or learning achievements match their intellectual abilities. Most often, students with learning difficulties in mathematics already have poorer educational achievements in the subject in primary school. National examinations showed that ninth-graders have major problems with algebra problems, including equations and inequations solving, and with exponentiation and fractional problems, which are the basis for solving exponential equations and inequations. We can help them to progress more successfully by taking into account their special-educational needs, such as the need for concrete visual-schematic presentations, recording intermediate results, insisting on tasks and considering sequences of examples. To improve the quality of learning, it is first necessary to assess students ’mistakes and one way of assessing is to analyse students’ mistakes. This way we can determine the cause of the problems and find solutions to solve them. According to the research results, the most common mistakes made by students in solving exponential equations are: misunderstanding the concept of exponential equations, inappropriate use and order of computational operations, and incorrect use of the common power base. Before teaching to solve exponential equations and inequations, the teacher must have a good understanding of their concept and include life examples and situations during teaching and consolidation of material, as students thus gain new ideas for solving problems and gain a deeper understanding.
I conducted a case study with a student with learning difficulties in mathematics, who attended the 3rd year of secondary vocational school of economics during the training and achieved the prescribed educational goals in mathematics with great difficulty. I designed a 16-hour training to solve exponential equations and inequations in order to design, implement and evaluate training to consolidate the solving of exponential equations and exponential inequations after an initial assessment of basic conceptual and procedural skills. The training included consolidation of prior knowledge, consolidation of solving exponential equations and inequations in the analytical and graphical way, and consolidation of current teaching material in school in mathematics. At the end of the training, I checked for a possible change in the student's self-evaluation of her learning achievements and success in mathematics. The results of the research showed that before the start of the training, the student had deficits in conceptual and procedural knowledge in all areas of prior knowledge which are needed to solve exponential equations and inequations. With appropriate adjustments, the use of various aids, explicit teaching, observance of the gradualness of sequences and the presentation of various strategies for solving mathematical problems, the student made visible progress in solving exponential equations and inequations. The training also influenced the student to be more positive in her self-evaluation in terms of success and achievement in mathematics. The training itself proved to be successful, as the student with learning difficulties in mathematics showed progress in several areas of solving exponential equations and inequations, as well as in the areas of prior knowledge that were included in the training. Findings after the end of the training will thus be able to help special rehabilitation educators in dealing with high school students with learning difficulties in mathematics