A guide to the didactics of biology

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Ondrej Hutník

The concept of the integral is one of the most significant concepts in mathematics as a whole. In its most primitive form, it was already used by the ancient Greeks in the creation of Euclidean geometry. However, it was only after Descartes' work on analytical geometry in 1637 that mathematicians could begin to consider the integral as a subject of analysis. Descartes' work laid the groundwork for the discovery of infinitesimal calculus by Leibniz and Newton around 1665. At that time, a great dispute arose over the priority of this discovery, dividing scholars of Germany and England into two opposing camps, each favoring their own champion. Today, we know that Newton's work on fluxions and fluents was somewhat earlier, but Leibniz's notation and approach have gained more acceptance in the mathematical world, and the symbols ∫ ∫ and d d are still used today. A brief overview of the history of the integral will be presented in Chapter 1.

Today, there is a plethora of scripts, textbooks, and books dedicated to explaining the concept of the integral. Therefore, every potential author faces the initial question of whether to write another text on this topic. Our affirmative answer to this question was driven by the students' request to find the subject matter of a part of the winter semester of the second year presented in a coherent form. The second motivation is a slightly different approach to the topic. If we consider the methods typically used in solving problems and gaining routine with a certain integral, it mainly involves the Newton-Leibniz formula, and often there is little time left to compute the definite (Riemann) integral using its definition. Therefore, we included a discussion of the Newton integral in Chapter 2, which reflects this fact and is directly related to the indefinite integral, whose various calculation methods receive relatively much attention in the previous semester. Only after that, in Chapter 3, do we build the theory of the Riemann integral, present criteria for its existence, classes of integrable functions, basic properties, and finally its relationship with the Newton integral. Questions primarily concerning geometric applications are addressed in Chapter 4, and in the final chapter, we focus on extending the Riemann integral to unbounded functions and unbounded intervals.

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Mária Ganajová - Jozef Hanč - Ivana Sotáková - Petra Letošníková (eds.)

The International Conference on Research in Didactics of the Science – DidSci+ 2022, continues in the educational legacy of the successful series of the previous DidSci conferences held from 2004 in Krakow, Prague, Brno, or Trnava. The DidSci+ conferences present a platform for enduring international cooperation, focusing on the frontiers and current challenges in science education research. This special edition of DidSci conferences, celebrating its 10th anniversary, was held in Košice, at the Faculty of Science of Pavol Jozef Šafárik University, from June 26 to 29, 2022. The careful double-blind review process has led to two major publications offering a comprehensive look at the latest advances in STEM and science subjects education. The first volume of selected papers is published as the IOP Conference Series proceedings, Vol. 3037 with open access at https://iopscience.iop.org/issue/1742-6596/3037/1, and is primarily devoted to STEM education, assessment, evaluation, feedback strategies, and teacher development. The second volume of selected papers, published by ŠafárikPress, focuses more on curriculum development, educational innovation, and digital technologies, primarily in chemistry and biology. Both publications are intended for a wide audience, including in-service and pre-service teachers of science subjects, university students in scientific disciplines, researchers in science education, professionals in pedagogical and methodological centers, curriculum developers, and textbook authors.

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Mária Kožurková (ed.)

Book of Abstracts

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Beáta Valkay ed.
Ivana Slepáková-Monika Balogová a kol.

EFFUSE - Scientific Education for Advanced is an educational material designed for university students interested in ecological sciences, biology and environmental protection. The publication was developed as part of the EFFUSE project and focuses on the scientific investigation of living organisms in the river ecosystem, with an emphasis on their ecological role and importance as bioindicators. The river ecosystem is a dynamic environment where a wide range of organisms can be studied, from algae and phytoplankton to aquatic invertebrates, fish, amphibians and reptiles. This publication presents a detailed study of their adaptations, life cycles, reproductive strategies and their importance for ecological balance. Particular attention is paid to fish and amphibians, whose environmental demands and sensitivity to pollution make them important indicators of water quality and environmental status. The publication also provides guidance on how to integrate their study into university education in the form of practical research. It also includes a chapter on science education in the context of sustainable development, which is often absent from university curricula in Slovakia and Ukraine. This material promotes the link between theory and practice and develops students' scientific thinking in order to prepare them to meet the environmental challenges of the future.

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Gabriela Andrejková - Ľubomír Antoni

Machine learning addresses the issues of how computer programs recognize complex patterns and make decisions based on data. In these university textbooks, we focus on theoretical knowledge in the field of machine learning in which we present the creation of concepts for objects, the preparation of concepts, hypotheses and the process of learning from examples. We describe Boolean formulas and their representations, probabilistic learning, linear and logistic regression, linear modeling and classification. Clustering and the Bayesian approach to machine learning conclude this publication.

University textbooks are intended for students of master's degree programs in computer science.

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Marián Kulla – Ladislav Novotný – Petra Dávidová – Anton Uhrin (eds.)

Danišovce 16. – 18. 10. 2024

Zborník abstraktov, ktorý máte pred sebou, obsahuje príspevky prezentované na X. Medzinárodnom geografickom kolokviu v Danišovciach. Ústav geografie na Prírodovedeckej fakulte UPJŠ v Košiciach toto podujatie organizuje už od svojho vzniku ako platformu na výmenu vedeckých poznatkov, primárne medzi geografmi zo Slovenska a Česka. Aktuálny jubilejný ročník spoluorganizovali Prírodovedecká fakulta UPJŠ v Košiciach, Slovenská geografická spoločnosť pri SAV v Bratislave v zastúpení jej Košickej pobočky a spoločnosť UMBRA Solutions Košice.

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 Matúš Harminc 

Tento učebný text je určený poslucháčom medziodborového štúdia v kombináciách s matematikou, jednoodborového štúdia matematiky ako aj rozširujúceho štúdia matematiky. Je za-meraný na kvadratické kongruencie a niektoré diofantovské rovnice.

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Jana Shepa (ed.)

The book of abstracts from the second year of the international conference Spring electrochemical meeting is composed of contributions from the participants of this student conference.

The conference consisted of one invited lecture and ten competing student lectures. The message of this meeting is to create a dialogue between students of electrochemistry and the mutual exchange of knowledge. All contributions are professionally processed and inspiring.

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Marcel Uhrin - Petr Benda -  Peter Kaňuch

Bats represent a unique group of mammals, characterised by different life strategies. They are the only mammals capable of active flight, which, combined with their almost exclusively nocturnal activity, has led to the evolution of specific adaptations. One of the most striking is echolocation, which enables them to orientate themselves perfectly in their surroundings in the dark. Bats are mainly native to the tropics, but have also colonised areas outside the tropics, which, has led to a complex phenological cycle with active phases and interruptions during hibernation, especially in temperate zones. In this diverse and species-rich group (almost 1,500 known species), there is a wide range of social organisation as well as feeding and roosting strategies. The textbook "Fundamentals of Chiropterology" brings the current state of knowledge about these extraordinary animals in eleven chapters and two appendices for the first time in the Slovak language.

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Mariana Budovská

The aim of writing the university textbook "Selected Heterocyclic Compounds" was to create a study aid for students of the Organic Chemistry program, which provides essential information in a clear format for the subject of Heterocyclic Compounds. In selecting the content of the textbook, the goal was to present basic information about the chemistry of the most significant heterocycles. Given that the summary of chemical knowledge about heterocycles is vast, it was not possible to include all heterocyclic compounds in the content.

The intention was for readers to orient themselves in the field of heterocyclic compounds. Separate chapters included in the content address the nomenclature of heterocycles, basic chemical properties of individual heterocycles, their synthesis and reactions, the occurrence of heterocycles in nature, and their practical applications (medications, dyes, pesticides, detergents, etc.).

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Renáta Oriňaková

We have prepared a publication that focuses on the personalities of professors. These personalities represent entire scientific teams, participated in the creation of new study programs, and had a significant impact on the formation of the faculty. Factually, we tried to capture the basic data in a uniform structure. We are building on a similar publication from ten years ago, which greatly helped us, especially with professors who worked at the faculty many years ago and whose memories are gradually fading. The ambition of the publication is to contribute to the preservation of basic information that is closely related to the history of the faculty.

doc. RNDr. Roman Soták, PhD. Dean of the Faculty of Science, UPJŠ in Košice

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Ladislav Janovec

An enormous progress in computer technology, closely linked with advances in computational chemistry, has enabled the user to exploit the principles of quantum chemistry to elucidate the chemical phenomena.

Computational chemistry is the branch of science that requires, except an academic knowledge, software skills to fully exploit a potential of theoretical methods. The aim of this textbook is to help the user take the legendary first step in the field of computational chemistry to opening a new horizon of knowledge.

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Jana Špaková Raschmanová - Zuzana Kudličková - Kvetoslava Stanková

Organic chemistry plays a key role in our lives, from the pharmaceutical industry to the production of plastics and food additives. Additionally, it is essential in biochemistry, as it deals with the basic building blocks of living organisms, such as carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. One of the best ways to teach organic chemistry and increase students' interest in the subject is through conducting school experiments. This study material presents a collection of visually striking practical experiments in organic chemistry that will help students better understand the chemical processes and techniques used in the field. This electronic study material is supplemented with visual material, allowing students to verify the results of experiments and better understand the individual procedures. At the end of each section, there are questions to help assess the acquired knowledge and encourage deeper understanding of the experiments conducted.

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Gregor Bánó

Photonics is an application-oriented discipline at the interface of optics, opto-electronics and quantum optics. It includes classical optics extended by the description of physical phenomena and optical devices that rely on quantum (photon) nature of light.
The main objective of the Photonics course is to provide a comprehensive overview of essential optical and photonic phenomena routinely applied in experimental scientific research while working with various light sources (e.g. in the field of biophotonics). The first chapters are devoted to the description of light at different levels. The logical order of subsections in this part corresponds to the structure of the textbook: B. E. A. Saleh, M. C. Teich, Fundamentals of Photonics. The following chapters contain a description of laser operation and an overview of selected optical instruments and their applications.
The body text is complemented by practical notes on the use of theoretical knowledge during daily work in the laboratory. The course of Photonics requires a basic knowledge of mathematics, electromagnetism and optics, and thus it is recommended to students who previously passed through the courses of the Bachelor's program in Physics.

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Zuzana Orságová Králová (ed.)

The scientific book of abstracts is a summary of the contributions of teachers, scientists and other conference participants, which contain the original results of their scientific and research activities. Their work will be the subject of the next domestic conference „New Trends in Chemistry, Research and Education at Faculty of Science of P. J. Šafárik University in Košice 2020“. The conference is a space for dialogue between scientific academics on the one hand and professional staff and students on the other.

The contributions published in this volume can be divided according to content into the field of analytical, inorganic, physical, organic chemistry, biochemistry and didactics of chemistry. All contributions are interesting and can be used in further creative scientific and research work, in the process of education and in practical work.

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Mária Vilková - Zuzana Kudličková - Ján Elečko

Organic chemistry is the chemistry of carbon. Organic compounds in the form of large molecules (macromolecules), such as nucleic acids, proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids are the basic elements of living organisms. This study material is created for non-chemistry students, especially students of biology. Most of these students have little or no knowledge of organic chemistry. Therefore, we proceed from the basic principles of organic chemistry to biochemistry.

The basic principles of organic chemistry and biochemistry are briefly summarized in individual chapters, but the main content consists of tasks for practising basic knowledge. To check the correctness of solving the tasks, the correct solutions are also given. The importance of this study material lies in the fact that students will get additional study material that they will use in studying the subject Basics of Chemistry.

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