Constructivist teaching of the area of a triangle and parallelogram in two classes with a different background in teaching mathematics

The thesis deals with constructivist approaches to teaching mathematics in lower secondary school, which means that a pupil is the centre of learning process. Based on study of literature, textbook analysis, and, in particular, in accordance with the theory of generic models as a theory describing way to build pupils' knowledge, a teaching experiment was prepared, focusing on the area of triangle and parallelogram. Experimental lessons were realized in two 7 grade classes with different experience with being taught mathematics at the elementary school. One class was taught by a highly instructive series of textbooks, while the second by textbooks which respected the principles of constructivism aimed at pupils and allowed individualization of learning process. The main objective of the thesis is to describe the experimental education in both classes and evaluate it from two perspectives. First of all, qualitatively, by analysing video recordings of lessons, pupils' solutions, notes from lessons, print screens from interactive whiteboard, but also by examining attendance sheets from teachers observing some lessons. In the second case, quantitatively, based on pre- and post- tests. The qualitative analysis is mainly focused on key discoveries and didactical situations in teaching and on an assessment..