**9. Technical kits in Czech primary school**

The main objective of the research was to identify, analyse and then describe the current state of teaching using technical kits in primary schools in the Czech Republic. Teachers in primary schools and multi-year grammar schools in the Olomouc, Zlin and Moravian-Silesian regions were contacted. A self-constructed questionnaire was used as a research tool for data collection, which was distributed to the respondents, filled in and electronically evaluated using MS Excel statistical tools. From the available tools for the questionnaire, the cloud application Google Forms was selected, whose services suited the nature and structure of the questions.

The questionnaire was distributed via email, which, in addition to the accompanying message text, also contained a link through which respondents could access the questionnaire. Most of the questions in the questionnaire were set as mandatory, meaning that the respondent had to comment. However, the questionnaire also contained questions marked as optional, for which the respondent indicated a response only if he or she was able or willing to answer on the issue.

The questionnaire consisted of three parts. The first part contained questions aimed at quantifying the respondents. The second part dealt with teaching experience and the third assessed the reasons and also offered suggestions from the respondents. We asked about active experiences with building blocks in teaching (e.g. in what way, what methodological materials, what types of building blocks, in what subjects, etc.), as well as the context of computer science, programming opportunities, digital literacy development, and reasons for not using building blocks in teaching. In total, the questionnaire contained 30 questions.

The primary use of engineering kits by respondents varies from subject to subject. **Figure 4** shows the top 4 most frequently reported subjects (including leisure activities) with kit-supported learning and the ways in which respondents use kits in these subjects. As can be seen from **Figure 4**, for most of them the main area of interest is problem solving and in the case of the Computer Science subject then programming and algorithmization. Then, in Technical Education, the most common areas of interest are learning about how technology works and competitions. Not surprisingly, in the teaching of physics, the implementation of measurements using sensors (**Table 1**).

Nowadays, there is a considerable number of technical kits on the market that can be applied to teaching. According to the answers of our respondents, it is evident that the leading position is held by construction-oriented building sets such as LEGO,

#### *Illustrative Techniques in the Primary School DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.100568*

#### **Figure 4.**

*Active experience with technical kits in teaching.*


#### **Table 1.**

*Gender and age distribution of respondents.*

which is known mainly for its technical building sets that connect the construction area with robotics, programming. Many respondents also reported a combination of several building blocks, but where LEGO building blocks were always the most represented. The Czech kit Merkur, which also has its robotic variants, ranks next in terms of number of users.

An essential part of teaching with kits, which each teacher may have a slightly different perspective on, is construction, even in terms of the type of technical kit. Due to the lack of definition of this area in the curriculum of primary schools in the Czech Republic and the prevailing low hourly allocation, the teacher has to decide what he/ she wants to primarily focus on in teaching. If the primary goal of the lesson is not construction, the process of model building may be shortened (which is, of course, undesirable). Thus, the contribution of constructing to the overall lesson process and the teachers' own perspectives on constructing were investigated. Teachers who


#### **Table 2.**

*Proportion of construction in the implementation of short tasks in one lesson.*

tend to use a set of shorter tasks within the lesson have a different contribution of construction to the flow of the lesson. About half, however, report that constructing a model takes pupils at least half of the lesson. In an ideal situation, this leaves roughly 20 minutes in a lesson (45 minutes) for the actual functionality, measurements and other activities (**Table 2**).

A very important factor that can discourage teachers from using kits is insufficient or inadequate methodological support. Thanks to the Internet, there is a large number of teaching materials, themes and examples available. However, not all of them are suitable for teaching. Therefore, we tried to find out from our respondents what type of methodological materials they use and to what extent in their teaching. As we found, respondents most often rely on the manual that is part of the kit supplied by the manufacturer (69% of respondents). This is understandable because these manuals or instructions usually contain all the basic information for working with the kit and also provide some tasks that can be done with the kit. Another source of information is then the internet (21% of respondents), both from websites (kit manufacturers or user communities (11% of respondents) and instructional videos (9% of respondents). Respondents either adopt the information obtained in this way into their own teaching or modify it and create their own tasks based on it. To a lesser extent, respondents reported working with a variety of texts, including foreign literature.

#### **10. Conclusion**

The education strategy in the Czech Republic is based on the development of polytechnic education, informatics and the promotion of digital literacy. However, strategies are one thing, but real support is another. Despite some positive steps associated with European Union projects, support for technical and natural science areas in particular is relatively weak, and this concerns not only material and technological support for teaching, but also, and above all, methodological and knowledge and skills support on the part of teachers.

Technology has an irreplaceable place in education at all levels. It takes on a special positive significance in combination with the desired development of digital and information literacy, where technology in the form of building blocks offers tools and procedures that contribute to this development in a positive way for both pupils and teachers. However, the building blocks in the concept of teaching aids must respect the functional and temporal specificities of teaching, both gnoseologically

#### *Illustrative Techniques in the Primary School DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.100568*

and logically. It is understandable that a content analysis of the teaching process will best show the teacher the optimal possibilities for selecting appropriate methods and forms of teaching, including adequate teaching aids, but also teaching programmes and didactic techniques, but the teacher must apply all this creatively.

The area of the use and integration of technical building blocks into the teaching process is conditioned by many factors, which have been even partially mentioned here, but it should be borne in mind that the current development is directed towards the creation of complex technological systems combining both the constructional and the informatics and digital areas. Through such tools, a faster and, above all, easier transfer of information between teacher and pupil is realised. Thus, the application of technical building blocks can provide pupils with practical skills, knowledge and habits in addition to the development of their intellectual abilities and skills in the broadest spectrum, and the building blocks can be considered as a comprehensive tool for pupil development. By using knowledge from the field of creativity, especially technical creativity, as well as didactics, subject and subject area, this goal can be achieved and pupils can develop skills such as problem formulation, general approach to problem solving, ability to find a solution and optimise it in every situation. This applies to everyone's everyday life.

In conclusion, technical building blocks are undoubtedly an interesting technical system for educational activities. Therefore, they deserve to be significantly included in the material and technical base of all types and levels of schools, where pupils prepare theoretically and practically for their personal and professional life.
