APPLICATION OF EXPERIMENT IN THE REALIZATION OF GEOGRAPHICAL CONTENTS IN THE FIRST CYCLE OF COMPULSORY EDUCATION FROM A TEACHER’S PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

School experiments enable students to gain knowledge through direct practical activities. The aim of the research study was to obtain information on the scope of application of models, experiments and research, as methodical solutions, when processing geographical content in the teaching of social, environmental and scientific education. An empirical study was conducted to analyze the experiences of 117 teachers, in the first cycle of compulsory education in the Republic of Serbia, about the application of this work method. The results of the research indicate that teachers occasionally realize geographical content, in the teaching of social, environmental and scientific education, through experiments, even though the resources needed for their implementation are accessible to all students. Experiments can be applied to explain the essence of physical geographical phenomena and processes, however, their use in teaching involves the training of teachers to use them, which, unfortunately, was mostly cited by teachers as a reason for occasional application. Greater attention should be given to training future teachers to apply the experiments in order to use this method more often when working with students, where they would work as a team, be active, creative, think critically, identify and explain phenomena and processes and relate to examples from everyday life.