Attitudes of pupils of the first form of secondary school towards chemistry classes

Abstract

This paper is about attitudes of pupils of the first form of secondary school towards chemistry classes. The poll was taken on the sample of 159 pupils in May, in the school year 1997/1998. There was noticed a considerable drop in the pupils' being successful in chemistry in the transition from elementary to secondary school. In elementary school more than a half of the subjects had excellent mark (five)of chemistry, while at the end of the first semester of the first form of secondary school only 7 of the polled pupils retained the same mark. The results of the poll showed that more than 50 of the subject did not understand in full two thirds of the covered material, that even more subjects found the chemistry course uninteresting, and that less than a half of them liked chemistry. The pupils want group instead of frontal way of work, more independent experimental work and discussions. Instead of abstract theoretical contents, they prefer those which would be connected to a greater extent with everyday life.

U radu su prikazani rezultati ispitivanja stavova učenika prvog razreda gimnazije prema nastavi hemije. Anketirano je 159 učenika prirodno-matematičkog smera gimnazije. Anketiranje je izvedeno u maju školske 1997/98. godine. Pri prelasku iz osnovne u srednju školu uočava se veliki pad uspeha iz hemije anketiranih učenika. Više od polovine ispitanika imalo je u osnovnoj školi odličnu ocenu (pet)iz hemije, a na kraju prvog polugodišta prvog razreda tu ocenu zadržalo je svega 7. Rezultati ankete pokazali su da za više od 50 učenika dve trećine obrađenog sadržaja nije potpuno razumljivo, a još većem broju sadržaji nisu zanimljivi. Manje od polovine učenika voli hemiju. Učenici žele grupni rad umesto frontalnog načina rada, više samostalnog eksperimentalnog rada i diskutovanje. Umesto apstraktnih teorijskih sadržaja, oni žele sadržaje koji su u većoj meri povezani sa svakodnevnim životom.