Students learn the most, when an activity attracts, interests and amuses them. Most of the time, this is the case with didactic games, which is why they have an important role in the teaching process. Didactic games are games, which have a certain task and goal and are consequently oriented towards teaching. While playing didactic games, students namely develop their abilities and skills, connect and strengthen mutual relationships.
In the Master’s thesis, we present three didactic games about the learning topic light and the findings of the research focusing on how to prepare didactic games for the learning content light, what are the opinions of 31 future classroom teachers about the preparation of didactic games and if any changes are necessary according to them. We also provide findings of the research with a group of students (5 third graders and 5 four graders), where we focused on the evaluation of the progress in knowledge, identification of the feeling of students etc.
In the research, we used qualitative and quantitative research techniques. The data were obtained with a questionnaire for future teachers, a structured interview, ongoing observation and knowledge tests for students.
The findings of the researches show that didactic games are a suitable method for teaching in the third and fourth grade of primary school. The prepared didactic games have provided the expected results in the acquisition of new learning content and are suitable for teaching about light. We found that students like this way of learning and are highly motivated for it. Future teachers have also rated the presented didactic games with good overall ratings and the majority of them also thinks that they would use didactic games in lessons.
The findings of the Master’s thesis will help teachers with the introduction of didactic games into science lessons. They will also obtain insight into the preparation of a didactic game and essential elements that must be taken into account.
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