Augmented Reality (AR) is an innovative pedagogical approach to be implemented for Secondary school students in an advanced digital environment through the use of tablets (IOS, Android, Windows). At the same time, Virtual Reality (VR) tools and 3D printing methods being the cutting edge of digital technologies are an exceptional didactic approach to inspire students in the teaching of Science in the classroom, in the science lab and during the educational visits. We consider that this approach will enhance the creativity of both teachers and students and improve teaching and learning processes. The aim of the approach is to trigger motivation, increase the attention, boost critical thinking and advance the knowledge of Secondary school students, what is more, it is bound to improve understanding and school performance of underachievers. Not to mention, that students with Special Educational Needs (i.e dyslexia) will have an excellent opportunity to participate in a digital and educational project specially designed for them. The approach can be successfully applied in Science, Technology, Mathematics and Art courses. The teachers, working in a digital environment, will take advantage of the course material and guide students to produce their own, thus benefiting from the combination of the two. Teachers can motivate and improve the understanding of students by using AR, VR and 3D printing in the teaching process, bringing to life the experience of the physical word, and helping students to construct their own concept of nature. Teachers will design and implement educational scenarios incorporating good practices and aiming to specific learning outcomes. Through this process both teachers and students will enhance their digital skills. The context of this teaching approach aims at increasing attention, understanding, confidence and satisfaction for all students. It also provides an excellent environment for all types of learners to cultivate team-working skills as well as eliminate cases of isolated students. This approach will also update and enhance the educational procedure, meeting the learners’ needs, nurturing digital literacy and improving the quality of education. The exploitation of specific learning outcomes will then be used to determine the uniqueness, special skills and talents of each student. OBJECTIVES The main objectives of the project are: 1. Construction of educational scenarios using AR, VR tools and 3D printing within a STE(A)M educational approach. 2. Exchanging educational scenarios with participating schools and the educational community. 3. Communicating the procedure and outcomes to the educational community. In terms of students: 1. Trigger motivation, attention, critical thinking and knowledge of Secondary school students, including underachievers. 2. Improve students’ digital literacy. 3. Improve students’ communication skills. PARTICIPANTS, ACTIVITIES & METHODOLOGY Schools participating in the project come from Greece as well as three more European countries. Each school partner will contribute with their teachers and classes in this project. The age of students ranges between 12 to 15 years. The teachers are going to design, exchange and implement educational scenarios using tablets mainly for the subject of Science (interdisciplinary courses). Existing educational AR and VR applications are going to be used, as well. Furthermore, new educational material is going to be created using appropriate software and 3D printers. Key persons from all participating countries will meet in the beginning of the project for exchanging knowledge, train each other, create the didactical methodology and program the following steps. Parallel programs will be followed in each participating school and the material will be exchanged through the hosting organisations open e-Class learning platform, the eTwinning platform and European Education Networks. During the period of the project, participants will hold regular teleconference meetings( i.e Skype) and have a second meeting, in one of the participating organisations in order to keep track of the project’s progress. Learning outcomes will be evaluated independently from each partner, and also there will be an application for a European quality label and European eTwinning prize. A third and final meeting-workshop will be hosted by Greece to present the procedures and the results to the educational community and all participants. Methodology -internally cross-train according to the expertise of each team -create necessary educational material in a way that can be used by all teams independently of the national curriculum -test-implement the material and the methodology to perform refinement actions -create the final material to be used -to implement in the classroom, the science labs and the educational visits -to evaluate the outcome in terms of students performance (including underachieving students, SEN) -to disseminate
Augmented Reality (AR) is an innovative pedagogical approach that was implemented for Secondary school students in an advanced digital environment through the use of tablets (IOS, Android, Windows). At the same time, Virtual Reality (VR) tools and 3D printing methods being the cutting edge of digital technologies are an exceptional didactic approach to inspire students in the teaching of Science in the classroom, in the science lab and during the educational visits. We concluded that this approach enhanced the creativity of both teachers and students and improved teaching and learning processes. The aim of the approach was to trigger motivation, increase the attention, boost critical thinking and advance the knowledge of Secondary school students, but most importantly, it improved understanding and school performance of underachievers. Not to mention, that students with Special Educational Needs (i.e dyslexia) had an excellent opportunity to participate in a digital and educational project specially designed for them. The approach was successfully applied in Science, Technology, Mathematics, Art, Literature, Photography, Georgraphy, Ancient Greek courses. The teachers, working in a digital environment, took advantage of the course material and guided students to produce their own artifacts, thus benefiting from the combination of the two. Teachers motivated and improved the understanding of students by using AR, VR and 3D printing in the teaching process, bringing to life the experience of the physical world, helping students to construct their own concept of nature. Teachers designed and implemented educational scenarios incorporating good practices and aiming to specific learning outcomes. Through this process both teachers and students enhanced their digital skills. The context of this teaching approach aimed at increasing attention, understanding, confidence and satisfaction of all students. It also provided an excellent environment for all types of learners to cultivate team-working skills as well as eliminate cases of isolated students. This approach also updated and enhanced the educational procedure, meeting the learners’ needs, nurturing digital literacy and improving the quality of education. The exploitation of specific learning outcomes was then used to determine the uniqueness, special skills and talents of each student. The main objectives of the project were: 1. Construction of educational scenarios using AR, VR tools and 3D printing within a STE(A)M educational approach. 2. Exchanging educational scenarios with participating schools and the educational community. 3. Communicating the procedure and outcomes to the educational community. In terms of students: 1. Trigger motivation, attention, critical thinking and knowledge of Secondary school students, including underachievers. 2. Improve students’ digital literacy. 3. Improve students’ communication skills. Schools participating in the project came from Greece as well as three more European countries (Italy, Spain, Cyprus). The age of students ranged between 12 to 15 years. The teachers designed, exchanged and implemented educational scenarios using tablets, 360 cameras and mobile phones. Existing educational AR and VR applications were used, as well. Furthermore, new educational material was created using appropriate software and 3D printers. Key persons from all participating countries met in the beginning of the project for exchanging knowledge, train each other, create the didactical methodology and program the next steps in Cyprus. Parallel programs were followed in each participating school and the material was exchanged through the hosting organisations via open e-Class learning platform, the eTwinning platform and European Education Networks. During the period of the project, participants holded regular teleconference meetings (i.e Skype, eTwinning) and had a second meeting, in Spain in order to keep track of the project’s progress. Learning outcomes were evaluated independently from each partner and results were shared among the partners. Finally, the educational material as well as the all the results were presented and shared among 300 students and teachers from different schools of Athens at the third and final meeting interactive conference which was hosted by the coordinating school in Athens, Greece. Methodology included: - internally cross-trainning according to the expertise of each team - creation of educational material in a way that can be used independently of the national curriculum - testing and implemention of the material and the methodology performed - creation of the final material - implemention in the classroom, the science labs and the educational visits - evaluation of the outcome in terms of students performance (including underachieving students, SEN) - dissemination of the educational material and the results