They were upset that their classmates’ snacks were far from healthy. But in order to change something, they first needed to collect all the information. Four pupils from the elementary school in Píšt in the Opava Region started their own research.
They began to systematically monitor what foods children bring to school. And they discovered that most of the time it is not a balanced diet. There is often a sweet item in the snack boxes, for example a scarf – but which contains the entire recommended daily dose of sugar. On the contrary, vegetables were almost completely absent.
But the project did not end there, on the contrary. Since eating is primarily a family issue, parents were also approached with questionnaires. Finally, they organized a workshop for younger classmates. Together they dealt with healthy eating and, among other things, they also taught them a few recipes for tasty, yet balanced snacks that they can prepare themselves. Unbaked tortillas were the biggest success.
“If we teach them at school that it is possible to eat better, then they can come home, tell their parents that they liked a healthy snack, and then start bringing it to school,” says one of the members of the research team, Andrea Homolová.
At first glance, a very exceptional and also very demanding project should be far more common in Czech schools in the future. This is what the education reform is counting on, the final draft of which now has the opportunity to comment on the public.
Teachers are now expected to support students in research or community service activities. In physics, chemistry, natural history, but also in social science subjects, a large space should be devoted to observation, experiments and research.
The examples of the projects presented by the students at this year’s research conference show how it could look like. It is regularly organized by the Tereza educational center, and this year 31 school teams from not only the Czech Republic, but also Georgia, Ireland and Ukraine presented their projects here.
Photo: Daniel Pražák / TEREZA, Seznam Zpravy
Student teams and presentations of their research projects.
For example, at the primary school in Píšt, where the girls’ team from the introduction comes from, they have an optional subject focused on experiments and research in the second grade.
“It’s called research practice. The children chose the project themselves. I let them work independently as much as possible. I’m more of an observer. But when they go in a direction that may not be completely ideal, I try to guide them with some questions,” explains the local mathematics and chemistry teacher Renáta Hasalová, how they approach research teaching.
Therefore, schools will not have to create separate subjects. Research teaching can be done even during regular subjects.
“We don’t always do research teaching, but we do a lot of connecting, touching, exploring. In short, as much practice as possible. For me, it doesn’t matter much that the children know all the formulas. I want them to be able to cope in everyday life. For example, when they get clogged up with waste, so they know what to use,” explains Edita Machová, a chemistry and science teacher from the Ohradní Elementary School in Prague, in a nutshell.
It will depend on the teachers
There are many options for students to explore. In addition, they can also help their surroundings. For example, a couple of pupils from the Central Bohemian Primary School Třebotov were bothered by the fact that there was a smell in one spot in the stream they were walking by. It looked like some kind of continuous pollution.
Therefore, they started taking water samples and realized that faeces were probably getting into the stream in one place. They are also going to inform the local mayor about it.
What is written in the new assignment for schools
This is how the reform proposal talks about what children should encounter in physics, chemistry and natural history lessons:
“The student is led to understand basic natural events and their regularities and to use this knowledge in the classroom, in specialized classrooms and in the outdoor environment. In doing so, he mainly uses empirical methods and procedures for learning about the world (e.g. observation, measurement, experimentation, verification of hypotheses, use of models). The student also learns to use and connect knowledge in the field of natural sciences and technology with other areas of human cognition and their practical applications in everyday life. The educational field does not only have the nature of developing knowledge and skills, but also shapes the pupil’s attitudes towards nature and the environment.”
Therefore, the education reform wants to support similar projects. However, what will be written in the new curriculum (officially the framework educational program for basic education) does not matter much, as the director of the educational center Tereza Petr Daniš points out:
“Perhaps the previous version did not call for research-based teaching as strongly, but it certainly did not throw sticks under the feet of innovation,” Daniš points out that it was already possible to work innovatively with the current assignment of the Ministry of Education.
For now, however, there are a lot of questions surrounding the revision in the teaching environment, and there is also a noticeable nervousness about the fact that many things are not sufficiently clarified.
“It raises the concern that change will not be accepted easily. So far, it is not possible to completely manage, for example, communication towards the pedagogical public,” adds Daniš, who otherwise unequivocally supports the Ministry of Education’s plan.
How it will end?
This is currently carried in all debates on education reform as a basic reservation. That all good intentions can encounter either a misunderstanding or, in short, a contradiction with the real operation of schools.
“I see it as a bit negative that the outputs are very general and broad,” said, for example, at the last round table on mathematics reform, the director of the Opava elementary school Otická Arnošt Žídek.
“I’m a little worried that most teachers need some kind of stronger framework. If, for example, we look at the results of the ninth grade, teachers will tend to look more at how the entrance exams from Zermatt are made up,” adds Žídek.
The success of the upcoming education reform is thus in the hands of the teachers. If the state, founders and directors support them enough to engage in practical teaching and research with children, a lot can change.
Otherwise, only enthusiasts will continue to move forward. That is, for example, teams of teachers and pupils from a research conference.
