Research boxes - teaching aid for children from different language environments

摘要

Teachers are daily confronted with the challenge to offer to pupils the high-quality contents and materials for the successful and effective teaching. We are more and more directed into the making of different didactical aids. These can be also the research boxes which offer the developement of different science process skils, also the research in the true sense.udI made three research boxes. The contents of the research boxes are simple materials, I chose them by myself from the workshop (the research box Keys and Locks), playrooms (research box Car on an incline) and from materials which are at disposal in each kindergarten (research box Mixing of colors). In addition to material, the research boxes contain working cards on which are written the instructions, which direct the child at the process of researching. Working cards are equpped by the symbols to enable the children to solve the tasks as much as possible independently. I offered the research boxes to the children who couldn't read and write and were coming from different language-cultural environments. The children from the kindergarten in Gambia and the children from the kindergarten in Slovenia were working with the research boxes. Children solved the tasks on the working cards of the single research boxes according to their abilities. The tasks on the working cards develop so primary as also advanced science process skills. udI observed how successful and independent are the children at work. I was interested in, which tasks on the woking cards could be independently solved by the children and at which help would be needed. It turned out that all the children enjoyed at working with the research boxes. They were motivated by the work with materials. At solving of the working cards, which included the tasks, which were developing the primary science process skills, they were mostly successful and they performed the work independently. At the tasks, which were developing advanced science process skills, almost all the children needed help. udMy purpose was to offer to the children from the different language-cultural environments the opportunity for the work with the research boxes. I showed that it was possible to make the universal didactical aid, which successfully encourage the developement of the different science process skills at children. The research boxes can be used without changing of their contents, in children who speak different languages and live in different cultures.ud