Zacharoula Smyrnaiou

Actors and Practices in Living Lab for Alternating Training

This article proposes an innovative theoretical framework for applying the Living Lab approach, traditionally adopted in entrepreneurial contexts, to the context of alternating training (AT) at school in co-designing, implementing and evaluating AT scenarios, with the final aim of fostering the role of the school as a social hub connecting several societal actors.

Inquiry and Meaning Generation in Science While Learning to Learn Together: How Can Digital Media Provide Support?

This is a study of learning situations resulting from pedagogy and digital media focusing on both collaboration and meaning generation in science and on the interactions and interdependencies of these two aspects of a learning environment. With respect to the former, special attention was given to what we call ‘learning to learn together’ (L2L2) a kind of social meta-cognition. With respect to the latter, we studied how students made sense of non-intuitive parameters in a newtonian phenomenon. The study took place in the framework of a multi-organizational European R&D project titled ‘METAFORA’. We report a design-based research study carried out in a High School in Greece where students used the projects’ specially developed on-line platform together with a Newtonian Physics microworld as a solid ground in order to interact and engage in meaningful negotiations concerning the scientific concepts integrated in the ICT tools.

Analysis of an Inquiry-Based Design Process for the Construction of Computer-Based Educational Tools: The Paradigm of a Secondary Development Tool Negotiating Scientific Concepts

The new generation of educational tools, based on easily accessible open source software, has enriched the teacher’s role with the quality of a designer of targeted – regarding the negotiation of cognitive concepts – artifacts. The genesis of such artifacts is subject to dynamic multilevel negotiations informed by pedagogical theories and practices and necessitates a deep understanding of the cognitive subject. The applied pedagogy and awareness of the cognitive subject are expected to guide and determine the selection of the instrumental ‘generator’. Although many studies have been conducted focusing on the use and the targeted selection of effective educational tools, there is a lack of information on the design process followed by each designer as well as an analysis of the influences governing his decisions during the process.

Tracing Computer Assisted Assessment for Learning Capability in Greek Teachers

The aim of our research study – which is in the context of the ‘Tracing Assessment for learning Capability in Teachers’ (TACT) project – is to track and examine the evolutionary path of a teacher from his/her initial academic training to his/her official appointment as an in-service teacher in terms of assessment literacy, development and construction. A questionnaire was selected as a shared research tool for the study due to its efficacy in accommodating the different educational policies of each involved country in the project. The Greek version of the questionnaire has purposefully included the issue of Computer Assisted Assessment (CAA) as a key strategy with considerable benefits for the learning process. This paper will discuss findings from the pilot phase of the Greek research addressed to 2nd year student teachers as well as 1st year in-service teachers. Their insights provided us with information which indicates the necessity for the application of specific assessment training courses in order to accomplish an efficient trajectory for implementing assessment to mediate learning successfully.