European Forum

March 19-23, 2012 | Lisbon

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Virtual Classroom Tour - VCTPartners in Learning European Forum

March 19 – 23, 2012Lisbon

Virtual Classroom Tour – VCTName of Project: Educator(s) ANA FUERTES SANZ

SchoolBrief description of school context

IES Monegros Gaspar Lax, Sariñena (Huesca) SPAINThe School is located in Sariñena, in the county of “Los Monegros”. A rural area placed 50 km from Huesca (north), and 75 km from Zaragoza (south).Agriculture is the economic base of the region., and livestock is also an important complement. Although industrial activity it is not relevant, it starts to take off.At the surroundings, we must highlight the Sariñena Lagoon, a protected area considered as an important refuge for numerous species of birds.There’s about 300 students, coming from Sariñena an d some nearby villages. Introduction VideoThe School participates at the program “Escuela 2.0”, so that classroom technology equipment is quite up to date.

School Website

Content/Subject Areas

Technology, ICT,

Age/Grade level 4ºESO (14-16)

Project Objectives •Encourage students to incorporate ITC to support their learning process.•Identify energetic problems and recognize their suitable solutions.•Promote collaboration and teamwork •Promote project based learning experiences

Project Description

Brief description of the project and the background. What are the stated objectives and learning outcomes? Is the learning activity long-term? Does it call on students to plan their work and assess their work over time?Please add background information files if needed. See how to embed documents in notes.

Design of the Learning EnvironmentExamples of planning (e.g. pedagogic approach, links to resources used). Please highlight creativity and innovative teaching practices. Emphasize towhat extent the planning for learning facilitates the development of different dimensions of 21st century skills e.g. knowledge building, use of ICT for learning, problem-solving and innovation, self-regulation, collaboration and skilled communication.

The project pretends to encourage students to use ITC into a project based learning experience. In our case, the real situation proposed is one of the issues studied at the subject of technology in 4ºESO: Identify energy problems and recognize their suitable solutions.

Neverthless, it could be adapted to other issues, disciplines and even levels, by slightly modifying contents, so it can be useful for other teachers and school environments. Apart of the objectives, described before, the project crosses over to other disciplines , learning outcomes and competences:•Stimulate critical and reflective thinking.•Promote creativity and problem-solving abilities.•Develop communication skills and organizational skills by sharing responsibilities.•Involve students to improve energy efficiency and comfort at home, while helping the environment.•Engage students towards their civic and environmental responsibilities.

Teacher uses wiki and lessons to define learning goals and provide example activities .The proposal of the different activities, time schedule, and evaluation is detailed here

Project-based learning Pedagogic approach •It is an interactive project-solving experience where learners explore a real world problem .•With this type of active and engaged learning, students are inspired to obtain a deeper knowledge of the subject studied, helping to the knowledge building.•Contributions to the wiki, slideshows, and presentations are evidences of learning, •Encourage eco-friendly domestic habits and energetic efficiency in their families are evidences of extended Learning beyond the classroom •Collaboration and organizational skills are developed by sharing responsibilities•Critical thinking is achieved while analyzing all the information presented in the wiki”, introduced both for the teacher and students during their research.•It encourages creativity as students create their own materials, and also self confidence, as part of the learning environment, specially when presenting slideshows during the lessons.

A global approach of the Planning, skills development and resources used is shown at this Concept Map

Evidence of Learning

Examples of products and outcomes created by the learners throughout the project – including use of ICT. What sort of ICT is used and how has it been used in the project.

To what extent do students use ICT in ways that support knowledge building, collaboration, or learning beyond the classroom? Does ICT use enable new knowledge-building/collaboration/learning beyond the classroom opportunities that would not have been possible without it? Have digital tools been used in imaginative and ground-breaking ways to support learning processes?

Please add files, videos etc. which documents clearly the learning process and evidence of students’ learning

Examples of products and outcomes are as follows (click on each icon to see them):

Slideshows brainstorming and forums virtual classroom

Regarding ICT used, there are digital projectors, and electronic whiteboards in the classrooms. Netbooks are available for the students, and computers and classroom technology equipment is quite up to date. Digital cameras, graphic design software (gimp, autocollage), hotmail, messenger, skydrive, windows movie maker and virtual classroom (e-ducativa) are also used.This is a quite good learning environment to promote the ICT use.

One of the main goals of this project is to encourage students to incorporate ICT in their learning project. The use of ICT provides not only technological skills. In fact, each one of them serves different purposes in the learning process: Word processing, wiki participation, and e-mail promote communication and literacy skills; spreadsheet software promotes organizational skills; concept mapping promotes the understanding of planning and concepts.The use of the different tools and applications allows a right learning of it, and improves the user’s abilities.Moreover, ICT provide means for self-study, and offer opportunities to learn concepts otherwise unavailable to students.

Evidence of students’ learning is shown here

Knowledge Building & Critical Thinking

Examples of how the learning activities require students to move beyond reproducing what they have learned to building knowledge through interpretation, analysis, synthesis, or evaluation.

Extended Learning Beyond the Classroom

If the learning experience is not bound by classroom walls, time-frame of conventional lessons, subject parameters – please show examples of this.

If the project addresses real world issues (i.e. authentic situation and data from outside the classroom) or has meaningful impact on communities locally and / or globally please show examples of this.

Engaging students by solving specific hands-on, real-world problems encourages and motivates them.•In this case, students start the process trying to answer a question, which is supposed to have relevance for them, in this case: Is your house bioclimatic?•Then, they do research, discuss different possibilities, and take field trips with the goal of determining the best solution to their bioclimatic problem, developing their critical thinking.•They conduct research using a variety of sources, from the Internet to interviews with experts. They work on the project for a period of two/three weeks.•Like in the real word, they actually try to solve their problem, and they forget that this is an academic activity in one discipline (technology), because the project-based learning crosses several disciplines.•This is the best way to achieve the knowledge building.

The project involves the whole community, because students provide solutions to real problems, trying to decrease pollution ratings, and sparing energy and const in their homes.

The learning experience pretends to offer an approach to improve energetic efficiency and comfort at home, while helping to protect the environment.

During the project, students involved must develop their ability to concern parents, neighborhood, and enterprises, to take active part in reducing the energy consumption in buildings. Families are concerned and collaborate helping students to fulfill the bioclimatic-quiz, the first step of the project.

To decide the best solution to their problems, students have not only made a research at the links proposed, but they do a real one, looking for technical information and prices to elaboratetheir budgets and technical reports. Several enterprises in the area, have been requested for information and technical advice. Companies collaborating are placed near Sariñena, dedicated to solar energy system design and installations, isolation, renewable energy, and heating and cooling systems.

Collaboration

Examples of how the students work with other people, sharing responsibility while making substantive decisions for developing a joint product, a design, or an answer to a complex question. Students may be collaborating with their peers in the classroom, or with students or adults outside the classroom

The concept of wiki itself involves collaboration: Students have all editing rights, so they can add, modify or delete its content easily, and it is created collaboratively, under the teacher’s supervision .It is used as cooperative ICT tool, less static than a blog, it’s intuitive and easy-to-use for students, and its openness allows interactions in real time, because the uploads appear almost instantly online. This fact encourages them to go on.In this sense, teacher must be careful to avoid inappropriate behavior, or information. The wiki requires user authentication to edit, to avoid abuses.

Here are some examples:Students can do the research individually or in group, and work with other people by sharing the information on the wiki. Share responsibility when establishing the way they doing research, who’s going to take field trips, or how are they going to share the different tasks during the project.They make substantive decisions when determining the best solution to their bioclimatic problem, developing its critical thinking, and so when they create they slideshows.They collaborate with their peers, thanks to their contributions to the wiki.They also collaborate with adults outside the classroom when conducting research, during the field trips, and interviews with experts, as long as with families when fulfilling the quiz at the beginning of the process.

Another example of collaboration, is our contribution to an e-Twinning project called: The earth is crying, will you spare a minute?” which allows communication between different schools in Europe, using internet, to share experiences and knowledge about environmental problems.

See more information here: