The aim of this study is to investigate how Greek students and teachers perceive and interpret a cultural landscape element, namely cultivation terraces, in terms of the various uses and values (economic, environmental, ecological and cultural) that they may represent for those involved in the educational system. The study was carried out with a structured questionnaire, addressed to 362 students and 97 geography teachers, with different types of exposure to terraced landscapes: (1) inhabitants of the larger metropolitan area of Athens and (2) inhabitants of the Aegean islands of Lesvos and Nisyros -both featuring highly terraced agricultural landscapes. Results indicated that terraces per se escape the respondents' perception, irrespective of respondents' age. Students' knowledge about terraces seems to be inadequate, although both the concept and the issue appear in geography curricula and geography textbooks. The respondents' general attitude toward the terraced landscape was positive, while the majority of survey participants placed the primary value of terraces on their soil and water management properties. Teachers' perceptions regarding the terraced landscape are not reflected on the students' respective knowledge. Finally, findings seem to point out that everyday life experiences play a positive role in the formation of lay attitudes toward local environments and landscapes.
This article focuses on the development of an educational outdoor adventure mobile app while presenting findings that were derived from various case studies that we conducted using it. The mobile application, called RouteQuizer, is complemented by a web application and a database, forming a system that enables teachers to create educational treasure hunt activities for their students and monitor their performance. The aim of the research was to create a system that would exploit all possible Outdoor Adventure Education (OAE) and treasure hunt benefits while excluding possible smartphone use negative consequences. The development of the system took place in Greece and began in December 2017, by conducting a nation-wide research examining Greek secondary teachers’ Information and Communication Technology (ICT) literacy and perceptions on smartphone use and outdoor activities. By June 2018, 700 questionnaires were collected. In order to test the system, in March 2018, we conducted a pilot case study in Lesvos island Greece and between July 2018 and February 2020, we conducted four additional case studies and a teacher training program, all of which took place in Lesvos island Greece. During the development process of the mobile application, we focused on the participatory aspect of the process, paying special attention to the teacher and student evaluation during the design and prototyping phases. Considering that the system is educational we research whether the mobile application provided effective learning outcomes and whether it benefited students’ social and physical skills. The results that we collected suggest that the mobile application is an effective learning tool while mobile learning and treasure hunt benefits have been repeatedly confirmed during the case studies. Greek teachers and students also proved to be capable smartphone and computer users, and reported being willing to participate in similar activities in the future.
Dyslexia is a specific form of learning disability which comes along with diverse difficulties, both in learning, social and emotional fields. It obstructs the development of the individual at all levels of education. This research investigates students' spatial and geographical thinking and whether there is a differentiation of these abilities between dyslexic and non-dyslexic ones. For this purpose, 50 questionnaires were distributed to 25 dyslexic and 25 non-dyslexic students aged 14 using opportunity sampling from different areas (rural, urban). The questionnaire included spatial thinking exercises like mental rotation, plan views, shapes folding -unfolding and mental manipulation of shapes and exercises by which geographical thinking is examined, according to the Greek geography curriculum. The results indicated that the non-dyslexic students had better performance than the dyslexic ones in all cases, except one, this of 2D 3D exercise. The most significant difference was in the section of plan views, mental rotation and folding -unfolding, whereas in the shapes mental manipulation, both children's groups faced difficulties. Although the research sample was limited, the results supported our hypothesis that non-dyslexic students would perform better on spatial and geographical thinking assessments.
This paper presents the results of a study on Primary Education teachers' attitudes towards and views on the implementation of differentiated instruction on Geography. The research tool was a questionnaire with 16 open and closed questions, which was distributed to a sample of 173 teachers teaching in 45 out of 99 pilot schools throughout Greece in 2014. The results of the research have shown that: a) a large number of teachers state that they are adequately, well and very well familiar with differentiated instruction; b) most teachers believe that students' learning readiness, interests, and learning profile -combined with the use of a series of educational equipment and materials -constitute a very crucial parameter for the proper implementation of differentiated instruction; c) most teachers maintain that research in groups is a very useful teaching strategy for differentiated instruction; and d) a significant number of teachers consider lack and organisation of teaching time as the main obstacle in designing and implementing differentiated instruction on Geography.
Today, there are many tools in the social Web 2.0 that created specifically for the educational audience, proposed in the learning process and used with great interest of both students and teachers at all levels of education. The offered possibilities of these tools encourage the research initiative, the configuration of new ways of communication, collaboration, interaction and reflection, and also the common contribution of knowledge building process. In this study considers the following research question: Does the sociocultural constructivist interaction of students in the social Web 2.0 affect their cognitive development and their geographical and environmental approach to the research issue? Data for this paper were derived from a small sample of Greek high school students (N=16) who participated in an eight-month educational research project, using the new applications and extensions of the social Web 2.0. The research question was answered through quantitative content analysis (QCA) and social network analysis (SNA). We found that the sample created an active social network (with remarkable distinction in the cohesion, power and role structures) and reached the higher phase of sociocultural constructivist interaction, progressively developing essential skills for an organized and integrated geographical and environmental approach to the research issue.
Statistical literacy is gaining recognition as something that people should have in order to function fully in 21st century’s society. On a daily basis an enormous volume of data are available through the Web; making the best of it demands possession of a high level of statistical training. In this paper we present a new technology-augmented teaching scenario, implemented in a way that it may be fully utilized by both teachers and students. Using the features of the web-based platform statistics4school – a free online educational tool for statistical analysis in the Greek language – it paths a teaching method that can be readily facilitated in the classroom. The presented worksheet allows students to have an interdisciplinary approach and be actively involved in the learning process through the exploratory teaching method. In this manner we maintain they will be able to correctly comprehend the goals of the teaching scenario, as they progressively develop their statistical, optical, and digital literacy.
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