Обучението по астрономия в прогимназиалния етап – резултати от анкетно проучване
Teaching Astronomy at the Secondary Level – Results from a Questionnaire Study

Summary/Abstract: This paper presents results from a anonymous questionnaire study of the attitudes of elementary school students towards courses of the so-called “Nature Cycle” – People and nature, Physics and astronomy, Geography and Biology. The questionnaire consists of 14 questions and data were collected during the 2014/2015 school year. Group A are students who have studied astronomy in kindergarten and Group B are students who have taken no extracurricular astronomy courses. The students are ages 12 to 14 at the time of the study (5th through 7th grade). The study shows that the level of knowledge between the two groups is not significantly different, however the students in Group A have a stronger positive attitude toward courses of the nature cycle relative to students in Group B. Of interest are also the opinions and recommendations expressed by the children as well as the reactions of those who studied astronomy in kindergarten. The author has used their experience working with kindergarten-age children to create a program and a methodology for the teaching of astronomy. The effectiveness of this program is confirmed by educators and parents. An Appendix shows a table of the questionnaire answers.

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