Implementation of ‘In My Shoes’ (SOI-EXT-190)

The learning scenario “In my shoes” familiarises students with the rich collection of the Europeana platform while encouraging them to use their imagination, their cognitive, communicative and digital skills.  Thanks to the versatile constructive characteristics and design of the scenario, it is ideal to use with primary students. First, students were introduced to the notion of an explorer and, then, they were presented with a variety of visual and video digital material from the Europeana platform. Their task was to imagine that they were explorers and were describing in the form of a log what they had seen and heard as they travelled through time from place to place.  Finally, they critically reflected on their experience and participation.

The implementation context

The learning scenario was implemented during the English lessons, topic – “Past Tenses – describing events, outdoor activities”. The age of students – 11-12 years old. The following web tools were used during the e-implementation, which took 45 minutes: wakelet, padlet, bbc.co.uk, kahoot, answergarden, menti. My students were familiar with working with the computer, inquiry-based learning and using web tools to interact, create content, share, reflect and evaluate thanks to their work on eTwinning. They were also familiar with digital cultural heritage, present and past tenses and appropriate vocabulary for descriptions and outdoor activities.

The narrative

Introduction (about 10 min)

Students  watched the video “Over the Oceans” at  https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/music-ks1-history-famous-people-columbus-magellan/zfcyscw .

• Then, they answered  the 2 Kahoot questions at https://kahoot.it/challenge/24f9c351-0cb3-43a4-b781-36a6afd1bf24_1588290487531 which help them recollect their prior knowledge about the explorers on the video
• The teacher informed  the students that they will explore the past with the help of the Europeana platform. https://www.europeana.eu/en  

In My Shoes

Teacher explains to the students that will be in the shoes of an explorer.

• They must look at the picture and tell the story to their families as if they are writing their log or journal.
• Students are instructed to use past tenses . Each student has describe at least 2 images/videos from the list,  in a storytelling mode – create a composition which describes multiple images in a form of a story.
• They write the caption under the picture on the padlet at https://padlet.com/sophiakouz1/inmyshoes

Reflect and evaluate

• Students answer the answergarden at https://answergarden.ch/1208303 about the activity : What did you enjoy most in “In my shoes” lesson?

Students answer the menti at https://www.menti.com/, code 41 19 8 for the activity: How did you feel like an explorer?

Learning outcomes

The information that is presented in the digital tools the students worked on at wakelet, padlet, bbc.co.uk, kahoot, answergarden and menti can highlight the positive impact and the numerous learning outcomes of the participation of the learners in the activities.

Students had the opportunity to:

• develop their listening, reading and writing skills
• increase vocabulary that is related to description and feelings
• develop their digital skills

as they watched a video about explorers , collected information about the works of art they were presented, produced written speech and found, evaluated, utilized, shared and created content

• explore inspiring cultural heritage, get to know the tangible, intagible and digital European cultural heritage : Works of art, landscapes and language diversity
• raise cultural awareness
• appreciate European diversity 
• strengthen the sense of European identity
• reinforce their knowledge about the physical and political European countries

as they explored the European collections and discovered rich heritage and traditions

Students had the opportunity to:

• develop their critical thinking skills
• develop empathy
• develop the key competences in order to become autonomous, creative,  sociable and communicative

as they worked on the digital media, had to imagine that they were explorers, reflect and evaluate.

Teaching outcomes

Using digital cultural heritage focusses our teaching on raising awareness of the values of cultural diversity, expands the techniques we use and enriches the material that can help learners develop competences and become more autonomous, creative, sociable and communicative.

Europeana has a brilliant collection of digital media from European museums, galleries, libraries and archives that can increase learners’ interest and their engagement.  The search filters for the variety of collections that is provided by Europeana can help both teachers and learners use cultural heritage for enjoyment, education and research.

I explored the Europeana platform and found some additional digital material that can be used with students to write another digital story or poems https://padlet.com/sophiakouz1/Europeana.

This Story of Implementation has been created by Sophia Kouzouli, finalist of the Europeana Education Competition 2020 in the following category: ‘Teaching with digital cultural heritage in primary schools’.

CC BY 4.0: the featured image used to illustrate this article has been found on Europeana Collections and provided by the Wellcome Collection.