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Environmental Sustainability Training for Children through on-
line Simulation, Exploration, and Collaboration
Comenius Project 502390-LLP-1-2009-1-GR-COMENIUS-CMP
D2.1 Explorative and Collaborative
Learning Requirements
Circulation: Public
Partners: CFL, CERETETH, UTH, ESB, BSPlan, DIMPorta, HiST
Authors: H. Tsalapatas, M. Mogli, H. Karagiannis, K. Tallvid, Z.
Protivova, E. Heidmann, S. O. Larsson
Doc. Ref. N°: D3110092010V03
Version: 03
Stage: Final
Date: 10/9/2010
ENVKIDS 502390-LLP-1-2009-1-GR-COMENIUS-CMP
1/9/2010 UR Page 2
COPYRIGHT
© Copyright 2009 - 2011 the ENVKIDS Consortium, consisting of:
The Centre for Research and Technology Thessaly (CERETETH)
The University of Thessaly (UTH)
Elementary School of Portaria (DIMPorta)
Basic School Planany (BSPlan)
Centre for Flexible Learning (CFL)
Sor Trondelag University College (HiST)
Ecole de Saint Barbe (ESB)
This document may not be copied, reproduced, or modified in whole or in part for
any purpose without written permission from the ENVKIDS consortium. In addi-
tion to such written permission to copy, reproduce, or modify this document in
whole or part, an acknowledgement of the authors of the document and all appli-
cable portions of the copyright notice must be clearly referenced.
All rights reserved.
FUNDING DISCLAIMER
This document may change without notice.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the
Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the
information contained therein.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
FUNDING DISCLAIMER 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS 3
CONTRIBUTORS 5
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 6
1. INTRODUCTION 8
2. ENVKIDS OBJECTIVES 10
3. THE TARGET SECTOR 13
3.1 LEARNERS 14 3.2 TEACHERS AND TEACHER TRAINERS 15 3.3 POLICY MAKERS AND ADMINISTRATIVE AUTHORITIES 16 3.4 THE EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE APPLICATION INDUSTRY 17 3.5 DIDACTICAL PROCESS AND CURRICULA DESIGNERS 18 3.6 THE GENERAL PUBLIC 20
4. THE STATUS QUO ON EXPLORATIVE AND COLLABORATIVE LEARNING 21
4.1 IN GREECE 21 4.2 IN FRANCE 22 4.3 IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC 22 4.4 IN SWEDEN 23 4.5 IN NORWAY 25 4.6 IN EUROPE 27
5. THE STATUS QUO ON ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION 30
5.1 IN GREECE 30 5.2 IN FRANCE 34 5.3 IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC 35 5.4 IN SWEDEN 39 5.5 IN NORWAY 42 5.6 IN EUROPE 43
6. STATUS QUO ON THE USE OF ICT AS AN EDUCATIONAL TOOL 44
6.1 IN GREECE 44 6.2 IN FRANCE 45 6.3 IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC 45 6.4 IN SWEDEN 46 6.5 IN NORWAY 47 6.6 IN EUROPE 47
7. STATUS QUO ON TEACHER SKILL DEVELOPMENT ON ICT 49
7.1 IN GREECE 49 7.2 IN FRANCE 49 7.3 IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC 50 7.4 IN SWEDEN 51 7.5 IN NORWAY 52 7.6 IN EUROPE 54
8. LEARNING REQUIREMENTS DEFINITIONS FOR PUPILS 54
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8.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES 55 8.2 CONTENT AND FOCUS 55 8.3 TECHNICAL INFRASTRUCTURE REQUIREMENTS 57 8.4 REQUIRED DIGITAL SKILLS 58 8.5 LANGUAGE ISSUES 59 8.6 THE SOCIAL NATURE OF LEARNING 60 8.7 INTERFACE CONSIDERATIONS 61 8.8 OTHER AGE-SPECIFIC CONSIDERATIONS 63 7.8 PARENT CONSENT 64
9. LEARNING REQUIREMENTS DEFINITIONS FOR TEACHERS 64
9.1 UPGRADING OF DIGITAL SKILLS AND INTEGRATING ICT IN EDUCATION 65 9.2 UPGRADING OF INSTRUCTIONAL METHODOLOGIES 66 9.3 IMPROVED JOB SATISFACTION AND CAREER PATH PLANNING 67 9.4 COLLABORATION WITH PEERS AND KNOW-HOW EXCHANGE 69
10. CONCLUSIONS 73
APPENDIX 1 THE SWEDISH NATIONAL AGENCY FOR EDUCATION, SYLLABUSES
(2008) 75
HOME AND CONSUMER STUDIES 75 Aim of the subject and its role in education 75
SCIENCE STUDIES, BIOLOGY, PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY 75 Common syllabus text 75 Aim of the subjects and their role in education 75
BIOLOGY 76 Aim of the subject and its role in education 76 Goals to aim for 76 Structure and nature of the subject 77
PHYSICS 78 Aim of the subject and its role in education 78 Goals to aim for 78
CHEMISTRY 79 Aim of the subject and its role in education 79 Goals to aim for 79
SOCIAL STUDIES, GEOGRAPHY, HISTORY, RELIGION AND CIVICS 80 Common syllabus text 80 Aim of the subjects and their role in education 80 Goals to aim for in social studies 81
GEOGRAPHY 82 Aim of the subject and its role in education 82 Goals to aim for 83 Structure and nature of the subject 83
TECHNOLOGY 85 Aim of the subject and its role in education 85
REFERENCES 87
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CONTRIBUTORS
Spyros Tsalapatas
Rene Alimisi
Olivier Heidmann
John B. Stav
Snorre Ruch
Pavla Kuncova
Maria Hatzinikolau
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
EnvKids aims at the development of blended learning activities that deploy an
explorative and collaborative didactical framework towards environmental sus-
tainability training for primary education children. The project uses virtual dem-
onstrators and experiments to help children develop a critical mind on environ-
mentally responsible behaviour through age appropriate tools that focus on con-
cepts and impact while hiding underlying computational complexity. Mostly
graphical interfaces will help overcome language barriers as the proposed learning
tools will be deployed in a number of European countries including Greece, Swe-
den, the Czech Republic, Norway, and France.
This document analyses stakeholders that stand to benefit directly or indirectly
from EnvKids methodologies, tools, and activities towards a more environmen-
tally aware next generation. The groups include learners, teachers, policy makers,
teacher trainers, the educational software industry, parents, and the general public.
To ensure that EnvKids activities take into account past work in the area of pri-
mary education with a focus on the environment, the current status quo on a num-
ber of areas is analysed for participating countries: current environmental educa-
tion curricula, current practices on the use of ICT in education, and the level to
which exploration and collaboration is used in classrooms. Based on the above,
extrapolations are made on the current status quo in Europe.
As a next step, the report analyses learning requirements for groups that are the
direct targets of EnvKids, and specifically learners and teachers. A number of
factors are taken into account. For children this includes long-term educational
goals, digital literacy, typical technical infrastructure of schools, learning activity
desired content, interface considerations, language considerations, and age-
specific requirements. For teachers it includes skill development considerations,
job satisfaction, career planning, digital literacy, and methods for integrating new
activities and tools into existing educational practices.
This report will act as background for the development of the EnvKids Explor-
ative and Collaborative Didactical Framework as well as for learning tools target-
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ing children and collaboration tools targeting teachers planned in the context of
project implementation activities.
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1. INTRODUCTION
Global awareness on the need to change our everyday behaviour towards more
environmentally friendly practices has been gaining momentum over the last few
years. This is evident in formal procedures towards negotiating climate mitigation
strategy such as the UNFCCC and the much publicized recent global convention
in Copenhagen which took place in December 2010 with the participation of sci-
entists, non-governmental organizations, and government delegations; it is evident
in the industry as business initiatives are under way for offering more environ-
mentally friendly and sustainable energy production based on renewable re-
sources; it is evident on initiatives for environmental preservation, including for-
ests and biodiversity; and it is evident in governmental and international policies
on sustaining and improving quality of life indicators such as clear air and water.
These initiatives have helped the global community awaken to the threat of cli-
mate change and consequences to our quality of life including global temperature
rising, desertification, extreme weather, floods or droughts, sea water level rising
and the potential resulting disruption to everyday life for large populations. While
we are all more sensitive than a few years ago to the destruction of our environ-
ment through common business and residential practices, a lot of individuals still
consider the issue as one of the future as opposed to today and perceive the
change of daily routines towards more environmentally compatible solutions as a
sacrifice of comfort and routine. In other words, acceptance of environmentally
friendly practices, such as renewable energy solutions, is still low facing high re-
sistance by local communities and pointing to the urgent need for environmental
education, especially targeting the next generation, as a complementary strategy to
policies and initiatives towards pollution control.
EnvKids aims to raise awareness on environmental sustainability and climate
change mitigation activities among elementary school children. The project aims
to deploy explorative pedagogy taking advantage of children’s natural curiosity to
develop critical thinking towards environmentally friendly behavior. The method-
ology used will help children understand concepts and will use mostly graphical
user interfaces that overcome language barriers and hide potential underlying
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computational complexity. A blended learning approach will combine in-class
instruction, virtual demonstrators, site visits, and on-line collaboration. The ap-
proach will enable children to come closer to peers from other countries, to devel-
op awareness on what solutions work in one place and what are preferable in an-
other based on average temperature, altitude, longitude, geographic formations,
and available energy resources, and to understand everyday challenges both local-
ly and at an international level.
EnvKids does not aim to compete with existing environmental education curricu-
la. Instead, it aims to provide value-adding methodologies and supporting on-line
explorative learning tools that complement existing practices and promote collab-
oration among European schools, enhance the learning experience, and build chil-
dren’s ICT skills.
The EnvKids methodological framework is based on an analysis of stakeholders
standing to benefit from project activities. Learning requirements in participating
countries are discussed in terms of environmental education and in terms of de-
ploying ICT as learning tool. Based on these analyses, which are performed
through direct input from the field and specifically from teachers in elementary
school education, extrapolations can be made on learning requirements at a Euro-
pean level. The results will be used for developing age-appropriate explorative
and collaborative learning methodologies to be used as the basis for the develop-
ment of proof-of-concept on-line educational activities that will be designed for
integration into existing school curricula.
The structure of the report is as follows: first, it discusses the objectives of the
EnvKids project and outputs as these are foreseen in the project proposal. Subse-
quently, it analyzes the current status quo in European schools on environmental
education, on explorative and collaborative learning approaches, on the use of ICT
in education, and on teacher-training in ICT as a learning tool. The analysis is
performed in countries represented by EnvKids school partners, and specifically
Greece, France, Sweden, Norway, and the Czech Republic. Based on the above,
the report performs a synopsis of learning requirements for direct stakeholders,
namely learners and teachers, taking into account the fact that instructor skill up-
dating to the proposed methodology and technology is significant and must not be
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overlooked. The report makes concluding remarks for use in future EnvKids and
other work.
2. ENVKIDS OBJECTIVES
EnvKids aims to enhance environmental education at the primary school level
through advanced explorative and collaborative didactical frameworks that take
advantage of information and communication technology. The project aims to
help children develop awareness on sustainable environmental practices and
experiment with emerging environmentally friendly solutions and services
that help save energy and reduce pollution. The project considers both residential
and civic activities. On another level, EnvKids aims to raise awareness on sustain-
able natural resource management including forests and water and help children
understand the direct impact of unsustainable natural resource exploitation on
various levels, ranging from biodiversity through habitat destruction to quality of
life. Three on-line virtual learning demonstrators are planned as deliverables D4.1
to D4.3 with the above mentioned themes. The demonstrators are aimed for use in
wider blended learning activities; however, their design will allow potential stand-
alone deployment.
To achieve its learning objectives the project aims to deploy virtual experimen-
tation as a method for allowing children to independently discover sustainable
solutions through demonstrators that are based on a “what if” paradigm that en-
courages an entrepreneurial spirit. Learning tools will focus on the impact of spe-
cific choices and behaviours in our everyday life at home, at work, in the cities,
and more generally towards our planet. The project proposes mostly graphical
solutions for a number of reasons: they overcome language barriers; they hide
computational complexity; most importantly, they allow children from a different
backgrounds and countries to use common tools and thus discuss findings in a
collaborative manner under a common context through teacher mediation. At the
same time these ICT-based tools help children develop digital skills that will be
useful throughout their adult lives.
EnvKids recognizes the importance of training teachers with the objective of
keeping their skills current both in terms of didactical methods and in terms of
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using ICT as an educational tool. As such, the project aims to develop good prac-
tice guidelines for the integration of the proposed methodologies and proof-of-
concept learning tools into already existing and well developed educational prac-
tices.
The project recognizes the importance of developing a school network through
which children and teachers can collaborate and exchange ideas, findings, solu-
tions, and know-how. Such a network will help children come closer to learners in
other countries thus addressing one of the specific objectives of the Comenius
programme. The EnvKids school network consists of schools that participate as
consortium partners while it aims to encourage participation of additional schools
that are not formally engaged in the consortium in countries such as Greece and
Sweden; notably, schools have already expressed interest for direct participation
in project activities and evaluation of results in the area of Argalasti, Pelion in
Greece and in the municipality of Volos, Greece.
EnvKids considers methodology and implementation of activities of equal im-
portance. As such, the project aims to develop a sound didactical framework
for explorative and collaborative learning that takes into account past work in this
area and is adapted to the challenges and opportunities facing the educational
sector in the 21st century stemming from the widespread use of technology and
the changing needs of society. For more information on EnvKids didactical meth-
odologies please refer to D3.1 EnvKids Explorative and Collaborative Didactical
Methodologies.
To ensure that the final results meet stakeholder needs, EnvKids aims at a com-
prehensive evaluation strategy that starts early on in the project implementation
period allowing input to be incorporated into project outcomes as work pro-
gresses. The EnvKids evaluation will have a wide European footprint engaging
schools in Greece, the Czech Republic, France, and Sweden to ensure that educa-
tional activities are relevant and address educational needs in the north, south,
east, and west of the continent. The evaluation activities will be planned with the
engagement of experts in primary education and will follow a qualitative ap-
proach involving observation in the context of teaching experiments and allowing
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participants to offer input through interviews. Results will be incorporated into
D5.2 The EnvKids Evaluation Report by project completion.
The project aims to reach as widely as possible the targeted stakeholder groups,
ranging from the primary education sector to the academic community through
targeted dissemination that is adapted to the needs and interests of each and
uses appropriate channels. Specifically, the project aims to use conference publi-
cations and presentations, industry presentations, professional networks, local
media, the Internet, newsletters, promotional material, exhibitions, and more for
reaching interested parties through appropriate in focus and detail material. In
addition, EnvKids aims to develop a strategy for the adoption of outcomes post
project completion by the primary education sector as well as the exploitation of
results through adaptations in additional educational subjects, such as science and
engineering education, and learning scenarios, such as lifelong career building
skills. The results will be summarized in D7.1 The EnvKids Adoption Strategy.
Implementation of the EnvKids activities requires a multidisciplinary effort. For
this reason, the consortium includes organizations that bring know how in areas
such as learning design, environmental education, on-line educational application
design and development, and blended learning facilitating on-line collaboration
services. In addition, the consortium directly involves a significant number of
schools. This complementary expertise allows for balanced partner involvement
in the EnvKids work plan implementation in terms of effort and knowledge. The
consortium allows didactical process design experts, and specifically HiST, to
lead pedagogical methodology development with the participation of all partners,
ICT teams, and specifically CERETETH and UTH, to lead educational on-line
demonstrator design and development with input on design and functionality from
the consortium, and pedagogical consulting institutions, and specifically CFL, to
coordinate evaluation to take place at various sites through local partner leader-
ship.
For a complementary discussion of EnvKids objectives and how these relate to the
Comenius and Lifelong Learning Programme objectives please refer to D5.1: The
EnvKids Validation Strategy.
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3. THE TARGET SECTOR
EnvKids targets primary school education aiming to introduce explorative meth-
odologies supported by virtual experimentation towards the enhancement of envi-
ronmental education. A wide audience stands to gain from project activities and
outcomes, reaching well beyond the classroom. First, primary school learners
and teachers stand to benefit directly from learning activities and good instruc-
tional practice guidelines; second, a number of other groups will benefit from En-
vKids outputs: policy makers and administrative authorities on primary educa-
tion, the educational software application industry, didactical process and
curricula designers, and the general public are among those. Figure 1 shows a
graphical representation of EnvKids stakeholder groups.
Figure 1. EnvKids Stakeholder Map.
The EnvKids explorative methodologies and technology will be validated in the
context of the project on primary environmental education. However, the ap-
proach is generic and applicable to wider learning scenarios. As a result, in the
long term additional groups may stand to gain from the adaptation of EnvKids
methodologies to their individualized needs, including the secondary, higher, pro-
fessional, and vocational education sectors.
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The following sections discuss the characteristics, needs, and desires of direct and
indirect EnvKids stakeholders.
3.1 Learners
In the case of individuals, both needs and desires must be considered and analyzed
to ensure that a proposed approach meets the interests of a particular group. The
following discussion presents the interests of learners in primary education:
Enhanced learning processes aiming at an education that takes into ac-
count the emerging needs of society, engages children, and prepares them
to be active adults both professionally and civically
Educational tools that follow current software industry trends. As
children already have significant exposure to commercial and open-source
software packages, learning tool design must take into account graphical
presentations and functionality commonly seen in popular packages in or-
der to meet children’s expectations and capture children’s interest and
imagination
Encouragement aiming at long-term learner engagement with learn-
ing activities and tools: children must receive quick and positive feedback
on early success with learning activities aiming to promote further en-
gagement and participation in the educational process
Development of critical minds: learning activities for the targeted age
group must ideally introduce a balanced combination of teacher direction
and independent exploration to foster the development of basic analytical
thinking skills that will be beneficial throughout children’s academic and
professional paths
Introduction of digital skills into educational processes: children today
can be described as digitally literate as a result of their daily exposure to
digital technology, on-line services, games, gadgets, and more. This expo-
sure calls for greater integration of ICT into education to ensure that the
instructional process is relevant to today’s needs and skills. Failing to inte-
grate ICT into education may result in the disengagement of learners from
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a learning process that fails to follow digital trends commonly expected in
life outside of the classroom
Interaction with learners located in other countries to get exposure on
their needs, interests, desires, and daily life. Children eagerness on cultural
interaction at a European level is very evident in early EnvKids project ac-
tivities in which children demonstrate great excitement about the prospect
of working with peers abroad
3.2 Teachers and Teacher Trainers
Interests, needs, and desires of teachers and teacher trainers can be summarized as
follows:
Constant enhancement of their teaching skills through guidelines on
the deployment of new didactical methodologies including explorative
and collaborative learning that make education more flexible and bring it
closer to the emerging needs of an evolving society and job market
Upgrading of their digital skills, which is also one of the objectives of
the Comenius programme. It is characteristic that teachers for the most
part do not use technology in the classroom. This is particularly evident
among teachers older in age, whose training as students naturally did not
include new technologies
Guidelines on how ICT can be integrated into teaching practices. In
characteristic discussions with teachers some noted the fact that they are
unable to use digital tools, as for example digital blackboards, due to infra-
structure limitations such as low network bandwidth and due to lack of
technical expertise. Others noted that laptops that have been newly intro-
duced to 13 year old learners through government subsidies are not used as
teachers have not received guidelines on how to integrate computer activi-
ties into their teaching practices. In the worst case the existence of laptops
in the classroom may cause disruption in the learning process as students
turn them on when they shouldn’t and stop paying attention to teacher in-
struction. This and other feedback points to the need of introducing well-
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rounded learning activities and good practices that facilitate the integration
ICT into instruction
Satisfaction from their professional careers. This includes not only
compensation, with which EnvKids is not involved, but also well defined
career paths and evolution of skills and methods in a manner that is not
only beneficial to learners but also promotes teachers’ interests, enhances
their skills, and introduces a positive teaching environment through emerg-
ing learning approaches and technology
3.3 Policy Makers and Administrative Authorities
Administrative authorities are interested to meet the needs of the primary school
sector including teachers, learners, and indirectly parents. On-going objectives of
this group include:
Improving the instructional processes so that education becomes more
effective for children aged 6-12 by empowering them with skills that will
help them face the future with success
Making better use of school facilities. It is characteristic that while a lot
of schools may have access to computers, laboratories, and potentially
more advanced equipment such as interactive electronic boards this tech-
nology is for the most part not used due to lack of know-how and effective
technical support. As such, policy makers are interested in methodologies
and programs that will help integrate technology into teaching practices
increasing return on investment and making education multi-faceted
bringing it closer to children’s needs
Increased job satisfaction for teachers through enhanced career oppor-
tunities as discussed in the previous section
Reducing learner drop-out rates which can be achieved through better
and more personalized teacher-learner and learner-learner communication
and engagement in the context of enhanced class collaboration
Containment of educational costs which can partly be achieved with the
support of technology that enables access to educational material through
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widely used and inexpensive services such as the Internet and open appli-
cations
Compliance with European directives on education. National level
policies and related educational programs must take into account European
directives and initiatives such as the Lisbon strategy, the Bologna process,
and 2020 educational objectives promoting competitiveness, bringing edu-
cation closer to industry needs, ensuring that the skills developed in school
are applicable in the job market, promoting sustainable growth, and put-
ting an emphasis on social cohesion
3.4 The Educational Software Application Industry
Educational software application industry needs revolve around a good under-
standing of customer requirements and desires aiming at better product position-
ing and improved profitability. It is expected that most vendors require this infor-
mation towards the development of complementary off-the-shelf educational
tools, as opposed to complete learning activities such as the ones introduced by
EnvKids, for use in the classroom or at home. As such, vendors are indirect stake-
holders of EnvKids activities, but stand to gain from project outcomes.
Specifically, information of interest to vendors includes:
Documentation of typical primary school technical capabilities for the
deployment of software packages and services. This information is neces-
sary for the development of tools that the customer base will be able to
execute at school through typically available equipment
Documentation of primary school curricula requirements in terms of
environmental education as well as education on digital skills aiming at
developing software applications that can be used as complementary edu-
cational tools
Analysis of competitive products such as similar educational software
packages and services as well as open source
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Analysis of children’s interests in terms of software application func-
tionality, themes, and focus aiming at adapting educational packages with
the objective of making them more attractive to end users
Analysis of the buying power of schools aiming at the competitive pric-
ing of educational software tools for use in the classroom
Analysis of the buying power of parents aiming at the competitive pric-
ing of tools for home use
Summarizing the above, it may be stated that the industry could benefit from an
analysis of the status quo of primary school education in the area of environmental
sciences and ICT which is planned in the context of the EnvKids project work
plan.
3.5 Didactical Process and Curricula Designers
Curricula designers aim at the development of educational programs for covering
needs of specific target sectors, ranging from primary school to professional edu-
cation. Curriculum design is typically the focus of designated organizations that
are related to authorities and policy makers in education or related to professional
organizations. The former is the case in public education at the primary, secon-
dary, and tertiary level. The latter is the case in professional and vocational life-
long skill development possibly leading to certification.
Curriculum design in many countries aims at the development of standards to en-
sure that individuals at a certain educational level all have the same skills and ca-
pabilities by the completion of an educational cycle. Limitations and special con-
ditions must also be considered for an effective curriculum design, for example
ability to travel, language issues especially in areas with large numbers of immi-
grants, cultural background, dropout rates, and more.
Curriculum design is an important and wide subject, the complete coverage of
which is not in the scope of EnvKids. Following is a general discussion of cur-
riculum designer needs focusing on educational programs targeting children aged
6-12 from the perspective of developing didactical methodologies and learning
tools that could enhance current school prorgams:
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Exploration of novel, emerging didactical methodologies that are not
incorporated into current, typical school curricula in primary education.
An overview of the current status quo in environmental and ICT education
and an analysis of emerging explorative and collaborative learning meth-
ods, as for example experiments-based learning, half-baked games, games-
based learning, and good practice guidelines for integrating them into
existing teaching practices would be beneficial
Analysis of changes in access to technology could provide insight on
how children today interact with new equipment and gadgets. The fast
pace in which technology advances resulting into new, affordable equip-
ment and gadgets that are widely available to children today must be taken
into account to ensure that education is relevant, close to children’s needs,
and keeps up with industry developments
Analysis of gaps in environmental and ICT education through a review
of school activities foreseen by existing, formal curricula in a number of
European countries can provide a new perspective on complementary tools
and learning design that could enhance existing practices by taking advan-
tage of emerging technology and trends in didactical frameworks
Analysis of the evolving needs of children in terms of educational ac-
tivity focus. While children aged 6-12 are still young to consider profes-
sional needs, there is no doubt that society has changed in many ways over
the last decades requiring that new skills be added into educational pro-
grams, including ICT. Those skills will be required not only through
school but throughout their adult life. The fact that children today are digi-
tally literate must also be taken into account. For example, if children have
full access to mobile phones, the internet, and software tools in their out of
the classroom life and these services and technology are not available in
school education, it should be expected that children may lose interest in
learning activities that are rooted in past practices that do not take advan-
tage of technology. Some have described this condition as “walking into a
desert” when children are required to leave outside of the classroom this
technology that they have access to, for example, during recess. School ac-
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tivities must incorporate new technology as a day to day tool in order to
keep up with societal evolution and progress
3.6 The General Public
Environmental education aims at raising awareness and promoting responsible
citizenship with the objective that each individual makes a small step towards
more environmentally sustainable conduct at home, in professional, and in civic
life. Under this perspective, related educational programs must target the general
population to be effective. At the same time, it is obvious that the most important
group to educate is the next generation. This is the rationale behind EnvKids’
choice to focus on primary school children.
The general public stands to gain from an environmentally aware and savvy
young population, who will in the future become aware and responsible adults. As
such, the general population stands to gain indirectly from EnvKids activities that
aims to enhance primary education curricula through complementary learning
tools that help children develop critical minds and an objective outlook towards
energy saving, pollution control, and natural resource management. At the same
time children will grasp implications of environmental management on quality of
life, habitat preservation for endangered animals, changes to landscape from cor-
rosion and desertification, climate change, global temperature, and other factors
that affect us.
The following sections provide an overview of the current status quo in explor-
ative and collaborative learning approaches at the primary education level, pri-
mary environmental education practices, the deployment of ICT in educational
settings, and teacher training programs on the deployment of ICT. The informa-
tion is developed with input from the field, i.e. from teachers themselves provid-
ing input on the situation in their respective countries and schools. Based on the
information provided, the sections conclude with a general extrapolation on the
current situation in Europe. While this extrapolation is only based on collected
data, the fact that the EnvKids schools represent countries in northern, southern,
western, and eastern Europe provides rich evidence on the opportunities and chal-
lenges that schools are faced with today. This information is necessary towards
the development of a didactical framework that exploits current strengths of edu-
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cational systems and takes them a step further; in addition, documenting teacher
skills is important towards developing a strategy on the adoption and implementa-
tion of the proposed methodologies in the classroom.
4. THE STATUS QUO ON EXPLORATIVE AND COLLABORATIVE
LEARNING
This section provides a discussion of how explorative and collaborative learning
is currently practiced in European schools. The practices are presented below in
countries represented by EnvKids school partners.
4.1 In Greece
While the formal national curriculum for primary education does not include spe-
cific recommendations or directions on the deployment of explorative and col-
laborative learning, this method is widely used in all subjects. The use of explor-
ative and collaborative learning is wider in the case with experimental schools
such as the Elementary School of Portaria. Examples of use of explorative and
collaborative learning include:
Children working in small groups on common projects, aiming at the
development of commonly owned outcomes. This method has the advan-
tage of allowing children to help and learn from each other in less formal
settings than traditional class instruction in which children are passive re-
cipients of lectures
Physical setting of the class space in small round tables to further en-
courage work in groups where all children are equals
Assignment of projects with specific topics, including environmental edu-
cation, the implementation of which may span several weeks or an entire
semester. In these projects children are encouraged to discover informa-
tion, develop presentations and posters, and demonstrate the results to their
fellow learners
Children using the school library in groups for collaborative research
on assigned projects. This activity does not only include printed material
but may also include computers and Internet research
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The above activities encourage freedom and individuality in learning under
teacher supervision and could be enriched through the proposed virtual experi-
mentation activities proposed by EnvKids.
4.2 In France
Explorative and collaborative learning is used in the context of classroom ac-
tivities on a regular basis. With regards to environmental education explorative
learning is integrated into the high level objective presented in the formal national
curriculum for primary education which states that children must become respon-
sible towards the environment and towards the living world. In this context, ex-
plorative learning is manifested through the reinforcement of knowledge using
impromptu games upon completion of a lecture under the coordination of the
teacher.
Furthermore, gaming fosters collaboration in the form of class conversations
about various options and solutions and initiates discussions on good and bad
practices observed.
This method encourages children to use their own daily life experiences, mak-
ing them feel involved in the learning process.
4.3 In the Czech Republic
Explorative learning is used in selected phases of the lessons, and specifically
when pupils are introduced to new topics and when they deduct rules and patterns.
The method sometimes serves as a tool to motivate and engage. Often it is used in
an impromptu manner by asking the pupils to apply acquired theoretical pieces of
knowledge to a practical situation.
The frequency with which the method is used depends on the subject being taught.
Explorative learning is mostly applied in Mathematics, History, Geography, and
Biology. In these subjects, the method is used at least once a week.
The teacher mentions the usage of explorative and co-operative methods mainly
with talented pupils and during group activities. Explorative methods are included
in learning sessions under the umbrella of “activity centres” which are spread over
the entire week, regularly, once or twice a month. In exceptional situations the
teacher may assign long-term explorative tasks as homework. Children realize an
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experiment at home; they observe it and record the results in the context of several
days. At the end of this longer period of study they present their findings at
school.
Collaborative learning is used very often. Some second grade teachers state that
up to one half of the time of their teaching during the lesson may be focused on
co-operation. Teachers use this method for projects preparation, for role-playing,
for presentations, for games that help enhance the classroom atmosphere, and for
games that help to solve problems and to apply knowledge. Teachers are aware of
the fact that it is necessary for children to acquire collaborative skills. The fact
that children are taught to use this method at the primary grade is very positively
perceived by learners and teachers.
The amount of pupils that are not able to work in this manner is minimal. For this
group it is more suitable to apply an individual learning approach and engage
them in alternate ways during team-work sessions. This phenomenon is common
at the beginning of the teenage period at the ages of 12 and 13. During this period
the teachers may need to fight with the pupil’s aversion to everything.
Specifically, for the primary grade involving children up to 9 years of age it can
be stated that pupils have become acquainted with collaborative learning since the
very beginning of their school attendance. Their tables are set according to
groups. This classroom setting creates “small centres”. During small centre ac-
tivities pupils are encouraged to help each other and learn from each other. Before
changing the classroom setting the teacher discusses the new organization with the
pupils aiming to bring focus on the new grouping and its objectives. The grouping
of children may change from day to day. An important part of this co-operation is
the presentation of results. This method is included into all subjects at the primary
stage. The teachers discuss the advantages of co-operation with children and they
teach children how to collaborate effectively.
4.4 In Sweden
The Swedish school system dictates that activities must be characterized by an
open, democratic approach in which the learning process is at the centre. In this
context explorative and collaborative learning is applied through the encourage-
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ment of learners to develop individual thinking through exploration and to
integrate knowledge developed in wider subjects through individual and
group work in a collaborative manner.
More specifically, learning gives students the opportunity to be involved in the
design of both activity forms and content. Activities strive to encourage chil-
dren to:
Develop the ability to express their thoughts and opinions and have the
opportunity to influence their situation
Develop the ability to take responsibility for their actions
Develop the ability to understand and to act according to democratic prin-
ciples through participation in various forms of collaboration and deci-
sion making
A critical thinking approach is central in planning and implementation of learn-
ing activities. This presents learning opportunities to develop the ability to
evaluate information and assess the implications of different choices and strate-
gies. The school must strive to increase each student's ability to independently
formulate positions based on both empirical knowledge and critical analysis of
rational and ethical considerations.
The school system promotes the development of collaborative learning at an
interdisciplinary level. In this context learning on sustainable development and
wider subjects is linked to the same perspective that helps learners and teachers to
relate new knowledge to what was previously learned and link knowledge and
perspectives from different subjects. Interdisciplinary collaboration is an impor-
tant element of the learning process.
The school system further promotes diversity of teaching methods and encour-
ages teachers to take into consideration learning styles. To enable continuous im-
provement of organizational and pedagogical approaches, these should be evalu-
ated by measurement of the impact of selected content, teaching methods, and
organizational forms as well as the learner's development.
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4.5 In Norway
In the Norwegian school system the majority of teachers and students enjoy the
school. They develop a strong sense of self-confidence. However, at the same
time international surveys and national tests have shown that students in Norway
possess weaker subject-matter knowledge than could be desired. One of the obsta-
cles is that there is little systematic update of learning and school development
goals.
About 610-630.000 students attend public primary and lower secondary schools in
each school year. In addition about 10.000 students are enrolled in private primary
and lower secondary schools. This is the highest number of students at the pri-
mary level that Norway has ever dealt with.
Norway spends approximately 6.5 percent of the gross domestic product on edu-
cation, compared to 5.9 percent as the average in the OECD countries. Primary
and lower secondary schools are administered by the municipalities, while upper
secondary education is administrated centrally by the government.
The National Curriculum provides legislation and regulations, and forms a bind-
ing framework. Within this framework the municipal and county authorities, each
individual school, and teachers may influence the implementation of education in
the classroom. Each school has a head teacher as well as various committees,
councils and boards. Children enroll in school at the age of 6. They stay in the
compulsory primary and lower secondary schooling system for 10 years. The edu-
cation is divided in two main stages:
Primary school (grades 1–7)
Lower secondary school (grades 8–10).
The population in Norway is scattered, whereby many of the primary and lower
secondary schools are small. Approximately 35 percent of schools have less than
100 students, and only nine per cent of the students attend these schools. On the
other hand, 53 percent of all students attend schools with more than 300 pupils.
This constitutes 26 per cent of all schools.
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A major reform of school education under the title “The Knowledge Promotion”
took place in 2006. As a result of these reform, many aspects of education were
updated, and specifically:
The Core Curriculum
The Quality Framework
The subject curricula
The distribution of teaching hours per subject
Individual assessment
In addition, the reform defined desired basic learner competencies to be developed
as a result of school activities, and specifically:
Being able to express oneself orally
Being able to express oneself in writing
Being able to read
Being able to do numeracy and arithmetic
Using information and communication technology and digital tools
The Norwegian Core Curriculum for primary education includes the following
subjects:
Norwegian
Mathematics
Social Science
Christianity, Religion and Ethics Education (CREE)
Arts and Crafts
Natural Sciences
English
Foreign Languages/ Language In-depth Studies
Food and Health
Music
Physical Education
Student Council Work
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Optional Programme Subject
The Core Curriculum does not define specific teaching methodologies to be ap-
plied in the classroom. However, explorative and collaborative learning is inte-
grated into all subjects in various forms.
Examples of the deployment of explorative and collaborative learning in the class
include projects with a typical duration of 2-3 weeks. Children work jointly on
topics introduced by the teacher and then make class presentations.
Story telling approaches are also used. In this context children look at a specific
topic from different angles in different courses. For example, environmental
issues may be addressed from a sociological, historical, or science point of view.
Another form of collaboration is quick competitions. The competitions typically
that take place upon completion of a learning topic and last about 20 minutes.
Children are encouraged to exchange knowledge and information on what they
have learned.
Another innovative form of collaboration is developing school plays. Children
practice over several months and give a performance at the end of a semester. In
the fall semester this activity may last from September to December, while in the
spring semester from February to June.
4.6 In Europe
It becomes apparent from the above analysis that explorative and collaborative
learning is gradually making its way into European schools. The methodology
complements traditional and well tested instructional practices that have been in
place for years and even decades. These older practices often involve traditional
teacher lecturing from the top of a classroom that is organized with learners typi-
cally sitting two at a time in desks organized in rows. This traditional methodol-
ogy makes a very clear statement that the teacher is directing class activities and
imposes authority.
Several schools in participating countries such as Greece, the Czech Republic, and
Scandinavia have already implemented classes that are organized around group
work. This is reflected in class organization, where the desk setup is changed into
circles and small groups. While this setting does not span the entire curriculum, it
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is implemented in an adequate number of classes and reinforces the importance of
collaboration. The reorganization of the class fosters a spirit of collaboration
while. The setup is less formal encouraging children to start conversations and
learn from each other.
Collaboration is further encouraged through the assignment of group projects that
pupils develop of larger periods and present to their classes either at the end of the
school year or at specific days and celebrations, such as Earth Day, knowledge
building competitions, and school plays.
Collaboration and exploration further takes place by introducing class activities
that go beyond the confines of the traditional classroom. These activities may take
place in the school library where children have the opportunity to explore com-
plementary to the classroom reference material which may be either printed in
books and magazines or on-line. In these cases children may also have access to
library computers. Other activities take place outdoors, showing that blended
learning that involves activities out of the classroom is to a certain degree imple-
mented through site visits and other projects.
Figure 2. Classroom Organization is Small Groups and Roundtables at the
Elementary School of Portaria.
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However, it should be noted that the above activities are not available in all Euro-
pean schools. For example, the Elementary School of Portaria is an experimental
all day school. Few such schools exist in Greece and they represent the minority
in primary education. Most schools will still apply the more traditional lecture-
based delivery.
On the other hand, the analysis of the current status quo has shown that in most
cases ICT use is limited to Internet research. As such, European schools stand to
gain from the proposed EnvKids explorative and collaborative methodologies that
deploy virtual experimentation in a number of ways:
They will have the opportunity to enrich current collaborative and ex-
plorative practices with new approaches that introduce virtual experi-
mentation
They will be able to extend collaboration practices by bringing children
from different schools, countries, and backgrounds closer as they all
apply the same learning tools and present their findings
Figure 3. Explorative and Collaborative Learning Taking Place in the School
Library at the Elementary School of Portaria.
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In cases where explorative learning is not deployed, schools will have at
their disposal good practice guidelines on how to introduce EnvKids
methodologies and technology into their existing academic practices
5. THE STATUS QUO ON ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
This section discusses current activities on environmental education, to be used as
a benchmark for the development of on-line available learning tools that are com-
plementary to existing practices and can be applied in a blended learning scenario
that deploy in-class instruction, site visits, and on-line exploration and collabora-
tion. The activities discussed in the following sections are based on formal na-
tional curricula in participating countries. In some cases they also include addi-
tional activities developed by the schools as part of a foreseen looser weekly bi-
hourly learning session.
5.1 In Greece
Environmental education in Greece started in the early 90s as a pilot programme.
However, no specific hours or funds were allocated at the time for environmental
education. Teaching was mainly based on the goodwill and effort of the teachers
themselves. In 2002, the Ministry of Education used European funds for early
teacher training to develop an environmental education programme.
A formal national curriculum introduced in 2003 foresees the following for envi-
ronmental education: the aim of environmental education activities in Greece is
for students to realize the need for the protection of the environment, to transfer
this message to other people that they come into contact with, and to take part in
activities that promote team spirit and cooperation for the accomplishment of the
common goal of environmental sustainability. School activities must develop
skills, principles, and attitudes that allow children to observe, describe, to inter-
pret, and to foresee in some degree the relationship between the natural and hu-
man generated environment in which human activity is developed in space and in
time. Activities must develop consciousness on the need for and benefits of sus-
tainable development. This process aims at the development well rounded a global
perception for life which constitutes mainly the development of links and causal-
ity between objects. Learners are seen as researchers in this process. Indicative
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themes include: my neighbourhood, the natural environment (plants and animals),
and the human generated environment.
With regards to the Elementary School of Portaria, the school is particularly active
in the area of environmental education. Being an experimental school that enjoys
a Free Zone based on national recommendations, the school introduces Environ-
mental Education as a separate subject. In addition, there is an Environmental
Team in the school. Finally, environmental education is included in the curricula
of other subjects, such as geography, mathematics, history, science, etc.
A wide list of activities takes place in each school year. Following are typical ac-
tivities that have already been implemented in the school:
Learning about forests: teaching involves cooperative, cross-curricula,
and exploratory learning with students looking for material on the Internet
and in various printed material. In addition, several activities centred on
the forest and its protection were realized, including:
o Visit to a forest
o Construction of handcrafts through recyclable materials
o Reading literary texts related to the forest
o Songs of the forest and nature
o Creative writing workshop and writing of stories with an ecologi-
cal message
o Games centred on the forest and nature
o Dramatization and role-playing based on the characters from books
that pupils read about the forest
o Learning about the traditional herbs of the local mountain of Pilion
o Planting of trees
o Recycling paper
Ecological learning: teaching in this situation involves cooperative, cross-
curricula and exploratory learning similar to the forest activities discussed
above. The issue is exploitation of natural resources and what can be done
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to save energy, save water from being wasted, using alternative sources of
energy, and encouraging recycling. The following activities took place:
o Research on various sources of energy and wind power in particu-
lar; ways to save power and reduce water being wasted in the
school
o Internet searches on environmental issues
o Activities about water: water supply management, ways of saving
water, local customs centred around water
o Hiking trips to Alikopetra close to the top of the local mountain of
Pelion and visit to lake Karla, which is an important wetland in the
area of Magnesia
o Theatrical production of a play about the Mediterranean Sea
Literature and the environment: throughout the school year students
come into contact with literary texts focusing on environmental themes.
At the end of the school year an event called “Literature and the Environ-
ment” is organized. Students from other schools in the area participate, to-
gether with representatives from the Prefecture of Magnesia and the Mu-
nicipality of Portaria. Writers of children’s books on environmental issues
give talks to the students
Behaviour for the summer months: consequences of human activity dur-
ing the summer and their impact on the environment are discussed. Some
practical solutions to save energy in the students’ everyday life are sug-
gested together with ways to help raise awareness about environmental is-
sues
Participation in national networks on environmental education: the
school participates in the following national networks related to environ-
mental education:
o The Olive Tree
o Geological-Mythological and Geological Paths
o Traditional Stone Bridges of Greece
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o The Forest
o Industrial Heritage
o Sound and Nature
o Traditional Houses
o The River
o Mediterranean Sea- Greece- the Olive Tree
o Lake Karla: a Lake is Born
o Water: Element and Spirit
Educational programs organized by the school:
o The Olive Tree: Daughter of the Sun. Presentations are organized,
as well as hosting other schools so that they could take part in the
activities
o Nature Paths
o Production of Energy in Pelion. Use of water in the past as an in-
exhaustible form of energy. Environmental dimensions of the use
of water. Use of water in the production of electricity and in proc-
essing different materials
o Water- Source of Life. Visits in different sources of water in the
area, importance of water in people’s everyday life in the past, visit
to a water-powered olive mill
o Endangered Species. The brown bear and the monachus-monachus
seal
o Wetlands of Our Area
o The Lake Karla, located in the area of Magnesia
o Herbs and Aromatic Plants of Pelion. Information on herbs and
medicinal plants used in the area, stories and proverbs connected to
their use
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o The Deciduous Forest of Pelion. Information on the vegetation, the
production of coal from wood and the dangers that threaten the for-
est
5.2 In France
In France environmental education for children aged 9-11 is part of the Experi-
mental Sciences and Technology section of the formal curriculum. This part of
primary education aims to help children understand and describe the real world,
including natural and manmade, to act on it, and to master the changes induced by
human activity. Their study helps students to grasp the distinction between facts
and testable hypotheses on the one hand and opinions and beliefs on the other.
Observation, questioning, experimentation, and practical arguments are essential
to achieve these goals and therefore the knowledge and skills are acquired through
a process of investigation developing the curiosity, the creativity, critical thinking
and interest in the scientific and technical progress.
Familiar with a sensitive approach to nature, students learn to be responsible to-
wards the environment, and world health. They understand that sustainable devel-
opment meets the needs of present and future. In connection with the teachings of
humanistic culture and civics they learn to act in this regard.
The student work is subject to various recorded messages; for example, in a note-
book of observations or a notebook of experiences.
Formal material is foreseen for:
Water resources and specifically the current state and changes, the path
of water in nature, and maintaining its quality
Air quality and pollution
Waste and specifically reducing waste, reusing, and recycling
Energy and specifically simple examples of energy sources including fos-
sil and renewable, energy requirements, consumption, and the need to save
it
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5.3 In the Czech Republic
The national Czech curriculum for primary education includes a programme
called EVVO: Environmental Education and Enlightenment, issued by the Minis-
try of the education, youth and sports, No 16745/2008-22.
EVVO is meant as versatile development of key competences in the reciprocal
relationship context between the human being and his/her environment.
It is considered as motivation and exposure to opportunities for acquiring knowl-
edge, skills, attitudes, and habits for protecting and improving the environment. It
aims to create values compatible with sustainable development and sensible be-
haviour. It promotes creative thinking for the benefit of the environment, for a
sustainable way of life, and for sustainable conduct patterns of individuals,
groups, and society. The program is coherent with strategies on a healthy way of
life.
The basic framework for EVVO can be found in the strategic document “The
State Programme of Environmental Education and Enlightenment in the CR”,
which was accepted by government resolution No. 1048/2000. The program is
fulfilled in a three-year action plan.
The reference documents of EVVO in schools are:
The school curriculum
The EVVO school programme
EVVO is based on the following government resolutions and strategy:
The state EVVO programme 2000 and the EVVO action plans
The national education development programme, called the “White Book”
The environmental state policy for the period 2004-2010
The strategy for sustainable development of the CR, 2004
The educational strategy for sustainable development of the CR for the pe-
riod 2008-2015
The national development plan for the period 2007-2013 and the related
operational programmes
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The Environment and Education for Competition programmes
EVVO is related to the following strategies in the area of problem solving, com-
municative, social, and personal competences:
To use actively cooperative and communicative competences as tools for
environmental problem solving
To look for various possibilities of environmental problems solving
The ability to critically evaluate and assess information related to the envi-
ronment
Within the area of the working competences for secondary level (ages 10-15),
EVVO is related to the following strategies:
To acquire the practical skills for behaving in and working with nature and
to apply them in everyday life
To apply the principles of sustainable development in social and profes-
sional behaviour; to work with natural sources; to be responsible with
waste
Within the civil competences area EVVO is related to the following strategies:
To develop through individual experience the natural and cultural values
on a person’s surroundings, to understand the cause and consequences of
damaging the environment, and to understand the uniqueness of each re-
gion and its needs
To think about the consequences, to be aware of the dependence of human
societal development on nature and environmental conditions, to under-
stand biosphere patterns, to grasp the need for economical, social, and eco-
logical cohesion of the world, to understand environmental problems from
a local and a global point of view and analyse their causes
To understand the need for developing a relationship between human be-
ings and nature and to learn from past and present environmental problems
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To behave responsibly towards nature end the environment in everyday
life and participate actively and responsibly in the protection of the envi-
ronment
To display humility and respect towards life in all its forms and to value
all species
To appreciate the value and beauty of nature and the landscape, to perceive
and to be able to evaluate varying attitudes on the position of human be-
ings in the wider context of our environment and on human being behav-
iour towards nature
In the context of the EVVO programme, the Basic School of Planany integrates a
number of environmental education activities into the yearly school programme,
adapted to each class level. Environmental awareness learning is integrated into
several subjects. An indicative list of high level environmental education topics is
presented below:
Recycling and the concept of the 3R’s (reduce, reuse, recycle)
Recycling of school paper
Bi-annual recycling aiming at reuse of old clothes which are delivered to
organisations in need
Support of state foundations, such as the Help the Children Foundation
Health relationship of pupils with meals in the school canteen. The motto
is: take only the amount of food that you are able to eat
Growing plants and flowers in the classrooms
Celebrating Earth Day; celebrations take place on April 22
Following are examples of focus tasks through which the above topics are inte-
grated into learning activities in various subjects:
In home study:
o The place where we live: landscape and its changes, protected ar-
eas, environment
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o Our country: natural resources, the environmental situation
In basic education on our surroundings:
o Life in nature
o People and technology
o The human being and his/her health
In the Czech language:
o Environmental literature
o Essays and questionnaires on the environment
In foreign languages:
o Communicating with the world
o Global environment
o Global environmental problems
o Climate
In history:
o The position of human beings in their world
o Important moments in human history from the development point
of the view
o Global problems
In civics:
o Non-governmental ecological organizations
In family education:
o Household maintenance in the context of sustainable development
o Healthy lifestyle
In geography:
o Ecological footprint of individuals
In chemistry:
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o Chemical load assessing
o Carbon emissions
o Recycling, raw material use, 3R principle
o Biological food
o Visits to power stations, incineration sites, and chemical factories
In global education:
o Ecological print
o Globalization
In arts:
o Use of natural materials
o Competitions with environmental topics
In physical education:
o Active movement in nature
o Principles of behaviour in unfamiliar surroundings, such as moun-
tains, forests, and rivers
Finally, children work on an environmental project in spring time of each school
year, present the results during Earth Day, and participate in competitions organ-
ized by the Eco grammar school in Podebrady, one of the bigger nearby cities.
During the last school year children planted over 700 trees. The topic in the previ-
ous year (2009) was “water”.
5.4 In Sweden
The educational system in Sweden is based on a nine year primary school, or
”Grundskola”, with mandatory attendance. This is followed by an elective three
year secondary school, or "Gymnasieskola", which is divided in two instances
where you either prepare for higher education or receive vocational education.
The preparatory instance allows for specialization in either natural sciences or
social sciences.
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In compulsory education, which is the target of the EnvKids project, an introduc-
tory text to the syllabus covers the aim of each subject and its role in education,
and makes clear how the subject contributes to fulfilling the goals of the curricu-
lum as well as the reasons for studying the subject in order to fulfill different so-
cietal and civic needs. Goals to aim for express the direction the subject should
take in terms of developing learners’ knowledge. The goals clarify the quality of
knowledge, which is essential in the subject. These goals are the main basis for
instructional process planning and do not set any limits to the learners’ acquisition
of knowledge.
The description of the structure and nature of a subject deals with the core of the
subject and specific aspects, as well as essential perspectives, which can provide
the basis for teaching. Since subjects vary, they are described in different ways.
Goals to attain define the minimum knowledge to be gained by all pupils in the
fifth and ninth year of school. The goals thus set out a basic level of knowledge
required in the subject from both these time perspectives. Goals to attain in the
ninth year of school are the basis for assessing whether a pupil should receive the
"Pass" grade. The majority of pupils will advance further and should, of course,
also advance further in their learning. The syllabuses are designed to make clear
what all pupils should learn; at the same time they provide wide scope for teachers
and pupils to choose their own materials and working methods. The syllabuses do
not lay down ways of working, organization, or methods.
On the other hand, they lay down the qualitative knowledge which teaching
should develop and thus provide a framework within which the choice of materi-
als and methods are to be locally determined. At each school and in each class
the teacher must interpret the national syllabuses and together with the pupils plan
and evaluate teaching on the basis of the learners’ preconditions, experiences,
interests, and needs.
Common to all subjects in the compulsory school is that they should impart pleas-
ure in being creative and a desire to continue learning. In their education learners
should develop the ability to draw conclusions and generalize, as well as explain
and be able to provide the reasons for their thinking and their conclusions. Based
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on their experiences and questions pupils can develop good judgment and get a
feeling of what is important.
With regards to sustainable development: this is a theme that is evident through
the entire curriculum. The school encourages each student to develop their ability
to recognize and express ethical standpoints based on knowledge and personal
experiences. The school strives to ensure that each student can empathize with and
understand other people's situation and develop a willingness to deal with their
best interests at heart and show respect for the care of the neighbourhood envi-
ronment and in a broader perspective.
The mission to educate for sustainable development has been formulated in inter-
national agreements and national policy documents. The essence is that students
are learning to develop a knowledge-based approach on the important ethical
questions concerning the relationship between humans and the human relationship
with nature. From that knowledge they must both be able to participate in democ-
ratic processes and make informed choices. This means that their ability to con-
tribute to sustainable development will become a reality in practice.
It is not sufficient to impart knowledge in the teaching of basic democratic values.
Teaching takes place in democratic forms of work and prepares students to ac-
tively participate in community life. Through that teaching will develop their abil-
ity to take personal responsibility on environmental issues.
Following are examples of environmental education activities in Swedish schools:
Water Quality of the Baltic Sea. Bio indicators are used to study water
quality. Additional information can be obtained in Paper Working for bet-
ter water quality in the Baltic Sea
Rivers. Water quality in rivers is studied using bio indicators and chemical
methods. These studies are followed up by studies of the causes of envi-
ronmental problems and discussion of solutions. The program is multidis-
ciplinary and is part of the science and social studies program
Air Quality. Air quality is studied by means of bio indicators conifers and
lichens
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Penology. Climate change is studied by noting the time of spring's arrival.
Flowers and birds are also studied
Bird Ecology. Number of nesting seabirds in spring and winter are studied
and the numbers of dead individuals washed ashore are counted. Birds
around the bird feeder are studied during the winter
Coast Watch. A 500m long stretch of coastline or rivers are examined. It
is a simple program and all ages can participate. No special equipment is
needed
Environmental History. The program focuses on environmental history
based on contemporary environmental problems - not studying the past as
decoupled from the present. The program has a future perspective; it does
goes beyond the context of contemporary understanding aiming to develop
preparedness for the future
5.5 In Norway
Environmental education does not constitute a separate subject in the Norwegian
primary education curriculum. Rather, the subject is integrated into a number of
other courses. Examples of environmental education activities include:
In science education:
Examples of topics addressed renewable energy production for reducing
pollution, the function of energy efficient devices, and the carbon cycle
In social sciences:
Behavioural aspects are addressed, including individual behaviour and so-
cietal behaviour. Activities aim to introduce a sense of responsibility to-
wards environmental sustainability and help children understand that in-
dividual and group perceptions, attitudes, and activities affect the envi-
ronment
Environmental education was more prevalent in primary education 5-10 years
ago, before the curriculum change in 2006.
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5.6 In Europe
The above presentation of environmental education can lead to some general ob-
servations about trends on related curricula and learning activities. It becomes
apparent that environmental education is present is some form in all participating
countries. In some countries, such as Sweden and the Czech Republic, it is more
prevalent, while in others, such as Norway, less so. Formal national level curricula
provide general directions on the objectives of environmental education, which
can be summarized as respect for and responsibility towards our natural environ-
ment and living world. In most cases there is no dedicated environmental educa-
tion course; rather environmental awareness education is integrated in a variety of
courses and covers wide themes including environmental history, emissions and
air quality as part of chemistry, natural environment as part of geography, respon-
sible behaviour as part of civic education, biodiversity as part of natural science
education, etc.
On the other hand, schools naturally introduce a local focus on environmental
education. This is evident through a focus on local species of animals and plants,
local natural treasures such as forests, lakes, rivers, and other formations, and lo-
cal environmental challenges such as preserving coasts, forests, local animal spe-
cies, and more. These activities are reinforced through site visits. This approach
makes sense as it ties an abstract concept such as preserving the environment to
the children’s real surroundings and establishes a connection between environ-
mental challenges and children’s daily activities and quality of life.
Environmental education is a subject in which class and student projects can be
easily introduced. Most schools have reported that they implement at least one
environmental project during each school year with a subject selected by the
teacher. The subject typically varies from one year to another. Children present
their findings to their class either at the end of the school year, at celebrations
such as Earth Day, or at events organized in cooperation with other schools in
their area.
On the other hand, children are encouraged to be environmentally responsible
through good practices such as recycling and cleaning the school yard and are
encouraged to continue these practices at home throughout their day.
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The above demonstrate that environmental education is already present in Euro-
pean primary education. However, while general objectives for environmental
education are evident in curricula class delivery guidelines and well defined learn-
ing activities are scarce leaving related initiatives to the teacher. EnvKids does not
aim to replace existing learning practices. Rather, it aims to develop learning tools
and activities that will enhance school learning and reinforce the concepts being
taught today.
6. STATUS QUO ON THE USE OF ICT AS AN EDUCATIONAL
TOOL
This section includes a discussion on the current status of ICT as an educational
tool in primary education in countries represented in EnvKids. The discussion
revolves around various uses of ICT. This includes dedicated formal ICT courses
foreseen by national curricula, their objectives, and their content; the use of ICT in
other subjects as a tool for developing projects and presentations; and the deploy-
ment of ICT based on existing technical infrastructure in schools1.
6.1 In Greece
Computer education is included in primary education in Greek schools but in gen-
eral it is not an obligatory subject. Typically, only learners that are enrolled in all-
day schools receive computer education at the primary level. It should be noted
that all-day schools are the minority of schools in Greece. Learners enrolled in the
typical 08:00 – 13:00 schools, which constitute the overwhelming majority of
Greek schools, are not exposed to computer courses at the primary level.
At the Elementary School of Portaria, which is an experimental all day school, the
subject is obligatory in the 1st grade. In addition, the school has a computer lab
which includes a digital whiteboard. Lab activities include the development of
videos, a school newspaper, and a school blog.
1 The latter subjects is only touched upon in this report as detailed analysis is presented in D5.1
The EnvKids Evaluation Strategy, which presents the validation sites and their characteristics.
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6.2 In France
10 year olds must obtain a certificate in computer science at the end of the school
year. To obtain the certificate a student must be able to:
Identify the function of various components of the computing environment
Demonstrate critical approach to information and its treatment
Participate in collaborative work by knowing the issues and respecting the
rules
Create, produce, and edit digital document
Arrange in a single document for different media (text, image or sound)
from a library or on its own composition
Identify and sort information in a document
Send and receive a message or comment
Explore different communication situations in direct mode or deferred
To achieve this work, students at Saint Barbe use the school computer lab,
which includes 8 computers connected to the internet. A regular classroom al-
so has one computer available for students. Most students also have a comput-
er at home, typically purchased by their parents.
In addition to the above skills that are directly related to the foreseen ICT
course, throughout the year students use ICT in various other courses to do re-
search for projects and presentations.
Finally, the texts of lectures or reading assignments are digitally available.
6.3 In the Czech Republic
Computer labs are available and they are used frequently. The pupils work with
educational programs intended for specific subjects. Computers installed in sepa-
rate classrooms are used mainly during the free time of the pupils; the main
learner activity observed by teachers is game-playing and searching the Internet.
When the computers are used during lessons pupils search and use specific infor-
mation. In addition, they use the Internet for completing homework tasks and for
developing “graduation projects”, which is an important part of the ninth grade. In
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the context of these projects they have to develop 5-10 pages on a specific and
exact topic and they have to present their work in front of a committee. Pupils are
able to work with the Microsoft Office processor, sometimes with the Microsoft
Excel processor, but only some of them are able to create a presentation in the
Power Point program. The teachers agree children prefer entertainment as op-
posed to learning activities with computers, i.e. playing games, watching You-
Tube, chatting, using Face book and other programs intended for fun and relaxa-
tion.
In addition, children become familiar with computers in the context of other sub-
jects. Examples include:
In mathematics: using statistical methods, graphs, and maps
In geography: developing maps, charts, web pages, and photos
6.4 In Sweden
Computers are widely used in Sweden in everyday life. Sweden is a world leader
on the number of computers per capita and the frequency of Internet use based on
research conducted by the Next Generation Forum in 2000.
There are various examples of how computers are used today in Swedish schools2.
One way of deploying computers might be that the teacher connects his/her com-
puter in the school's wireless network and enters his "Classroom" on the intranet
looking for new information posted by students since his/her last intranet login. In
a history class teachers may use the web service Cases to solve tasks of king Karl
XII's death by using a computer connected with a projector. In other cases 6 and 7
year old children click on computer buttons, learning to read and write through
special software.
Sweden is now entering what many describe as the second wave of ICT in
schools. The first wave was in the 80’s and 90’s with a focus on equipping
schools with computers. The second wave began with the Itis project in which
170m Euros were dedicated teacher training in ICT. More than 65% of teachers
2 Microsoft chronicle, February 2007, page 28 to 29.
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participated, and the project ended in 2002. After Itis municipalities had the re-
sponsibility for using ICT as a tool in educational practice [8].
The Swedish curriculum provides general guidelines and objectives for each sub-
ject (please refer to Appendix I to get a better feel on the philosophy of the cur-
riculum). As such, the curriculum does not provide specific guidelines on how
ICT should be integrated into courses. This is because ICT is viewed as a tool like
many others. The curriculum allows the teacher freedom on the tools to be used in
educational settings.
Primary schools in Sweden typically have at least one computer in each class-
room. This computer is used when needed in instruction to perform common ac-
tivities such as Internet searches and presentations. In this respect, ICT is used
throughout the primary school curriculum in all subjects where the technology can
provide value-adding educational resources and tools.
6.5 In Norway
ICT skill development is a priority area throughout the educational system. The
importance of ICT in the Norwegian education system is evident through the iden-
tification of ICT as one of the five desirable basic competences in “The Knowl-
edge Promotion” (please refer above to section 4.5 The Status Quo on Explorative
and Collaborative Learning In Norway).
No dedicated ICT course exists in the Norwegian primary education curriculum.
Rather, ICT in the Norwegian education system is viewed as a learning instru-
ment. The use of ICT is integrated into each course. For example, learners may
use ICT to develop presentations that they subsequently present to other class
members, or they may use the Internet to perform searches. As a result of using
ICT in the classroom, children can be expected to be able to use basic software
such as office suites, image processing, and browsing.
6.6 In Europe
ICT in education at the primary level is currently used mainstream in several parts
of Europe.
With regards to technical capabilities, most schools have at least one computer
and are connected to the Internet. However, Internet speeds may vary from ones
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school to the other, while special requirements may limit access to the school
computers, for example the availability of computers in the classroom or separate,
dedicated labs, the need for an additional adult to be present in a computer lab for
overseeing learners when computers are not available in the classroom, and more.
In addition, the computers cannot be expected to be up to date. Most schools will
not change their computers frequently enough due to budget limitations. Screens
may have smaller than the norm resolutions and processors may not be the most
modern.
With regards to curricula, many European countries now introduce ICT classes at
the primary school level. However, it cannot be expected that each primary school
offers computer classes. In some countries, such as Greece, computer classes are
not available widely at the primary level; in Norway dedicated computer classes
do not exist as part of the primary education curriculum.
In ICT education classes classes learners familiarize themselves with using the
most common programs and functions, such as Microsoft Office, Internet
searches, and maybe photo processing. However, learners have limited to no ac-
cess to specialized software developed especially for the needs of primary educa-
tion learners, either for supporting the ICT class lectures or for supporting lectures
in other classes such as science, mathematics, geography, history, environmental
studies, etc.
Based on the above, pupils and schools stand to gain from the introduction of spe-
cialized learning tools and virtual experiments that have been designed for the
specific needs of children at the primary education level. In addition, the proposed
In other words, children stand to develop basic ICT skills as a result of the En-
vKids learning activities that integrate technology. EnvKids tools are tied to
emerging learning methodologies involving exploration and collaboration which
are newly introduced in European schools. The proposed tools are aimed to pro-
mote critical and analytical thinking and to initiate discussions and collaboration
among learners as part of both traditional instruction and wider blended learning
activities.
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7. STATUS QUO ON TEACHER SKILL DEVELOPMENT ON ICT
The EnvKids educational pilot applications are ICT based. In order to develop a
strategy for the integration of the tools in wider school learning activities, this
section provides an overview of the current situation on teacher skill development
on ICT as an educational tool.
7.1 In Greece
Teacher training on the deployment of ICT is achieved through seminars, which
typically span a couple of weeks. In these sessions teachers are trained on basic
computer use including Internet browsing, text authoring, excel sheets, and other
similar skills. Mostly younger teachers can be expected to have a certain degree of
familiarity and ease with computer use while older individuals are likely to have
very limited exposure to ICT. Teachers with a background on math, science, or
engineering are more likely to have a certain level of comfort with ICT.
On the other hand, teachers are not given guidelines on how to use ICT in class as
an educational tool. As a result, many teachers avoid the use of computers beyond
dedicated computer education classes in the context of other subjects, such as en-
vironmental education; instead, they focus on more traditional instructional prac-
tices that involve lectures.
Finally, one drawback can be identified on the fact that teachers may choose to
skip ICT classes in favour of other training programs with wide applicability in
their teaching practices, as for example managing children behaviour in the class-
room. This is a result of the limited time that teachers have available for training,
which forces them to limit their choices of seminars to attend.
7.2 In France
Up until 2009 a University Institute of Teacher Training prepared graduates of
various disciplines to become teachers. However, the Institute was closed this
year. Currently, an individual becomes a teacher upon completion of a Masters
Degree and begins immediately to teach in class without additional, teacher-
specific training. With regards to ICT, a teacher is expected to have developed
individually skills and knowledge on computer use.
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As a result, teachers can be expected to have computer skills developed through
the primary and secondary school system for all individuals. Computer skills are
developed through the B2i (Brevet informatique et Internet), a computer and in-
ternet patent which was introduced in February 2001 the Ministry of National
Education which trains students from the primary to the high school levels on the
use of information technology and communication. The B2i has three levels: a
level “school”, a level “junior high school”, and a level “high school”.
To facilitate B2i implementation, project PrimTICE offers teachers a repertoire of
educational scenarios towards the development of B2i Level 1 (school) skills [15].
At the end of 5th
grade, students receive a "certificate of competence", which
should be not confused with a degree. This certificate validates the level achieved
on the use of multimedia tools and the Internet in real situations of school activi-
ties. The teacher has to evaluate and verify the ability of students to use new tech-
nologies in different contexts and according to their actual needs [16].
Summarizing, no specific programs exist in France on developing teacher ICT
skills beyond the classes available for primary and secondary education students
on basic computer skills.
7.3 In the Czech Republic
Teachers have the option of attending ICT courses on a voluntary basis in the con-
text of wider skill development initiatives that cover broad subjects related to in-
structional methodologies. The courses are provided by dedicated learning centres
and their cost is covered by school financial resources.
For the school of Planany the last of these courses took place in the autumn of
2009, which provides insight on the frequency of related offerings. The course’s
duration was 20 hours. It was attended by 6 teachers of the school and 1 non-
pedagogical member of the staff. The course covered the following topics: Word,
Excel, Word Power Point, Photoshop, and using the Internet.
The ICT courses are not those which are among the most popular or demanded
ones. The reason for this probably lies in the content of the courses offered. The
development of ICT skills is probably perceived by teachers as not so important.
Instead, teachers choose courses with other topics which are from their point of
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view more practical. Examples of popular topics often chosen by teachers include
behavioural difficulties, bullying prevention, etc.
In terms of ICT, it appears that there is just one topic which attracts the teachers:
skill development on using interactive whiteboards, which is demanded mainly by
younger teachers. But even for this course the motivation for attending is still low
as a result of the fact that schools often lack adequate numbers of interactive
boards for covering the needs of the registered learners. Usually one or two boards
exist at each school, which means that teachers cannot use them as often as they
would like to. For example, in many schools teachers can use interactive white-
boards approximately once a week. On the other hand there are teachers who have
a whiteboard all the time in their classrooms and do not use it at all.
In conclusion, teachers tend to choose the courses which topics cover acquiring
skills which are possible to use in everyday teaching. This could be as simple as
focusing on Microsoft Office.
7.4 In Sweden
The activities for training teachers on the use of ICT depend a lot on the individ-
ual teacher’s background and the subject they are teaching in. Available options
include university courses, peer-to-peer learning in teacher teams, self education,
and courses held by the school or other education providers. The choice of train-
ing is up to each individual school.
The most common software used by teachers is the Microsoft-platform with Inter-
net Explorer and Office but Open Office is taking more and more ground because
the software is free.
“It has led to increased inequality" said Stig Roland Rask, project manager for
governmental The Knowledge Foundation3. Some municipalities are investing
heavily and purposefully, while other municipalities have fallen a bit behind.
Teachers and students can see the educational benefits of IT in schools. In the area
of communications the change is fast. Today, three out of four high school stu-
3 KK.stiftelsen (SE). The Knowledge Foundation is the research financier for universities with
the task of strengthening Sweden's competitiveness and ability to create value. www.kks.se
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dents’ uses platforms like MSN and others to solve school tasks in collaboration
with classmates and between student and teacher, school and home, the electronic
communication has advanced. These emanates not from schools but from the
computer literate young people themselves, a bottom-up approach.
As Stig Roland Rask states,
"The main teacher skills in the future are perhaps not a question of
knowing what buttons to press but to gain an understanding of the net
cultures that children encounter and use. See the enormous creativity
that are there - and unleash it in school.”
7.5 In Norway
The Government has initiated a new teacher education program for primary and
lower secondary education. The program has a strong emphasis on subject
knowledge and teaching skills, quality of studies, and research orientation. The
key elements are as follows:
Two equivalent program tailored to the needs and learning requirements of
primary and lower secondary education
Pedagogy and pupil-related skills, which is a new, expanded educational
science subject
Improved quality of practical training
Mentoring for all newly qualified teachers
Increased recruitment that may secure new paths to the teaching profession
Centers of teaching excellence
A national research school program
The focus of teacher training programs for primary and lower secondary education
is:
For teachers teaching grades 1- 7: emphasis is based on beginner-level in-
struction, normally four school subjects, among which Norwegian and
mathematics are compulsory; at least one subject must consist of 60 cred-
its (1-year full-time studies)
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For teachers teaching grades 5-10: normally three school subjects consist-
ing of 60 credits, no compulsory subjects; with the option to specialize in a
specific area, e.g. science subjects, language subjects, or practical-
esthetical subjects
Both paths contain a new compulsory educational science subject named “peda-
gogy and pupil-related skills”. It yields 60 credits and includes subject didactics
and practical training in all subjects.
The structure of teacher training programs facilitates the development of the
teaching profession and aims to fulfill three main functions for the benefit of the
teachers:
To ensure basic knowledge on the subjects included in primary education
curricula
To develop a didactical methodological background
To develop skills for addressing social and behavioral issues
The indirect beneficiaries of this process are of course the learners. The teacher
training programs reflect the challenges of coordinating learning activities in an
inclusive school environment that engages a wide diversity of students.
Regarding ICT skill development, teacher education takes place through the uni-
versity system. University level pedagogics education includes ICT training.
However, teachers need to be retrained throughout their professional careers in
order to keep skills up to date. This additional training takes place at specific
days in the academic year during which schools are closed. In addition, training
can span several days and be connected to school holidays or vacation periods.
The challenge in using ICT in the classroom lies with providing adequate tech-
nical support to teachers at the school. For example, most teachers do not have
the knowledge to maintain an intranet; dedicated engineers are required for this
purpose. The lack of adequate technical support results in less than desired use of
ICT in the classroom.
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7.6 In Europe
It becomes apparent that teacher training programs on the development of ICT
skills are not as widely available in Europe as the adoption of technology dictates.
In worse case scenarios no such programs exist. In the best case scenario short
seminars are available that teachers can attend; in rare cases, such as Sweden, uni-
versity level courses may be available depending on school budget and employee
training policies.
However, even in the best situation the limitation of time available to teachers for
taking lifelong skill and career development classes as well as other factors may
result in teachers skipping ICT training programs in favour classes focusing on
transversal skills, such as managing learner behaviour in class. Due to the lack of
infrastructure and / or technical support for applying ICT skills directly in the
classroom teachers may view the development of other instructional-process
building skills as more relevant and useful.
As a result, teachers cannot be expected to have more than basic computer skills
such as deploying various popular tools for text processing, image or multimedia
processing, administration, or Internet browsing. Learning tools to be developed
in the context of EnvKids or other projects for use in the classroom by teachers
and learners must take into account these limitations and require only minimum
familiarity with computers and Internet services, while their appearance and usage
would ideally follow common conventions and be familiar and similar to that of
popular software packages to facilitate ease of use.
On the other hand, tools for developing basic teacher skills on deploying ICT in
the classroom would benefit instructors across Europe. Based on the current ICT
skill level of teachers such tools should be focused, present information in short
steps that are easy to follow, and use vivid presentation formats that cover a range
of learning styles.
8. LEARNING REQUIREMENTS DEFINITIONS FOR PUPILS
This section provides learning requirements analysis on the proposed EnvKids
pilot educational activities with a focus on the needs of learners. The discussion
takes into account the existing status quo on explorative and collaborative learn-
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ing, on the use of ICT as an educational tool, and on environmental education
aiming to develop educational content that complements existing curricula and
enhances current school activities. The discussion includes the needs and desires
of children and has a long term perspective aiming at the development of skills
that will be beneficial throughout their academic and professional careers.
8.1 Learning Objectives
The educational activities aim to develop environmental awareness among chil-
dren through explorative approaches that use virtual experimentation as a tool
for engaging learners in critical thinking on responsible behaviour and sustain-
able future policies. At the same time, the activities aim to develop a collabora-
tive spirit by allowing children to discuss what works at specific conditions and
locations. Ideally, activities should be rooted to reality in order to make a con-
nection between classroom teaching and environmentally responsible behav-
iour in everyday life.
On the other hand, the learning activities aim to develop children’s digital skills
through the use of on-line available educational applications that the children will
be called to use in the context of wider blended learning activities.
The activities aim to provide versatile learning tools that can be used in the con-
text of existing environmental education curricula providing a new perspec-
tive and enriching current tasks inside and outside of the classroom.
8.2 Content and Focus
The content of the pilot applications ideally should follow and complement re-
quirements of existing school curricula and educational activities. Activities must
be learner centred and promote subjects that widen children’s horizons and
have applicability in real life. The general themes of the pilot educational appli-
cations have been identified in the project proposal and they are:
Pollution: Environmentally friendly activities in our everyday life; in
other words, what each individual can do at home to help reduce pollution
and save energy from residential activities. Activities may focus, for ex-
ample, on awareness building on the benefits of using of energy efficient
light bulbs and energy efficient devices, recycling, switching off idle elec-
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tric devices, using insulation to help reduce heating needs in the winter and
cooling needs in the summer, using solar energy to cover part of a house’s
energy needs, and more
Energy: Learning activity focus could include the benefits of renewable
energy resources at the town / city level towards more environmentally
friendly solutions including solar, wind, hydroelectric and the positive ef-
fects to our quality of life through pollution reduction as compared to more
traditional energy production methods such as coal and gas-based solu-
tions. Additional policies such as effective urban traffic systems that can
motivate inhabitants to leave their cars at home thus further reducing pol-
lution could also be explored
Natural Resources: The activity may focus on the importance of sustain-
ably managing natural resources such as forests and water and the effects
on climate, biodiversity, ecosystem balance, and more. The activity could
involve both historical data and future projections based on specific envi-
ronmental targets
The planned educational applications will thus cover the above themes in accor-
dance with the project proposal. It should be noted that through the analysis of the
current status quo on environmental education in participating countries it has
become apparent that the themes selected are well positioned and to the point as
all schools are currently engaged through required or complementary activities
with the above topics. For example, the wide majority of schools educate children
on recycling, the preservation of the natural environment, studying of endangered
species, studying of endemic or common local plants and animals, the importance
of preserving forests, the importance of behaving responsibly in nature and avoid-
ing littering, studying of the climate and why its preservation is important for us
and for future generations, site visits to water habitats and adjacent forests, envi-
ronmental history and literature, and a lot more.
The proposed EnvKids learning activities deploy a blended learning delivery
model which includes virtual experimentation, in-class discussions, and site visits
and can be very naturally integrated to the above, already existing actions. In fact,
the proposed virtual experiments will be a very nice addition to existing activi-
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ties as they will help children reinforce concepts that are already taught through
class instruction. As planned, the EnvKids virtual learning tools are complemen-
tary to existing activities and will enrich the current school curricula.
Additional considerations include:
The applications should have a focus on impact and promote the under-
standing of key concepts hiding underlying computational complexity that
is inappropriate for the targeted age group
They should have quick results and provide feedback to ensure that
children stay engaged
They should reward sane environmental choices in a manner that shows
progress towards environmentally friendly solutions and indicate when a
choice is not in the right direction with respect to sustainable practices
They should allow experimentation by providing an adequate pool of
choices that the children can make towards sustainable (or not) behaviour
They should be coherent with teacher instructional practices
They should offer a certain degree of localization to ensure that the pro-
posed environmentally-friendly solutions and policies make sense in a
particular country, landscape such as seaside or mountainous, and cli-
mate
They should connect knowledge to other subjects when appropriate, for
example geography, mathematics, computer education, foreign language
learning, etc to ensure complementarities with existing curricula
8.3 Technical Infrastructure Requirements
Technical infrastructure at the schools can vary significantly. As can be observed
from the above status quo analysis most schools possess computer labs. However,
the computers are not frequently renewed and it cannot be expected that the
schools have at their disposal the most up to date equipment with respect to proc-
essor speed, graphic card strength, and screen resolution.
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A lot of schools have at their disposal digital whiteboards. The whiteboards can
greatly help the instructional process as the pilot applications can be displayed on
large screens on the wall for all the pupils to see. This method can help class col-
laboration and class discussion as it enforces all students to look at the same
screen, on the wall, and not be distracted by other applications on their computer.
On the other hand, network infrastructures can also vary. All schools have net-
work connections but the speeds cannot be expected to be compatible or similar.
Some schools have difficulties with networking connections in the sense that they
are limited, they may only be available in a separate room other than the class-
rooms. In the latter case the number of computers in the network-equipped room
may be limited, which means that learners must take turns to work on-line. In ad-
dition, the fact that only a percentage of the learners in the class can work in the
computer, network-equipped room means that a additional adult, other than the
teacher, must be available to oversee the learners in the computer room while the
teacher is in the classroom or vice versa.
Based on the above, the following technical considerations must be taken into
account:
The pilot learning applications and virtual experiments must be light-
weight and be easily downloadable through slow networks. If the applica-
tions become heavy due to functionality and graphics, off-line download-
able versions must also be made available
Minimum required screen resolution must be such that the applications
are deployable in older equipment
The applications must be portable and executable on all common oper-
ating systems, as opposed to only a single platform
8.4 Required Digital Skills
Learners today are “digitally literate”. This means that even at the primary school
level a lot of children are able to use the basic functionality of common software
such as Office Word and PowerPoint, to use at a minimum level photo processing
programs, to search the Internet, and to use popular social programs such as Face-
book. In addition, a lot of children have become familiar with computers through
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video games with sophisticated functionality and graphics. A lot of these skills are
developed in the classroom. However, children familiarize themselves with com-
puters also at home through equipment and software purchased by their parents.
This observation should be kept in mind as it point to potential weaknesses in the
current system through which disadvantaged children may have less access to
equipment, network connections, and software.
Taking the above into account:
The pilot applications should require minimum digital skills on behalf of
learners. This choice is important to ensure that learning activities are in-
clusive and that all children can execute them in a collaborative manner in
the classroom
The functionality of the applications should take into account what chil-
dren have already been exposed to in terms of computer software, aes-
thetic design, and usability. This could influence, for example, user inter-
faces towards applications that deploy familiar presentation conventions
8.5 Language Issues
The children participating in the evaluation sessions are expected to be of age 9-
11. In this age group, children have a basic knowledge of English and they can
communicate of simple, basic issues. However, extensive knowledge of the lan-
guage cannot be expected. In addition, the pilots may have to include scientific
terms related to the environment, carbon emissions, house construction, and en-
ergy production that the children cannot be expected to know.
For the above reasons, the pilot applications must have minimal language re-
quirements. This can be achieved through mostly graphical interfaces and very
limited text. This is achievable through appropriate application design that con-
veys concepts in a visual manner.
The limited text that will be used in the applications will be simple in wording and
adapted to the knowledge of the English language that can be expected from the
children. While not foreseen in the proposal, the consortium plans to translate the
text to the national languages of countries represented in the consortium through
school partners.
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On the other hand, the foreseen learning activities involve a certain degree of co-
operation between school children from participating schools. This collaboration
will be materialized through the sharing of results that will be published on com-
monly owned applications for natural resources management and through video-
conferences and video presentations of the schools. For these activities, the con-
sortium will rely on the existing language capabilities of the children, which are
considered adequate for basic presentations and face to face videoconference-
based communication. In addition, visual formats, such as images, will be pre-
ferred over text for presentation purposes.
8.6 The Social Nature of Learning
Learning is a social experience. Under collaborative learning methodologies par-
ticipants learn not only from the teacher but also from each other. As discussed
earlier in this report, participating schools already use collaborative learning in the
classroom. This can be in the form of class discussions or in the form of working
in small groups through which children help each other. By regrouping children
on a regular basis the socialization of children is further encouraged and their abil-
ity to work with others is further promoted.
EnvKids considers the social aspect of education particularly important on
developing transversal skills of children on relations and collaboration that will be
useful throughout their lives. As such, collaboration is encouraged both in the
classroom as well as with children in other countries. The so far experience of the
consortium is that children are particularly enthusiastic on the prospect of collabo-
rating with schools in a cross-border network. The collaboration of children can
be achieved in various ways:
Through the development of joint projects that will be collectively
owned by learners in participating schools. This can be achieved by giving
children a common objective, for example natural resources management,
and publishing results in a commonly owned platform, for example a
Google Earth kmz file
Through remote collaboration based on videoconferences to which
children will be gradually exposed. For example, early contact can focus
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only on the introduction of children without the requirement to present any
school work aiming to familiarize them with the medium and remove
stress. In later contacts, the children could present results of their projects
Through video-based, image-based ,and other presentations of findings
and projects results that will be published on the project portal
Figure 4. Video Presentation of the Czech School in which Children are Sing-
ing.
EnvKids engages directly 6 schools in 4 countries, namely Greece, France, the
Czech Republic, and Sweden which will collaborate in the context of the foreseen
environmental education activities.
8.7 Interface Considerations
The arguments regarding interface considerations are a continuation of the discus-
sion on children’s digital skills. That is, children have already been exposed to
various software for educational or entertainment purposes; as a result they have
certain expectations in terms of the quality, look, and game-play of an on-line
application. The interface of an application must:
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Be attractive to children in order to motivate longer-term engagement
Be age appropriate, present concepts in a manner that engages the se-
lected age group of primary school children
Take into account what the children have already been exposed to. A
good example is the foreseen pilot application on city-wide policies for re-
newable energy. Children have already been exposed to popular games
such as Sims City and their expectations in terms of application interfaces
are already pretty high. While the pilots to be developed in the context of
EnvKids do not intend to compete with such software and have a com-
pletely different purpose, i.e. to raise awareness on environmental issues
and to initiate discussion and critical thinking, a certain level of quality of
the interface must be established
Have a coherent aesthetic throughout the application. The selection of the
look can vary significantly and research can be done in this respect before
committing to a specific look. For example, the aesthetic can be more ar-
tistic imitating a child’s drawing or can follow a computer generated
graphical look. Examples of each of these choices appear below in Figure
5and Figure 6.
Figure 5. Computer-generated Interface Examples on Landscape and House
Design.
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Figure 6. Sketches on Landscape and House Design developed by an Artist.
Both selections have advantages, the former one on being closer to familiar soft-
ware selections and the latter being closer to what children can draw by them-
selves. The final choices will be made at application design time and will be
documents in D3.1 The EnvKids Explorative and Collaborative Methodologies
Report.
8.8 Other Age-specific Considerations
Age specific considerations have been discussed throughout this section on issues
related to language, interface-design, content, and digital skills. Some final
thoughts on age-specific issues include:
On-line collaboration should be safe. To ensure that, the EnvKids con-
sortium will develop a school network that is comprised only by partici-
pating schools and through which only children in participating classes
will be able to post information. This limitation is important to create a
barrier on uncontrolled, external Internet access
Applications should not be complex. The foreseen learning activities re-
quire scientific calculations on the impact of specific policies and choices
on energy consumption and pollution. For example, insulating a house has
impact on the energy lost for warming or cooling a house. These computa-
tions could be potentially complicated. In real-life they could resemble the
analysis of an engineer that develop heating and cooling systems while de-
signing a house-plan. However, the learning objective of the pilots is to
raise awareness and focus on impact of policies and solutions. The display
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of complicated calculations could subtract from the friendliness of an on-
line application without presenting benefits for the selected age group. As
such, the interfaces should focus on impact and concepts and hide underly-
ing complexity
7.8 Parent Consent
Parent consent is important for the engagement of children of the selected age
group into any educational activity, especially ones that are not required by formal
curricula but instead are complementary to them. The EnvKids consortium aims
to get parent consent for participating children following national practices in par-
ticipating countries and schools, whether these dictate for written or other consent.
Consent will be related both to the participation of children in the activities and to
the publication of material on the EnvKids web site that could potentially include
pictures of the children, as for example class presentation videos and good prac-
tice recommendations based on EnvKids in-class validation.
9. LEARNING REQUIREMENTS DEFINITIONS FOR TEACHERS
Teachers are the second of the identified stakeholder groups who is directly tar-
geted through the EnvKids learning activities and didactical methodologies. En-
vKids has a number of outcomes that will benefit teachers:
The pilot educational applications, which while designed for learners
will help instructors improve their teaching practices and in some cases
their own environmental education knowledge
Good practice recommendations on the integration of the proposed
methodologies into teaching practices
Services for information sharing and know-how exchange with peers
aiming at collective knowledge development
All of the above activities have the same central objective: the professional and
personal development of teachers. Based on this high level goal, learning re-
quirements for teachers, analyzed in the following pages, take into account life-
long qualifications management and career advancement considerations as well as
improvement of current teaching conditions in the classrooms.
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9.1 Upgrading of Digital Skills and Integrating ICT in Education
Upgrading of digital skills for teachers is one of the key objectives of the Comen-
ius programme. This is understandable as the fast pace of technology development
introduces innovations to which the teachers have difficulties to adapt. This is the
case with a wide number of teachers in all European schools and is a result of a
number of conditions and shortcomings that are common in the primary education
sector:
Many teachers have literature or pedagogics university level degrees with
little focus on technology
Older teachers had no technology training as part of their university
education as such subjects were typically not included in their curricula as
recent as a decade ago
Older teachers face the digital divide similarly to many adults, meaning
that they have difficulty using technology as a whole, including mobile
services, Internet-based services, emerging digital devices, emerging oper-
ating systems, and others. It is characteristic that a lot of older individuals
never use common services such as email
Teachers, as a lot of individuals with digital difficulties, are discouraged
by software design flaws. For example, they are discouraged by small
fonts that they cannot see due to limited vision
Teachers may be less digitally literate than their pupils, as children to-
day are familiar with on-line services and electronic games and gadgets
While teachers have attended seminars on digital skill development sig-
nificantly more training is required for them to effectively use the tech-
nology in the classroom
Most teachers declare that they need specific information on how to
choose and use appropriate ICT products and services
As a conclusion, it is characteristic that in most schools there one or two
individuals only are familiar enough with ICT, and they are the ones that
execute related tasks on behalf of all teachers
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Based on the above, teachers need recommendations on what technology to use
in the classroom and on how to integrate it into educational settings. Thus,
good practice guidelines as the ones planned in the EnvKids project are a step
towards the right direction on teacher digital skill upgrading.
One of the issues past efforts to develop guidelines, in the infrequent situations
that they were provided, is that they were not clear or concise enough to allow
teachers to easily transfer to the classroom. To overcome past limitations, it is
desirable that a number of requirements are met when developing such guidelines:
They should be simple, concise, and easy to understand
They should be directly applicable in the classroom
They should target, at least as a first step, easy to use technology that
most teachers will be able to use after a short period of training
They should be vivid and succeed in making their objectives come
across
A step-wise, activities-based delivery approach would be probably eas-
ier to follow for a wide number of teachers
To meet the above needs, EnvKids aims to develop good practice recommenda-
tions in the form of educational videos that demonstrate how on-line services, and
specifically the EnvKids learning pilot applications, can be used in educational
settings.
The advantage of using videos is that concepts and methodologies can be di-
rectly seen in practice, as opposed to being described in a text. The videos will
be short, not more than 2 minutes each. Each video will focus on a small and very
specific step. The content may include both what works with children as well as
what should be avoided. The videos will be published on-line for easy access by
teachers.
9.2 Upgrading of Instructional Methodologies
Teachers already deploy well developed and mature instructional methodologies
that they are familiar and comfortable with. These methodologies have been tested
over years and decades and form the backbone of primary education. On the other
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hand, schools have been gradually implementing a number of emerging method-
ologies, including explorative and collaborative learning which takes the form of
projects that span several classes, class discussions, Internet searches, and group
work.
These activities are not necessarily implemented in all European schools. While
certain schools may have as an objective to integrate innovative didactical frame-
works, others rely mostly on familiar lecture-based instruction.
Based on the above, primary education teachers could benefit from guidelines and
good practices on how to integrate emerging didactical frameworks into their
teaching practices. Methodologies that could be targeted include games-based
education, virtual and practical experimentation, open-ended projects, and blended
learning delivery approaches that use in-class instruction, ICT services, and site
visits, and other frameworks. Such initiatives do not mean that existing practices
will be abandoned; rather, they will be enriched and enhanced for the benefit of
both learners and teachers.
Explorative and collaborative learning methodologies that integrate virtual ex-
perimentation will be presented in detail in D3.1 Explorative and Collaborative
Learning Methodologies Report [3].
9.3 Improved Job Satisfaction and Career Path Planning
Job satisfaction is desirable for all professionals, including teachers. It is a com-
plex objective involving a number of parameters such as satisfactory pay, avail-
ability of educational resources, availability of technical resources, lifelong
skill and competence development, personal and professional growth. The
issue of teacher job satisfaction is important not only for the teachers themselves
but also for the pupils and the entire school system as it has been found in re-
search that it affects directly their effectiveness in the classroom [4] and indirectly
can have an impact on the growth of the educational system around the world. Job
satisfaction and motivation to perform is according to well accepted theories
needs-based and covers fundamental areas psychological, security, affiliation,
esteem, and self-actualization areas [5].
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Other studies show that teacher satisfaction can be influenced from intrinsic fac-
tors such as classroom activities, daily interactions with students, and student per-
formance [6] as a result of classroom instruction.
In addition to job satisfaction, satisfaction of teaching as a career is important
and can have an effect on teacher retention and teaching quality. Career satisfac-
tion among teachers is not only positive for each individual but ensures that teach-
ers will stay in their job for the long term thus increasing public benefits and re-
turn on investment from their training and lifelong skill development.
Human resource managers know that one of the most important factors that moti-
vate individuals to stay at a specific job is building an attractive resume. This ob-
servation is also valid for teachers. That is, the richness of their experience in the
classroom can be a contributing factor towards retaining teachers at their jobs for
longer periods of time. In fact, the most satisfied teachers are the ones that stay
with their job throughout their professional careers. Towards this end, introducing
engaging instructional methodologies that helps widen the scope of teaching can
have a positive effect on teacher job satisfaction with ultimate benefits for pupils.
While teacher satisfaction is a wide subject that goes beyond the scope of the En-
vKids project, certain actions contribute towards meeting the personal needs and
desires that lead to job satisfaction. Specifically, by training teachers so that they
can improve their instructional practices both at the methodological level and
through the integration of ICT into educational settings, EnvKids contributes to-
wards lifelong skill development strategies. In addition, the project provides
methodologies for improved communication and relationships between teach-
ers and pupils through collaboration, through enhanced learner engagement
and motivation, and improved learner performance and knowledge develop-
ment through didactical frameworks that take current practices a step further
through virtual experimentation. In addition, by validation the deployment of
emerging teaching methodologies in actual classroom settings, EnvKids contrib-
utes to teacher self-actualization and enrichment of classroom experience, both of
which are factors that as discussed above influence job satisfaction and longer
term career commitment.
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9.4 Collaboration with Peers and Know-how Exchange
One of the important factors for lifelong skill development among professionals is
networking and exchanging know-how with peers. Professionals in skill develop-
ment programs do not only learn from their instructor but from the other class
participants as each has already significant career experience and can provide di-
rect input from the field on specific learning situations. Peer collaboration can also
contribute towards developing collectively accepted good professional practices.
Towards this end, EnvKids aims to develop on-line collaboration services that
will allow teachers to exchange know-how and experiences for the collective
benefit of the group. Any services targeting teachers must take into account their
current skills, their professional needs in terms of long-term skill development,
their personal desires on job satisfaction and career building, and fulfilling a sense
of affiliation.
More analytically, the following is desired functionality for a teacher on-line
collaboration and information sharing environment:
To allow teachers to upload and host on the web their own educational
content
To allow teachers to view content from peers that participate in the En-
vKids educational network
To support multimedia content, including video, audio, images, and text
To allow teachers to post comments on their own educational experiences
To allow teachers to develop an on-line discussions with peers on spe-
cific topics
To offer access to complementary reference material that could be use-
ful in education
To offer effective content organization aiming at the easy discovery and
presentation of subjects of interest
To allow teachers to provide feedback and suggestions on the learning
tools and methodologies under development
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In terms of usability, the proposed on-line services targeting teachers should have
the following characteristics:
They should be friendly, easy to use and take into account the expected
digital skills of teachers. Based on the earlier discussion on documented
teacher competencies in ICT, services should be designed for novice users
and should allow teachers to review and post content through a short
number of “clicks” and simple interfaces
Services should have an appearance that is familiar to teachers based
on other similar on-line solutions that they have been exposed to
Services should be centrally located in a dedicated section of the En-
vKids portal enabling teachers to find them easily
A range of tools can be developed to meet the collaboration needs of teachers.
Following is a short description of planned activities targeting the teaching
community:
An organized digital library of good practice videos that allow
teaches to navigate through themes including:
o Tips for using the EnvKids virtual experiments, including func-
tionality demonstrations as well as conversation and class col-
laboration initiating questions
o Integrating technology into learning for the purpose of sup-
porting exploration and collaboration, for example using Inter-
net technology as a research tool while the teacher coordinates
group activities
o Descriptions of the advantages of virtual experimentation as
an explorative learning tool in the classroom
o Videos describing environmental concepts that are the focus
of the EnvKids learning activities and tools, such as biodiver-
sity, ecosystems, endangered species, and more
o Input on good practices from the field; specifically, experts
from videotaped validation sessions that show teacher initia-
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tives that worked well and can be transferred to other
classrooms
Figure 7. Example of a Good Practice Video Gallery.
A forum that allows teachers to exchange ideas and opinions on sub-
jects of interest such as environmental education, explorative learning,
digital skills development and others. This service can be implemented
through available open source tools that have wide acceptance, such as
the Agora forum that works with the Joomla platform
A tool for logging enhancement requests and bugs towards the im-
provement of the EnvKids learning tools throughout the project im-
plementation period
Services for uploading, exchanging, and hosting content for the pur-
poses of the EnvKids activities. This tool is particularly important as
teachers will collaborate for the most part from a distance throughout
the implementation period. Easy to use directions in the form of a short
manual for these tools would also be useful
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A wiki for the posting in an informal and easy to use way texts,
opinions, and articles that could benefit other teachers in the project
and beyond. Such a tool would put Web 2.0 tools to the service of
teachers aiming at the fostering of a community spirit for know-how
development
Figure 8. Example of a Proposed Wiki for Information Sharing among
Teachers and Collective Know-how Development.
Figure 9. Example of a Proposed Learning Tool Enhancement Request Ser-
vice.
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In addition to the above, teachers of course have at their disposal popular services
for distance collaboration, such as:
Skype, through which teachers can chat or talk to each other live over the
Internet [7]
PC-based video conferencing tools which work similarly to Skype but
have the advantage of supporting multi-point conferences thus allowing 3
or more teachers to communicate at a time. These tools bring the cost of
required equipment down significantly making video conferencing acces-
sible to schools with limited budgets
Services in the context of the above discussion are planned as part of Work Pack-
age 4 (please refer to the EnvKids Project Proposal [1] for details).
10. CONCLUSIONS
This report presented the EnvKids stakeholder primary education community and
discussed needs and desires for each identified subgroup in terms of enhancing
explorative and collaborative learning through the deployment of technological
advancements such as virtual experimentation. The report presented on a high
level the EnvKids implementation objectives and foreseen outcomes through
which it aims to contribute towards meeting learning requirements on environ-
mental sustainability training and to enhance existing curricula through comple-
mentary learning tools that are deployable at a European level. In order to ensure
that the EnvKids didactical methodologies and supporting on-line learning tools
meet the needs of direct stakeholders, namely learners and teachers, the report
discussed in detail the long-term skill development needs of each.
The user requirement analysis demonstrated that environmental education is cur-
rently represented in primary school curricula of all participating countries. Learn-
ing activities in most cases take the form of student projects and presentations on
issues of local or national interest, such as neighbouring natural resources, endan-
gered species, and species of interest. Site visits complement class activities. Ex-
plorative and collaborative learning is evident in group projects and class discus-
sions. Finally, ICT is present in education both in the form of a dedicated course
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that focuses on basic computer skill development and as a tool for completing
projects in other courses typically through Internet searches. On the other hand,
the use of ICT may be limited by technical shortcomings, such as limited access
to the Internet or the need to move students to a dedicated computer lab. Virtual
experiments such as the ones suggested by EnvKids are not currently used in edu-
cation as a result of the lack of related educational material.
Based on the above we can conclude that the proposed EnvKids explorative
methodologies that take advantage of ICT for the development of age appropriate
virtual demonstrators and experiments will be a value-adding complement to ex-
isting off-line practices on environmental subjects. In addition, the proposed En-
vKids explorative and collaborative didactical framework and learning tools will
be easy to integrate into the existing environmental education activities as they
build upon existing explorative learning practices taking them a step further
through ICT. Good practice recommendations will further help teachers integrate
the proposed methodologies, tools, and technology into their already well devel-
oped teaching practices.
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APPENDIX 1 THE SWEDISH NATIONAL AGENCY FOR EDUCATION,
SYLLABUSES (2008)
HOME AND CONSUMER STUDIES
Aim of the subject and its role in education
The subject of Home and consumer studies provides knowledge about life in the
home and family, as well as an understanding of the value of this knowledge for
individuals, society and nature. The subject provides experiences of social com-
munity, food and meals, housing and consumer economics, as well as opportuni-
ties to experience connections and pleasure in domestic work. The aim is to pro-
vide experiences and an understanding of the consequences of daily activities and
habits in terms of economics, the environment, health and well-being.
SCIENCE STUDIES, BIOLOGY, PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY
Common syllabus text
The common syllabus text, designed from a natural science perspective, makes up
together with the syllabuses for the different subjects a meaningful whole, whose
parts support and complements each other. The different parts together form the
national task for education in science studies. The area of science studies is linked
to knowledge in the other subjects of the school.
Aim of the subjects and their role in education
The natural sciences have developed as a result of Man's need to find answers to
those issues concerning his existence, life and forms of life, our role in nature and
the universe. The natural sciences are thus a central part of the Western cultural
tradition. The natural sciences can both stimulate Man's fascination and curiosity
in nature and make it understandable. Natural science studies satisfy the desire to
explore nature and provide scope for the joy of discovery. The aim of science
studies is to make the results and working methods of science accessible. The
education contributes to society's efforts to create sustainable development and
develop concern for nature and Man. At the same time the education aims at an
approach to the development of knowledge and views which resonate with the
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common ideals of the natural sciences and democracy on openness, respect for
systematic investigation and well-founded arguments.
BIOLOGY
Aim of the subject and its role in education
The subject of Biology aims at describing and explaining nature and living organ-
isms from a scientific perspective. At the same time the education should consoli-
date the fascination and joy of discovery and Man's wonder and curiosity in all
that is living. The subject also aims at making knowledge and experiences usable
to promote concern and respect for nature and one's fellow men.
Goals to aim for
The school in its teaching of biology should aim to ensure that pupils concerning
nature and Man
Develop their knowledge of different forms and conditions of life
Develop their knowledge of the interaction between organisms and
their environment
Develop their knowledge of the structure of the human body and its
functions
Develop their knowledge of the effect of puberty on the individual
Develop their knowledge of the conditions and development of life and
are able to see themselves and other forms of life from an evolutionary
perspective, concerning scientific activity
Develop their knowledge of the importance of biology for Man's way
of representing, using and experiencing nature
Develop a knowledge of different working methods in biology, such as
field observations and laboratory work, as well as a knowledge of how
these interact with theoretical models, concerning use of knowledge
Develop their concern and responsibility when using nature
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Develop the ability to discuss questions concerning health and inter-
personal relationships on the basis of relevant biological knowledge
and personal experiences.
Structure and nature of the subject
Four central dimensions characterize the approach of the subject of biology: eco-
system, biological diversity, cells and the human being. In all these four dimen-
sions, knowledge of biology is useful in connection with existential issues, which
concern both the individual and society as a whole.
Ecosystems
The subject of Biology introduces the concept of ecology and provides a view of
the interaction between organisms and their surroundings. The subject covers,
amongst other things, a knowledge of subsystems involving producers, consum-
ers, recycling and raw materials, as well as a knowledge of dynamic processes in
the ecosystem, such as the flow of energy through the system and the recycling of
substances. Studies of individual organisms, populations and their societies pro-
vide the foundation for this. The subject also covers the aesthetic and ethical as-
pects of experiences arising from contact with nature. Questions on the preserva-
tion of natural species are dealt with by the tools of science as well as the inspira-
tion and ideas originating from other human activities, such as outdoor life, art
and literature.
Biological diversity
The subject presents the way in which the biological sciences organize and sys-
tematize the diversity of nature. Fundamental starting points are theories about the
ecosystem and evolution, as well as knowledge of different species and knowl-
edge of the living conditions and relations between plants and animals. Everyday
experience of diversity in nature is often ethical or aesthetic and expressed, for
example, in different forms of environmental involvement. One of the most im-
portant contributions biology can make to studying Man's relationship with nature
is thus to show the diversity of forms of life from scientific, aesthetic and ethical
perspectives.
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PHYSICS
Aim of the subject and its role in education
The subject of Physics aims at describing and explaining nature from
a scientific perspective. At the same time, the education should consolidate
the fascination and joy of discovery and Man's wonder and
curiosity, not only concerning everyday phenomena, but also microcosms
and macrocosms. The subject also aims at providing an understanding
of Man's relation to nature, especially as regards energy supply
and radiation.
Goals to aim for
The school in its teaching of physics should aim to ensure that pupils concerning
nature and Man
Develop their knowledge of fundamental concepts in physics in the ar-
eas of mechanics, electricity and magnetism, optics, acoustics, heat, as
well as atomic and nuclear physics
Develop their knowledge of energy and energy forms, their transfor-
mation and properties, as well as society's supply of energy
Develop their knowledge of different kinds of radiation and its interac-
tion with matter and living organisms
Develop their knowledge of the world view of physics on the basis of
astronomy and cosmology,
Concerning scientific activity
Develop their knowledge of the methods by which knowledge is built
up in physics, especially as regards the formulation of hypotheses, as
well as measurements, observations and experiments
Develop a knowledge of the interaction between investigations and ex-
periments on the one hand, and the development of concepts, models
and theories on the other
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Concerning use of knowledge
Develop their ability to make quantitative, qualitative and ethical as-
sessments of the consequences of human activities and different tech-
nical constructions from environmental, energy and resource view-
points
Develop the ability to use a knowledge of physics, as well as ethical
and aesthetic arguments in discussions on the consequences of the ap-
plication of physics in society.
CHEMISTRY
Aim of the subject and its role in education
The subject of Chemistry aims at describing and explaining the surrounding world
from the perspective of chemistry. At the same time, the education should con-
solidate the fascination and joy of discovery and Man's wonder and curiosity not
only in everyday phenomena, but also in how nature is built up. The subject, in
addition, aims at explaining and dealing with issues of health, the environment
and the earth's resources.
Goals to aim for
The school in its teaching of chemistry should aim to ensure that Pupils
Concerning nature and Man
Develop their knowledge of elements, chemical compounds and
chemico-technical products of importance in daily life
Develop their knowledge of transformation in chemical reactions
Develop their knowledge of the structure of atoms and chemical bond-
ing as explanatory models for chemical processes
Obtain an insight into thinking and knowledge concerning chemistry
from earlier times
Develop an understanding of the indestructibility of matter, transfor-
mation, recycling and dispersion,
Concerning scientific activity
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Develop their knowledge of how experiments in chemistry are based
on concepts and models, and how these can be developed through ex-
periments
Develop their knowledge of how chemistry has influenced our material
living conditions and our cultural world view,
Concerning use of knowledge
Develop their knowledge of how theories and models in chemistry, as
well as personal experiences can be used to handle environmental,
safety and health issues
Develop their ability to use a knowledge of chemistry, as well as ethi-
cal and aesthetic arguments in discussions on the consequences of the
application of chemistry in society.
SOCIAL STUDIES, GEOGRAPHY, HISTORY, RELIGION AND CIVICS
Common syllabus text
The common syllabus text, designed from a social study perspective, makes up
with the syllabuses for the different subjects a meaningful whole, whose parts
should support and complement each other. The different parts together form the
national tasks for education in social studies. The common text deals with the per-
spectives of the different subjects in terms of their common content, the distin-
guishing features of the process when working with issues from a social study
perspective, in order to create a foundation for the future, which is the intended
outcome of the education. The text for each individual social study subject is an
elaboration of the common text for studies with a social orientation based on as-
pects of the individual subject and its specific contents. Different knowledge areas
in social studies are linked to knowledge and activities in other school subjects.
Aim of the subjects and their role in education
Knowledge in the area of social studies provides pupils with the opportunity of
seeing their surroundings in relation to themselves, and understanding themselves
in relation to their surroundings, i.e. how individuals form and are formed by their
world. This knowledge provides a foundation for participating, taking responsibil-
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ity and acting as citizens in a democratic society and also contributes to the sus-
tainable development of society.
The main task of social studies is to develop pupils' knowledge about Man and his
activities, as well as about changes in the landscape and society in different places
and during different periods. The aim is to stimulate reflection over human think-
ing and actions, and over phenomena in society, to strengthen preparedness to
review the life situation of one's own and others, to increase security in one's own
identity, as well as provide knowledge of how our society is based on ethnic and
cultural diversity.
Goals to aim for in social studies
The school in its teaching of social studies should aim to ensure that pupils
Investigate and understand societal relationships and contexts in the
present and the past, as well as reflect over what this may mean for the
future
Understand central concepts, which make it possible to independently
search for, develop and use a knowledge of societal issues
Develop their ability to use different sources of information and de-
velop a critical attitude to these
Develop their belief in their own ability to have an influence and a will
to assert democratic values, as well as become familiar with their
rights and obligations as citizens in a democratic society
Participate actively in the life of society and its development, as well
as take responsibility for the living environment
Acquire an insight into not only how natural and material conditions,
but also central ideas and views of life form and have formed society
Develop an understanding of fundamental existential and ethical out-
looks and are able to use their understanding to formulate their own
views
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Develop their knowledge of and ability to put themselves into different
ways of living and understand the reasons for variations in time and
space, as well as what is common to different cultures
Develop respect for the views of other persons but observe and dis-
tance themselves from activities which involve oppression and viola-
tion of others
Make it a habit in their actions to take account of the equal value and
rights of everyone, independently of gender, class and ethnic affiliation
Develop the ability to see the consequences of their own and others'
views and actions
Develop an understanding of ecological contexts and different ways of
allocating and using resources
Develop an understanding of how activities and cultures are reflected
in and influenced by art, literature and music.
GEOGRAPHY
Aim of the subject and its role in education
The subject of Geography aims at developing a knowledge, understanding and
preparedness on issues concerning Man and his surroundings. The subject
strengthens pupils' perceptions of space and creates a frame of reference for
knowledge of different places and areas and their location. The aim is to develop
the ability to see the connection, context and an integral whole in terms of sur-
vival, use of resources and environmental influence, as well as the ability to un-
derstand opportunities and assess the consequences of different action alterna-
tives.
The subject also aims at developing knowledge of not only the natural conditions
of different regions, their social and economic characteristics, but also different
living conditions of people and their mutual interdependence locally, regionally
and globally. The subject contributes to a better understanding of and respect for
different cultures, values and ways of living. Questions concerning the distribu-
tion and use of resources, as well as other questions concerning Man and the envi-
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ronment, cover a wide range of ethical factors and views. The subject provides
tools for analyzing the interaction between people and nature and should lead to
the taking of responsibility for the shared environment and the use of resources in
order to facilitate long-term sustainable development.
Goals to aim for
The school in its teaching of geography should aim to ensure that pupils
Increase their understanding of Man's living conditions by expanding
their knowledge of nature and society, and the inter-relationships be-
tween these in different parts of the world
Develop a knowledge of natural processes, which in both the short and
long term form and change the natural landscape, and understand how
Man influences these processes and evaluate their consequences
Develop their knowledge how the landscape has changed during dif-
ferent political and economic conditions, and their insights into how
the landscape functions as a resource
Develop their ability to reflect over and consciously take a position on
different alternatives based on ecological thinking concerning the use
of resources
Expand their knowledge of Man's different economic, technical, politi-
cal, social and cultural activities, and how these link together places
and regions, as well as be able to reflect over the consequences of such
relationships
Develop their ability to formulate and work with problems concerning
local, global and environmental survival issues
Develop their ability to draw conclusions and make generalizations, as
well as explain and give the reasons for their thinking and conclusions.
Structure and nature of the subject
In the school the subject of Geography covers three aspects of the relationship
between Man and his environment. The descriptive aspects of the subject mean
that pupils progressively learn to know their world and become familiar with simi-
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larities and differences concerning living conditions and the environment in dif-
ferent areas. The analytical aspect involves explaining and understanding condi-
tions and changes. Focusing on consequences means that pupils can use these two
aspects as a foundation to better understand and assess the possible consequences
of Man's influence on nature and spatial relationships. Connected to this is the
ability to assess the consequences of different action alternatives on people and
the environment in order to make well-grounded decisions in a democratic soci-
ety. A central concept is the landscape in its widest sense in terms of both nature
and the cultural landscape. Other terms are place, location and dispersion. The
interaction between Man and his environment is studied in different landscapes.
This is gradually developed and supplemented in terms of knowledge of not only
one's own country, but also the world as a whole, and also by the differences and
similarities between different parts. This is a necessary basis for understanding the
different living conditions of people and how different cultures have evolved. The
globe is a model of the world within which all types of landscapes have their
place. Maps are necessary aids in the subject.
A knowledge of different regions and areas provides a basis for studying main
features and structures, such as the identification of climatic and vegetation zones,
agricultural districts and industrial regions. Concepts such as distance, space, lo-
calisation and flows are central to the theoretical and analytical methods of the
subject. They are necessary aids for insights which are not just related to a unique
place and time, but also generally useful for the future in new situations and areas.
Models of different kinds are similar aids for explaining and understanding. Recy-
cling principles play an important role in the analysis of relationships in nature
and between Man and nature. Questions concerning natural and cultural land-
scapes, their growth and change are central to the subject, as are questions on
changes in population and the driving forces and consequences of urbanization.
The background to these changes is usually regional differences in the geographi-
cal distribution of i.e. population and activities. An analysis of changes also cov-
ers factors such as an understanding of the world, view of Man, power relation-
ships, opportunities provided by technology, economic restrictions, attitudes and
values. These factors give rise to flows such as migration, trade and other contacts
between different areas and thus create spatial interrelationships. In order to ana-
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lyze such complex problem areas, there has to be co-ordination between geogra-
phy and other subjects. Fundamental to the subject of Geography is working with
a holistic view of the surrounding world, where central concepts and facts are in-
terwoven into larger contexts.
The subject provides opportunities for acquiring knowledge and experiences
through observing, testing, researching, investigating and creating. Teaching in
geography also provides an opportunity to train arguments for developing per-
sonal standpoints in speech and writing. In a dialogue with others established pat-
terns of thinking, attitudes and prejudices can be challenged.
TECHNOLOGY
Aim of the subject and its role in education
Human beings have always strived to safeguard and improve their living condi-
tions by changing their physical environment in various ways. The methods used
are technological in the broadest sense. The subject of Technology develops a
familiarity with the essential features of technology. The aim is to increase under-
standing of how conditions of production, society and the physical environment,
and thus our living conditions are changing. Technological activities have a sub-
stantial impact on Man, society and nature. This becomes particularly evident
when technology is undergoing rapid development. Society and our ways of living
are increasingly influenced by the use of technical components, which in their turn
are often included in larger technical systems. Making everyday technology as far
as possible understandable is thus an additional aim. This covers everything from
the simplest domestic devices in the home to modern equipment and complicated
transport systems. Technical knowledge is increasingly becoming a prerequisite
for mastering and using the technology surrounding us. Citizens in a modern soci-
ety need basic competence in technology and this competence must, in addition,
be continuously expanded and adapted. This competence covers not only a
knowledge about the role of technological development from a historical perspec-
tive, but some experience in reflecting over and solving technical problems in
practical terms. In addition, it is necessary to be able to analyse and evaluate the
interaction between people, technology and the conditions under which we will
exist in the future. Exploitation of technology raises a number of intricate issues,
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which affect fundamental values, for example, the impact of technology on the
environment. In addition, many other aspects of existence, such as working life,
housing and recreation, are influenced by technology. Opportunities for the group
and individuals to exercise influence and power are largely dependent on how
technology is designed and used in society. The attitudes of girls and boys to
technology differ somewhat – as do traditional views on the role of girls as op-
posed to boys in technological contexts. One aim is that everyone is given the
opportunity to consciously acquire all-round knowledge in the subject.
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REFERENCES
1. The EnvKids project web site, on-line at: http://www.envkids.net
2. The EnvKids Evaluation Strategy Report, on-line at:
http://ohmpro.org/envkids/documents/restricted/ES.pdf
3. The EnvKids Explorative and Collaborative Learning Methodologies, on-
line at http://envkids.net/reports.html
4. Teachers Job Satisfaction and Motivation for School Effectiveness: An
Assessment, Nwachukwu Prince Ololube, University of Helsinki
5. A Theory of Human Motivation, Abraham Maslow, Psychological Re-
view, 50, p. 370 (1943)
6. Job Satisfaction Among America’s Teachers: Effects of Workplace Condi-
tions, Background Characteristics, and Teacher Compensation, The Na-
tional Center for Education Statistics, Statistical Analysis Report, July
1997, on-line at: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs97/97471.pdf
7. Skype, on-line at: http://www.skype.com/intl/en/welcomeback/
8. Learning through ICT in Swedish Early Childhood Education from a
Pedagogical Perspective of Quality, Association for Childhood Education
International Publication, S. Sheridan, I. P. Samuelsson, 2003
9. The Swedish Education Act (1985:1100)
10. The Compulsory School Ordinance of Sweden (1994:1194)
11. Curriculum for the Voluntary School Forms (Sweden), 1994, Lpf 94
12. Curriculum for the Compulsory Education System, Pre-school Class and
Leisure-time, Sweden, 1994, Lpo94
13. Curriculum for Preschool Sweden, 1998, Lpfö 98
14. Curriculum for the Voluntary School Forms Sweden, 1994, Lpf 94
15. The PrimTICE Program of the French Ministry of Education, on-line at:
http://primtice.education.fr
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16. Elements de Programmation, Inspection Academique de Meurthe et Mo-
selle, n-line at: http://www.ac-nancy-metz.fr/ia54/cgi-
bin/fichesb2i/programmation_v2007.asp