The purpose of the thesis is to examine whether the simple biological key is useful for primary school pupils mastering the biological knowledge of land snails (terrestrial gastropods).
In the theoretical part the land snails are placed in the thematic unit "living creatures" of the study plans for learning about the environment and science and technology. Furthermore, the crucial baseline of constructivist way of teaching, types of identification keys, the use thereof, and the teacher lesson plan are also presented. The characteristics of land snails are described as well.
The practical part includes the presentation of objectives, methods and results of the research. The level of knowledge about land snails during the fourth grade is determined there, along with the importance of simple biological keys, and the difference in biological knowledge among pupils, depending on the source of information.
The results showed that simple identification keys are usable for the formation of biological knowledge, because the level of pupils’ knowledge rose. When researching with the use of the identification key it was shown that pupils learn in detail about the morphological properties of snails and concepts associated with them. They are also successful in the description of the types of snails. However, differences in knowledge between pupils who have their knowledge developed using identification keys and pupils who have knowledge formed using a textbook are noticeable too.
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