Teaching based of problem solving and indicators of success of such teaching of history in the second grade of the secondary school

Abstract

The author describes an experiment in which the efficiency of problem teaching of history was conducted in the second grade of the secondary school. The author used the problem material which he himself constructed and he also used the textbook. The students had the thcmce “South Slavic people under the Turkish, Venetian and Hapsburg rule". On the basis of reliable tests the data was statistically analyzed and the conclusion was that these students, although using the problem teaching approach for the first Lime, achieved lite same results as those who were taught in a traditional way. The students of the experimental group achieved better results, though, in the understanding of social processes. On the basis of the previous tests the author conludcd that, by excercising and by improving the problem material, the students could improve their results. Retesting showed that the students of the experimental group remembered the material better but it was also noticed that some categories of knowledge were more easily forgotten. Category of “understanding of historical material” was badly memorized by the students of both groups while the categories of “giving titles and establishing conversation" and "text analysis" were well rememberd by both groups. The students in the experimental group belter remembered belter the material under the category “knowledge of social processes” than the students in the control group.
By multiple regressive analysis of the final test it was discovered that the best indicators of the successful learning of history of such students were the understanding of material, previous knowledge and general mark in the first grade. The next indicator, among which was the intelligence did not have much influence on the successful learning of history in the second grade. This means that the most important thing is to develop certain intellectual abilities which enable all the students to successfully master the historical material. The author concludes that teaching based on problem solving is justifiable in the second grade of the secondary school.