THE USE OF A DIGITAL MICROSCOPE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG SCHOOLCHILDREN'S IDEAS ABOUT PLANTS, ANIMALS AND FUNGI

Abstract

At present the use of technical teaching aids based on digital technologies in the educational process in primary schools is gaining special relevance, and the digital microscope is indicated in a number of syllabi for the course "Nature study" in primary schools in the section “Material and technical support”. The teacher is free to decide on what topics, in the study of what objects or natural phenomena, with the use of what methods to use this teaching tool. The aim of the study is to identify the influence of the use of the digital microscope on the development of children’s ideas about plants, animals and fungi in primary school. The pedagogical experiment was carried out for 2 years on the basis of two secondary schools in the city of Kirov, Russian Federation. 140 third grade students (72 students in the experimental group and 68 students in the control group) took part in the experiment. For the development of ideas about plants, animals and fungi in primary school children at Nature study lessons two methods were implemented: with the use of the digital microscope (in the experimental group) and without its use (in the control group). The results of testing third-graders before and after the teaching experiment showed that the use of the digital microscope in the classroom contributed to students’ better assimilation of knowledge about the diversity of plants, their respiration, nutrition, reproduction and development, the diversity of animals, their reproduction and development, and the diversity of fungi than in the lessons which did not use the microscope. This is proved by statistically significant differences in the test results of the experimental and control groups after the experiment. The findings of the study can provide a starting point for subject curriculum developers and teachers interested in using the digital microscope in primary school education.