Understanding of students' attitudes is important in supporting their interest toward a particular subject. Students' attitudes toward science have been extensively studied and it has been showed that their interest decrease with age. In the Czech Republic, there are studies concerning pupils' attitudes towards biology at primary school, but high school students' attitudes towards biology are less known. Thus, the aim of this study focuses on high school students' attitudes toward biology and variables (such as gender, age, the most favourite subject and out-of-school activities) which affect them. In addition, the thesis focuses on the students' view of the particular biology fields taught at high schools, from the point of view of usefulness for life, difficulty and the level of attention given to them by teacher during the biology classes. The research was done using a questionnaire survey at high schools in the Czech Republic and the total number of 192 students took part in the survey. The results of the diploma thesis show that the attitudes of students towards biology are neutral. A more positive attitude towards biology was found in girls and younger students. Furthermore, the influence of the most popular subject and out-of-school activities on students' attitudes towards biology was...

The diploma thesis focuses on investigating attitudes of czech high school students toward genetically modified organisms (= GMO). The main objectives of this thesis are to investigate students' attitudes toward, and knowledge of GMO, to find out any relation between attitudes toward, and knowledge of GMO. I found out if there is any relation between students' attitudes toward GMO and other factors like family environment (level and type of eduction of parents, religion), school environment (teachers who teach students, school) or place of residence. Data colletion was carried out by quantitative questionnaire survey among 185 Czech students of Prague's and out-of-town's grammar schools from 10 different classes. My findings show that the attitudes of Czech students toward GMO are positive and are not influenced by gender, parents' education, the students' attitudes toward biology, type of students' planned studies at university or the location of their school. However, at the same time, a statistically significant difference was found in the case of free-time activities, the teacher who teaches students and the purchase of organic food. In the case of the students' knowledge, a significant difference was found in the case of the type of the father's education, the type of the students' planned...

abstract: The primary goal of this study was to extend previous research on traditional masculinity by examining the longitudinal associations between traditional masculinity, school engagement and attitudes toward school in a sample of middle school students. Following a sample of 338 (Mage = , SDage = , 54% male, 46% Latino) students from the 7th to 8th grades, I examined how students' self-reported endorsement of and adherence to physical toughness and emotional stoicism norms of masculinity were associated with their engagement with school and their attitudes of school liking and school avoidance. I also examined whether the endorsement and adherence to these norms varied by sex and ethnicity, and whether they changed over the one-year period. Results indicated that endorsing and adhering to masculinity norms of emotional stoicism were negatively associated with school engagement, after controlling for school engagement at Time 1. Furthermore, endorsing and adhering to masculinity norms of physical toughness were negatively associated with attitudes of school liking even when controlling for school liking at Time 1. These results were the same boys and girls, and for Latino and White adolescents. Moreover, results indicated sex, but no ethnicity differences in traditional masculinity, such that males generally reported higher levels of endorsement and adherence to norms of physical toughness and emotional stoicism. There were also identifiable developmental patterns in traditional masculinity over a one-year period. The contributions of these findings to the current scholarship on masculinity, along with their implications for future research and practice, are discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Family and Human Development 2015

No description available.

Title: The Paralympic School Day as a part of education on elementary schools Objectives: The Paralympic School Day (PSD) is one of the Paralympic educational programs in which children (6 to 12 years) learn about paralympic sports. The aim of PSD is to improve understanding of specific needs of individuals with disabilities and to change attitudes of pupils towards understandig of their divergence. Methods: In June 2017 a shortened version of PŠD was implemented at one elementary school in Prague. 28 pupils of 5th class (16 boys and 12 girls) had an opportunity to listen to a theoretical lecture, than to get acquainted with paralympic sports with students of applied physical activity and to talk to Czech succesful paralympic athlete Tereza Diepoldova. The change of attitudes was assessed by the CAIPE-CZ questionnaire and by the Adjective- Checklist before the program and a week after its implementation. The method of participative observation was used to evaluate of the overall succes of the PSD. Results: Before the PSD, the mean resultwas 26.5 for boys, 26.0 for girls in the same class - both positive attitudes. After the realization of PSD, the result was 27, 25 for boys, 27.0 for girls. Again, both are positive. Both girls and boy have comparatively positive attitudes towards a disabled pupisl....

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of Anatolian Teacher High Schools (ATHSs) in terms of serving their intended purpose. The research design of the study comprised a nation-wide survey and document analysis. The sample for the survey consisted of 1026 students, 612 teachers, 877 parents and 259 graduates selected through stratified random sampling over 33 ATHSs across 32 provinces in Turkey, and 302 prospective teachers, selected through cluster sampling, in Gazi University Faculty of Education. Two distinct instruments were used for data collection / survey questionnaires containing multiple choice and open-ended questions / and attitude scales containing five-point Likert type questions. To analyze quantitative data, descriptive statistics, t-test and two-way ANOVA were conducted. The open-ended questions were analyzed via content analysis. Results indicated that students, graduates, teachers, parents and administrators described ATHSs as the ideal schools for students who want to enter university and/or become teachers. Students and their parents prefer ATHSs in order to guarantee a university program for a career with the guarantee of finding a job. During the four years in ATHSs students are offered quality education and their attitudes toward the teaching profession have developed positively. More than half of the graduates entered a university program, a great majority of which entered teacher-training programs. ATHS graduates studying in teacher training programs are different from their classmates graduated from other high schools with respect to preferring teaching as a profession, the priority they gave to the teacher training programs in the university entrance exam, university entrance exam scores, academic achievement in teacher training programs and commitment to teaching as a lifelong career however they are not different with respect to attitudes toward the teaching profession. The majority of the graduates who were not able to enter a university program are unemployed. Since ATHS graduates are not considered as semi-professionals, there is no specific employment area available for them. Results also indicated that ATHSs serve their intended purpose, however not to extend they are expected to. Therefore, some reform movements are needed to increase the effectiveness of these schools.

The purpose of this study is to examine the factors that are related to scientific literacy of 15-year old students in Turkey in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data. Two groups of variables were considered for the analyses. In the first group / number of books at home and attendance to preschool, attitudes towards school, student-teacher relation, feeling of loneliness, remedial study and homework and attending out-of-school courses were taken as variables that are related to scientific literacy. In the second group, basically, variables that are related to computer literacy and usage were considered. These variables are: frequency of using internet, frequency of using computer, basic computer skills, advanced computer skills and attitudes towards computer. The results indicated that quality of student-teacher relation, the number of books at home and attendance to preschool education, use of internet and basic computer skills are positively related to scientific literacy measures of the students. As expected, student feeling of loneliness has negative impact on literacy skills. Remedial classes conducted by schools and homework assignments have positive effect on school related attitude, but they cannot contribute scientific literacy skills of the students. Outside school private courses has positive relation with the scientific literacy, but this effect rather seems coming from family background characteristics. Use of internet and basic computer skills might have positive relation with both attitudes towards computer and scientific literacy, but use of software programs and advanced computer skills indicated negative relationship with the scientific literacy measures of the students.

The diploma thesis deals with the personality and attitude of beginning teachers, pecifically teachers' free time working in after-school clubs and teachers working in primary schools in the Pilsen Region. The work analyzes the basic terms related to teachers and teachers' free time, demands on them and their attitudes. From the theoretical knowledge arisen requirements on qualitative research, that was made through interviews. In my own research are analyzed attitudes beginning teachers in the Pilsen Region, the differences arising from the position of primary schools and after-school centers and differences among teachers to primary school teachers and free time from school groups. In conclusion, I present the results of research, where significant differences were observed between novice teachers of primary schools and after-school centers. A significant role in influencing the attitudes of beginning teachers has environment where they operate and approach of the schools management.

This diploma thesis deals with attitudes of teachers towards the introduction of the multicultural education within the curriculum reform of the regional system of education in the Czech Republic. The thesis then deals also with the course of implementation of the multicultural education in practice and with attitudes of teachers towards further training in this area. Since teachers are the key persons involved in the implementation of education policy, their attitude is crucial for successful implementation of the multicultural education. The methodology is based on the qualitative data analysis obtained from interviews with teachers. There are three main theoretical resources followed in this thesis, belief systems of Paul A. Sabatier, the theory of street-level bureaucracy of Michael Lipsky and multicultural education theories. Teachers have positive attitudes to the multicultural education. But some have their own prejudices against other ethnic groups. Although teachers understand positively their autonomy in the implementation of the multicultural education in practice, they express the need for certain rules in the implementation of the multicultural education. The absence of clear rules and adequate support in practice brings problems with the implementation. Based on these findings, the...