AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
observed phenomena into the observation sheet by means of “yes”
or a vertical line, for each task separately. He recorded each time
occurrence of the manifestation of the students` key competences
always only for two randomly selected pairs of the students to
ensure maximal objectiveness and accuracy of the research data he
recorded to the observed phenomena. The teaching pedagogue was
asked in advance to call to the board to solve the tasks
predominantly the students of the selected focus groups. At the end
of the observation sheet, in a summary table the observer counted
the overall key competence occurrence rate.
For statistical processing of the obtained research data
methodologies of several authors (Stranovská et al., 2013;
Kapusta et al., 2010; Záhorec et al., 2010) were used. Within the
data processing the main attention was paid to:
identification of possible interrelations between the results
(scores) reached by the students and occurrence of
manifestation of the key competences.
comparison of the results achieved at the given tasks in the
particular classes,
comparison of results achieved at the particular tasks solutions
in dependence on the grade of the observed students,
and two working hypotheses H0 were tested:
H0: The obtained scores are not dependent on the selected
key competence occurrence.
H0: There is no significant difference in the achieved
scores of the tasks among the students of the particular
classes, i.e. the score is not dependent on the class.
To test these hypotheses the nonparametric correlation -
Kendall's Tau coefficient and the nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis
test were used.
In addition to the verification of the educational model and its
applicability and contribution to the specified students` key
competence development through the created methodological
materials there was tested also a working hypothesis:
H0: There is no significant difference in the achieved scores
between the students of the 6th and 8th grade, i.e. the score is not
dependent on the grade.
To test this hypothesis the nonparametric Mann-Whitney U test
for testing was used (Table 9) and multiple comparisons was
used to prove the statistically significant differences between the
particular (6th and 8th) grades.
4 Main Results of the Research
4.1 Identification of the Relationships between the Obtained
Scores and the Key Competence Occurrence
In this part of the research the working hypothesis H0: The
obtained scores are not dependent on the selected key
competence occurrence was tested. Also here the stated
hypothesis represents four particular hypotheses. This means that
the hypothesis was tested repeatedly, each time for another of the
given key competences, which in particular were:
interpersonal competences,
learning competences,
communication competences,
personal and cognitive competences – critical thinking.
The results are presented thereinafter again for one after another.
Figure 2 shows the matrix diagrams of the relationships between
the obtained scores and the occurrence of the interpersonal
competences (frequency of their occurrence). In each of them a
direct proportional of the observed two variables was identified.
As the diagrams show anomalies, consequently Kendall's Tau
coefficient (nonparametric correlation) was used to estimate the
strength of their relationship (Table 2).
Figure 2. Matrix diagram of the relationships between the
obtained scores and occurrence of the interpersonal
competences
Table 2. Correlations of the obtained scores and the
interpersonal competence occurrence
Pairs of Variables
Valid
Kendall
Z
p-value
N
Tau
Score & Int.-HR
168
0.239513
4.60862 0.000004
Score & Int.-TW
168
0.528026 10.16008 0.000000
Score & Int.-EW
168
0.162817
3.13287 0.001731
As it is clear from the presented data, the hypothesis H0 was
rejected at the 1 % significance level. A small degree of
correlation with the achieved scores was identified in terms of
harmonic relations and work efficiency. This could arise from
the fact that whilst the overall atmosphere in the classroom was
pleasant, the students have worked inefficiently and have often
cheated, what resulted in low values of the achieved scores. In
many cases, at the 8th grade students (mainly boys) no harmonic
relations among the students were recorded. Therefore also no
efficient work was recorded in these cases.
Opposite to harmonic relations, in case of the interpersonal
competence of the team work, the relationship of them with the
values of the obtained scores was estimated on a strong level.
This is supposed to be just due to the efficient team work of the
students and their effort to achieve a good common result (to
obtain a high score).
Figure 3 and Table 3 show the relationship between the obtained
scores and the learning competence occurrence. In all cases with
the exception of the case of problem-solving competence a direct
proportionality was identified.
Figure 3. Matrix diagram of relationships between the obtained
scores and occurrence of the learning competences
- 23 -