Attitudes of Primary School Teachers and Students of Pedagogical/Teacher Education Faculties on Characteristics

Abstract

Heuristic instruction is one of the less researched and used teaching models. Although it has a long history, as a special teaching model, it started to develop several decades ago. In this research, we are interested in the roles of teachers in heuristic instruction, though we cannot neglect their roles in traditional teaching as well because it is dominant in schools. The aim of the research is to examine the attitudes and opinions of primary school teachers and students of pedagogical/teacher education faculties about the roles of teachers in heuristic lessons. The research is based on descriptive scientific research method. In addition, the method of theoretical analysis was used. The research showed the opinions of 336 teachers from the territory of Belgrade and 433 students of the third and fourthyear of teacher education/pedagogical faculties in Serbia, and a list of teacher roles was determined, which, according to the respondents, are key in the efficient organization of heuristic teaching and are based on independent and creative research work of students. The obtained results indicate that the respondents take a very positive attitude towards the roles of teachers in heuristic teaching, which indicates the importance and a need for practical application of this form of teaching in our schools in the first cycle of primary school education.

Keywords

• heuristic instruction
• first cycle of primary education
• roles of teachers