The purpose of this master's thesis is to deepen understanding of the use of didactic games in science teaching in the first cycle of primary school and to shed some light on teachers' experiences in this area in their everyday pedagogical work. In the master's thesis I researched the use of didactic games in science teaching in the first cycle of primary school. The theoretical part substantiates early science teaching and learning which is based on contemporary developmental-psychological and didactic recognition. Children's game and in particular didactic game and also motivational characteristics of pupils in the first cycle of primary school are represented in detail. There are two research methods used in the empirical part of this research. The first one is quantitative descriptive and the second one is qualitative, namely case study. With the questionnaire I established teachers' experiences when using didactic games in science teaching. The second part of this research is based on classroom observation of science lesson in which the teacher used didactic games. I tried to establish in what ways and how often are didactic games used during lessons, how do pupils respond to them and do they help pupils achieve targeted learning objectives. Analysis of adequacy of didactic games used during the lesson and suggestions for their improvement followed after classroom observation, namely two semi-structured questionnaires were carried out. The first one was given to teachers and the second one to 22 pupils, out of which 12 pupils answered the questions. I talked to the teacher about the usefulness of didactic games in science teaching and I also talked to pupils about their responses to way of teaching that uses didactic games. This sort of research is a novelty in this area because I haven't come across researches dealing with such topic. The interview with pupils showed that they like this way of teaching but on the other hand, they still believe they need the teacher's explanation. The questionnaire's answers made me realize that representation of didactic games in science teaching is low due to our school system and to the fact that there is lack of money, time and certain educational courses which would help prepare teachers to use didactic games.
|