Modernism suited to the (traditional and contemporary) doll and the child as its alter ego

This paper looks at the doll through the uneasy relationship between "tradition" and "contemporaneity". The traditional doll, both as a concept and as an artefact, belongs to the real world. It is defined as an object, an immobile figure controlled by a child. The traditional doll has no pretensions to be alive, and thus bears little resemblance to a human being. It is simple, unobtrusive, direct, mysterious, dependent on the child that gives it life during play. It has two fundamental virtues: silence, which is at the same time its most important means of communication, and submissiveness, which is based on fellowship and which implies the leaving of space to the "other", more precisely, to the child who is in fact "the first" and whom the doll "follows". Contemporary dolls can be material and non-material. Material dolls are most commonly made of inorganic materials, while non-material dolls are made of shadows, reflections, projections of symbolic form. Both have convincing human characteristics that they achieve thanks to various programs and "mechanisms". Contemporary dolls are seductive, talkative and ready to build "parasocial" and "postbiological" relationships in the digital world. Their supreme values are entertainment, noise, surprise, saturation of the senses, few demands on the mind. They aspire to be "first", and "demand" that the child should be in "second" position. A comparative study of these two dolls through a circle of ontological questions situated within the animate-inanimate opposition contributes to a better understanding of the status of the traditional/contemporary doll, the boundaries between man/the child and the doll, and relationships between people. The triumph of contemporary dolls threatens the status and the continued existence of the traditional doll. Due to the "humanization" of dolls and the "dollization" of people, the boundaries between people and dolls have been blurred. Increased intimacy with contemporary dolls leads to changes in social patterns based on greater distance between people.

The use of oral history in researching education in Serbia on the eve of World War II

This paper presents the results of a study carried out with pedagogy students in the academic year 2013-14. The subject of the study was education in Serbia on the eve of World War II from the perspective of its immediate participants, i.e. persons who were students at the time. The method of oral history was used, with students conducting structured interviews, which we analyzed and interpreted. The interviewees were aged between 75 and 89. The sample consisted of 12 women and 8 men, 13 from rural and 7 from urban environments. The aim of the study was to collect testimony about education in Serbia on the eve of World War II from immediate participants, those who were students at the time. The focus of the study was on the social dimension of education and on the pedagogical process in schools in that period. We conducted a narrative analysis of obtained data, sought to identify similarities and differences in schooling, particularly between children in urban and rural environments. The paper is intended to contribute to the picture of school life on the eve of World War II, to present the voices of "those who have not been heard" in the textbooks on the history of education, and thus shed additional light on this period of our educational past.

The attitudes of future pedagogists to sustainable development

Sustainable development is an essential precondition, and also the ultimate goal, of the organization of numerous human activities, with particular emphasis on education. One of the key dimensions of sustainable development is the social dimension, which refers to citizens' comprehension of its importance. The aim of the study presented in this paper was to establish the attitudes of future pedagogists towards sustainable development. The sample consisted of 240 respondents. The study used the descriptive method, and the data collection technique used was the questionnaire survey-the Questionnaire for the Assessment of Attitudes to Sustainable Development. The results of the survey confirm the general research hypothesis that students regard sustainable development as extremely important. Students of teacher training faculties are aware of the concept and importance of sustainable development for the present and the future, but are insufficiently prepared to educate future generations about it. The pedagogical implications of this study would be that university teachers should implement more content dealing with sustainable development as part of the curriculum, particularly at faculties educating future pedagogists. This is particularly important for these students so that they can act with the future in mind-the future of young generations.

Managing stress in migrant children in school

Starting from basic theoretical insights into stress, the paper presents some techniques and ways of recognizing stress in migrant students, the competencies teachers need in order to work with children who are in a state of stress due to their migrant situation, and also some strategies, techniques and activities that should be implemented in the process of managing stress in migrant students in the education system. Particular emphasis is placed on the various forms of support for schools developed by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia. In this context the paper presents: The Professional Guidelines for the Inclusion of Refugee Students into the Education System, The Training Program for Reducing Stress in Migrant Situations through the implementation of these guidelines, as well as some results of the evaluation of the Program. In view of this, the paper highlights the importance of support for work with migrant children which the education system needs to provide to schools, and maps out some future activities that could contribute to this.

The functionality of interactive digital platforms in online teaching and learning

This paper looks at the functionality of three interactive digital platforms for creating a virtual environment in online teaching and learning - Hangouts Meet, Zoom and Microsoft Teams. These platforms have started being widely used during the 2019-nCoV pandemic. On the basis of a review and comparison of their integrated functions and features, as well as of observations made in the course of their parallel use during the spring semester of 2019/20 at the Department of the Serbian language of the Faculty of Philosophy in Niš, the author has established that these platforms have the same general characteristics, while differences exist in the area of integrated functions that can be used by teachers and students. Taking into consideration this segment of the analysis, the author concludes that the interactive digital platforms Zoom and Microsoft Teams are better adapted to the implementation of online instruction than Google's Hangouts Meet, as they enable screen sharing and the following of textual communication, direct sharing of sound by means of a sound card, using a chosen photograph to create an appropriate learning environment, textual communication with one or more participants of the teaching/learning process, special formatting of text in messages, the exchange of teaching/learning materials in real time and for the duration of the call, conducting short surveys within the program, and the recording of each individual lesson. However, the paper also suggests ways of increasing the functionality of all analyzed platforms by using simple add-ons and online tools. By providing a detailed overview of all integrated functions, the paper discusses the methodological implications for their more effective use in online instruction.

The impact of the level of parental involvement and parental demands on students' attitudes to learning

The attitudes that parents have towards learning are very significant for the forming of staudents' attitudes towards learning. The importance of this study lies in uncovering the extent to which students' own attitudes to learning depend on the level of parental involvement and parental demands, and the extent to which the insights obtained can be used as the basis for determining the manner in which parents should be engaged in and devote attention to their children's learning. In this paper, students' attitudes to learning were observed through two variables, namely students' learning goal orientation and their approaches to learning. The research sample consisted of 802 seventh-, eighthand ninth-grade primary school students. We started from the assumption that certain differences exist among the given variables. For the purposes of the study we used an instrument for measuring students' approach to learning, an instrument for measuring learning goal orientations and an instrument for measuring the level of demands and the level of support in the family environment. The reliability of the instruments was verified through Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The data obtained indicate that there is a statistically significant difference in learning goal orientations and approaches to learning among students depending on the level of parental demands and the level of parental involvement. Students whose parents provide high levels of support are more likely to have mastery goal orientation and an in-depth approach to learning, regardless of the level of demands. The pedagogical recommendation that can be made based on the results is that parents should provide their children with a high level of support for learning so that they can achieve the best possible results.

Computer games in preschool education: Potential risks from the teachers' perspective

Today's society is characterized by the expansion of scientific and technological development, leading to changes in the conception of educational work at all levels of education. The integration of digital technology is aimed at modernizing the education system. In practice, however, even the best designed media tools can quite often prove to have numerous drawbacks. Consequently, there is a need for empirical research into the educational value of digital learning tools. In view of the fact that, apart from parents, preschool teachers are the most important mediators between children and contemporary ICT devices, the aim of our study was to explore preschool teachers' perceptions of the risks and potential negative influences of computer games on children's development, behavior and learning. Teachers' attitudes were analyzed in relation to their educational level, place of work, age, and years of service, in order to identify tendencies linked to changes in the research sample structure. A quantitative approach to result analysis was employed, with a tabular and graphical presentation of the obtained data. Research results suggest teachers believe that excessive use of computer games at preschool level is accompanied by addiction, aggressive thoughts, feelings and insensitivity to scenes of violence in the real world. In contrast, teachers believe that social isolation, passivity, a decline in children's creativity and adverse effects on their physical health are not an inevitable consequence of the excessive use of computer games. As regards statistically significant differences in teachers' attitudes, the results indicate that an increase in the number of years of service and educational level is linked to increased perceptions of the drawbacks relative to the benefits of using computer games. Teachers' place of work is not statistically significant in determining their attitudes to the potential risks of using computer games.

EFL vocabulary learning strategies among high school students

The paper examines how frequently high school students use EFL vocabulary learning strategies and whether contextual educational factors have any influence on strategy selection. The theoretical part discusses the importance of language learning strategies, which can facilitate the internalization, storage, retrieval, or use of the new language, factors that affect their usage and selection (e.g. nature of the task, students' motivation, foreign language proficiency, teacher's expectations, students' learning styles, students' gender), as well as the process of vocabulary acquisition. The empirical part presents the results of the analysis of a survey conducted among students from two high schools in Serbia, a vocational school and a grammar school. The aim of the research is to determine how frequently students use vocabulary learning strategies and if there are any statistically significant differences in strategy use between students from the two schools which are the consequence of different subjects and learning objectives. The results show that the majority of vocabulary learning strategies have medium use among high school students (seven out of nine memory strategies, seven out of nine cognitive strategies and two out of four compensatory strategies) and that there are certain inter-group differences (whereas students from the medical high school use memory strategies more frequently, students from the grammar school report higher use of cognitive and compensatory strategies). The results indicate that there are important cross-curricular links which point to the transfer of learning strategies from content subjects to English language classes.

Typical errors in presenting concepts in textbooks for the first four grades of primary school

This paper offers a systematization of typical errors in presenting scientific concepts in textbooks for the first four grades of primary school. The subject of our analysis and systematization were presentations of concepts which deviate from or violate the internal cognitive and logical nature of a scientific concept, thus representing a source of potential difficulties for students in understanding scientific knowledge. Starting from Vygotsky's theory of the development of scientific concepts, as well as the general standards of textbook quality and a review of studies analyzing textbooks in this field, we have made a systematization of typical errors in the presentation of scientific terms. Five typical errors are explained and elucidated: a simple description of a phenomenon or the statement of its function, use or usefulness; a simple establishment of connections between a concept (word) and an object (image); offering ready-made phrases and scientific statements without relating them to a system of concepts; providing only typical examples or providing examples that lack variety, and presenting important and unimportant facts on the same level, without pointing out the differences. Every typical error is explained using examples from textbooks in which scientific concepts relevant to grades 1-4 are introduced (settlement, village, city, plants, relief, historical figure and birds). In the absence of scientific principles in presenting concepts in textbooks, their authors rely on implicit assumptions about concepts as phenomenal or factual kinds of knowledge. Due to the importance of acquiring scientific concepts for the cognitive development of the individual, the practical implications of the findings are that in textbook design but also in teacher education particular attention must be devoted to the area of teaching and learning scientific concepts.

The professional work of pedagogists in educational practice: The path to achieving sustainable development goals

The paper begins by considering the profession of pedagogist and then looks at the challenges faced by pedagogists in educational practice, with a focus on the activities to which pedagogists want to devote more time in conditions of change, and on the ways in which pedagogists obtain information on the results of their work in schools. The paper presents part of the findings of a study on the the views of pedagogists-educationalists in primary and secondary schools in Serbia. The aim of the research was to identify the professional activities to which pedagogists want to devote their activities in educational practice, and the ways they are informed about the results of their work at the level of the school, noting the differences related to the type of school in which pedagogists are employed. The findings of the research are indicative and suggest that the activities to which pedagogists want to devote more time at work are primarily professional development and student counselling, while the findings concerning the way in which pedagogists are informed about the results of their work point to the need for more enterprising, active and effective action by school pedagogists in educational practice which will also affect the work of pedagogists in the contemporary education system