Background study on the revision of the Framework Educational Programs in the field of education on living and inanimate nature: How will we teach natural history, biology and geology in the coming years?
Abstract
Science didactics is still in progress these days and it tries to reflect all changes in the education and in the society. In the perspective of Biology and Geology Didactics the education is heading to create opportunities to learning about living and non-living objects in the context of pupils' everyday life as well as in context of human's interactions in the long-term point of view. The cognition should be based on experience of educated persons (pupils), with the stress on recognizing the connections between the topics, concepts and phenomena and on the understanding of human as the inseparable part of environment. This text is intended to help with preparation of National Framework Programme revision in the field of teaching about living and non-living objects. The authors are experts in the field of Biology and Geology Didactics working as researchers and teachers at Czech universities as well as the teachers at different school levels, including the non-profit organizations. This study was created on the demand of National Institute for Education, Education Counselling Centre and Centre for Continuing Education of Teachers. The following text tries to provide the answers on key questions related to projected, realized and achieved form of curriculum. The questions also establish the structure of the whole study:
1) What results do Czech pupils achieve in science literacy testing?
2) What is the form of available textbooks and selected School Educational Programmes?
3) What is the difference between Czech and foreign curricular documents? Do the foreign curricular documents stress different aspects out?
4) What are the current topics of researches performed in the field of Biology and Geology Didactics?
5) What is accented in the strategical documents of educational policy (not only) in the Czech Republic?
6) What are attitudes to science education among young people and society?
7) What are the attitudes of teachers to current form of National Framework Document in the field of teaching about living and non-living nature? This study was completed in the limited time so it was not possible to reflect all current relevant sources. Although the study could establish base for innovation of the National Educational Framework in the field of Biology and Geology. It could be also used for next discussions with academic and teacher community as well as with the public.