In the bachelor’s thesis, we focused on the topic of cells which we discuss in the 6th and the 7th grade of the elementary school within natural sciences. The topic of the cell is one of the more difficult contents which is upgraded in the years of education. It is important that the students understand the discussed subject well already in the 6th grade. Thus, they have fewer troubles later. We reviewed the literature on the influence of the methods of the lessons on understanding the school lessons and the durability of the knowledge. Learning is more successful if it occurs with independent searching and thinking. We ascertained that the use of the models in the school lessons arouses the interest of the students for the discussed subject. Thus, the students actively participate in school lessons and are more internally motivated. Therefore, their knowledge is more durable. We analyzed the curriculum for natural sciences in the elementary school. We focused on the content complexes in the 6th and the 7th grade which embrace the topic of the cell.
We checked the knowledge of the students of the 6th and the 7th grade on the cell and ascertained, whether they have the wrong conceptions regarding the topic. We prepared a questionnaire on the cell which embraces 13 tasks of various types. We distributed them to 202 students of the 6th and the 7th grade in three Slovenian elementary schools. We also compared the knowledge of the students of the 6th and the 7th grade and ascertained statistically significant differences. We were also ascertaining whether the knowledge of the students on the cell varies with regards to the gender and the school. Within the framework of the research, we ascertained that the knowledge of the students of the 6th and the 7th grade on the cell is good. The students of the 7th grade have more knowledge on the cell: they performed the tasks better in comparison to the students of the 6th grade. We can also conclude that the students have difficulties in distinguishing of the cell structures of the plant and the animal cell. They often do not distinguish between the mitochondria and the chloroplast. They often mistake the concepts of the cell wall and the cell membrane.
Based on the acquired results, we produced preparations for the lesson on the cell which should contribute to more qualitative and more durable knowledge. The efficiency of the lesson will be checked in the continuation of the research in the following school year.
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