AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
situation. Within these two projects, known as Creative
Workrooms I and Creative Workrooms II, 226 schools were
equipped with teaching aids and devices supporting natural
science and technical subjects teaching at schools and at the
same time teachers were trained to their use (ŠIOV, 2013 - 2015;
ŠIOV 2015).
Increase of the lessons was accompanied by changes of the
subject content. According to the innovated educational standard
the subject technology is divided in two topical areas, which are
Technology and Household economy. Both of them have
declared their own content, but a greater emphasis should be on
the topical area Technology.
According to State educational program from 2013 a duty to
teach at least two thirds from the total number of lessons
allocated for the subject technology from the topical area
Technology in each school year. Content of the topical area
Technology is as follows:
A man and technology,
A man and production in practice,
Utility and gift items,
Graphical communication in technology,
Technical materials and operating procedures of their
processing,
Electric power, electric circuits,
Simple machines and machineries,
Machines and equipment for household,
World of the work,
Electrical appliances for household,
Technical electronics,
Technical creation,
Housing installations,
Machine processing of materials,
Creative activity.
3 Research questions and methodology of the research
In 2018 the innovated State educational program was in the third
year of its realization, what means that the subject technology
had already been taught according to this program in grades 5
th
–
7
th
of the basic schools. The aim of the presented research was to
assess knowledge level of pupils of 7
th
grade resulting from
teaching technology according to the innovated version of the
State educational program.
Following the goal of the research, two research questions were
stated:
RQ1: What is the knowledge level of pupils in 7
th
grade of the
basic school resulting from teaching technology according
to the innovated State educational program?
RQ2: Are there any changes in pupils` knowledge in comparison
with the previous period?
In frame of the research following null hypothesis was tested:
H0:
Pupils` knowledge level resulting from teaching
technology identified in 2018 is the same as the one
identified in the previous period (2010).
The null hypothesis was tested on significance level
α = 0.05.
Research sample consisted of 102 pupils of 7
th
grade attending
basic schools in the city Nitra. Selection of the schools was done
on the basis of the previous co-operation with basic schools in
Nitra, approachability of the schools and agreement of the school
management to co-operate on the monitoring of pupils` learning
achievements. Under the previous co-operation it is understood
here a similar monitoring of pupils` learning achievements (in
the subject technology) done at these schools in 2010.
To test knowledge level of the pupils a didactic test of our own
design was constructed. The test consisted of 11 tasks, following
subject matter included in curriculum of technology for 7
th
grade
of the basic school. A principal requirement was that the relevant
subject matter had already to be taught (before the monitoring).
Each of the test tasks of the test was consistent with the content
and performance standards of the subject. In this way the content
validity of the test was ensured. At the same time great attention
was paid to the content of the created task also from the aspect of
the content of the tasks used in previous monitoring, i.e. content
of the created tasks had to be relevant to the content of the tasks
used in the monitoring done in 2010. From the 11 tasks of the
newly created test 6 tasks were based on choice of answers, 3
tasks were of matching questions character and 1 task was of an
open-ended character.
Description of the particular test tasks
T1 – Purpose of the test item T1 was to find out whether the
pupils know some Slovak inventors. The task of the pupils
was to write correctly at least one name of a Slovak
inventor. It was not necessary to write what s/he invented.
T2 – Purpose of the test item T2 was to find out whether the
pupils know the phases of a product creation and whether
they are able to put the particular stages into the correct
order. The answer was correct if all phases were assigned to
the numbers in the correct order.
T3 – The test item T3 was focused on the pupils` ability to read
information and data from a simple technical drawing. The
task of the pupils was to find dimensions included in a
technical drawing. There were two dimensions in the given
picture and the pupils were expected to encircle both of
them.
T4 – The test item T4 was focused on wood structure in its
cross-section. The task of the pupils was to write into the
given picture numbers connected with terms (notions)
identifying the particular parts of the wood. The answer was
correct only if all parts were assigned correctly.
T5 – Purpose of the test item T5 was to find out whether the
pupils understand content of the term ecological.
T6 – Purpose of the test item T6 was to find out whether the
pupils know what are the right clothing and shoes to be
worn into the workrooms.
T7 – The test item T7 was aimed at metals harmful to human
health. The pupils were expected to choose from the given
ones those that are harmful.
T8 – The test item T8 dealt with the pupils` understanding of the
term thermoplastics.
T9 – Purpose of the test item T9 was to find out pupils`
knowledge related to the area of the use of different
technical materials, in particular expanded (sponge)
polystyrene.
T10 – The test item T10 was focused on the pupils` knowledge
of technical material characteristics. The task of the pupils
was to order four kinds of materials according their
hardness. The answer was correct only in case that all four
materials were ordered correctly, independently on the fact
whether it was done in an ascending or descending way.
T11 – The test item T11 was aimed at the pupils` knowledge of
electrotechnic symbols. The task of the pupils was to
identify symbol of a bulb within a given picture.
For each correct answer the pupils were given one point.
4 Research results
Results of the monitoring of the pupils` knowledge level
regarding teaching the subject technology are summarized and
compared in a graphical form in Figure 1.
As Figure 1 shows, with exception of the test task T4 and T6
pupils achieved better results at all tasks in the current
monitoring (2018) than in the previous one (2010). To confirm
the working hypothesis
H0:
Pupils` knowledge level resulting from teaching
technology identified in 2018 is the same as the one
identified in the previous period (2010).
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