Marianna Vivitsou

Digital Storytelling in Finnish Schools

Instructional strategies that support learner-centered approaches and integrate information and communication technology (ICT) into teaching are effective ways of enhancing learning of both school subjects and 21st-century skills. However, there is still a need for concrete teaching methods with which teachers could implement these approaches in practice.

Science Teachers’ Metaphors of Digital Technologies and Social Media in Pedagogy in Finland and in Greece

In this study we draw from the interviews of four science teachers, one from Finland and three from Greece, and two science education experts from Finland in order to discuss and analyze pedagogical decisions and choices when the learning space is enriched with social networking environments, and digital and mobile technologies. Our research interest departs from concerns that technological pervasiveness generates and an observed suspension of belief in science. This suspension seems to be rooted in the risks that post-industrial societies are facing nowadays. By examining the study participants’ experiences, we aim to trace the intersection of science and technology with pedagogy and, in this way, to gain an insight into the possible futures of science education. The qualitative analysis of the data indicates instances of both deductive and inductive logic that show up through views of science as way of thinking and as method. The analysis of participants’ speech also reveals recurrent underlying conceptions of science and related issues.