Prior to independence in Namibia in 1990 the education system of the day did not encourage the majority of Namibian learners to explore and investigate the wonder of the natural and physical world. The post independence education system has nurtured the study of the sciences and has emphasized participation, problem solving and independent studies. The inclusion of projects and other independent studies has been regarded as a key vehicle to develop scientific understanding and competencies related to this understanding. However, very few studies have hitherto investigated the teachers’ understanding and implementation of projects in the Namibian context. This study investigates how Grade 10 Life Science teachers understand and implement projects in selected schools in Namibia. The study focused on two teachers in two schools, a combined and a senior secondary school in the Oshikoto educational region of Namibia. The research was conducted through an interpretive case study aiming to gain a better understanding about the implementation of projects in schools. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, classroom observation and document analysis. The findings indicate that despite the focus on projects in the Life Science syllabus and broad curriculum, policy documents do not give detailed guidelines on how projects should be planned, organized and assessed. The results revealed that knowledge about projects and their implementation is primarily informed by practical activities rather than the critical enquiries or investigations required by the Life Science curriculum policy. The study also revealed that despite the in-service training received by the two teachers participating in this study on syllabus interpretation, it is apparent from the findings that project work in these in-service programmes was neglected. This has further hampered teachers’ understanding and implementation of projects. The findings of this study point to a need for project guidelines as well as in-service programmes in this area if the stated nature and role of projects in the context of Namibian education policy is to be achieved.

The diploma thesis ?Project as an educational method for teaching physics ?deals with the possibilities of using project-based method for teaching physics at primary schools. Not only does it contain the theoretical background of project-based teaching, but also deals with practical issues in the form of an implementation of a chosen project ?Physics and physical education?. The aim of said project was to evaluate the efficiency of project-based teaching as far as the knowledge of pupils and didactical and organisation issues are concerned. The first part of this work deals with the possibilities of project-based teaching in Czech Republic, its historical development and pedagogical-psychological analysis. The second part states the topics of my own projects (including my own implementation of one of these projects) and also contains some secondary didactical materials.

This diploma thesis deals with the matter of protection of feral animals against trafficing. The theme is composed for use at primary school within the framework of project teaching. The work is divided into theoretical and practical section, according to the content. The matter of CITES is expressed in the theoretical part, also the educational activities in the zoological gardens are described in this part (including the educational offer of the Zoo Ohrada) and last but not least the basic concepts for didactical aspect of the thesis are defined. The practical part includes a questionnaire studying the pupils´ attitude to animals generally; evaluation of educational activities offered by the zoological garden Ohrada (included evaluation of the commute); and the project itself. The outcome of the thesis is to check the service ability of the project in practise.

My dissertation work deals with the project method in civics lessons. The target of this work was to find a place of this method in teaching civics at primary school. The work is divided into two parts. In the first part I focused on the theoretical ground of the project method, its historical development and contemporary conceptions while I even tried to outline the position of civics at primary school. In the second part of the work I deal with possibilities how to organize curriculum of civics according to the project method. Proposals of own projects and own realization of one of the selected project are stated in this part.

The thesis deals with general creativity and creativity development of adolescent children by the means of project method. Theoretical part describes creativity as a term, its factors and levels. It further characterizes these terms: creative activity, creation, creative thinking, brainware, and creative experience. Further it analyses creativity importance for an individual person and society as a whole. It also characterises creative type of personality, describes pedagogical creativity and offers ways and means of creativity support. Next part draws up creative thinking development possibilities and development possibilities of qualities important for creative personality development. Next chapter pursues project method character. It describes case-history, then it targets the project-problem relation, highlights project education effects and basic principles. It focuses on phases of the project process and project pattern overview. In following chapters school subject art education, its characteristic, its main goals, and art education pedagogy methods and forms are described. Artistic expression development and crises of artistic expression are described, too. The thesis further concerns leisure time, extracurricular education and its institutions, relations of leisure time, lifestyle and focus on social values. Last chapter considers adolescence. Practical part contains description of an art project, which is divided into several creative activities. This part is focused particularly on spontaneous expression of a group supporting.

The presented master thesis is focused on an integration of plant alkaloids' curriculum into education process at eight-year grammar schools or their equivalent at primary and secondary schools. The aims of the thesis are to provide a basic data about plant alkaloids, to specify an integration of the plant alkaloids into the curricular documents and to select specific and suitable methods for teaching of the alkaloid topic at schools. These teaching methods were practically verified at the Karel Čapek's Grammar School at Dobříš by using author's proposals of the school lesson, the project teaching and laboratory exercises. In the terms of benefits for students, it has been verified that the teaching of plant alkaloids using the teaching project and the laboratory exercises, can be performed more efficiently than those during an "ordinary" school lesson. Key words: plant alkaloids, teaching methods, teaching lesson, project method, laboratory exercise, biology, chemistry

The thesis is based on the constructivistic approach to mathematics at primary school and geometry topics situated in the environment of square grid. It researches the extent to which pupils are able to use the experience with the square grid in the project method. For this purpose, observed two groups of pupils aged 10-11 years, experimental and control group. Work with the experimental group was situated in two weeks.

The multiple case study investigated levels and types of transfer observed in a K-8 STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) academy in a project-based learning (PBL) environment. The academy was constructed two years prior to the study and conducive to PBL instruction. The students and teachers were in the second year of using PBL in the subject of science at the time of the study. The grade levels observed were second, fourth, and sixth grade and each grade level had three PBL units examined from the beginning to the end of the unit. The nine case studies, from the three different grade levels, were observed to identify Haskell's levels and types of transfer as determined by project requirements, observation of students, completed projects, and student interviews. The findings from this study showed that while projects moved the students beyond knowledge acquisition to application of knowledge in completed projects such as books, films, dances, etc., higher levels of transfer and more types of transfer were not evident. Therefore, based on the results of this study, the evidence of lower levels of transfer suggests that the PBL units, though inventive and potentially valuable to student learning, were not designed for higher levels of transfer.

Данное диссертационное исследование посвящено вопросу развития критического мышления при обучении иностранному языку подростковой аудитории и разработке учебной программы по изучению английского языка с включенным комплексом упражнений на развитие навыков критического мышления. Актуальность исследования определяется рядом причин: требованиями ФГОС 3-го поколения, несоответствием законодательно утвержденной учебно-методической базы требованиям ФГОС; необходимостью организации методической помощи преподавателям иностранного языка в условиях реализации ФГОС нового поколения. Цель исследования – на основе анализа теоретических положений разработать и апробировать рабочую учебную программу с комплексом упражнений для формирования и развития навыков критического мышления у подростковой аудитории на уроках иностранного языка. В главе 1 рассматриваются теоретические, психолого-педагогические и методические основы проблемы развития критического мышления. В главе 2 проводится опытно-экспериментальная разработка и апробация учебной программы для формирования и развития навыков критического мышления у подростковой аудитории на базе УМК “Get Involved A2+”, и приводятся результаты проведения финального проекта, которые могут выступать в качестве образца для создания учебных программ по иностранному языку как для общеобразовательных учреждений, так и для организаций дополнительного образования. / This dissertation research is devoted to the development of critical thinking in teaching a foreign language to a teenage audience and the development of a curriculum for learning English with an included set of exercises for the development of critical thinking skills. The relevance of the study is determined by a number of reasons: the requirements of the 3rd generation of the Federal State Educational Standard, the inconsistency of the legislatively approved educational and methodological framework with the requirements of the Federal State Educational Standard; the need to organize methodological assistance to foreign language teachers in the conditions of the implementation of the new generation of the Federal State Educational Standard. The purpose of the study is to develop and test a working curriculum with a set of exercises for the formation and development of critical thinking skills in a teenage audience at foreign language lessons based on the analysis of theoretical provisions. Chapter 1 discusses the theoretical, psychological, pedagogical and methodological foundations of the problem of the development of critical thinking. In Chapter 2, the experimental development and testing of the curriculum for the formation and development of critical thinking skills in a teenage audience is carried out on the basis of the method “Get Involved A2+”, and the results of the final project are presented, which can serve as a model for creating foreign language curricula for both general education institutions and for organizations of additional education.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education