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L earning in Internet – a challenge for school education. Ülle Kikas Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Tartu Coordinator of the e-LSEE project. Acknowledgement: e-LSEE partners and teachers.
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Learning in Internet – a challenge for school education Ülle Kikas Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Tartu Coordinator of the e-LSEE project Acknowledgement: e-LSEE partners and teachers
Conference “e-Learning in Science and Environmental Education”, Tartu October 3, 2003 Outline • Is it necessary? • Is it workable? • Web vs. text book • e-LSEE learning materials • aims • principles for development • structure and functionality • Conclusions
Conference “e-Learning in Science and Environmental Education”, Tartu October 3, 2003 Why to use WWW in education? • As citizens and employeers, people increasingly need skills for operating in virtual environment • For successful acting in modern society pupils should be prepared for action in a variety of virtual domains • Tasks and problems of society should be integrated into learning process
Conference “e-Learning in Science and Environmental Education”, Tartu October 3, 2003 Why to use WWW in education 2 • Students have positive perception towards using of ICT tools • Students use ICT mostly as entertainment tool for leisure time at home • Word and spreadsheet processing, the most frequent ICT applications in school, are boring for students • ICT was less frequently used in gymnasium classes than in basic education (Mooij and Smeets, 2001) • the use of problem-solving applications proved to be almost absent in classes observed in secondary schools(Mooij and Smeets, 2001) • It is necessary to diversifythe learning content, and apply the learning strategies that are motivating for students
Conference “e-Learning in Science and Environmental Education”, Tartu October 3, 2003 Is it workable in a traditional school? Obstructive factors: • Difficulties with curricula adaptation • Unsufficient technical support • unsufficient skills of teachers • Few educationally-directed materials • Language barrier, etc • Supporting conditions • high percentages of teachers have good or advanced computer skills and positive perception towards using ICT for teaching • Access to computers and Internet has been dramatically improved: in countries like Iceland, Finland, Luxemburg, Slovenia, Estonia, almost all schools have access to Internet Request from students and society
Conference “e-Learning in Science and Environmental Education”, Tartu October 3, 2003 World Wide Web as a resource for science education visual and numerical data on Earth’s environment • Web sites of research institutions, universities, data centresetc. • reliable content, relatively stable URL adresses • educational mission of research institutions • Support basic skills in science education • frequently refreshed, reflect the latest movements in science, nature and society • Learning, based on Web information will never be boring Web resources are mostly fruitless in educational terms Absence of widely appreciated methodologies and tradition Learning process is sophisticated
Conference “e-Learning in Science and Environmental Education”, Tartu October 3, 2003 Traditional learning Students are confident about their answers Text book is (almost) a single source of information Teacher is confident about the content Does not reflect the complexity of problems in real life
Conference “e-Learning in Science and Environmental Education”, Tartu October 3, 2003 Learning in Internet Information from multiply sources Critical selection between sources V I R T U A L M E D I U M Diffusion of information Computer and Internet skills Student and teacher are partners in generation of knowledge Role of a teacher is much more sophisticated
Conference “e-Learning in Science and Environmental Education”, Tartu October 3, 2003 Learning in Internet: not a purposless surfing Generation of new knowledge, application of the existingattainments in new context • Combination of 3 processes: • Information search and selection Critical selection Diversity in definitions and explanations Pre-selection by teacher Educationally directed sites
Conference “e-Learning in Science and Environmental Education”, Tartu October 3, 2003 Learning in Internet: Acquisition Language barrier Visual and numerical information is helpful • synthesizing, generation of knowledge Individualised approach + team work Presentation and discussion of results Teacher should be a moderator and have high expertise in content
Conference “e-Learning in Science and Environmental Education”, Tartu October 3, 2003 e-LSEE Collaboration of GLOBE teachers for promotion of e-Learning in Science and Environmental Educationsupported by EC Socrates-Minerva program • CZ, EE, NL, NO, PL, UK Output • a set of e-learning materials integrated in unit html format • in 6 national languages • available in Web and distributed as CD
Conference “e-Learning in Science and Environmental Education”, Tartu October 3, 2003 e-LSEE e-learning materials.Concept • e-learning activities for interactive learning in Web, based on Web services of the GLOBE program • Support learning and teaching of geography, biology, physics, chemistry, informatics and science • Themes are included in curricula of all partner countries • Target ages 11 - 17 • Suitable for teaching in classroom and for independent learning Not a new resource or an interactive text book Rather a set of examples, user-interface for teachers
Conference “e-Learning in Science and Environmental Education”, Tartu October 3, 2003 e-LSEE e-learning materials.Concept • Technical: • All materials are in unit html format • Interactivity bases on GLOBE Web services • software: a browser, word processing (MS Word), spreadsheet processing (MS Excel) • conservative approach: should work with Windows 95 or later
Conference “e-Learning in Science and Environmental Education”, Tartu October 3, 2003 e-LSEE e-learning materials.Aims • dignify the environmental data collected by the students around the world • Simplify starting of subject teaching a in computer class • Improve students understanding on numerical and visual information • Motivate students to learn more about the Earth environment • develop the problem solving skills of pupils • Make learning process more attractive
Conference “e-Learning in Science and Environmental Education”, Tartu October 3, 2003 e-learning materials. structure and functionality
Conference “e-Learning in Science and Environmental Education”, Tartu October 3, 2003 Summary1 Technical equipment and professional skills of teachers in many schools are sufficient for starting the ICT-supported subject teaching Web resources can diversify the learning process and bring the complexity of “real life” into school. Learning in Web is a sophisticated process. It demands high professional skills of teacher
Conference “e-Learning in Science and Environmental Education”, Tartu October 3, 2003 Summary 2 The e-LSEE learning materials direct students to work in virtual medium, and implement the tasks or solve the problems on basis of Web information This approach could be suggested for wider use in ICT-supported education Still, there are few tests in schools, and we do not know the opinion of students, yet.
Conference “e-Learning in Science and Environmental Education”, Tartu October 3, 2003 Summary 3 Development of educational materials in collaboration of teachers from different countries was rather complicated process trans-national discussion and agreeing of concepts, content and technical layout took more efforts than it was expected the process itself was beneficial for professional development of teachers in e-learning area, and positive for propagation of e-learning in Europe
Conference “e-Learning in Science and Environmental Education”, Tartu October 3, 2003 Summary 3 Congratulations with Teachers’ Day!