Diffusion and osmosis are important concepts for understanding the processes, and occur both in primary school classrooms, as well as in everyday life. Through analyzing the curricula of science subjects in primary school, we found out that the concepts of diffusion and osmosis are directly or indirectly present in the curricula from the first to the ninth grade. That is why it is important that future teachers have a sufficient understanding of both concepts, since their knowledge is passed on to their students.
In this master thesis we investigated the understanding of diffusion and osmosis with biology students in their first and final year of studies. We wanted to find out if carrying out various activities would influence their understanding. We carried out various demonstration experiments for diffusion (scented candle, dye, gummy bears, agar) and osmosis (potato, egg, animation, plasmolysis), in which students could also participate.
Future biology teachers were asked to participate in examination (the before test and after test), filling out the questionnaire and worksheet. By analyzing the results, we found out that with students of the first and final year of studies differences in the understanding of the processes of diffusion and osmosis appear. Students of the final year have a better understanding of the processes as the first-year students. We have also come to a conclusion that the activities carried out to influence the level of students' knowledge of both processes of diffusion and osmosis indeed have an impact on the knowledge of students. At the test, students of the first and final year achieved better results on the before test than on the after test. The results were also checked separately for the first and final year students. For both groups of students, the same applies – a lower number of points was achieved at the before test than as the after test. We can hence confirm the hypothesis, which argues that through a variety of activities we can influence the level of students' knowledge about the processes of diffusion and osmosis. In addition, the other subject of studies also influences the level of knowledge (chemistry/home economics). For both groups, better results at the before test were achieved by students with biology-chemistry combination. Better results were achieved at the before test by first year students with chemistry as the second subject, with last year students better results were achieved by those that selected home economics as their second subject. We also checked which of the presented activities students liked best, and found that first year students selected diffusion exercise titled "Gummy bears" and with osmosis the exercise titled "Egg." Final year students most often chose "Incense" with diffusion, and with osmosis, the same as the first year students, chose the "Egg" exercise. Attempts proved to be useful in teaching practice, as most students assessed them as clear, practical and simple. We also do not need a lot of material or preparing beforehand, and students can make almost all experiments at home.
The research involved a smaller number of students (22 first-year students and 14 students of the final year), it would perhaps be reasonable to carry out the research on a larger sample and determine whether the results are similar. Most experiments have been carried out as presentations, so in the future students could conduct their experiments empirically instead.
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