From black and white to colour: the memory of our city (LS-ES-557)
In this learning scenario, created by José Ramón a member of the Spanish User Group, students learn about the transformations experienced by the architectural heritage of the place where they live. To do so, they analyse old photographs of their city, available on Europeana, locating them on the city map, establishing a relationship between the current spaces and the urban landscape that existed a century ago. By using graphic editing tools they insert the original black and white images into current coloured images. Finally, they produce an audiovisual presentation that allows them to visit the city at the beginnings of the 20th century and to make critical judgements about the transformations undergone over the last hundred years. Reflecting on the changes observed they generate an emotional identification and a sense of belonging to the spaces they know.
With this scenario, the students will enhance the value of the local architectural heritage, understanding that the transformation of urban space is a process in which the appearance of new needs must be made compatible with respect for the heritage of the past. The development of the scenario requires the use of digitalised images from different documentary collections. For this reason, the students must first be familiar with the different types of licences and the possibilities of using each of them. This scenario uses the Project Zero (Harvard University) thinking routines and applies the Teaching for Understanding Framework.
Regarding skills developed
In the development of the scenario, students work in cooperative groups applying the roles (positive interdependence, individual and group accountability, interpersonal and small groups skills, face-to-face promotive interaction, and group processing). Through shared reflection in each group, critical thinking will be encouraged and based on the analysis of specific situations, personal and social commitment will be fostered. Students develop skills such as: problem solving, decision making, communication skills, awareness of their own learning. Finally, throughout the development of the project, students will create different products that will involve the intensive use of digital competences. Through the visualisation of thinking, a deep understanding of the content worked on will be achieved.
Regarding assesment
Students had continuous feedback (the continuous diagnostic assessment involved a process of feedback during each of the tasks) on their work so that they knew what was expected of them.
The use of a rubric for self-evaluation by each group and co-evaluation between groups made it possible to revisit, rethink and introduce new perspectives. It also made it possible to focus attention on the aspects that needed to be further developed.
Teacher’s remarks
Due to the pandemic situation, a hybrid learning model was used: part of the students attended the classes in person, while another part followed the lessons online from home. Students worked synchronously on some parts of the project (initial task, project follow-up) using videoconferencing via Microsoft Teams. Other tasks were developed asynchronously in the classroom (thinking routines) or at home (image processing) using Microsoft Teams breakout rooms.
One hundred and twenty students grouped in four classrooms were involved in the implementation of the scenario, so it was very important to strictly comply with the deadlines to be able to move on to the next step. To facilitate the development of the work at home, all students were provided with tutorials explaining each task of the project and in which folder in the cloud it should be placed. The contact via videoconference was very important to maintain a common rhythm of work for all the students.
The whole implementation of the scenario was developed in parallel with the explanation of the History of Spain, so that the pupils got to know the city before, during and after the Spanish Civil War, the event that led to the greatest destruction of the city’s architectural heritage. Thanks to the use of oral history, they learned first-hand about the city that their family (grandparents and parents) had known.
Link to the Padlet with the implementation of the project:
https://padlet.com/jramongq/9yzx7z2tphgpzih5
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Public Domain Mark 1.0: the featured image used to illustrate this article has been found on
Europeana and has been provided by the Austrian National Library