Vpliv praktičnega dela na stališča in znanje učencev o plesnih - Hkavc, Tjaša (2018)
Pri pouku je pomembno načrtovanje dejavnosti, ki učencem omogočajo kakovostno usvajanje vsebinskih in tudi procesnih znanj. Pomembno je, da učitelj izvaja čim več praktičnega pouka, saj s tem učenci verjetno veliko bolj razmišljajo, sklepajo, povezujejo, argumentirajo ter na splošno pridobivajo veliko izkušenj in spretnosti, ki jih še kako potrebujejo v svojem življenju. Praktični pouk pozitivno vpliva na znanje, stališča in spretnosti učencev ter je lahko učinkovitejši kot klasični pouk, vendar pa se nekateri učitelji poslužujejo takšnega načina poučevanja, nekateri pa zaradi različnih razlogov ne. Tudi v učnih načrtih predmetov spoznavanje okolja ter naravoslovje in tehnika je zapisano, da naj učenci pridobivajo znanje, oblikujejo pozitivna stališča in razvijajo spretnosti na podlagi neposrednih izkušenj. Za poučevanje bioloških vsebin pa se predvideva tudi neposredno delo z različnimi organizmi. Ker je za učitelje na voljo kar nekaj gradiv za izvajanje naravoslovnega praktičnega dela, sem se odločila preveriti učinkovitost uporabe praktične vaje na znanje in stališča učencev prvega in drugega vzgojno- izobraževalnega obdobja. Empirični del sem izvedla z 98 učenci prvega in drugega vzgojno-izobraževalnega obdobja, in sicer so bili to učenci od tretjega do petega razreda. Za vsak razred sem v raziskavo vključila po dva oddelka. V enem je bil izveden klasični pouk na temo plesni in raziskovanje, v drugem pa je bil izveden praktični pouk raziskovanje plesni s temo kaj zraste na kruhu. Slednji so sami izvedli poskus, pri katerem so ugotavljali, katere vrste plesni se bodo razvile na kruhu in koliko jih bo. Izsledki raziskave kažejo, da imajo učenci v vseh treh razredih pozitivna stališča do izvajanja praktičnega pouka in poskusov, vendar pa nimajo pretirane želje po tem, da bi postali raziskovalci. Znanje učencev v vseh razredih je bilo pred poukom različno in lahko trdimo, da se v povprečju znanje med učenci 3. in 5. razreda pri določenih trditvah razlikuje. Izsledki kažejo zadovoljivo splošno in teoretično znanje o plesnih, vendar lahko rečemo, da je splošno znanje vseeno boljše kot teoretično. Plesni so večini učencev nagnusne, vendar pa bi se vseeno radi učili o njih. Najbolj nas je zanimalo, ali praktični pouk bolj kot klasični pouk vpliva na stališča do praktičnega pouka in zanimanje učencev za raziskovanje. Želeli smo ugotoviti tudi morebitne razlike v znanju učencev glede na način poučevanja. Ugotovili smo, da so razlike zelo majhne, pa vseeno lahko rečemo, da je nekaj več znanja in želje po raziskovanju med učenci, ki so imeli praktični pouk. Iz izsledkov lahko razberemo, da praktični pouk pozitivneje vpliva na interes in znanje otrok kot klasični pouk. In class, it is important to plan activities, which allow students quality gaining of content as well as procedural knowledge. It is important, that the teacher carries out as much practical work as possible, since it encourages students to think more, conclude and link their thoughts, make arguments and overall gain lots of experience and virtues crucial for the life ahead of them. Practical work has a positive impact on students’ knowledge, point of view and virtues and can be more efficient than the classic classes. However, some teachers confirm to this kind of teaching, while others due to various reasons do not. Even in curriculums such as Nature Study and Natural Sciences and Technology it is written, that students should gain knowledge, adopt positive stances and develop skills based on direct experience. For teaching biology based contents, direct contact with different organisms is anticipated, too. Since there are several materials for performing practical science work available for teachers, I decided to test the effectiveness of practical exercise on knowledge and point of view of students in first and second educational period. I executed the empirical part with the help of 98 such students, with students from third to fifth year of elementary school to be exact. I included two classes from each. In the first one, the students were taught about mould and research in the classic way. In the second class, they did practical work with the research question “What grows on bread?”. They had to do an experiment on their own and figure out which and how many species of mould will grow on the bread. The results show that students in all three classes have good opinion towards practical work and experimenting, however they do not desire to become investigators. Prior knowledge of all students was different and we can suggest, that this shows in some of their claims. The results also show some adequately general and theoretical knowledge about mould. Still, we can argue that their general knowledge outweighs the theoretical. The majority of students find mould repulsive, but they still want to learn about it. Our main point of interest was if the practical work affects the way they see it and their interest in exploration more than the classic school work. We wanted to obtain the possible differences in the knowledge gained by students based on the way we taught them. We found out, that there was very little difference, but still we can say that there is some more knowledge and will to investigate among the students who had done practical work. Hence, we can conclude that practical work has more of a positive effect on the interest and knowledge of students than the classic school work.