Graphs can be considered as useful mathematical models. Graph algorithms are a common part of undergraduate courses in discrete mathematics. Even though they have been successfully implemented in secondary curricula, little research has been dedicated to the analysis of students’ work. Within a discrete mathematics course for university students, several graph algorithms were introduced via their applications. At the end of the course, the students took a test focused, inter alia, on applications of the algorithms. The mistakes that occurred in 127 students’ solutions of three problems (the Chinese postman problem, the shortest path problem, and the minimum spanning tree problem) were categorized and compared. Surprisingly, no mistakes were identified in the mathematization of situations or in the interpretation of results with respect to the wording of the problem. The categories of errors varied regardless of the problem types. Hierarchical cluster analysis grouped together the students’ solutions for the Chinese postman problem and the minimum spanning tree problem. By means of nonparametric item response theory analysis, the Chinese postman problem was identified as the most problematic for students. Possible sources of this difficulty are discussed in more detail herein.

One of the requirements of Education 4.0 is that students and practitioners should be involved in the creation of the content of study plans. Therefore, in the present research we focused on identifying the further educational needs of kindergarten teachers. Teachers’ educational needs were divided into four dimensions: ‘content knowledge’, ‘diagnostic knowledge’, ‘didactical knowledge’, and ‘classroom management knowledge’. In parallel, we discovered how teachers assess the level of their own teaching competencies. Based on the obtained data, we identified that teachers have the greatest need for further education in the dimension of ‘diagnostic knowledge’ and that the need for their further education in this dimension did not depend on the length of practice. In the other three dimensions, a declining trend in teachers’ educational needs has been recorded with an increasing length of practice, declining significantly in three of the four dimensions examined. The study points to the need to create in-service courses for kindergarten teachers to deepen their ‘diagnostic knowledge’ and thus ensure the sustainability of the quality of pre-school education for children. Teachers‘ self-assessment of their own teaching competencies corresponds to their educational needs, which supports the relevance of the findings on the further educational needs of kindergarten teachers. This study aimed to obtain relevant data on which the improvement of the higher education of future kindergarten teachers might be based. At the same time, this would allow the analysis and tailoring of the content of professional development courses to the needs of in-service kindergarten teachers.

Aim. The main aim of our project is to find out the opinions of selected groups of respondents about the teaching of foreign languages. Methods. For verification, we chose to apply the research method of semantic differential and matched it in relation to psycholinguistics. Semantic differential is a research method aimed at verifying how respondents perceive concepts. We focused on verifying what the term language teaching evokes in three different groups of respondents (pupils/students, parents, and teachers). 16 bipolar terms were chosen, which the respondents had to evaluate on a scale of 1 to 7. The given term was evaluated more positively, the smaller the value of the number was. Didactic research was attended by 231 respondents who were divided into three basic groups: teacher, parent, and pupil/student. Then, the experimentally obtained data was statistically analysed and compared using post-hoc tests to determine which of the groups showed any results of significance. Results. Of the used terms, only 3 were statistically significant: contemporary - outdated, valuable - worthless and cheerful- sad. The statistically significant difference was manifested in the two groups of pupils/students and parents. Pupils/students evaluated the teaching of foreign languages as contemporary, valuable, and fun. By contrast, parents are inclined to answer that teaching foreign languages is outdated, less valuable and sad. Conclusion. The results evoke the implementation of new innovative based methods, for example, on integrated teaching (CLIL method) or new activating teaching methods.

Information about the paper titled "USE OF CONCEPT MAPS IN THE TEACHING PROCESS OF CHEMISTRY IN THE GYMNASIUM" at IATED Digital Library

Information about the paper titled "DIFFERENCES IN CHARACTERISTICS OF AN ACTUAL TEACHER AND THE VISION OF AN IDEAL TEACHER FROM IN-SERVICE TEACHERS’ POINT OF VIEW (PERSPECTIVE)" at IATED Digital Library