Abstract:

The printed textbook still plays a crucial role in the teaching and learning of pupils. It is used as an essential teaching material, which serves as the main source of information, but often also represents the outline for the methodological construction of the lesson (Sikorová, 2010; TIMSS, 2015). However, the covid-19 pandemic has brought about fundamental changes in the ways and forms of conducting lessons in all subjects. Teachers and students had to respond to the new conditions of education in the framework of the so-called Emergency Remote Teaching. In the context of educational resources, we are therefore interested in "What changes in the use of teaching and learning resources have occurred in the teaching of Biology in lower secondary schools?". This paper aims to find out how biology teachers perceive the role of the primary textbook in teaching and during home preparation for lessons, what other educational resources, both print and digital, are used in the classroom, to what extent, and in what ways and for what purposes.

The research respects a qualitative research design. The method used was in-depth semi-structured interviews with 5 biology teachers. Respondents were selected using the maximum variation sampling method (Cohen, Manion, 2019). Each interview was recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data analysis was conducted using open coding techniques (Flick, 2006) and using Atlas.ti, version 9. Initial findings indicate that textbooks still play the main role in biology classes. Teachers use them to support interpretation and to demonstrate knowledge. The choice of material and the amount of information exposed in the classroom by the teacher is defined by the textbook. Visual components - pictures, diagrams, graphs - play an important function in textbooks. However, textbooks are supplemented by several other resources to motivate and clarify the material. The influence of digital materials, which are not necessarily didactic but serve as a motivational element, is growing. It also shows that the ways of working with educational resources in online learning are still being used. Teachers have acquired several new skills, processed the curriculum in a new way, and shared teaching materials and lesson preparations with each other. These benefits continue to be used in face-to-face teaching.

Keywords:

Teaching and learning resources, textbook use, digital resources.