Educational games in a selected set of activities as a part of environmental studies

Učni načrt in didaktična priporočila za pouk predmeta spoznavanje okolja izhajajo iz konstruktivistične teorije učenja in poučevanja. S konstruktivistično teorijo učenja in poučevanja so se pričeli ukvarjati že Dewey, Piaget, Vigotski in Bruner. V magistrskem delu podrobneje predstavljamo izkustveno učenje, ki ga David Kolb razlaga kot kontinuiran proces učenja, zasnovanega na znanju in izkušnjah, ki jih že imamo. Kadar se pri podajanju novih idej ne navezujemo na neke pridobljene izkušnje posameznika, procesa učenja ne moremo izvesti uspešno. Pod izkustveno učenje uvrščamo tudi metodo didaktične igre, ki jo z vsemi značilnostmi predstavljamo v magistrskem delu. Didaktična igra, za razliko od spontane otroške igre, sledi določenim ciljem, ki so znani in poznani pred pričetkom igre. V praktičnem delu magistrskega dela smo izdelali didaktične igre za tri tematske sklope predmeta spoznavanje okolja. Tematski sklopi, ki smo jih izbrali, so: čas, skupnost in prostor. Igre so znotraj posameznega sklopa razdelane za vseh pet etap pouka. Za vsako igro smo opredelili razred, za katerega je igra primerna, določili vrsto didaktične igre, globalne in operativne cilje, ki smo jih razdelili na izobraževalne kognitivne učne cilje, vzgojne, afektivne učne cilje in psihomotorične učne cilje. Za vsako posamezno igro smo na koncu dodali tudi navodila za uporabo in primer poteka didaktične igre. Glavni cilj našega magistrskega dela je, da bi učencem na zanimivejši in bolj aktiven način podajali znanje ter spodbudili učitelje, da bi v svoj pouk spoznavanja okolja večkrat in bolj pogosto vključevali didaktične igre.The syllabus and didactic suggestion for the subject environmental education are at the core of constructivist theory of learning and teaching. Dewey, Piaget, Vygotsky, and Bruner started using constructivist theory of learning and teaching. In my master’s thesis, I try to give a detailed presentation of learning, which David Kolb explains as constant process of learning based upon past and current knowledge and experience. When new ideas are introduced and there is no connection to a person’s experience and previous knowledge the process of teaching cannot be successful. Educational games belong to empirical teaching and they are introduced in my master’s thesis with all their characteristics. Educational games as opposed to spontaneous games follow a particular scheme and goals that are set and known in advance, that is before the game starts. In the empirical part of my diploma, three topical parts of environmental education have been created. The topical parts that we have chosen are: time, group and place. The games are divided into five stages within a lesson. We have defined a class for which the game is suitable, the type of educational game, general and operational goals, which have again been divided into cognitive, effective, and psychomotor objectives. At the end we have added instructions for use as well as an example of how the educational game is played. The main aim of this master’s thesis is to show how to pass on knowledge in a more interesting and active way and at the same time motivate the teachers to use educational games more often in class teaching the subject environmental protection