Abstract:

Quality assurance of technology education is a frequently discussed topic not only among experts but also among teachers, which are involved in implementation of this kind of education at different levels of schools (from the lowest ISCED 0 level to the highest ISCED 6 level). At the same time quality assurance of this kind of education at schools is closely linked to the quality and preparedness of teaching staff, to the content of education and, last but not least, to the way in which the content of the curricula is presented to students. The latter aspect is particularly important in technical education of students of secondary vocational schools, at such subjects as programming, applied informatics or computing. It is the way in which the subject matter is presented what plays an important role in understanding of the lesson content by students and in acquiring and developing students` knowledge and skills. Especially when it comes to thematic units focusing on the areas of programming logic circuits or electronics.

The paper deals with issue of technology education at secondary vocational schools. The aim of the authors is to design teaching system which, through its content and way of subject matter presentation, will contribute to better understanding of programming patterns by secondary vocational school students, especially in the area of logical systems. In particular, the authors deal with designing of a teaching system for programming of lowcost (Arduino) control units.

In the article, alternative ways of teaching lowcost control units based on different ways of knowledge and information presentation to students are described. These alternative ways use dominantly either text elements or image and text instructions or video instructions. A research question for the authors is which way in conjunction with what kind of information is more effective in terms of teaching efficiency and achieved students` learning achievements (from the programming point view).

The main output of the realized experiment will be the design of the optimal content and formal structure of thematic plans for programming of the newly created teaching system of lowcost control units programming. The optimal structure is understood as determining the most appropriate or effective ratio of the different alternative ways of information presentation in relation to different topical areas.

Keywords:

Programming, lowcost control units, Arduino, teaching methods, teaching efficiency, ways of information presentation.