Relations between Scientific Reasoning and Culture of Problem Solving

The article reports the results of a study, the main aim of which was to find out correlations among the three components of the Culture of problem solving (reading comprehension, creativity and ability to use the existing knowledge) and six dimensions of Scientific reasoning (conservation of matter and volume, proportional reasoning, control of variables, probability reasoning, correlation reasoning and hypothetical-deductive reasoning). Further, we present the correlations among individual components of the Culture of problem-solving and individual dimensions of Scientific reasoning with pupils’ school performance in mathematics and physics. We conducted our survey among 23 pupils aged between 14–15 years in the Ústí nad Labem Region. The results have shown that one component of the Culture of problem-solving – the ability to use the existing knowledge – strongly correlates with three dimensions of the Scientific reasoning structure: proportional reasoning, control of variables and probability reasoning. However, no correlation was proved between the creativity and the dimensions of Scientific reasoning. We have found out also that the indicators of the Culture of problem-solving and the Scientific reasoning largely do not correlate with school performance either in mathematics or in physics

IMPACT OF HEURISTIC STRATEGIES ON PUPILS’ ATTITUDES TO PROBLEM SOLVING

The paper is a sequel to the article (Novotná et al., 2014), where the authors present the results of a 4-month experiment whose main aim was to change pupils’ culture of problem solving by using heuristic strategies suitable for problem solving in mathematics education. (Novotná et al., 2014) focused on strategies Analogy, Guess – check – revise, Systematic experimentation, Problem reformulation, Solution drawing, Working backwards and Use of graphs of functions. This paper focuses on two other heuristic strategies convenient for improvement of pupils’ culture of problem solving: Introduction of an auxiliary element and Omitting a condition. In the first part, the strategies Guess – Check – Revise, Working backwards, Introduction of an auxiliary element and Omitting a condition are characterized in detail and illustrated by examples of their use in order to capture their characteristics. In the second part we focus on the newly introduced strategies and analyse work with them in lessons using the tools from (Novotná et al., 2014). The analysis of results of the experiment indicates that, unlike in case of the strategy Introduction of an auxiliary element, successful use of the strategy Omitting a condition requires longer teacher’s work with the pupils. The following analysis works with the strategy Systematic experimentation, which seemed to be the easiest to master in (Novotná et al., 2014); we focus on the dangers it bears when it is used by pupils. The conclusion from (Novotná et al., 2014), which showed that if pupils are introduced to an environment that supports their creativity, their attitude towards problem solving changes in a positive way already after the period of four months, is confirmed

The Strategy the Use of False Assumption and Word Problem Solving

The paper describes one problem solving strategy – the Use of false assumption. The objective of the paper is to show, in accordance with Phylogenesis and Ontogenesis Theory, that it is worthwhile to reiterate the process of development of the concept of a variable and thus provide to pupils one of the ways helping them to eliminate usual difficulties when solving word problems using linear equations, namely construction of the equations. The paper presents the outcomes of a study conducted on three lower secondary schools in the Czech Republic with 147 14–15-year-old pupils. Pupils from the experimental group were, unlike pupils from the control group, taught the strategy the Use of false assumption before being taught the topic Solving word problems. The tool for the study was a test of four problems that was sat by all the involved pupils three weeks after finishing the topic “Solving word problems” and whose results were evaluated statistically. The experiment confirmed the research hypothesis that the introduction of the strategy the Use of false assumption into 8th grade mathematics lessons (14–15-year-old pupils) helps pupils construct equations more successfully when solving word problems

PROBLEM SOLVING IN SCHOOL MATHEMATICS BASED ON HEURISTIC STRATEGIES

The paper describes one of the ways of developing pupils’ creative approach to problem solving. The described experiment is a part of a longitudinal research focusing on improvement of culture of problem solving by pupils. It deals with solving of problems using the following heuristic strategies: Analogy, Guess – check – revise, Systematic experimentation, Problem reformulation, Solution drawing, Way back and Use of graphs of functions. Most attention is paid to the question whether short-term work, in this case only over the period of three months, can result in improvement of pupils’ abilities to solve problems whose solving algorithms are easily accessible. It also answers the question which strategies pupils will prefer and with what results. The experiment shows that even short-term work can bear positive results as far as pupils’ approach to problem solving is concerned

Preliminary analysis of utilization of genomic relationship in mating plan of Old Kladruber horse

The study analyzed 48 Old Kladruber horses genotyped by Illumina Equine SNP70 BeadChip for usefulness of genomic data in determining of mating plan. Totally 12 variants of data filtering and their impact on calculations in dependence of different parameters of GenCall Score, Minor Allele Frequency and assumed average values of loci of ancestors (l) was investigated. For possibility of comparison between genomic and commonly evaluated relationships, pedigree based relationship matrix was constructed and subsequently subtraction of pedigree from genomic matrix was performed. All matrices were thoroughly inspected and most suitable setting of parameters was chosen. Evaluation of genomic relationships can be successfully implemented in more precise method of mating plan design of Old Kladruber horses. Further genotyping and development of method for rescaling of differences between genomic and pedigree relationship matrices´ elements is advised for a purpose of better interpretation of results by breeders

Pupils’ School Performance and Their Cognitive Abilities to Solve Problems

The paper describes the results of a study whose main aim was to find the correlation between a pupil’s school grades in Czech language (native), mathematics and physics and pupils' cognitive predispositions to problem solving in science and mathematics diagnosed by the Lawson Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning and the Culture of Problem Solving test. The total of 180 pupils from the Czech Republic aged 14–15 took part in this study. The results show that pupils with better grades in the monitored subjects achieve better results in both tests. It also turns out that there are generally statistically insignificant differences between the results of pupils assessed by grades 1 or 2, and between the results of pupils assessed by grades 3 or 4. Pupils’ performance in the two tests might help to strengthen the objectivization of grading at school. They might also help to identify the indicators important for the development of problem-solving skills. The research specifically points at the need of developing algebraic thinking, conception of infinity, spatial imagination, geometric imagination in the plane, proportional reasoning and the abilities of the control of variables

GWAS in practical cattle breeding in Czech Republic, single step method, genetic progress

Development of genetic evaluation of animals is permanent process. It was going from estimated breeding value (EBV) calculated by CC-test, across a BLUP – animal model and RR-TDM, to the genomic enhanced breeding value (GEBV) using genetic markers. Methods of genetic evaluation become a part of marketing strategies of insemination companies. Therefore all countries and association of breeders seek to be compatible with others. Now we are in a period of massive global implementation of genomic evaluation, which combines traditional BLUP with huge quantity of genetic SNP markers. Multi-step procedures are now usual in practice, which work with deregressed proofs. Development of methods attained to the single-step procedure (ssGBLUP) which overcomes some difficulties of previous methods, improves reliabilities of evaluation and compares all animals, genotyped and ungenotyped, in entire nation-wide population. Genomic evaluation influence above all young genotyped animals. In Czech Republic single-step procedure is routinely used for national evaluation of milk, linear type traits, reproduction and longevity. GEBVs are accompanied by genomic reliabilities. Genetic trends over last 20 years are in some traits different for genomic evaluation compared to traditional BLUP evaluation, although input data and genetic parameters (heritability) are the same and genotyped animals were only small proportion from entire evaluated population. Differences in genetic trends increase mainly in new batches of animals. Reason of it could be in the changed variability of breeding values and “genomic correction” of relationship between animals, which is expanded from genotyped animals to others individuals in a population. Keywords: genomic breeding value, single-step, genomic relationship, genetic trend, SNP ReferencesBauer, J. et al. (2014) Approximation of the reliability of single-step genomic breeding values for dairy cattle in the Czech Republic. Anim. Sci. Papers and Reports, 32, pp. 301-306.Bauer, J., Přibyl, J. and Vostrý, L. (2015) Contribution of domestic production records and Interbull EBV on approximate reliabilities of single-step genomic breeding values in dairy cattle. Czech J. Anim. Sci., 60, 263-267.Candrák, J., Kadlečík O. and Schaeffer L.R. (1997) The use of test-day model for Slovak cattle populations. In: Proc. 48th Annual Meeting of the European Association for Animal Production, Vienna, Austria, August 25–28.Christensen,  O.F. and Lund, M.S. (2010) Genomic prediction when some animals are not genotyped. Genet.Sel.Evol. 42, pp. 2.Fisher, R.A. (1918) The correlation between relatives in the supposition of Mendelianinheritance. Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb. 52, pp. 399-433.            Fragomeni, B.O. et al. (2015) Hot topic: Use of genomic recursions in single-step genomic best linear unbiased predictor (BLUP) with a large number of genotypes. J. Dairy Sci., 98, pp. 4090-4094.Gao, H. et al. (2012) Comparison on genomic predictions using three GBLUP methods and two single step blending methods in the Nordic Holstein population. Genet. Sel.Evol. 44, pp. 8.Legarra A., Aguilar I. and Misztal, I. (2009) A relationship matrix including full pedigree and genomic information. J. Dairy Sci., 92, pp. 4656-4663.Masuda, Y. et al. (2016) Implementation of genomic recursions in single-step genomic best linear unbiased predictor for US Holsteins with a large number of genotyped animals. J. Dairy Sci., 99, pp. 1968-1974.Mendel, G.J. (1866) Versuche über Pflanzen-Hybriden. Verh. Naturforsch. Ver. Brünn 4, pp. 3–47 (1901, J. R. Hortic. Soc. 26, pp. 1–32).Meuwissen, T.H.E., Hayes, B.J. and Goddard, M.E. (2001) Prediction of total genetic value using genome-wide dense marker maps. Genetics, 157, pp. 1819–1829.Misztal, I., Legarra A. and Aguilar, I. (2009) Computing procedures for genetic evaluation including phenotypic, full pedigree, and genomic information. J. Dairy Sci., 92, pp. 4648–4655.Misztal, I. et al. (2013) Methods to approximate reliabilities in single-step genomic evaluation. J. Dairy Sci., 96, pp. 647-654.Pešek, P., Přibyl, J. and Vostrý, L. (2015) Genetic variances of SNP loci for milk yield in dairy cattle. J. Appl. Genet., 56, pp. 339-347.Přibyl, J. et al. (2014) Domestic and Interbull information in the single step genomic evaluation of Holstein milk production.  Czech J. Anim. Sci., 59, pp. 409-415.Přibyl, J. et al. (2015) Domestic estimated breeding values and genomic enhanced breeding values of bulls in comparison with their foreign genomic enhanced breeding values. Animal, 9, pp. 1635-1642.VanRaden, P.M. (2008) Efficient methods to compute genomic predictions. J. Dairy Sci., 91, pp. 4414–4423.VanRaden, P.M. et al. (2011) Genomic evaluations with many more genotypes. Genet. Sel.Evol. 43, pp. 10.Wright, S. (1921) Systems of mating. Genetics. 6, pp. 111-178.Zavadilová, L. et al. 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Heuristic strategies of mathematical problem solving on lower secondary school

The dissertation thesis deals with mathematical problem-solving at lower secon- dary level, as viewed from the perspective of heuristic strategies. The aim of the thesis is to comprehensibly summarize the results of research which began in 2012 and runs until now. The results concern both with theoretical and empirical parts of our research. This research study was conducted in fifteen lower secondary and upper secondary classes. Three dimensional classification of use of heuristic strategies and the structure of heuristic strategies' characteristics were developed by the author, and these constructs are presented in this work. The theory of mathematical problem and mathematical problem solving method is an integral part of this thesis too. Furthermore, the author presents a summary of all strategies used in the experiments; each strategy is fully described and illustrated by an appropriate example. The results of several short-term research studies (three months) and a longitudinal research study (sixteen months) are analysed in the empirical part of the thesis. This part also strives to find answers to several research questions, e.g.: " Could certain strategies be taught in a short-term period (three months)?", " Which strategies are suitable for an average pupil?" or " Are the pupils able to..

Business of small and medium-sized companies on the Internet and optimizing of management strategies of online store

Cílem diplomové práce je přiblížit podnikatelům možnosti expanze internetových obchodů, které jim nabízí dnešní internet od optimalizace zdrojového kódu, přes implementaci nejnovějších a nejefektivnějších typů reklamy na internetu až po rozšiřování distribučních míst. Význam internetu a jeho využití neustále roste a ti, kteří v dnešní době nenabízejí své produkty či služby jeho prostřednictvím jsou ve velké nevýhodě. Tento vývoj také značně ovlivňuje rozvoj sociálních sítí, které se stávají velice často využívaným reklamním a distribučním kanálem. Vzhledem k tomu, že náklady vložené do internetové reklamy jsou velice snadno měřitelné a tedy je i velice snadno měřitelná návratnost investic vložených do reklamy je velice pravděpodobné, že se podnikatelé začnou odklánět od neměřitelných forem reklamy jako je televizní reklama, reklama v radiu či v tisku a budou více investovat právě do reklamy na internetu. Vzhledem k stále větším konkurenčním bojům a přesycenosti všech trhů se dnešní podnikatelé snaží ušetřit na všech místech a proto je právě internetová reklama řešením nákladů na propagaci.Aim of the master's thesis is to show to enterpreneurs the possibilities of expansion of internet stores which the Internet offers nowadays. For example Search engine optimization, implementation of the newest and the most effective kinds of internet promotion or the expansion of distribution channels. The importance of the Internet is growing exponentially and those who not offer their products or services through it are in big disadvantage. This development is also influenced by the growth of the social networks as they become new advertising and distribution channel. It is very easy to measure the return of investment put into the advertising on the internet and that is why more and more of enterprises use it instead of advertising on the TV, radio or in newspaper. Due to competiton and oversupply of markets the enterprises are forced to cut costs in all activites. That is why the Internet promotion is the solution