Special Initiatives in Mathematics and Science Education
The school curriculum in Croatia includes noncompulsory subjects, modules, and other educational programs, supplementary classes, additional or remedial instruction, school projects, class projects, group projects, excursions, trips, and extracurricular and extramural activities, some of which focus on mathematics or science. The purpose of noncompulsory subjects is to allow students to develop their knowledge and abilities in areas of special interest. Remedial instruction is provided for low achieving students in specific subjects, while additional instruction is provided for motivated high achieving students.21 Initiatives for high achieving and low achieving students in Croatia include providing individualized curricula in educational programs that encourage the development of student abilities and creativity. Developing individualized curricula requires adapting and differentiating the content appropriately, as well as adjusting the time allocated for certain topics and the methods of teaching and learning.
Certain extracurricular activities involve mathematics and science, among other subject areas, in ways that allow students to learn through experience about a range of topics (e.g., man and plants, man and animals, chemistry experimentation, chemistry and the environment, everyday chemistry, meteorology, the causes and effects of natural disasters, cartography, genetics, astronomy, etc.).22
In secondary schools that provide general education—grammar schools or gimnazija— the curriculum comprises a core component for all students and a differentiated component, which allows students to specialize in subjects according to the specialization of the grammar school in which they are enrolled (e.g., mathematics, language, general, classical, and sports).23