7o δημοτικό Γρεβενών

Brief presentation of activity – scenario

3.1

 -Title of didactic script – activity

  Knowing Alexander the Great

  (History)

-Class to which it is addressed

 D of elementary school

-Cognitive areas involved

Language (involved in all activities of comprehension and production of speech and mainly in the processing of crossword puzzle), History (involved as the main source of information on the chosen topic), Geography (basic auxiliary tool for the mental representation of events), Visual Arts (for visualization activities or for understanding a visualization), Informatics (basic word processing and navigation skills), Environmental study (provides information about people’s culture and diversity). 

-Brief presentation of activity – scenario

-Duration
8 teaching hours

-Organization of teaching

Students work in their groups to implement the (pre)planned activities, while the teacher has the role of the coordinator and animator of the groups. Due to the relatively young age of the students and their mediocre familiarity with the Computer, the teacher intervenes in a guiding and supportive way, discreetly orchestrating the whole process. Finally, it is taken for granted that the teacher has taken care of all the details - preparations for the smooth running of the course, while it is optimal to have installed the necessary software (presentations, worksheets, etc.).

For the implementation of the scenario, the students are divided into four groups of three students and one with two students.

The hardware required is a computer and a video projector. Of course, it would be best to teach in the computer lab and have a computer for every pair of students.

The software which will be used is the following:

-The Internet with the use of internet browsers.

-Presentation software (PowerPoint).

-Software for creating interactive tests (Hot Potatoes)

-Visualization and simulation program (Google Earth & Google Maps)

-Revelation Natural Art

(1^st Image: Software)

(1^st Image: Software)

Prerequisite knowledge - pre-existing perceptions of students

-Regarding ICT, it is essential that students can search for information on the Internet and have a first contact and familiarity with the software mentioned above.

-The reasons that contributed to the Macedonians gaining power.

-The situation in which the other city-states had fallen after the exhausting wars they waged among them.

-It is essential that students know: The Persian wars

The teacher organizes, regulates, guides and coordinates the lessons and he/she is the helper and animator of the students. He divides the students into groups, because in each group there must be a trainee who has computer skills.

He devotes time to prepare students for the conceptual mapping technique, because they have to become familiar with the process by themselves. With the appropriate questions and clear instructions, the teacher promotes the learning process and provides feedback to the students during the presentation and commentary of the maps by the groups.

-Aimed learning outcomes - teaching objectives

As for the subject matter:

-To get to know the personality of Alexander the Great.

-To evaluate the actions he made to prepare his campaign.

-To get acquainted with the organizational work of Alexander the Great and his plans.

-To get acquainted with the most important war events and the course of his campaign.

-To evaluate the reasons why the victories of the Greeks were due. (2^nd Image)

(2^nd Image)

Regarding the learning process

Students will work in groups. So, they need to develop a spirit of cooperation, and communicational and exploratory learning skills. Theoretically, the scenario is based on the exploratory and constructive approach to knowledge, according to the views of Piaget, Bruner and Vygotsky. The educational atmosphere changes for the benefit of the students and the role of the teacher evolves into that of the facilitator and mediator of the teaching process.

According to Piaget, at the stage of the specific mental tasks, the teacher encourages the students to talk about their ideas and actions, urges them to make predictions or assumptions and to compare them with the result, gives them opportunities to use their imagination and their previous experiences, and all this takes place in the appropriate environment, for the progress of the students’ cognitive development. According to Bruner and the exploratory learning, the active process of information processing is done through three processes: - the discovery of new information, concepts and knowledge - the transformation of this knowledge so that it can be applied in future situations and - the evaluation - checking of this knowledge.

As Vygotsky would say, interaction not only unites a subject with an object, but also the relationship with the object can only be mediated by the subject's relationship with other people. If fourth graders become accustomed to working in this way, then in older classes they will be able to achieve the goal of self-regulated learning, based on the metacognitive skills they will have acquired.

Regarding the use of new technologies

-To develop a positive attitude towards the PC as a digital work tool.

-To learn how to use the computer as a tool for extracting and processing information.

-To get to know specific software that will allow them to discover, understand, consolidate new knowledge and develop their critical thinking.

3.2 Scenario - activity description

(Presentation of activities with worksheets)

Suggested activities

1^st teaching hour

At the beginning, the teacher discusses with his students the reasons that made the Macedonians strong, the abilities of King Philip and his plans. This is to connect the previous lessons, which the students have already completed, with the next ones.

Then, the teacher gives the following worksheet to all his students. In this way, he ascertains the pre-existing knowledge that the students of the class have.

Worksheets

• Do you recognize this person?
• Which was his origin?
• Which elements of his character made him carry out his plans?
• Which was his job?

(3^rd Image)

(3^rd Image)

After completing their work in groups, students announce their results.

Then, addressing the whole class, the teacher suggests that all students watch a video from the internet at the following address: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTK3H1-t1RA  (4^th Image)

(4^th Image)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJm2zAeVTfY

A student comes to the main computer and gives the above address and all the students watch the following video (5^th Image):

(5^th Image)

At the instigation of the teacher, the students open the textbook and complete their knowledge. Students are then encouraged to search, in groups, for other videos related to the lesson by giving keywords. With the help of the teacher, they end up finding specific videos that the teacher had already located.

Finally, the addresses of the videos are written in a word processor (Word) for students to use in the next lesson. (6^th Image)

.

(6^th Image)

2^nd teaching hour

In the second lesson, students refer to the following internet address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJm2zAeVTfY  and watch the video that is completely related to the content of the lesson.

Moreover, the teacher gives additional information that he deems necessary for the students to obtain a clear and complete picture.

The teacher then asks all students to think and find adjectives or phrases with which they can characterize Alexander the Great according to what they saw or read and be able to justify their characterization. Then, they write their description on an A4 paper, which has been given by the teacher, and after all the opinions are heard, the students get up on the board and with the help of the teacher make a concept map, by sticking the papers on the board. The students are given the appropriate information about the concept map and then the teacher shows the students how to make this concept map with the help of Inspiration.

(7^th Image)

(7^th Image)

3^rd teaching hour

For the third lesson, the students choose the following address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAE4MrYGUgI&NR=1 from the Internet and they watch the documentary whose content is fully compatible with the subject to be taught. (8^th Image) The teacher then urges the students to refer to the textbook to supplement their knowledge and is always willing to give any clarification to the students. He then invites the students to work in groups by giving the following worksheet. (9^th Image)

(8^th Image)

(9^th Image)

The results are announced by the teams and any mistakes are corrected.

The teacher then invites the students to find the path followed by Alexander the Great, by using the Google Earth program.

A student from each group will come to the computer and note each place in turn and at the same time, he/she will take some notes about the events that took place. When this task is completed, we will have the following result. (10^th Image)

(10^th Image)

4^th and 5^th teaching hour

For the fourth and fifth lesson, the teacher works with the students to summarize the obtained knowledge in order to see if they have understood everything that was taught in the previous lessons.

By the end of this task, the teacher has prepared a semi-structured concept map which is given to the students to complete in groups. The concept map is printed on an A4 paper and students work there first. After the work is done in A4, it is transferred to Inspiration with the participation of all students.

The semi-structured concept map given to the students, who will work in groups, is the following: (11^th Image)

(11^th Image)

which after the intervention of the students becomes as the following (12^th Image):

(12^th Image)

In the end, after the work of the teams and the composition of their work, we get the final result which is the following (13^th Image):

(13^th Image)

Then, the children open the textbook and comment on the pictures from the museum of Vergina in Imathia and the museum of Pella in Greece, which they visited last year in the third grade. (14^th, 15^th, 16^th Images)

(14^th Image: The royal tombs discovered in Vergina)

(15^th Image: Bust of Alexander the Great (Pella, Archaeological Museum)

(16^th Image: Golden shrine with the emblem of the Macedonian kings) (Vergina, building of royal tombs protection)

6^th teaching hour

In the 6th lesson, the teacher asks the groups of students to find 8-12 keywords and give their definitions, always relevant to the lessons taught, by filling in the following worksheet (17^th Image):

(17^th Image)

Then, each group uses the software Hot Potatoes with the help of the teacher in order to make crossword puzzles which are given to the groups to solve. Optionally, the whole class solves a puzzle so that the students can taste the joy of solving a crossword puzzle with the help of this software. Indicatively, we quote two of the crosswords of the groups.(18^th and 19^th Images):

(18^th Image)

(19^th Image)

7^th and 8^th teaching hour

In the 7^th and 8^th teaching hours, the teacher discusses with the students about the positive and negative results of the campaign of Alexander the Great.

After the discussion, he gives the following worksheet to be completed by the students in groups:

Then, after the students' answers are cross-checked by the groups, the whole class works together to create a PowerPoint with the positive and negative results of Alexander the Great's campaign. (20^th Image)

(20^th Image)

Then, in the Revelation Natural Art, which the teacher has installed on the computer, the students are asked to draw and color the Vergina sun. This is an enjoyable and creative activity for the children (21^st Image).

(21^st Image)

The second activity asks students to open a puzzle, which is stored in the "prints" of the software and to complete it.

Final evaluation of the scenario

Indicators - criteria of this evaluation are: - the completed worksheets of the groups - the rest of the students' projects - the interactive discussion in the classroom - the Evaluation Sheet which the students fill in.

The evaluation concerns the following areas: a) degree of achievement of the initial goals and objectives, b) degree of students’ familiarity with the use of ICT, c) operation of the groups on the basis of the collaborative method, but also the collaborative spirit of teaching, that is the satisfaction of the students with the way of working during the scenario and with the final result (22^nd Image).

(22^nd Image)

3.3 Additional information-Script results

Based on the evaluation, the intervention-teaching is considered undeniably successful. The students accepted the new teaching proposal with great enthusiasm. Even students who did not have a lively participation in other classes participated in this activity. They were looking forward to the next lesson. It is worth noting that many students were very good at computers and some of them were familiar with some of the software used, such as Inspiration.

The children got to know the personality of Alexander the Great. They evaluated the actions he made to prepare his campaign. They got to know the organizational work of Alexander the Great and his plans. They got acquainted with the most important war events and the course of his campaign. They evaluated the reasons to which the victories of the Greeks were due.

The children developed a positive attitude towards the computer as a digital work tool. They learned how to use the computer as a tool for extracting and processing information. They got to know specific software that will allow them to discover, understand, consolidate new knowledge and develop their critical thinking.

They learned how to work together and exchange views in order to reach common conclusions. They boosted their self-confidence and self-esteem through collaborative activities and learned how to use their previous knowledge to build new concepts (metacognitive goals). They developed critical and creative thinking, leading to safe conclusions. They developed skills of dialogue and argumentation. They cultivated the ability to make decisions. They developed respect for different views.

The average student got a lot of benefits, and the genius was not limited to the specific curriculum, nor did they have to follow a slow pace for the sake of some other students. New roads were opened to children with special needs.

Δήμος Γρεβενων, πρωτοβάθμια, περιφέρεια, πανrπιστήμιο Αιγαίου συνεδριο IPIE 2020 σύλλογος γονέων και κηδεμόνων