The focus of this master’s thesis is the teaching effectiveness of using an interactive whiteboard to help first grade schoolchildren develop the concept of time. The goal is to establish whether using an interactive whiteboard to present the topic of time and past as a part of the Environmental education subject in the first grade of elementary school provides better results than the traditional approach.
The theoretical part is based on the research work of various authors and focuses on the interactive teaching supported by multimedia and an interactive whiteboard with all its characteristics. The main points are the subject of Environmental education with its general and operational learning objectives and the process of designing and learning new concepts. The concept of time, its perception and the way time is being presented to schoolchildren at the primary school level are key elements of this thesis. The presentation of existing electronic teaching material, titled »Vedeževo e-okolje« is also included, together with two applications, called Prezi and Hot Potatoes, which were used in the empirical part of the research.
The second, empirical part consists of an experimental research, aimed to test the effectiveness of using an interactive whiteboard to help first grade schoolchildren develop their perception of time. At the first stage of the research a test sample was defined which included an experimental group and a control group of first grade schoolchildren; the teaching process in the experimental group included the use of an interactive whiteboard while within the control group all the methods of the traditional approach were used, apart from the interactive whiteboard. Before conducting the research each child from both the experimental and the control group underwent an oral questioning to test their existing knowledge. What followed was the process of developing the perception of time within both groups; the children in the experimental group, using the interactive whiteboard, worked with the Prezi application, used to introduce new learning material about time, and the Hot Potatoes application to deal with tasks, aimed to refresh, consolidate and test their knowledge. They also used the existing electronic teaching material, called »Vedeževo e-okolje«. At the end of this 6-month experiment the children from both groups were again tested through oral questioning and the results were examined for possible differences between the two groups, concerning children’s understanding about time concepts and the progress of developing their perception of time. The content-based teaching perspective of using the existing »Vedeževo e-okolje« electronic teaching material was also examined.
The statistical analysis of the experiment (the t-test) has confirmed that at the initial questioning the knowledge of schoolchildren from both groups was approximately the same. At the end test the perception of time in children from the experimental group proved to be better developed in seven out of ten thematic sets, compared to children from the control group. Using the interactive whiteboard therefore proved to have a significant impact on teaching and helps children develop a better perception of time than the traditional teaching approach. The evaluation of the »Vedeževo e-okolje« electronic material from the content-based teaching perspective confirmed that the existing material is suitable and useful for presenting the concept of time. A set of recommendations on how to introduce the concept of time and time-related ideas at the primary school level was also designed in a form of guidelines for teachers of that school level.
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