Jagiellonian Digital Library contains 882 907 digital objects
- A psychology myth is a belief concerning the psyche or behaviour that is contradictory to accessible scientific knowledge. This issue is especially important in reference to human behavior specialists (i.e. psychologists, psychotherapists) or students of such disciplines. There are no studies concerning this issue in Polish literature, which inspired the authors to analyse the dissemination of such myths among psychology students. 241 psychology students participated in the study. They were asked to determine the veracity of a given statement, the degree of certainty and eventually, to name the source of their knowledge on the given issue. Results show a high degree of the dissemination of psychology myths among psychology students, with little difference between first year and last year students. This may indicate a need to supplement psychology study programmes and serves as evidence of the persistence of psychology myths.
- A wide spectrum of research on preschool spelling development in different languages is presented. In Poland, children at kindergarten are usually at a stage of pre-literacy. Invented spelling means the writing produced by young children (aged 3–7) before they are formally taught reading and writing or are at the beginning of the learning process. Their writing is more spontaneous than learnt. The paper describes an investigation of the development of early literacy and factors influencing it, such as knowledge about orthography (spelling), early morphological awareness or teaching methods. Children’s early writing provides a window on their conceptualisation of the written language, illustrating the process of developing language awareness and spelling skills. Invented spelling, together with phonological abilities and letter knowledge is considered to be a strong predictor for later literacy skills.
- A wide spectrum of research on preschool spelling development in different languages is presented. In Poland, children at kindergarten are usually at a stage of pre-literacy. Invented spelling means the writing produced by young children (aged 3–7 years) before they are formally taught reading and writing or are at the beginning of the learning process. Their writing is more spontaneous than learned. The paper describes investigations on the development of early literacy and factors influencing it, such as knowledge about orthographic (spelling) patterns, early morphological awareness or teaching methods. Children’s early writing provides a window on their conceptualisation of the written language, illustrating the process of rising language awareness and spelling skills. Invented spelling is considered, together with phonological abilities and letter knowledge, as a strong predictor of later literacy skills.
- According to theory, educational goods and services have an important impact on a child’s human capital. Although the majority of educational services in Poland are delivered within a public education system, various educational costs are borne by parents. This paper looks at the socio-economic determinants of private spending on education, including fees, private tutoring and courses, educational goods and materials, and the internet. The analysis was performed using the Polish Household Budget Survey for 2009 and 2010. Results from a logit regression suggest that disposable household income per capita and parental level of education, especially mother’s level of education have the greatest impact on spending on educational goods and services. This was true for all analysed categories of expenditure. Regional disparities and community size were an important factor especially with regards to spending on private tutoring and additional courses.
- Activity of parents as a determinant of educational achievement of students is considered in two ways: as an engagement in the learning process of the child and as a contact with the school. This paper is intended to signal the selected issues related to re-search of this problems. It is based mainly on American works in which these issues are widely and thoroughly analyzed. Article consists of two parts; the first shows the issues related to defining and identifying the components of engagement, the second discusses research on the relationships between parents involvement and pupils’ achievements.
- Aggressive behaviour in children and adolescents can be connected with their social and cognitive competence. This article is an attempt to analyse the relationship between aggression and the development of the mentalization process as the fundamental aspect of social cognition which is closely related to the phenomenon of ‘theory of mind’. The development of ‘theory of mind’, in addition to mentalization, appears manifest in the relationship of aggressive behaviour with its primary teleological function. Recent reform of the Polish education system included the lowering of the age for compulsory education. The question of whether this may increase aggression levels in children during the first stage of education is discussed in the light of the study findings.
- The aim of the article is to point out deficiencies in teaching reading in lower secondary schools inferred from results of the achievement test administered in 60 random schools from six voivodships. The analysis of the results rests on the assumption that reading is composed of several linguistic, psychological and cultural operations. The article is focused on the acquisition of vocabulary and the impact of linguistic and genetic awareness on the perception of written texts. The development of these components is particularly important in the era of orality and visuality domination.
- The aim of the ISCED classification was to compare educational resources in different countries. One of the reasons why the classification fails is that it does not reflect the specific characteristics of educational systems in individual countries and as a result creates an oversimplified image of the role of education in contemporary societies. In Poland, the national classification provides a better tool than the ISCED for specifying the role of education, which is demonstrated by the results of the 2010 European Social Survey. The advantage of national classification over the ISCED follows from the fact that it takes changes and reforms in the Polish educational system into consideration. These empirical results speak for supplementing standards with national classifications for education which allow specific characteristics of education systems to be taken into account in inter-country comparison. This would be a step towards functional harmonisation, a concept abandoned after the year 2000 which was replaced with methodological rigor. In the discussion possible reasons are outlined for why researchers find using the ISCED more appropriate for their countries than constructing their own instruments.
- The aim of the study described was to diagnose learning abilities of children completing the first and second stages of education. The following research questions were refined: What are the characteristics of primary school pupil learning ability: (a) in the field of operations specified by J. P. Guilford: cognition, memory, evaluation, convergent and divergent production?; (b) in terms of special abilities determining effective learning: reading ability, mathematics ability, writing abilities, creativity?; and: Are individual differences in learning ability of children significantly associated with gender and age? The SOI-Learning Abilities Test invented by Mary and Robert Meeker was applied to 195 children, who had completed the first and second stages of education. The results showed individual differences in learning ability, which were significantly associated with gender and age. In each age group girls achieved significantly better results. Children finishing the second stage of education scored markedly lower than those finishing the first stage. Results from the 6 grade revealed that resource potential and capabilities, identified as learning abilities in third grade pupils had been lost. Further studies are needed to determine whether school offers learning conditions incompatible with developmental specificity and mechanisms for learning ability, or whether other sources should be investigated to confirm these findings.
- The aim of the study was to determine the species composition of microscopic fungi colonizing dead wood of birch, beech, sycamore maple and sorb (Karkonosze Mountains), and black alder, mountain pine, willow, Swiss pine, sorb, sycamore maple and birch in the Tatras. The mycological analysis was conducted in 2015 and 2016 in the foothills and in the lower and upper montane zones of the Karkonosze Mounts, Karkonosze National Park, and in 2016 in the Białka Valley and Chochołowska Valley in the Tatras, Tatra National Park. For both, Karkonosze Mounts and Tatras, the dominant microscopic fungi inhabiting dead wood belonged to the genus Trichoderma. The Mycobiota of dead wood in the lower classes of decomposition was characterized by a higher species biodiversity but the lower numbers of colonies isolated.
- The aim of the study was to present the role of polymeric materials in various industries. The article discusses the statistics related to the global production of plastics in the years 1950-2015. The paper presents the properties and application of polymer materials, and also made the characteristics of the processes of degradation of polymers, detailing the processes induced by chemical agents, physical and biological. Attention is paid to the characteristics of the biodegradation process. The work has also raised issues associated with the development of ever-larger amounts of polymer waste.
- The aim of this article is to present the problem of differences in the level of knowledge of 20th century Polish history among students of upper secondary schools. The article begins with a theoretical and methodological context, followed by an analysis of the level of knowledge depending on students’ characteristics. Analyses were conducted according to two-level linear regression models based on data retrieved from a representative (of the population of second year upper secondary school students) survey on attitudes towards 20th century Polish history. Considerable differences were observed in the level of knowledge depending on the type of school and gender. To provide a wider context for the interpretation of these differences, additional factors – such as family, school and individual characteristics (potential interest in history and intensity of attitudes towards history) – were taken into consideration. The control of these additional factors, particularly the intensity of attitudes, reduced the effect of school type and gender, however, they still remained significant.
- The aim of this article is to s summarise the evolution of labour market situation of vocational education graduates the last 20 years in Poland. With the use of statistical analysis of LFS and PIAAC data we present the main changes in the situation of vocational education graduates in respect of their quantity, employment status, wages and skills. The number of students has decreased sharply in the last 20 years at basic vocational schools rather than in technical secondary schools. Our results support the thesis that the main challenges facing vocational education in Poland is not the decline in number of students, but a strong negative selection mechanisms, low efficiency of acquiring the basic skills and too slow adaptation of vocational education to the structural changes of the economy. Therefore, we show why the key success factor of vocational education consist in developing basic skills. Introduction of German model of dual education system is unlikely to solve the most important problems of Polish vocational education.
- The aim of this article is to summarise the evolution of the labour market situation of vocational education graduates in the last 20 years in Poland. With the use of statistical analyses of LFS and PIAAC data, we present the main changes in the situation of vocational education graduates in terms of their number, employment status, wages and skills. The number of students has decreased sharply in the last 20 years, in basic vocational schools, but not in vocational upper secondary schools. Our results support the thesis that the main challenges facing vocational education in Poland are not the decline in the number of students, but the strong negative selection mechanisms, low effectiveness of attaining basic skills and the inability of vocational education to quickly adapt to structural changes in the economy. We show why the key success factor of vocational education should be the development of general skills, and why introducing a dual education system is unlikely to solve its most important problems in Poland.
- The aim of this study was to reveal the relationships between the teachers’ perception of various school climate/culture aspects and school academic achievement and perceived intensification of problem behaviour among young people. The anonymous survey was conducted among teachers (n = 140) from four Warsaw lower secondary schools. The study included various aspects of school climate and culture: perceived social relationships at school, the characteristic of the educational process, educational ideologies among teachers, and sense of workload. Teachers’ perception of intensification of youth problem behaviour was directly related to three factors: results-oriented teaching, acceptance of the romantic educational ideology and the negative relations between students. The higher school academic achievement was related to the length of teachers’ career, perceived students’ commitment to learning and low teachers’ sense of workload. Moreover, it turned out that the male teachers, compared to female teachers, perceived school climate as a more favourable.
- Although lifelong learning seems expected within the contemporary labour market, only 1,3% of unemployed Poles participate in non-formal vocational training. Approximately half take part in training programmes organised by local labour offices, whereas the remainder initiate training on their own, which incurs expenses, but otherwise allows a free choice of training. In this paper, employment effectiveness for these two groups is compared on the basis of data from the Polish LFS of 2001–2013. For this purpose a logit model of outflows from unemployment to employment was estimated. The outcomes indicated that results of the two approaches to training differed – those initiated by the local labour office increased the probability of short term employment, whereas action initiated by the unemployed themselves led to similar effects, but mainly in the medium term. Effectiveness of training varied according to the characteristics of the unemployed.
- Although the Mayr’s definition of species is commonly accepted for eukaryotic organisms, bacteria do not meet those established criteria. Thus, a special approach is necessaryto elaborate the definition resistant to such limitations as for example the lack of sexual reproduction or horizontal gene transfers. One of the most problematictaxa in microbiology is the Bacillus cereus group composed of several closely related bacteria. Thus, on the basis of this model, doubts concerning bacterial taxonomy arediscussed in the light of actual, molecular data.
- Among the plant species occuring naturally in Poland, apart from edible and completely harmless to humans, there are also poisonous ones. Without specific knowledge it is not easy to recognize and distinguish them. To make it even more difficult, those plants are able to develop visually tempting fruits. Such species are the topic of this article.Plants are toxic due to the poisons they contain. Toxicity is therefore a natural method of defense against being eaten, which directly affects the survivability of species. Sometimes slight contact with a toxic plant is enough to feel detrimental consequences. In terms of the structure, toxins belong to various organic compound groups, e.g. glycosides, alkaloids or they can be derivatives of certain organic compounds. Some of them are harmful even in tiny amounts, like in a yew’s case, others- in small doses are herbal medicines known for centuries (as black elder or lily of the valley) and wreak havoc in human organisms after overdosing.
- The analyses of influence of class size on academic achievement used data from study conducted in 2006 by the Regional Examination Board in Cracow (Poland). The variables explaining the achievements of lower secondary school pupils were identified using regression analysis. The model explains 71% of variance of exam results. These variables were used to identify statistical twins. Their assignment to the experimental and control group was performed in three ways: by stratification using Mahalanobis distance, matching one-to-many and one-to-one using k-means method. The last method proved the most successful. The effect of class size on student outcomes proved statistically insignificant. However, pupils from classes with below 23 pupils achieved higher mean scores than their peers from larger classes by 0.039 standard deviation.
- The analyses of influence of class size on academic achievement used data from study conducted in 2006 bythe Regional Examination Board in Cracow (Poland). The variables explaining the achievements of lowersecondary school pupils were identified using regression analysis. The model explains 71% of variance ofexam results. These variables were used to identify statistical twins. Their assignment to the experimentaland control group was performed in three ways: by stratification using Mahalanobis distance, matching one-to-many and one-to-one using k-means method. The last method proved the most successful. The effect ofclass size on student outcomes proved statistically insignificant. However, pupils from classes with below23 pupils achieved higher mean scores than their peers from larger classes by 0.039 standard deviation.
