Karel Vojíř - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Karel Vojíř
Journal of Baltic Science Education, Feb 25, 2022
Ability to adequately analyze educational situations is essential not only for (pre-service) teac... more Ability to adequately analyze educational situations is essential not only for (pre-service) teachers' occupational decisions, but also for their own professional development. This study represents an evaluation of the observation practice aimed at pre-service chemistry teachers' (N = 12) professional vision development. They attended chemistry classes in schools, discussed them in a group and independently wrote their reflections. The effect on the professional vision was evaluated using a self-efficacy questionnaire, lesson reflections analyses and semi-structured interviews. The results showed that preservice teachers significantly overestimated their ability to reflect on lessons, struggled with lesson analyses, failed to describe and analyze chemistry-specific content in contrast with their significant improvement in describing student-teacher interaction and teacher's activity-all with medium to large effect. Although observation practice deepened their ability to notice, pre-service teachers did not change attention to individual lesson's aspects. Lesson observation therefore seems to be a suitable means of professional vision development from the richness of observed phenomena's point of view, as well as students' self-efficacy improvement, however more research in several aspects is needed to further inform (pre-service) teacher training practice.
University education of future science teachers, 2021
The reflection describes the current situation in chemistry teacher's pre-gradual education at Fa... more The reflection describes the current situation in chemistry teacher's pre-gradual education at Faculty of Education Charles University. The process of creation of new structure, range and content are analysed and discussed. As starting point, we present new standards for teachers' education developed in the last time in Czech Republic and at Charles University, too. Main stress is focused on objectives of teachers' profession, to its content and context of connected study programs. Faculty of Education, Charles University is presented as example of progress in new chemistry teachers study programs contents in parts of chemistry didactics, chemistry, and common base. All is implemented to current situation of lack of sciences teachers in school practice. Main challenge is how to "create" teachers-professionals in chemistry education mainly for general education. The new chemistry teachers study programs were created by structure 3 + 2, it means three-year Bachelor study program "Chemistry with orientation to education" and two-year Master Study program "Teacher Education of Chemistry for Lower and Upper Secondary Schools".
Acta Chimica Slovenica
The research mapped chemistry-oriented university freshman students’ ability to solve chemical ca... more The research mapped chemistry-oriented university freshman students’ ability to solve chemical calculations. Their success was monitored based on several factors such as their faculty, field of studies, the type of calculation and the assignment type (word problem vs. formula). The results indicate a significant need to change the approach to teaching chemical calculations - the students were rather unsuccessful in the tasks. The obstacles they face include the ability to identify a problem, understand the concepts of calculation and appropriately adjust the correct use of the mathematical apparatus. These findings represent an impulse for teaching in upper-secondary school as well as to introductory university courses.
Učebnice jsou učební pomůckou sloužící ve vzdělávacím procesu k celé řadě účelů. Kromě žáků pracu... more Učebnice jsou učební pomůckou sloužící ve vzdělávacím procesu k celé řadě účelů. Kromě žáků pracují s učebnicemi i učitelé, pro které díky komplexnímu výběru a transformaci učiva představují nejkonkrétnější podobu zamýšleného kurikula. Učebnice tak mohou mít značný vliv na podobu vzdělávání. Ve výuce chemie na základních školách ale prozatím této oblasti nebyla věnována systematická výzkumná pozornost. Cílem této práce bylo zmapovat problematiku učebnic chemie pro základní školy. Pro zasazení problematiky do širšího kontextu byla provedena systematická rešerše odborných publikací věnovaných výzkumu učebnic přírodních věd. Zmapováno bylo i vydávání učebnic chemie po roce 1989 v kontextu změn státního kurikula pro základní školy. Možný vliv učebnic je podmíněn jak jejich zpracováním, tak i jejich využíváním. Bylo proto provedeno dotazníkové šetření na náhodném vzorku 387 učitelů z 370 základních škol. Tento vzorek umožňuje zobecnění na všechny základní školy, respektive všechny na nic...
Chemistry Education Research and Practice
According to research findings from all over the world, textbooks play an important role for teac... more According to research findings from all over the world, textbooks play an important role for teachers in the choice of methods, content and educational goals. However, the open textbook market, where the state's influence is limited, results in a significant gap between the state (written) curriculum and actual classroom practice. To understand this phenomenon in more detail, teachers’ (N = 387) conception of lower-secondary chemistry textbooks was evaluated, based on their perception and use of particular textbook components. Data obtained with an online questionnaire were subjected to a thorough analysis using CRISP-DM data mining methodology. The results showed a high consistency in chemistry teachers’ perception of textbooks and also that only a limited number of textbook components are frequently being used in teaching practice. The vast majority of teachers mentioned using textbook content to prepare lessons, which indicated textbooks’ influence over lesson content. The ot...
Journal of Fluids Engineering, 2021
For very low relaxation time (i.e., lesser than a microsecond), viscoelastic fluid experimental d... more For very low relaxation time (i.e., lesser than a microsecond), viscoelastic fluid experimental determination is difficult, if not impossible. In this work, the relaxation time measurement of a weakly elastic polymer solution, too low to be measured using classical rheometry techniques, is assessed using a mixed experimental-numerical strategy. First the fluid is rheologically assessed, by measuring its shear viscosity, surface tension, and density. Then the relaxation time is determined by comparing the jetting of polymer solution from a continuous ink-jet (CIJ) device, experimentally and numerically. The numerical approach is first validated using test cases, and a viscoelastic Oldroyd-B model is used to model the experimental solution. The relaxation time is then a parameter allowing us to fit numerical simulation onto experimental results. This mixed strategy is particularly convenient for weakly elastic solution for which physical parameters cannot be measured using an experime...
Acta Chimica Slovenica
Tasks in Czech lower-secondary chemistry textbooks were analysed to describe their position in te... more Tasks in Czech lower-secondary chemistry textbooks were analysed to describe their position in textbook chapters, required response type, overall task nature, as well as cognitive requirements. The results showed older textbooks contain task banks at the end of chapters suggest a transmissive teaching paradigm, whereas newer textbooks containing tasks within the chapters. As far as the nature of the tasks is concerned, a strong stereotypical genre was found in the chemistry textbooks. Most of the textbook tasks require open-ended answers and target: factual and conceptual knowledge remembering or procedure application. The authors therefore suggest several changes to the tasks, including their position in chapters, cognitive difficulty as well as the required response type in order to meet chemistry education goals.
Tato práce se zabývá tvorbou učebních úloh přímo navazujících na Standardy pro základní vzděláván... more Tato práce se zabývá tvorbou učebních úloh přímo navazujících na Standardy pro základní vzdělávání vzdělávacího oboru Chemie. Autor této práce téma zpracovával v rámci projektu Národního ústavu pro vzdělávání. Východiskem pro tvorbu úloh sloužících k ilustraci a konkretizujícímu zpřístupnění Standardů se stal rozvoj přírodovědné gramotnosti, jakožto princip výuky chemie v širších souvislostech a s přenosem do mimoškolního prostředí. Učební úlohy byly vytvářeny na základě v práci popsaných teoretických východisek přírodovědné gramotnosti a výsledků českých žáků v jejím testování, kontextu Standardů v českém kurikulárním systému, prvků problémového vyučování, typologie učebních úloh a jejich kognitivních parametrů. V průběhu tvorby byly úlohy pilotně ověřovány. Výsledky pilotního ověření byly využity v další tvorbě. Na základě metodologie popsané v této práci byl vytvořen materiál Metodické komentáře a úlohy ke standardům pro základní vzdělávání - Chemie, který obsahuje ucelenou sadu ...
Textbooks are one of the most important and also most frequently used educational tool. Their inf... more Textbooks are one of the most important and also most frequently used educational tool. Their influence on education is therefore enormous. To perform optimally, textbooks need to contain certain integral elements which differentiate them to e.g. mimeographed subject matter or encyclopedia. The set of these elements in textbooks are referred to as textbook didactical equipment. The higher didactical equipment a textbook contains, the more didactically suitable it is. In this contribution, four the most often used lower-secondary chemistry textbooks in Czechia were analyzed with respect to their didactical equipment. Also, teachers' opinion about importance of particular structural elements of textbooks were acquired with the use of a questionnaire. Out of 15 provided structural elements, the teachers (n = 387) consider explanatory text, educational illustrations and subject-matter summary to be the most important ones. On the contrary, the teachers consider a vocabulary of terms, explicit educational aims and links to other sources of information the least important-evaluated the importance as. In the analyzed textbooks in Czechia, all the structural elements the teachers consider important are present. On the other hand, the least important elements were found only in some of the textbooks. The results may serve to the publishers and textbook authors, but also for interpretation of educational outcomes once textbooks and the extent to which it is being used in education is taken into account.
Chemistry-Didactics-Ecology-Metrology, 2021
One of the main purposes of textbooks is the mediation of educational content to students. The fa... more One of the main purposes of textbooks is the mediation of educational content to students. The factual accuracy of information, as well as the clarity of the text for students plays a crucial role in this aspect. The inadequate text difficulty can complicate students' learning. Comparing different approaches to the text in textbooks, considering the objectives of education, represents key knowledge for teaching materials innovation. This research was therefore focused on the comparison of the Slovak and Canadian science textbooks for lower secondary education. The methodology for assessing text difficulty according to Nestler, Prucha and Pluskal was used for this purpose. The samples of text from the textbooks for 6th and 8th grade of lower-secondary school were assessed. It was found that the text in Slovak textbooks is significantly more difficult. While from the syntactic difficulty point of view differences were rather partial, the significant differences were found in the s...
Learning chemical concepts involves understanding phenomena at macroscopic, symbolic, and submicr... more Learning chemical concepts involves understanding phenomena at macroscopic, symbolic, and submicroscopic levels and making connection among them. Understanding, chemical reactions have been challenging for students because it requires visualization of interactions among the species. It was observed that students may hold alternative conceptions regarding chemical reactions, such as redox reactions. One way of helping students make connection among these levels is to engage them by making an experiment or viewing an experimental video, and then generate submicroscopic representations for that concept. This study aimed to investigate preservice chemistry teachers’ submicroscopic level conceptualizations of redox reactions via the animations they generate. Constructivism which emphasizes the importance of the individual backgrounds for learning establishes the theoretical background of the study. In this study, 36 preservice chemistry teachers first watched an experimental video of a r...
Journal of Baltic Science Education, 2022
Ability to adequately analyze educational situations is essential not only for (pre-service) teac... more Ability to adequately analyze educational situations is essential not only for (pre-service) teachers’ occupational decisions, but also for their own professional development. This study represents an evaluation of the observation practice aimed at pre-service chemistry teachers’ (N = 12) professional vision development. They attended chemistry classes in schools, discussed them in a group and independently wrote their reflections. The effect on the professional vision was evaluated using a self-efficacy questionnaire, lesson reflections analyses and semi-structured interviews. The results showed that pre-service teachers significantly overestimated their ability to reflect on lessons, struggled with lesson analyses, failed to describe and analyze chemistry-specific content in contrast with their significant improvement in describing student-teacher interaction and teacher’s activity – all with medium to large effect. Although observation practice deepened their ability to notice, p...
International Journal of Science Education
ABSTRACT The number of science education research papers has been rapidly rising in recent years.... more ABSTRACT The number of science education research papers has been rapidly rising in recent years. This number has been particularly influenced by researchers from non-English speaking countries who contribute to the field. With this number of papers, literature reviews gain in importance as they help researchers more easily orient themselves in problem areas. The authors of this study present a literature review on science textbook research. The importance of textbooks in education is indisputable, yet research in this field is surprisingly unbalanced between particular regions or states. In this paper, a review of 183 papers published between 2000 and 2018, indexed to the Web of Science database, is introduced. The results show that researchers in Europe and the USA focus on textbook research more than researchers elsewhere in the world. The textbooks most frequently researched on are science books for secondary schools. Textbook research consists mostly of analysing learning concepts and how concepts are integrated, non-textual elements in textbooks, visual representations, learning content or learning text analysis.
Textbooks as a prominent product of educational content’s didactical transformation are usually p... more Textbooks as a prominent product of educational content’s didactical transformation are usually published as a series. Textbooks are often accompanied by workbooks and teacher’s books. These publications are designed to support teacher’s work and can have a significant impact on the teaching practice. To deepen the understanding of chemical education at lower-secondary schools, the goal was to map chemistry teachers’ use of workbooks and teacher’s books. An electronic questionnaire containing close-ended questions as well as scales was used for this purpose. Information about workbooks and teacher’s books’ use, frequency of use, perceived importance and purpose were gathered. Whereas 63% of the 387 respondents reported using workbooks they consider important for the quality of education, teacher’s books are only used by 24% of teachers, with only 4% reporting their frequent use. The results indicate that workbooks are mostly used during chemistry lessons or for student homework, how...
Pedagogika
The alienation from nature has a major impact on the education of primary school pupils and pre-s... more The alienation from nature has a major impact on the education of primary school pupils and pre-school children. In the review paper we focus on research into this phenomena. We chose 79 articles on Web of Science, 39 on Scopus, and two in the Czech database RIV. From this a total number of 21 articles were selected, analysed and presented to the readers in this article. It turned out that alienation from nature is a fuzzy concept. Many experts rely on it. But it is not precisely defined in the literature. Two main topics appeared in the articles that were considered: connectedness and relation to nature and fear of animals and disgust aroused by them. The main findings are: a) teachers and parents are already alienated, b) examples of good practice show ways of bringing nature closer to children, c) children’s attitudes to nature are changing; they are more afraid of animals and disgusted by them, d) a certain degree of fear and disgust is useful, e) differences between the sexes a...
Journal of Baltic Science Education, Feb 25, 2022
Ability to adequately analyze educational situations is essential not only for (pre-service) teac... more Ability to adequately analyze educational situations is essential not only for (pre-service) teachers' occupational decisions, but also for their own professional development. This study represents an evaluation of the observation practice aimed at pre-service chemistry teachers' (N = 12) professional vision development. They attended chemistry classes in schools, discussed them in a group and independently wrote their reflections. The effect on the professional vision was evaluated using a self-efficacy questionnaire, lesson reflections analyses and semi-structured interviews. The results showed that preservice teachers significantly overestimated their ability to reflect on lessons, struggled with lesson analyses, failed to describe and analyze chemistry-specific content in contrast with their significant improvement in describing student-teacher interaction and teacher's activity-all with medium to large effect. Although observation practice deepened their ability to notice, pre-service teachers did not change attention to individual lesson's aspects. Lesson observation therefore seems to be a suitable means of professional vision development from the richness of observed phenomena's point of view, as well as students' self-efficacy improvement, however more research in several aspects is needed to further inform (pre-service) teacher training practice.
University education of future science teachers, 2021
The reflection describes the current situation in chemistry teacher's pre-gradual education at Fa... more The reflection describes the current situation in chemistry teacher's pre-gradual education at Faculty of Education Charles University. The process of creation of new structure, range and content are analysed and discussed. As starting point, we present new standards for teachers' education developed in the last time in Czech Republic and at Charles University, too. Main stress is focused on objectives of teachers' profession, to its content and context of connected study programs. Faculty of Education, Charles University is presented as example of progress in new chemistry teachers study programs contents in parts of chemistry didactics, chemistry, and common base. All is implemented to current situation of lack of sciences teachers in school practice. Main challenge is how to "create" teachers-professionals in chemistry education mainly for general education. The new chemistry teachers study programs were created by structure 3 + 2, it means three-year Bachelor study program "Chemistry with orientation to education" and two-year Master Study program "Teacher Education of Chemistry for Lower and Upper Secondary Schools".
Acta Chimica Slovenica
The research mapped chemistry-oriented university freshman students’ ability to solve chemical ca... more The research mapped chemistry-oriented university freshman students’ ability to solve chemical calculations. Their success was monitored based on several factors such as their faculty, field of studies, the type of calculation and the assignment type (word problem vs. formula). The results indicate a significant need to change the approach to teaching chemical calculations - the students were rather unsuccessful in the tasks. The obstacles they face include the ability to identify a problem, understand the concepts of calculation and appropriately adjust the correct use of the mathematical apparatus. These findings represent an impulse for teaching in upper-secondary school as well as to introductory university courses.
Učebnice jsou učební pomůckou sloužící ve vzdělávacím procesu k celé řadě účelů. Kromě žáků pracu... more Učebnice jsou učební pomůckou sloužící ve vzdělávacím procesu k celé řadě účelů. Kromě žáků pracují s učebnicemi i učitelé, pro které díky komplexnímu výběru a transformaci učiva představují nejkonkrétnější podobu zamýšleného kurikula. Učebnice tak mohou mít značný vliv na podobu vzdělávání. Ve výuce chemie na základních školách ale prozatím této oblasti nebyla věnována systematická výzkumná pozornost. Cílem této práce bylo zmapovat problematiku učebnic chemie pro základní školy. Pro zasazení problematiky do širšího kontextu byla provedena systematická rešerše odborných publikací věnovaných výzkumu učebnic přírodních věd. Zmapováno bylo i vydávání učebnic chemie po roce 1989 v kontextu změn státního kurikula pro základní školy. Možný vliv učebnic je podmíněn jak jejich zpracováním, tak i jejich využíváním. Bylo proto provedeno dotazníkové šetření na náhodném vzorku 387 učitelů z 370 základních škol. Tento vzorek umožňuje zobecnění na všechny základní školy, respektive všechny na nic...
Chemistry Education Research and Practice
According to research findings from all over the world, textbooks play an important role for teac... more According to research findings from all over the world, textbooks play an important role for teachers in the choice of methods, content and educational goals. However, the open textbook market, where the state's influence is limited, results in a significant gap between the state (written) curriculum and actual classroom practice. To understand this phenomenon in more detail, teachers’ (N = 387) conception of lower-secondary chemistry textbooks was evaluated, based on their perception and use of particular textbook components. Data obtained with an online questionnaire were subjected to a thorough analysis using CRISP-DM data mining methodology. The results showed a high consistency in chemistry teachers’ perception of textbooks and also that only a limited number of textbook components are frequently being used in teaching practice. The vast majority of teachers mentioned using textbook content to prepare lessons, which indicated textbooks’ influence over lesson content. The ot...
Journal of Fluids Engineering, 2021
For very low relaxation time (i.e., lesser than a microsecond), viscoelastic fluid experimental d... more For very low relaxation time (i.e., lesser than a microsecond), viscoelastic fluid experimental determination is difficult, if not impossible. In this work, the relaxation time measurement of a weakly elastic polymer solution, too low to be measured using classical rheometry techniques, is assessed using a mixed experimental-numerical strategy. First the fluid is rheologically assessed, by measuring its shear viscosity, surface tension, and density. Then the relaxation time is determined by comparing the jetting of polymer solution from a continuous ink-jet (CIJ) device, experimentally and numerically. The numerical approach is first validated using test cases, and a viscoelastic Oldroyd-B model is used to model the experimental solution. The relaxation time is then a parameter allowing us to fit numerical simulation onto experimental results. This mixed strategy is particularly convenient for weakly elastic solution for which physical parameters cannot be measured using an experime...
Acta Chimica Slovenica
Tasks in Czech lower-secondary chemistry textbooks were analysed to describe their position in te... more Tasks in Czech lower-secondary chemistry textbooks were analysed to describe their position in textbook chapters, required response type, overall task nature, as well as cognitive requirements. The results showed older textbooks contain task banks at the end of chapters suggest a transmissive teaching paradigm, whereas newer textbooks containing tasks within the chapters. As far as the nature of the tasks is concerned, a strong stereotypical genre was found in the chemistry textbooks. Most of the textbook tasks require open-ended answers and target: factual and conceptual knowledge remembering or procedure application. The authors therefore suggest several changes to the tasks, including their position in chapters, cognitive difficulty as well as the required response type in order to meet chemistry education goals.
Tato práce se zabývá tvorbou učebních úloh přímo navazujících na Standardy pro základní vzděláván... more Tato práce se zabývá tvorbou učebních úloh přímo navazujících na Standardy pro základní vzdělávání vzdělávacího oboru Chemie. Autor této práce téma zpracovával v rámci projektu Národního ústavu pro vzdělávání. Východiskem pro tvorbu úloh sloužících k ilustraci a konkretizujícímu zpřístupnění Standardů se stal rozvoj přírodovědné gramotnosti, jakožto princip výuky chemie v širších souvislostech a s přenosem do mimoškolního prostředí. Učební úlohy byly vytvářeny na základě v práci popsaných teoretických východisek přírodovědné gramotnosti a výsledků českých žáků v jejím testování, kontextu Standardů v českém kurikulárním systému, prvků problémového vyučování, typologie učebních úloh a jejich kognitivních parametrů. V průběhu tvorby byly úlohy pilotně ověřovány. Výsledky pilotního ověření byly využity v další tvorbě. Na základě metodologie popsané v této práci byl vytvořen materiál Metodické komentáře a úlohy ke standardům pro základní vzdělávání - Chemie, který obsahuje ucelenou sadu ...
Textbooks are one of the most important and also most frequently used educational tool. Their inf... more Textbooks are one of the most important and also most frequently used educational tool. Their influence on education is therefore enormous. To perform optimally, textbooks need to contain certain integral elements which differentiate them to e.g. mimeographed subject matter or encyclopedia. The set of these elements in textbooks are referred to as textbook didactical equipment. The higher didactical equipment a textbook contains, the more didactically suitable it is. In this contribution, four the most often used lower-secondary chemistry textbooks in Czechia were analyzed with respect to their didactical equipment. Also, teachers' opinion about importance of particular structural elements of textbooks were acquired with the use of a questionnaire. Out of 15 provided structural elements, the teachers (n = 387) consider explanatory text, educational illustrations and subject-matter summary to be the most important ones. On the contrary, the teachers consider a vocabulary of terms, explicit educational aims and links to other sources of information the least important-evaluated the importance as. In the analyzed textbooks in Czechia, all the structural elements the teachers consider important are present. On the other hand, the least important elements were found only in some of the textbooks. The results may serve to the publishers and textbook authors, but also for interpretation of educational outcomes once textbooks and the extent to which it is being used in education is taken into account.
Chemistry-Didactics-Ecology-Metrology, 2021
One of the main purposes of textbooks is the mediation of educational content to students. The fa... more One of the main purposes of textbooks is the mediation of educational content to students. The factual accuracy of information, as well as the clarity of the text for students plays a crucial role in this aspect. The inadequate text difficulty can complicate students' learning. Comparing different approaches to the text in textbooks, considering the objectives of education, represents key knowledge for teaching materials innovation. This research was therefore focused on the comparison of the Slovak and Canadian science textbooks for lower secondary education. The methodology for assessing text difficulty according to Nestler, Prucha and Pluskal was used for this purpose. The samples of text from the textbooks for 6th and 8th grade of lower-secondary school were assessed. It was found that the text in Slovak textbooks is significantly more difficult. While from the syntactic difficulty point of view differences were rather partial, the significant differences were found in the s...
Learning chemical concepts involves understanding phenomena at macroscopic, symbolic, and submicr... more Learning chemical concepts involves understanding phenomena at macroscopic, symbolic, and submicroscopic levels and making connection among them. Understanding, chemical reactions have been challenging for students because it requires visualization of interactions among the species. It was observed that students may hold alternative conceptions regarding chemical reactions, such as redox reactions. One way of helping students make connection among these levels is to engage them by making an experiment or viewing an experimental video, and then generate submicroscopic representations for that concept. This study aimed to investigate preservice chemistry teachers’ submicroscopic level conceptualizations of redox reactions via the animations they generate. Constructivism which emphasizes the importance of the individual backgrounds for learning establishes the theoretical background of the study. In this study, 36 preservice chemistry teachers first watched an experimental video of a r...
Journal of Baltic Science Education, 2022
Ability to adequately analyze educational situations is essential not only for (pre-service) teac... more Ability to adequately analyze educational situations is essential not only for (pre-service) teachers’ occupational decisions, but also for their own professional development. This study represents an evaluation of the observation practice aimed at pre-service chemistry teachers’ (N = 12) professional vision development. They attended chemistry classes in schools, discussed them in a group and independently wrote their reflections. The effect on the professional vision was evaluated using a self-efficacy questionnaire, lesson reflections analyses and semi-structured interviews. The results showed that pre-service teachers significantly overestimated their ability to reflect on lessons, struggled with lesson analyses, failed to describe and analyze chemistry-specific content in contrast with their significant improvement in describing student-teacher interaction and teacher’s activity – all with medium to large effect. Although observation practice deepened their ability to notice, p...
International Journal of Science Education
ABSTRACT The number of science education research papers has been rapidly rising in recent years.... more ABSTRACT The number of science education research papers has been rapidly rising in recent years. This number has been particularly influenced by researchers from non-English speaking countries who contribute to the field. With this number of papers, literature reviews gain in importance as they help researchers more easily orient themselves in problem areas. The authors of this study present a literature review on science textbook research. The importance of textbooks in education is indisputable, yet research in this field is surprisingly unbalanced between particular regions or states. In this paper, a review of 183 papers published between 2000 and 2018, indexed to the Web of Science database, is introduced. The results show that researchers in Europe and the USA focus on textbook research more than researchers elsewhere in the world. The textbooks most frequently researched on are science books for secondary schools. Textbook research consists mostly of analysing learning concepts and how concepts are integrated, non-textual elements in textbooks, visual representations, learning content or learning text analysis.
Textbooks as a prominent product of educational content’s didactical transformation are usually p... more Textbooks as a prominent product of educational content’s didactical transformation are usually published as a series. Textbooks are often accompanied by workbooks and teacher’s books. These publications are designed to support teacher’s work and can have a significant impact on the teaching practice. To deepen the understanding of chemical education at lower-secondary schools, the goal was to map chemistry teachers’ use of workbooks and teacher’s books. An electronic questionnaire containing close-ended questions as well as scales was used for this purpose. Information about workbooks and teacher’s books’ use, frequency of use, perceived importance and purpose were gathered. Whereas 63% of the 387 respondents reported using workbooks they consider important for the quality of education, teacher’s books are only used by 24% of teachers, with only 4% reporting their frequent use. The results indicate that workbooks are mostly used during chemistry lessons or for student homework, how...
Pedagogika
The alienation from nature has a major impact on the education of primary school pupils and pre-s... more The alienation from nature has a major impact on the education of primary school pupils and pre-school children. In the review paper we focus on research into this phenomena. We chose 79 articles on Web of Science, 39 on Scopus, and two in the Czech database RIV. From this a total number of 21 articles were selected, analysed and presented to the readers in this article. It turned out that alienation from nature is a fuzzy concept. Many experts rely on it. But it is not precisely defined in the literature. Two main topics appeared in the articles that were considered: connectedness and relation to nature and fear of animals and disgust aroused by them. The main findings are: a) teachers and parents are already alienated, b) examples of good practice show ways of bringing nature closer to children, c) children’s attitudes to nature are changing; they are more afraid of animals and disgusted by them, d) a certain degree of fear and disgust is useful, e) differences between the sexes a...