A sine qua non of successful learning is motivation: a motivated learner can’t be stopped. Content to be learned by students and traditional methods are boring for digital natives. Teachers must do their best to adapt to this century and continuously work at learning the new technological language, whereas digital natives were born into retrieving information, problem solving, and communicating with this technology. Moreover, pre and primary school teachers graduate from the university without specifications for teaching art, music, english, physical education and are inadequate in the methodology of teaching basic algorithm and coding which is essential in 21st century. The aims of this project is a) to prepare new international creative digital learning materials in art, music, english, physical exercise and algorithm, for game based, student centered learning based on Multiple Intellegence Theory for early childhood education, b) train teachers in ICT literacy and Educational Technology to become leaders with deeper understanding and mastery of technology for education , and c) train parents for 21st century skills, pedagogy, healthy life style and uninterupted online communication with teachers/schools via the Information Managment System & the website. Provincial Directorate of Education of Ankara, Hacettepe University and Provincial Directorate of Opera and Ballet in Mersin from Turkey together with I Circolo Didattico San Filippo (Italy), Základná skola Turnianska (Slovakia), St Thomas Cantilupe C of E School (England) and Kindergarten "Mecho Pooh"(Bulgaria) will built a diverse and specialized team with academicians, teachers, programmers, graphic and animation specialists, artists, musicians and athlets in order to prepare innovative and creative game based digital material modules supportive for preschool and primary school teachers. 419 students (3-7 years) and 134 teachers participate directly in this study whereas indirect participants as estimated as 15000000. After the determination of the global content with all partners in 6 months, 5 digital learning modules in english, art, music, physical exercise and algorithm & coding will be prepared in 12 months by ICT department of Ankara MEM and integrated to the traditional curriculum with an “Digital Material Adaptation Guide”. The development of students in the related skills will be determined by a) Pretest- Post test assessment (qualitative-quantitative scientific scales) implemeted by specialists for cognitive, behavioral, social and emotional development, b) computer based assessment within the modules, c) Observation based evaluation forms during the classroom and real life experiences (opera). Teachers will be trained for 5 days in an short term staff training for introducing these game based materials to students, implementing them with supportive traditional activities and evaluating the students in both computer based assessment and observational assessment via scientific scales and questionaries. A control group will be included from local partners to eliminate the effect of maturation on skill development during the study. An online ICT literacy teacher traning will be prepared in order to improve teachers ICT literacy in 9 months. The teachers that succed in this course will be certified and will attend Educational Technology training for using technology effectively in preschools and K12 classes. Teachers also learn photography and digital photography, Digital materials and Montesorri Method in a short term staff trainings. Students are expected to have an improve in English vocabulary, motor skills, art and music knowledge and critical thinking skills as well as emotional skills and cultural development compared to students that learn with traditional methods. Results of this longituidinal quasi-experimental study with Scientific evaluation and statistical analysis (SPSS) will be shared in a paper published in a scientific journal. Students are expected to gain a positive attitude in physical exercise and increased physical activity level, thereby preventing the risk of obesity and related diseases such as diabetes, etc. Learning a second language in early childhood may cause an effective useage of this language in adulthood. By the use of Music, art and basic algorithm modules, students will relalize that each is a new language which are essential in the digital age. They will gain basic knowledge and a global taste in music and art. Teachers will gain insight to 21st century’s learning skills and improve their ICT literacy, nearby examining and analyzing digital games. Parents will investigate the needs of children. All results will be shared on website and a digital project book at the end of the study. All digital modules, materials and LMS for teachers will be shared via national (EBA website)and international channels (eTwinning). Ministry of Education in Turkey will support this study in future with its own resources.
A sine qua non of successful learning is motivation: a motivated learner can’t be stopped. Content to be learned by students and traditional methods are boring for digital natives. Teachers must do their best to adapt to this century and continuously work at learning the new technological language, whereas digital natives were born into retrieving information, problem solving, and communicating with this technology. Moreover, pre and primary school teachers graduate from the university without specifications for teaching art, music, english, physical education and are inadequate in the methodology of teaching basic algorithm and coding which is essential in 21st century. The aims of this project were a) to prepare new international creative digital learning materials in art, music, english, physical exercise and algorithm, technology integrated game based learning in early childhood education, b) train teachers in ICT literacy, Educational Technology and Gamification to become leaders with deeper understanding and mastery of educational technology and game based learning , and support teachers and schools via the Adaptation Guide, Digital Support Library and Information Management System. Provincial Directorate of Education of Ankara, Hacettepe University, Hitit University and Provincial Directorate of Opera and Ballet in Mersin from Turkey together with Kindergarten "Mecho Pooh"(Bulgaria), I Circolo Didattico San Filippo (Italy), Základná skola Turnianska (Slovakia) and Cromwell Preschool and Nursery and Infant class (England) built a diverse and specialized team with academicians, teachers, programmers, graphic and animation specialists, artists, musicians and athlets in order to prepare innovative and creative game based digital material modules supportive for preschool and primary school teachers. 996 students (3-7 years) and 134 teachers participated directly in this study. After the determination of the global content with all partners, 5 digital learning modules in english, art, music, physical exercise and algorithm & coding were prepared by the Information and educational technologies department of Ankara MEM and integrated to the traditional curriculum with an “Digital Material Adaptation Guide”. The development of students in the related skills were determined by a) Pretest- Post test assessment in Bulgaria, b) computer based assessment within the modules, c) Observation based evaluation forms during the classroom and real life experiences (concert and opera). Teachers were trained for 5 days in an short term staff training for introducing these game based materials to students, implementing them with supportive traditional activities and evaluating the students in both computer based assessment and observational assessment via scientific scales and questionnaires. A control group was included from local Turkish preschools and Bulgaria to eliminate the effect of maturation on skill development during the study. An online teacher training was prepared in order to improve teachers ICT literacy, knowledge in 21st century skills and gamification and teachers were also trained in the Educational Technology and Gamification trainings for an effective use of technology in preschools and K12 classes. Teachers also practiced photography and digital photography and Montesorri Method in a short term staff training. Students improved in English vocabulary, motor skills, art and music knowledge and critical thinking skills as well as emotional skills and cultural development compared to students that learned with traditional methods. Results of this longitudinal quasi-experimental study with Scientific evaluation and statistical analysis (SPSS) were shared on International Technology Summits in 2016, 2017 and 2018, International FIEP Congress 2018 and also published in scientific journal. Students gained a positive attitude in physical exercise and increased physical activity level, learning a second language, whereas teachers gained an expanded insight to 21st century’s learning skills and improved their ICT literacy and practiced gamification in class. All digital modules, materials and LMS for teachers will be shared via www.dmcit.org and www.playlearntrain.org websites for the next years.