Ongoing educational reforms in the Czech Republic strive to introduce new culture of learning and in-
struction. Together with new culture of learning and instruction, new theoretical concepts are introduced,
such as key competencies, which represent the highest aim of education in many educational systems around
the world, including the Czech Republic. There is a lack of data that could provide a comprehensive picture
of the curriculum materials as well as schooling processes as they occur in schools and classrooms and that
could provide us with information about the implementation of educational reform. We suppose that ques-
tions and tasks can be the most in
uential and approachable features in the process of implementing new
ideas, aims and objectives. In the proposed research, we focus on problem solving competence, as an exam-
ple of a key competence. The purpose of the research is to examine and describe the nature and qualities
of questions and tasks in geography textbooks and instruction with regard to the development of problem
solving competence.

Results

The aims of the proposed project were:
(1) To elaborate the theoretical and methodological model for research on questions and tasks in textbooks and in
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instruction, with regard to the concept of opportunities to learn and to the development of problem solving
competence.
(2) To develop a reliable system of categories for evaluating qualities of questions and tasks in textbooks and
instruction, with regard to the development of problem solving competence (based on up-to-date research findings and
modified according to inter-rater agreement procedures).
(3) To carry out a research focused on qualities of questions and tasks in textbooks and instruction, with regard to the
development of problem solving competence.
(4) To analyse research data and draw conclusions relevant for further domain-specific as well as domain-general
research into questions and tasks in textbooks and instruction.
All above mentioned aims were fulfilled.
GA ČR Evaluation:The project proceeded according to the approaches proposed in the project proposal.The aims of the project
(especially “to develop a reliable system of categories for evaluating the textbooks and instruction, with regard to the
development of problem solving competence” and verify it empirically) and intended publication outputs of the project
were fulfilled.

Publications