Comparison of Conducting Experiment in Primary and Lower Secondary Science Teaching

Abstract

In the education system of the Republic of Croatia, students learn about natural science concepts from the very beginning of their compulsory school education. Although, school subjects in which they are learned are diverse, their common link is the student experiment. By conducting and analyzing the experiment, student develops science literacy and in an interesting way acquires science knowledge, skills and attitudes. Despite numeorus benefits of the student experiment, numerous studies point to its insufficient implementation in the teaching process, which is why this research also determines its comparative dimension in lower and upper grades of elementary school. Due to all of the above, aim of this research is the analysis of the educational practice related to the student experiment in order to determine teacher differences in preparation, implementation and evaluation of the experiment. Research was conducted on a sample of 189 primary and lower secondary teachers from almost all counties of the Republic of Croatia. The aim of this research extends to teachers who have students with special educational needs, since most of the participants (84%) teach a class with students with disabilities, and part od them (50%) with gifted students. For the purpose of this research, a questionnaire on demographic data and a Likert scale for assessing teachers’ attitudes were constructed. The collection, analysis and interpretation of data took place within the framework of a quantitative research paradigm using the method of inferential statistics (Mann-Whitney U-test and Spearman’s correlation test). Obtained results indicate methodological, organizational and cognitive difficulties related to achieving educational outcomes of the teaching unit in which experimental method was used. Differences in teachers’ attitudes provide indications for the improvement of teacher and student knowledge and abilities, as well as temporal and spatial adjustment of experiments with the aim of developing higher quality nature science competencies. Keywords: experiment, lower secondary education, nature sciences, primary education, science literacy.