The article is dedicated to the issue of developing skills and acquiring economic knowledge in early school-age children, in particular in the field of financial education. The concept of the innovative educational tool “I Think, Decide, Act-finances for the youngest” and the process of testing this didactic material for two and half years in grades 1–3 of primary schools in Poland were presented. The purpose of the abovementioned tool is to provide children with cognitive and social educational situations for independent and creative activity that requires solving economic, financial and social problems. The main research methods were a parallel group experiment and an interview with teach-ers. The results of studies comparing the level of knowledge and financial-mathematical skills of children in the pretest and posttest indicate a statistically significant increase in the level in experi-mental group in comparison with the control one. The teachers’ opinions on the application of the innovative tool in school practice show its didactic and educational value, with a particular emphasis on the quality of proposed mathematical open-ended problems related to the practical context.
The article attempts to answer the question: why standardization of early education can limit the development of children and disintegrate the learning process? The main topic is focused on the issue of standardization in early childhood education. The goals of education, core curriculum, expected developmental effects and learning outcomes are most often standardized. The standardization process has specific consequences that affect the quality of education and development opportunities for students. The effect of this approach, especially close to politicians, stakeholders, is limited variety of educational approaches, fragmentation, depersonalization of education and subordinating it to standards and set goals. All these activities should favor the control of results achieved. The destination is defined at the beginning of the education process. The achievement of “experts’” aims is the basis for assessments of the value of the teacher’s work and the effectiveness of educational institutions.
W artykule zostały omówione doświadczenia nauczycieli, związane z wprowadzaniem innowacji edukacyjnych w procesie dokonywania zmian postaw i stylu pracy z dziećmi w wieku wczesnoszkolnym. Zagadnienie przedstawiono na przykładzie analizy badania przeprowadzonego w schemacie eksperymentalnym w latach 2012–2013 w klasach trzecich szkół podstawowych. Eksperyment dotyczył testowania środka dydaktycznego Gramy w piktogramy, który powstał w celu wspierania rozwoju umiejętności matematycznych uczniów. Jednym z problemów badawczych było założenie o zmianie poglądów nauczycieli na trzech wymiarach: „pesymizm edukacyjny”, „formalizm edukacyjny”, „promowanie samodzielności” pod wpływem doświadczeń zdobytych podczas testowania produktu. Do analizy wyników zastosowano model statystyczny IRT oraz wielopoziomową regresję. Wyniki wskazują na istotną statystycznie zmianę w poglądach edukacyjnych nauczycieli: zmniejszenie poziomu pesymizmu i formalizmu edukacyjnego oraz wzrost w wymiarze promowania samodzielności.
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The article describes the debate on the teacher’s role in the dynamic reality of the Polish education system and the impact of individual experience in the uptake of innovation to professional change. In the first part, teacher awareness concerning the necessary changes is considered, while in the second, the results from research using the innovative educational tool “Gramy w piktogramy” (“We play pictograms”) – supporting mathematical skills in primary education – are presented. Changes to teachers’ opinions in three dimensions (educational pessimism, educational formalism, promoting students own activities) are also included as support for the conclusions. Influencing significant change to teachers’ outlook is possible but a long-term process, both requiring sustained encouragement from education authorities and a bottom-up approach. Nevertheless, the crux of the problem is to instill the belief into teachers that profound change in primary education is vital.
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Care and education are equally important to children. In Europe early support services are organized in two ways: split systems and integrated systems. Split systems have proved to be unequal systems. Integrated systems on the other hand, offer flexible, part- and full-time services that link parental leave from the child’s birth, to entitlements to services from one year of age, which promote social inclusion and reduce child poverty. This article presents the analysis of child care and education systems from different European perspectives, including research concerning the role of the quality of early support services in the child’s development.
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The paper is based on research carried out by the Faculty of Education, University of Warsaw, between September 2012 and june 2013 in cooperation with Publishing House bohdan orłowski. During the research, innovative tool "We play pictograms" was tested. The tool was designed to support the development of mathematical skills of pupils at primary school level as well as to evoke the change to teachers’ attitude towards math teaching. The main research aim was increasing the level of maths comprehension and implementing the skills in practice by primary school pupils using Picto – innovative tool.
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