Charilaos Tsihouridis

Assessing the Learning Process Playing with Kahoot – A Study with Upper Secondary School Pupils Learning Electrical Circuits

The present study investigates the extent to which the popular game-based online platform of Kahoot can be used as a creative and effective tool in the teaching practice and specifically in the teaching of basic concepts of electric circuits. A comparative study was conducted for this reason with two groups of 67 learners in total, where the experimental group participated in the design of their own questions within the framework of formative assessment with the use of Kahoot, whereas the second group followed a traditional way for their assessment. According to the results, the integration of Kahoot in the teaching process improved learners’ understanding of certain concepts on electric circuits, enhanced their active participation in the lesson, motivated them towards learning and constituted a creative and fun-tool to use for teaching purposes.

The Effect of Switching the Order of Experimental Teaching in the Study of Simple Gravity Pendulum – A Study with Junior High-school Learners

The present study focuses on the educational value of lab work while teaching and learning Physics. Specifically, it investigates and compares the learning outcomes between three different experimental groups, in the study of the Simple Gravity Pendulum in the lower secondary school, using a sample of 61 students aged 14-15. The first group comprising 25 students practiced first on virtual and then on real lab, while the second group of 24, first on real and then on virtual lab (change of order in the tasks).An additional third group, involving 12 students, used sensors and data loggers during experimental practice. The educationally optimum order of use of such labs is investigated herein. The learners exploited the capabilities of the lab equipment, in that they themselves designed, constructed, and analysed the simple gravity pendulum. The focus in the teaching and learning of the pendulum was on examining subject relevance in the context of everyday applications, the independency of the period from the mass of the bob, or the amplitude, and the dependence of the period from the pendulum length, and the local acceleration of gravity. The research tools used were a stabilised questionnaire, with 16 closed-type questions and 7 questions asking for a justifying answer, in addition to a semi-structured interview. Data were taken and were appropriately analysed and compared, and conclusions are presented herein. The results confirmed that concerning some teaching objectives, learners’ understanding is positively affected by the order the real and the virtual labs are used in teaching. This result applies when addressing this age-group, and when teaching the simple gravity pendulum

“Let’s Go… Kahooting” – Teachers’ Views on C.R.S. for Teaching Purposes

The present study constitutes the first part of a study about the use of the online game-based of Kahoot as a tool for teaching practices and ways to do this. This first part, described in this paper, focuses on investigating teachers’ views on the use of Kahoot. A number of 149 secondary education teachers participated for this reason in workshops where they were introduced to Kahoot and were asked to design their own tasks. Upon completion of the workshops a questionnaire was delivered to them to evaluate the tool and focus group discussions were conducted to detect their in-depth thoughts. The teachers’ opinions were positive as they considered Kahoot a motivating tool for teaching and assessment purposes which can make learning fun and a creative process. The teachers revealed their intention to use the tool in their future teaching practices with their classes to a great extent.

Enhancing and assisting laboratory teaching of electrical circuits using ICT: An evaluation of educational software

The present study aimed at the evaluation and comparison of two example of educational software by Vocational School students - namely of Edison 5 and of Crocodile Technology 3D 6.1.0. Both these software packages can be used not only for the teaching of Vocational School speciality third grade courses but also for the teaching of the physics courses at Junior and Senior High Schools, as well as for those of the first and second grades of Vocational Schools. For the purpose of this evaluation, 76 participants, from a Vocational School (aged 16 to 20 years old), were asked to use them for 8 hours and in parallel with ordinary lab work to design simple electric circuits, through both of the aforementioned software packages, and through these to study circuit laws, formulate conclusions, and finally select the software they considered the most appropriate for the teaching of electric circuits. Upon completion of their tasks, students went through a closed type questionnaire, resulting to a definite choice as the most preferable and most appropriate software package for the teaching of electric circuits. The results are discussed herein and some interesting conclusions are drawn.

Introducing “Kodu” to Implement Cross Curricular Based Scenarios in English for K-12 Learners

In the present study the programming language of Kodu was used as a tool to implement a cross-curricular series of lessons combining the subjects of English and Computer Science. The purpose was to see the extent to which Kodu can be used as a creative and effective tool to enhance learners´ English language skills. A number of 74 Junior High School learners participated in the research, with a control group of 35, and an experimental group of 39 learners. The latter were introduced to the tool and implemented programming tasks with Kodu. A pre and post-test was delivered to the learners to detect their level before and after the intervention and informal discussions were conducted with them. The results revealed that Kodu made the lessons for the experimental group more vivid, creating a lively atmosphere which kept them active in class enhancing their use of English which they employed to follow the instructions, work with one another and implement the tasks assigned to them.

The Magic Power of the … Magic PowerPoint to Foster Vocational Learners’ Participation and Speaking Skills in English! - A Comparative Study

This research is about a comparative study between four groups of learners regarding English. Specifically, it investigates the impact of power point on Vocational Secondary School learners’ communicative competence. Two schools with 68 students, forming two control and two experimental groups, randomly selected, participated in the research. Pre and post-tests were given to learners, notes were taken during the lessons and a focus group discussion was conducted with the learners. The results revealed the positive effect ppt. use had to learners who found it motivating and interesting as a tool, enhancing their participation and speaking skills in English.

“Classrooms Without Borders” – Instructive Scenarios Based on Mobile Learning to Support Differentiated Learning in Vocational School Settings

The present work focuses on a survey conducted with 157 Vocational school students and six teachers, all randomly selected. Interviews were conducted with the teachers the aim of which was to detect why teachers suggest mobile learning, how they exploit mobile devices for instructive purposes and their opinion on the effect mobile learning has on their learners’ participation and motivation. The questionnaire to the learners aimed to detect their opinion on mobile learning. The answers revealed that students consider it an easy, interesting, innovative and useful method which helps vocabulary and all four skills though to a lesser extent writing. The thematic analysis of the interviews revealed teachers use mobile devices to enhance learners’ level, minimize distances and cover for students’ absences. They suggest detailed instructive scenarios, for differentiated teaching the implementation of which they found motivating and useful for their learners, weak students and employed learners.

The effectiveness of virtual laboratories as a contemporary teaching tool in the teaching of electric circuits in Upper High School as compared to that of real labs

The present article compares the effectiveness of virtual labs, and that of real school-labs in teaching electric circuits at Upper High-School. The 73 participating learners were divided in two groups, the group that used the virtual lab (VEL), and the group that used the real lab (REL). The data were collected using a DIRECT (v. 1.0) type questionnaire, containing 29 suitably formulated questions, clarified by oral interviews. The data analysis revealed no significant difference between the 2 groups in their conceptual understanding, regarding the basic concepts of electric circuits. Those individual differences that did appear to be significant were observed in the 3 out of 12 teaching objectives, and all were in favour of the real-lab group. All these 3 were further investigated in detail and found to relate directly to the teaching approach followed. Overall, either of the teaching approaches tested will decisively help students to develop an investigative attitude relating to everything scientific, their cooperative skills, and their ability to express important queries with clarity and precision.

Students Designing Their own Experiments on Heat Transfer Phenomena Using Sensors and ICT: An Educational Trial to Consolidate Related Scientific concepts

Following our previous research effort, the present study focuses on a laboratory practice utilizing sensors and ICT, and follows the change in the perceptions students have in relation to the concept of heat transfer. The present paper builds on the experience gained and refines the techniques used. The new sample consists of a larger group of 16-20 year old students, all studying mechanical engineering in a vocational school. A novel and creative research approach was followed. Students were asked to use their experience so as to design, create, calibrate, and use an experimental setup so as to demonstrate heat transfer phenomena. All students used heat sensors and appropriate ICT-systems. Our aim was to improve studentsâ?? comprehension concerning heat transfer. The 122 students forming the total sample were split into an experimental group of 64, which is the one that was asked to design, create, calibrate, and subsequently use a school-experiment, while a control group of 58 of student-users only used the experimental set-ups of the experimental group (without any creative design). Both questionnaires and personal interviews were used to collect the research-data. Subsequent data analysis indicates that, when the questions are relevant to the creation of the experimental setup, the experimental group exhibits a higher percentage of correct or partly correct answers in comparison to those of the control group, whereas any differences observed in the rest of the questions lie within the limits of the total measurement errors. The use of ICT-systems in the present educational effort is proving invaluable. Some interesting conclusion are drawn which are discussed herein.