article

THE ACADEMIC ESSAY AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION IN PRIMARY SCHOOL BIOLOGY EDUCATION

Dominik Šmida, Kristína Huszárová, Elena Čipková, Renata Tomková

information

volume: 34
year: 2025
issue: 3
fulltext: PDF

online publishing date: 6/1/2026
DOI: 10.14712/25337556.2025.3.3
ISSN (Online): 2533-7556

Licence Creative Commons
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abstract

The incorporation of writing academic essays into biology education is still an unexplored area in Slovak primary schools. However, academic essays can provide pupils with many advantages, as they allow them to develop their abilities to work with academic texts, analyze various types of information, and think critically. Academic essays also, simultaneously, provide teachers with deeper insights into pupils’ thinking about various biology topics. The results of the research, however, show that pupils achieved a relatively low average score in essay writing, with the greatest difficulties occurring in citing, and working with, academic sources. Additional challenges were observed in pupils’ abilities to compare arguments, synthesize information, and formulate their own independent statements, indicating the need for more systematic support in developing these abilities. The analysis of the essays also revealed frequent misconceptions related to bees, which further highlights the valuable diagnostic potential of the academic essay in biology education. In addition, when comparing pupils’ essays with essays generated by artificial intelligence, we found that pupils’ essays were more original and creative, suggesting that despite the proliferation of AI-based tools, essay writing continues to maintain its relevance within the educational process. Furthermore, the results of a questionnaire showed that pupils consider writing essays to be an interesting and useful experience that they could apply in their future studies. The academic essay is therefore a valuable tool that should be systematically implemented in biology education.


keywords

biology, misconception, academic essay, artificial intelligence, primary school

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References

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