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Kratom as a candidate for a new topic in chemical education
Vacková, Kateřina ; Rusek, Martin (advisor) ; Kuhnová, Marta (referee)
The bachelor thesis aims to raise awareness of interested parties about the psychoactive substance kratom and to highlight the issue of kratom in today's society. It places the substance in a historical context and describes its different varieties together with its chemical content, phytochemistry, preparation, and use. The work also aims to outline the issue of kratom in terms of its addictive potential, legislation and places the issue in a school environment. Through two case studies, using data collection methods in the form of semi-structured interview, survey, and data analysis, specific situations of kratom use by school students, the approach of teachers together with the chosen solution, and the students' and teachers' attitudes towards the issue at hand are described. The whole work then sets the basis for a possible introduction of the kratom topic into chemistry lessons, for example through chemistry textbooks. The data obtained confirmed the increasing incidence of kratom use by secondary school students and the existence of kratom as one of the current topics among the young generation. The results show a majority interest of teachers and students in further education in this area and in the possible integration of the kratom topic in the classroom. The case studies also indicated a...
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Research on material didactic tools used in teaching chemistry at lower-secondary schools in Czechia
Štruplová, Hana ; Rusek, Martin (advisor) ; Hamerská, Lucie (referee)
This bachelor's thesis focuses on the use of material didactic tools in teaching chemistry at lower-secondary schools in the Czech Republic. The research primarily concentrated on instructional tools and didactic technology due to their closer relation to the content, methods, and forms of teaching. Special emphasis was placed on the use of textbooks and their structural components. The goal of the bachelor's thesis was to identify which material didactic tools are present in the lessons, as well as their duration and mode of use in teaching. Specifically regarding textbooks, the thesis aimed to map out which structural components of textbooks are utilized in chemistry lessons and with which topics. Therefore, in the theoretical part, the thesis addresses the characteristics of these selected tools, followed by an examination of their significance in teaching. The research method employed was systematic observation of chemistry lessons in lower-secondary schools across the Czech Republic. The analysis of the collected data revealed that blackboards, worksheets, printed materials, and various ICT tools were most frequently used in chemistry lessons. Textbooks were used in 21 % of the observed lessons. The data also indicated that the type of tool used was influenced by the topic being discussed. The...
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Between perceived and intended curriculum: Teachers' arguments for their choice of chemistry subject-matter
Matějů, Kateřina ; Rusek, Martin (advisor) ; Koperová, Dominika (referee)
This bachelor thesis deals with the teaching of chemical calculations at primary schools from the perspective of chemistry teachers. The theoretical part describes different types of curriculum, the system of curricular documents in the Czech Republic and abroad. Furthermore, the bachelor thesis deals with the selection of the basic curriculum, the influence of textbooks on the implemented curriculum and approaches to curriculum creation. The practical part introduces the methodology of the Delphi study which was used to collect the data. The aim of this thesis was to use the chosen method to find arguments why teachers include chemical calculations in chemistry lessons and to what extent. Another aim was to find out the ideal number of lessons that teachers would like to devote to the topic and contrast the stated outputs of RVP and SVP the schools of teachers included in the research sample. In research thirteen teachers with different length of experience and different educational backgrounds participated. A three-round Delphi was used to obtain data on the number of lessons, arguments and the scope of the topic of chemical calculations. The results of the work show that teachers would devote 5 teaching lessons to the topic of chemical calculations in the range of mass fraction, amount of...
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The effect of teaching conception on first year undergraduate students' ability to perform chemical calculations
Nováková, Karolína ; Rusek, Martin (advisor) ; Matěcha, Tadeáš (referee)
This bachelor thesis deals with the readiness of undergraduate students to perform chemical calculations. The years of students entering the Department of Chemistry and Didactics of Chemistry at the Faculty of Education of Charles University in the academic years 2022/23 and 2023/24 were examined. The theoretical background is presented at the beginning of the paper, where the issues of chemical calculations are described based on previous research. Factors affecting the ability to solve chemical calculations and their overlap with mathematics are included. In addition, attention is given to the position of chemical calculations in the school curriculum system. The practical part focuses on identifying the secondary school students abilities to perform chemical calculations. At the beginning, students were given an entrance test. In addition to the success rate, the mistakes made by the students were also examined. At the end of the winter semester, students wrote an analogous posttest. The results of both tests were then compared. In addition, selected students were interviewed to obtain more accurate information regarding the teaching of chemical calculations. The results show that students are coming out of high school underprepared even though they should be proficient in calculations according...
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Analysis and comparison of elementary school educational programs in the Czech Republic based on the findings of the Czech School Inspectorate survey
Medek, Petr ; Rusek, Martin (advisor) ; Tóthová, Martina (referee)
This thesis presents research on primary schools in the Czech Republic, selected according to whether they were included in the Thematic report of the Czech School Inspectorate in 2023. The thesis focuses on the results of this report for the educational field of Chemistry. Within the theoretical part, the gradual development of curriculum documents in the Czech Republic is elaborated with regard to the currently ongoing revision of the RVP ZV. In the practical part, an analysis of the school curriculum of the given schools is worked, focusing on the distribution of the number of teaching hours in the educational field of Chemistry within the educational field of Human and Nature, as well as an analysis of the distribution of available hours in the educational fields. An analysis of the amount of active verbs in the expected outcomes and whether primary schools have included teaching methods in their school curriculum is also made. The final section shows, among other things, that the highest number of available hours is devoted to the educational area of Human and Nature (median of 6 teaching hours), that the teaching of the educational area of Chemistry still persists under the title of Chemistry in the eighth and ninth grades with two teaching hours each, and that the highest number of teaching...
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Characterizing sample questions for medical school admission exam using Bloom`s revised taxonomy of learning objectives
Vršková, Nikola ; Rusek, Martin (advisor) ; Bílek, Martin (referee)
This thesis is focused on characterising sample questions for medical school admission exam using Bloom`s revised taxonomy of learning objectives. The aim of the thesis is to evaluate the distribution of question types within the dimension of knowledge and the dimension of cognitive processes. Secondly, to compare these results with the requirements and opinions of professors teaching at medical faculties. The theoretical part provides basic information about the organization of the admission exams to medical faculties, and then summarizes basic information about the original and revised Bloom's taxonomy. In the practical part of this thesis, model questions are analyzed using the revised Bloom's taxonomy. Secondly, the teachers from the medical faculties were asked their opinion on the most important abilities of the medical students and on the possible ways to test them. The results show the stratification of question types according to the dimensions of Bloom's taxonomy. The analysis reveals that the model questions are mainly focused on testing the lower levels of the cognitive dimension, and the first two levels of the knowledge dimension. However, according to the respondents from among the teachers at medical faculties, higher cognitive abilities are more desirable for students. The results...
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Freshman chemistry student teachers' ability to balance chemical equations: performance, procedure and the effect of applet use
Hamerská, Lucie ; Rusek, Martin (advisor) ; Bílek, Martin (referee)
The research undertaken for this master thesis mapped the students' ability to evaluate chemical equations. Three main aspects were investigated: success in balancing equations, procedures and the use of the applet environment. The research sample consisted of 11 freshmen chemistry student teachers. Eye-tracking in combination with retrospective think-alouds and interviews were used to analyze the students' procedures. This thesis builds on the author's previous bachelor thesis and uses findings from the evaluation of pre-tests that addressed basic chemistry concepts in the area of particulate nature of matter and the ability to work with chemical representations with a special focus on chemical equations. The results of the research highlight the gap between conceptual understanding of the topic of chemical equations and algorithmic ability to balance chemical equations. Only five students out of 11 achieved the same results in the individual parts of the research. The achievement of more than half of the students was below what is expected at the upper secondary level. Analysis of the procedures identified problems in the students' equation balancing that may have affected their success - basic mathematical skills, omitting the final check, having to use higher values of stoichiometric...
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Analysis of experimental activities in chemistry textbooks for primary schools
Špísová, Klára ; Rusek, Martin (advisor) ; Beneš, Pavel (referee)
The aim of the thesis is to analyze experimental activities in chemistry textbooks for primary schools in the Czech Republic. The types of activities and their placement in the phases of teaching, cognitive demand are examined. The analysis includes the most used textbooks of chemistry - textbooks by Fortuna: Základy chemie 1, 2 and Základy praktické chemie 1, 2. Textbooks by Nová škola, Fraus and Taktik for 8th and 9th grade. All textbooks contain suggestions for practical activities, most of them are in the ZCH, FR and NŠ textbooks. Different types of activities are identified in the chemistry textbooks, such as independent student activity, observation of teacher demonstration, laboratory work, watching videos, pictures and solving problems. Independent student activity and observation of teacher demonstration are the most common. FR and T textbooks also offer interactivity through videos. Practical topics focus mainly on the exposure phase of the lesson. In terms of the development of cognitive operations, the tasks in the chemistry textbooks focus on lower-level operations such as memorization, comprehension, and application. Higher operations, especially the development of making, was mainly in the textbooks for grade 8. The textbooks published by NŠ had a balanced representation for both grades.
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Design and verification of an inquiry-based task on the topic of acids and hydroxides for elementary school students
Tomešová, Jana ; Chroustová, Kateřina (advisor) ; Rusek, Martin (referee)
This thesis looks into inquiry-based learning in chemistry classes at elementary schools. The objective was to design an inquiry-oriented task that would achieve the compulsory outputs of the acids and bases topic while at the same time complying with the goals of inquiry-based science education. The thesis includes the definition of inquiry-based learning specifics, describes the exact course of the proposed task, and subsequently the results obtained by its realization are verified and assessed. To evaluate the task, several materials were used: the outputs created by the pupils during the activities, answers collected from the initial questionnaires, the final knowledge tests, and IMI (Intrinsic Motivation Inventory) questionnaires. Based on the student outputs, the fulfillment of the set learning objectives was assessed. The pupils' progress in the newly acquired theoretical knowledge was evaluated by comparing the relative frequency of correct and incorrect answers in the initial questionnaire and the final knowledge tests. For the IMI questionnaires, the medians of the selected values in every dimension were determined, and utilizing Cronbach's alpha the internal consistency of the test was verified. Also, the Mann- Whitney U test was used to compare two lessons within the task. The...
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The use of eye-tracking in chemistry didactics research
Tóthová, Martina ; Rusek, Martin (advisor) ; Popelka, Stanislav (referee) ; Doulík, Pavel (referee)
This dissertation thesis is an annotated collection of academic texts and summarizes the author's contributions to research on the use of eye-tracking and problem solving in the context of science education. The thesis responds to the growing use of eye-tracking in education and provides a systematic review of the current state of knowledge. Primary research has focused on chemical problem solving by upper-secondary school students. Using eye-tracking and think-aloud, the students' solving process was analyzed. The results showed that the observed students had low ability to solve these problems and often relied on limiting strategies such as guessing. Based on the problems identified, an action research intervention was designed. Regular inclusion of tasks, progressive learning and formative feedback led to improvements in pupils' abilities. The problem-solving ability of prospective chemistry teachers was tested in a similar manner. In addition to eye-tracking and think-alouds, a semi-structured interview was included in the research. It showed that there are significant problems in problem solving for prospective chemistry teachers, especially understanding the assignment. The dissertation thesis summarizes the contributions of the articles and proposes solutions to improve the current situation.
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