Prof. Šeďová received the prestigious award of the Czech Science Foundation

Students who are communicative and actively engaged in learning achieve better results than their quietly listening peers. These are the findings of research investigating whether there is a link between pupils' knowledge and their participation in lessons. The research was carried out by Prof. Mgr. Klára Šeďová, Ph.D., from the Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Arts MU. She received this year's Chairman's Award of the Czech Science Foundation (GACR) for the project.

6 Oct 2021 Patrik Švec

To just sit quietly and listen, or to actively enter and talk with the teacher? The answer was sought by the research team of Prof. Klára Šeďová from the Department of Educational Sciences of the Faculty of Arts MU. The team used a specially developed application that sensed the communicative involvement in teaching. The findings are crucial: not only do pupils who actively discuss and argue in lessons achieve better results than their quietly sitting peers, but also that this communication compensates for the disadvantages resulting from the inferior family background of some pupils.

According to representatives of the Czech Science Foundation (GACR), the project entitled The relationship between the characteristics of instructional communication and pupils' educational performance is among the best basic research. Its findings will enable school teaching to be improved. "We consider it extremely important to recognize the work of scientists, which is why we have selected the five best grant projects this year," said Stanislava Hronová, vice-chair of the Czech Science Foundation, who believes that Czech basic research is world-class.

The jury awarded the prizes for the 18th time, the first time in 2003. It was the first time that FA MU succeeded in the field of social sciences and humanities, the award went to the project of prof. Mgr. Jiří Macháček, Ph.D., from the Department of Archaeology and Museology of the FA MU, which dealt with the economic and social structure of the early medieval center and its territory. The faculty had to wait until this year for the next award.

In addition to social-humanities research, the jury also awards projects in the fields of technical sciences, life sciences, medical and biological sciences, and agricultural and bio-environmental sciences.