Usefulness of the permanent animal collections in biology class

Modern educational system emphasizes lifelong learning, and the use of teaching methods and techniques that enable this learning and encourage students. Nature awareness and responsible attitude to flora and fauna, and the environment in general, are emphasized as well. In this diploma thesis we want to give some answers to the following questions: what methods to use, how to encourage students, and how to improve their attitude. We compared the classical method of teaching with the experiential which was carried out with primary school students in 7th, 8th and 9th classes, on topic of the mammals' skulls. The information was obtained using a questionnaire, which contained general questions, and questions on the pupils' attitude and knowledge about animals. The results showed that the pupils were quite interested in working with the materials. We could not prove the influence of knowledge on attitude and vice versa, there were also no statistically significant differences between the teaching method used and the pupils' attitude and knowledge. Due to the inhomogeneous sample we were not able to prove the impact of the pupils' free time on their attitude and knowledge. However, we did prove the age influence on the pupils' attitude and knowledge