Future Teachers Explore Innovative Approaches
28. January 2024It’s Tuesday, 9 April, and the Faculty of Humanities at Tomáš Baťa University in Zlín is hosting the first of its Project Days.
These Project Days are organised by fourth-year students at the Primary School Teaching programme. For this event, the future teachers prepared two project-based programmes for pupils from Mikoláš Aleš Primary School and Malenovice Primary School, tř. Svobody. The activities and tasks focused on environmental science and cyber security. Under the titles Saving the Island of Truth and The Secrets of Natural Laws, the projects highlighted challenges associated with the online world and helped children better understand natural principles that require proactive protection.
Just after 8 a.m., fifth-grade pupils gathered in the faculty’s student club for the first part of the programme. The session began with a key question, which the pupils would answer later in the morning, based on the hands-on activities they had completed.
To spark interest in media literacy, the students used videos and supplementary materials. Some of the pupils, originally from Ukraine, faced difficulties reading in Czech and appreciated the support from the future teachers, who assisted with text translations.
The event then moves to the computer room, where a thematic escape game is prepared for the children. Once they have successfully managed to escape the “escape game”, they are divided into groups via a wheel of fortune and a number generator to create leaflets as an output of the project.
As part of media literacy, the students also discuss internet safety and the simplified issue of fake news with the children. Student Alena, who actively participates in this project day, shares her experience: “We tried to think of a topical issue that the children might be interested in. I’m surprised how many children in Key Stage 1 have encountered online scams and already have some experience of cyberbullying. So, we can address these situations together and discuss how to prevent them.”
“Project-based learning allows students to become active participants in the educational process and to answer complex questions themselves,” says Mgr. Tereza Kolumber, programme coordinator and assistant at the Department of School Pedagogy at FHS UTB.
“This approach teaches critical thinking, problem-solving, and teamwork,” she adds. The aim of the project days is to support a constructivist approach to teaching, where the student is at the centre of the learning process and is motivated to engage in independent discovery.
According to Dr Helena Pospíšilová, guarantor of the Teacher’s Presentation Skills course, the project days are an excellent experience for both pupils and teaching students. “ By conducting them, the students gain valuable experience in education and test innovative methods in regular teaching.” The event also reflects the faculty’s long-term commitment to involving students in practical teaching and supporting new trends in pedagogy. Project days have been held for several years, becoming an integral part of the curriculum.
Students continued these activities on additional dates, 16 and 23 April 2024.