Teachers today are no longer able to teach in the same way they used to be taught if they want to prepare their pupils for the challenges of the future. Learning no longer means just memorizing the contents and results; it is a process of building and giving sense to knowledge and developing skills. Teaching is a process of creating conditions for exploring new topics and building knowledge. Teachers need to be aware of their changed roles since they are no longer merely providers of knowledge but also organizers of the work in the classroom and consultants that support effective teamwork, which may be based on learning through a schoolmate's interpretation.
This Master's thesis discusses the effectiveness of teaching electricity and magnetism with peer Instruction to year 4 primary school pupils. Peer teaching includes learning from your peers, imitating their behavior, cross-examining goals and assumptions, and peer communication. Mazur named the technique of peer education with the term "Peer Instruction", which is translated as learning with a classmate's interpretation.
Children meet electricity and magnetism in a nursery school already. They learn about the properties of magnets, play with them and explore their function. In the third grade of primary school, pupils learn about saving energy. In the fourth grade, these classes become more comprehensive and pupils explore concepts related to electricity and magnetism. When planning lessons on electricity and magnetism, teachers often prepare experimental work. However, studies show that it is quite difficult for the pupils in the first four grades of primary school to understand concepts related to electricity and magnetism.
Careful planning of activities related to the mentioned topics allows us to check how much students can learn from the interpretations of their classmates, which is also the goal of this thesis. In the study, the descriptive method was used. Both qualitative and quantitative research approaches were intertwined. For the purpose of the study, four lessons for the fourth grade of primary school were planned, where the method of experiment and the teaching technique with a classmate's interpretation dominated. The sampling method was non-randomized and goal-oriented; the study included 19 pupils in the fourth grade of a selected primary school. The data was collected continuously, with voting slips filled in by pupils before and after an interpretation or a practical experiment, and by recording observations. In this way, information about what the pupils had learned was obtained. A semi-structured interview on knowing the teaching technique with a classmate's interpretation was conducted with three teachers.
Observations suggest the first responses of pupils about using the teaching technique with a classmate's interpretation were positive. The analysis of the pupils' answers collected shows peer teaching is also successful among younger pupils. The use of the technique was successful during the very first class since the pupils mastered the learning objectives set. On average, during the first class, pupils answered 11 out of 18 questions (61%) correct. In the end, on average they selected 15 out of 19 answers (79%) correct. The interviews with teachers suggest they had already used the peer teaching techniques, but they had not known the mentioned technique before.
The results of the study carried out cannot be generalized because the study involved a small number of pupils. At the same time, this was our first experience with the use of peer teaching technique. The technique was used only in four classes and the study was limited to a short period of time. The results suggest directions for further research.
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