Encouraging Logical and Functional Thinking in the First Grade of Elementary School in Serbia

Education in Serbia is traditionally reproductive. For many years Serbian pupils have performed poorly in the PISA tests used to evaluate proficiency in a range of skills, giving Serbia one of the lowest PISA rankings in the world. As such, they are not competitive on domestic or foreign labour markets, which require logical and functional abilities – experts who know not only how to reproduce, but also how to apply acquired knowledge. In experimental research that was conducted on pupils in the first grade of elementary school, which lasted for one school year (36 weeks), we proved that by encouraging logical and functional thinking for only one class per week (20 minutes long), we can advance these abilities. In comparative analysis of the results of logical and functional tests, among experimental and control groups of children, statistically significant differences are achieved. This confirms our initial hypothesis. The aim of this paper is to present the results of our research.