The purpose of this thesis is to develop a comprehensive educational program involving student activities related to the biotope of the garden pond. The theoretical part deals with general issues of inquiry-based education and the utilization of school gardens. The main contribution of the thesis is the creation of a concrete educational program, comprising seven activities which employ the environment of a garden pond. It is designated for biology and geography classes at middle/secondary schools. Each activity portfolio consists of a methodological sheet for teachers and a work sheet for students. Most activities can be carried in the environment of any water tank; some activities can be also done in the school building. The training program was pilot tested with elementary school teachers and subsequently with sixth and seventh grade students. Concurrently, an evaluation of the program's effectiveness was implemented in the form of written tests. The thesis discusses the findings from this evaluation as well as the practical verification of the suggested program that was carried out on teachers and on students.

VOMÁČKOVÁ, J. (2017). The dialogue among students as a method of a peer assessment within inquiry tasks regarding human biology in biology lessons. MSc. Thesis. Faculty of Education, University of South Bohemia in Ceske Budejovice. 50 pg. The aim of this thesis was to design the inquiry-based task that was focused on the human physiology and that enabled to use the formative assessment, more concretely the peer dialogue. Given task is focused on the blood groups issues and pupils tried to suggest their own advancement how to perform the simplified blood test with the aid of the given working aids. At the same time pupils evaluated work of their peers after the dialogue in group. They gave them the written feedback. On the grounds of this feedback the second group could correct their working procedure before they started to realize the experiment. During the research, there were worked with the audio recording, which were acquired during the peer dialogue, with the written feedback, and with the pupils' protocols. The inquiry based task including the formative assessment was implemented to the three lessons in two chosen schools in the South Bohemian Region. There was found out that the experience with inquiry based education has significant impact on the ability of pupils to provide the feedback for their peers. Pupils, who encountered the inquiry process for the first time, had got problems with particular steps and it lead to the uncertainty during the formulation of feedback for the peers. Nevertheless, mainly thanks to the peer dialogue and thanks to the providing of feedback, most of the pupils were able to become involved to the experiment and also were able to understand given problem. Dialogue between pupils proved to be the proper method of formative assessment because pupils completely openly debated about the classmates' protocols and at the same time they proved to learned more from their mistakes and also from the mistakes of their classmates and subsequently they were able to correct their protocols.

This diploma thesis discusses the possibilities of diversifying the teaching on the issue of germination in the form of worksheets as well as possibility of using germination tests in the inquiry-based teaching of biology at elementary schools and lower secondary schools. The readers are introduced into the general issues regarding seed development, construction and germination. It then deals with iquiry-based teaching, which is one of the most used methods in biology education in recent years. Worksheets created for this purpose are therefore validated through teaching practice and subsequently processed and evaluated. The paper discusses whether germination is a suitable biological material for inquiry-based teaching and also whether these worksheets can be recommended as a didactic teaching material for the development of skills and theoretical knowledge of germination.

This thesis discusses inquiry-based education in mathematics aimed at the decimal system and large numbers in elementary school environment. Inquiry-based education is a form of education that uses exploration or verification of new findings by the students themselves. The principles and basic characteristics of inquiry-based education are discussed in the theoretical part. The practical section is based on qualitative research. Data collection and analysis of results in 5 experiments in two parallel 5th grade classes are used to determine the characteristics of inquiry-based education and to discover the possible problematic occurrences, which could be encountered with this kind of education. Based on this information, recommendations for practical use are formulated. Results have shown that inquiry-based education in mathematics classes is beneficial to the students. Although greater care in selecting the right exercise and rigorous preparation of the teachers and teaching aids is required, implementation of this education is worth the effort. It represents an untraditional variegation for the students, by which they can calmly educate themselves and consolidate their knowledge.

This thesis deals with a creating educational programmes for interactive boards usable in Science lessons at higher level of primary schools. Programme presentation was made in the seventh form of three primary school, where also a comparative research in the form of didactic test was placed. The aim of this test was to compare a knowledge level of pupils who were taught by the interactive programme, and those pupils who were taught by the traditional form of frontal teaching. The thesis is supplemented by a DVD with educational presentation for interactive boards and a printed manual necessary for the control of the programme.

This master thesis deals with the issue of inquiry based learning in sciences at primary school level. The theoretical part of the thesis is focused on the development, realization and pros and cons of inquiry based learning. Additionally there is an overview of inquiry based activities in the commonly used textbooks for first level of primary schools and the list of extended literature intended to inspire the teachers to practise inquiry based learning. The practical part of the thesis is based on information gained from interviews with primary school teachers. The aim was to find out how inquiry based learning is perceived by teachers. Their opinions, advanatages and disadvantages of inquiry based learning and its practical use in education is discussed. Consequently, overlaps and influence of such education methods on the integration of pupils to a society is presented here. The thesis provides a complete overview on the issue of application of inquiry based learning to traditional education methods. This research informs readers about possible problems related to the implementation of inquiry based learning to practice. Based on the described situations, the realization can be easier due to the identification of possible difficulties and their solution. Keywords inquiry based education, primary...

This diploma work deals with the issues of inquiry methods of teaching at primary schools. The theoretical part provides some reflections on contributions and limits of inquiry methods and defines basic inquiry skills. Activities concerning the theme "seeds, fruit, young plants" for the pupils of the 1.-4.grade are suggested in the practical part. Nine of them were tried out in classes. The results of the action research are summarized in the conclusion. They are related to these research questions: 1. How to adjust inquiry activities in a suitable way for their use in the given classes at primary schools? 2. How do children react to this work style? 3. What demands does this work style make on teachers? 4. What problems concerning partial inquiry skills could emerge? How to continue working at them?

The main concept of this final thesis is the genesis of educational material within the application concept of inquiry based education in geography at primary school or lower level schools. The central theoretical framework was chosen issue urban geography, as one of the most actual discussed geographic sub-disciplines. The newly formed educational material will have a complexial form - except themselves textbooks for pupils will be created methodological guide for teachers. Inquiry based education wants in a school closer to real scientific process , pupils and use to anchor the separate handling of information. Pupils tries to fix minor problems, verify their hypotheses using the process set out by research, analyze everything and then synthesized. The method , together with the knowledge of geography of the city are developed through work with GPS logger. The educational material is within the next stopover implemented in selected schools . Using the questionnaire, pupils and teachers the author provide valuable feedback.

Diplomová práce se zabývá konceptem "závěrečných bakalářských prací žáků 5. tříd" na základní škole v kontextu badatelsky orientovaného vyučování. Práce si klade za cíl popsat celý proces vzniku takovéto závěrečné práce a popsat jeho souvislosti s badatelsky orientovaným vyučováním a rozvojem klíčových kompetencí. Autor v teoretické části vysvětluje jednotlivé kroky badatelsky orientovaného vyučování, definuje klíčové kompetence a přibližuje problematiku psaní a čtení odborného textu. V praktické části v kontextu badatelsky orientovaného vyučování pak analyzuje jednotlivé fáze procesu tvorby žákovské práce od výběru tématu až po závěrečnou obhajobu. Při analýze vychází ze zkušeností pedagogů základní školy a doplňuje ji o konkrétní ukázky ze žákovských prací. KLÍČOVÁ SLOVA badatelsky orientovaná výuka, žákovské "Závěrečné práce", čtení a psaní odborného textu, klíčové kompetence, 1. stupeň ZŠ ABSTRACT The thesis is looking into the concept of "final theses of 5th-grade pupils" attending primary school in the Czech Republic in the context of inquiry-based learning. The thesis aims to describe the whole process of creating such pupils' thesis and explain its links to inquiry-based learning and the development of key competencies. The author explains individual steps of inquiry-based learning, defines...

This diploma thesis is focused on the creation of model tasks (by means of an experiment) for the study of biology at secondary schools and concerns the effects of temperature on plant growth. The selected tasks utilize the new didactic approach by means of the so called inquiry based education. This method of teaching contributes to the development of individual deduction reasoning and encourages the students to actively think about the subject matter. The thesis provides the necessary theoretical background for the topic together with the description of methods and material needed for the conducting the experiments. Furthermore, the thesis describes the necessary instructions and procedures to conduct the experiment and its use in the secondary school teaching practice and presents the requisite methodical guidelines and worksheets for them. Simultaneously, the thesis verifies the didactic applicability of the experiment and the worked out materials through a questionnaire survey and monitored application of the model tasks at secondary schools. The main result of this diploma thesis is a modern, functional and verified method of teaching for high school about the effects of temperature on plant growth in accordance with modern approaches to education, which include own experiments, their...