Learning about the light, weather and sound with didactic board games among year 3 primary school pupils

Predmet spoznavanje okolja je zasnovan tako, da učencem pokaže raznolikost in prepletenost različnih dejavnikov ter združuje postopke in vsebine, s pomočjo katerih učenci spoznavajo svet okoli sebe. Pri vsem tem ima pomembno vlogo učitelj, ki z načrtovanjem učnih ur predvidi uporabo različnih metod dela, pri tem pa poskuša pri učencih vzbuditi zanimanje za nadaljnje učenje. Ena izmed pogosto uporabljenih učnih metod so tudi didaktične igre. Didaktična igra je igra z določenim učnim ciljem, kjer so vsebine organizirane tako, da pri učencih vzbujajo radovednost in jih motivirajo k različnim dejavnostim. Hkrati so zasnovane tako, da pri učencih vzbujajo določeno sprostitev in ugodje. Pregled literature o didaktičnih igrah kaže, da so didaktične igre primerna učna metoda za obravnavo različnih tematik pri poučevanju spoznavanja okolja. Omenjeno je spodbudilo, da v okviru magistrskega dela raziščemo uporabo namiznih didaktičnih iger pri obravnavi vremena, svetlobe in zvoka v 3. razredu osnovne šole. Zanimalo nas je, kako in v kolikšni meri učenci pri učnih urah s prevladujočo metodo didaktične igre dosežejo zastavljene učne cilje pri obravnavi izbranih tematik (vreme, svetloba in zvok). Prav tako nas zanima, ali učenci bolje poznajo pravila igre, saj ta večkrat ponovijo skozi obravnavo vseh treh tematik, in ali uporaba iste vrste namizne didaktične igre vpliva na interes učencev za igranje namizne didaktične igre. V raziskavo je bil vključen en tretji razred izbrane mestne šole, in sicer 22 učencev. Pred izvedbo učnih ur v razredu smo za zbiranje podatkov uporabili dva instrumenta, in sicer preizkus znanja tipa papir-svinčnik, s pomočjo katerega smo preverili učenčevo predznanje o tematikah svetloba, vreme in zvok, ter vprašalnik o samooceni ravni interesa za učenje spoznavanja okolja in poznavanja pravil iger na petstopenjski lestvici Likertovega tipa. Nato smo v razredu izvedli tri učne ure v trajanju 90 minut na tematike vreme, svetloba in zvok. Zasnovali in izdelali smo tri namizne didaktične igre po Cehovi klasifikaciji iger, za vsako tematiko po eno namizno didaktično igro. V raziskavi smo za zbiranje podatkov po obravnavi treh tematik (vreme, svetloba, zvok) uporabili tri instrumente, in sicer preizkus znanja tipa papir-svinčnik o zgoraj navedenih tematikah, vprašalnik o samooceni ravni interesa za učenje spoznavanja okolja in poznavanja pravil na petstopenjski lestvici Likertovega tipa ter opazovalni list, ki ga je med učnimi urami izpolnjevala učiteljica. Dobljeni rezultati nakazujejo na pozitiven vpliv usvajanja znanj pri pouku spoznavanja okolja v 3. razredu osnovne šole, ko je v učni uri prevladovala metoda didaktične igre. Ugotovili smo, da je večina učencev dosegla zastavljene učne cilje s prevladujočo metodo didaktične igre pri učnih urah na tematike vreme, svetloba in zvok, ter da je uporaba iste vrste didaktične igre pripomogla k boljšemu razumevanju pravil igre pri učencih. Izsledki raziskave kažejo, da je interes učencev za igre po večkratni uporabi iste vrste namizne didaktične igre rahlo upadel. Kljub temu pa zaradi majhnosti vzorca izsledkov raziskave ne moremo posplošiti na osnovno množico, lahko pa izpeljemo smernice za nadaljnje raziskave.The subject environment education is designed to show the diversity and the interconnectedness of various factors, combines methods and content which help pupils to learn about the world around them. The teacher has an important role, because the teacher with the lesson planning predicts the use of different methods of work, while trying to increase the interest in students for further learning. One of the commonly used teaching methods is didactic game. A didactic game is a game with a specific learning goal where the content is organized in such a way to excite curiosity among students and motivate them to different activities. At the same time the didactic games are designed to raise the students’ relaxation and comfort. A review of the literature on didactic games shows that didactic games are a suitable learning method for dealing with different topics in teaching of environment education in primary school. The mentioned fact has encouraged in the context of the Master\u27s work to explore the use of the didactic board games with the topics light, weather and sound in the third grade of elementary school. We were interested in how and to what extend pupils will achieve the learning goals when dealing with selected topics (weather, light and sound) during the lesson with the prevailing method of didactic games. We were also interested in whether students will be more familiar with the rules of the game, because they will be latter repeatedly through all three topics and if the use of the same type of didactic board games effect on their interest for playing the game. The study included one third grade of the selected urban school, 22 pupils. Before carrying out the lessons in the classroom, the students solved two instruments, the examination type paper-pencil, which enabled us to check the pupil’s knowledge on topics of light, weather and sound, and a questionnaire on the self-assessment level of interest in learning about the environment education and knowledge of rules of the games. Then, in the classroom, we conducted three lesson in duration of 90 minutes on topics weather, light and sound. We designed and made three didactic board games according to the Ceh classification of games, for each of them one didactic board game. In the study, three instruments were used to collect the information after carrying out the lessons on all three topics (weather, light and sound), namely the examination type paper-pencil on the above topics, the questionnaire on the self-assessment level of interest in learning about the environment education and the knowledge of rules of the game on the five-point scale Likert type, and the observation sheet, which the teacher had fulfilled during the lessons. The obtained results indicate a positive influence of acquiring knowledge in the third grade of elementary school, when the method of didactic game prevailed in the classroom. The majority of pupils achieved the learning objectives with the prevailing method of didactic games in the classroom on topics weather, light and sound. The pupils were better able to understand the rules of the didactic board game, as they repeated through all three topics. The results of the research snow that pupils\u27 interest in playing the same kind of didactic board game has decreased slightly. Nevertheless, due to the small size of the sample, the results of the study cannot be generalized to the basic group, but we can follow the guidelines for further research