Implementation of “Travelling the World with Europeana”(SoI-GR-568)
Author: Elpida Semertzidou
Content
The scenario “Travelling with the World with Europeana” gave me the stimulus to introduce my students to the world of European cultural heritage, and to combine it with the foreign language lesson. Finding meaning and substance in the lesson, but also using authentic material.
Online resources from Europeana platform:
Rhodos Stadt , Hafen von Rhodos , Summer evening on Skagen’s Southern Beach , Donkey Rides on the Beach , Badgasten aan het strand van Brighton, op de achtergrond hotels en restaurants , The View of Bratislava
Abstract/Introduction
For the implementation of this scenario, a class of the first grade of senior high school was chosen, which is participating in an eTwinning project entitled “Tradition trifft Moderne”. In one of the activities, the pupils in the countries had to study and find out how past generations took holidays and compare them with their own. At the same time there was a chapter in the textbook where they had to write down where they would like to travel and what they would like to do where they were going. The scenario was implemented face-to-face, in 3 teaching hours, in the computer room, with 20 children aged 15, who were quite familiar with digital tools due to their involvement with eTwinning. They worked using the computers as well as their own smartphones, in the logic of “bring your own device”. The pupils as they had not used the Europeana platform before. Thus the scenario “Travelling with Europeana” by Sophia Kouzouli was the occasion to use Europeana.
Main text
- The narrative (Learning process/Stages of implementation)
1a) Introductory activity, 10 minutes
Students are given a link to a digipad with all the steps to follow, the Europeana material and the hyperlinks to the web 2.0 tools.
The lesson starts in a different way to the LS. The students answer, through a poll, the question if they travel.
1b) Brainstorming, 10 minutes
Then they answer the question what they do during their travel and their answers create a wordcloud.
1c) Team building, 5 minutes
They are then divided into groups by the Picker Wheel.
1c) Collaboration / use of vocabulary, 20 minutes
They scan the QR codes of the images from the Europeana and describe what the people are doing and how they seem to feel. Two of the pictures and paintings are from the island of Rhodes, the place where the students live. They write their answers on a digital Linoit board.
1d) Collaboration, 5 minutes
They then mark on a map which European city they would like to travel to.
1e) Written language/ use of grammar in a context, 20 min.
Each group writes on a digipad where they would like to travel and what they would like to do, using a specific grammatical phenomenon (Konjuktiv II).
1f) Use of AI, 20 minutes
Then using artificial intelligence with the magicschool tool, they give their text elements and produce a new text. They take a screenshot and upload that to digipad.
1g) Comparison between AI – text and pupil’s text, 20 minutes
What follows is a list of the differences between their text and that of the AI. We all write together about the similarities and differences between their own texts and those of artificial intelligence.
1h) Ιmproving written texts, 20 minutes
Students work in groups to improve their own texts by taking elements from the AI texts.
1h) Evaluation, 5 min
Finally, there is an evaluation of the whole process and the students’ work with the Europeana portal.
2. Outcomes (for you as an educator and for the students)
2a) Outcomes for the students
Pupils were able to develop their digital skills and work together for a common purpose. They also developed 21st century skills such as collaboration, communication, critical thinking and creativity, as well as independence in terms of their learning pathway. They learned to respect copyright and to use resources, but also to use grammatical phenomena and vocabulary in communicative contexts. Finally, they learned to use AI critically and to use the correct “prompt” in the AI tool.
2b) Outcomes for the educator
Using cultural elements in my lesson was a challenge for me and my students. They were exposed to paintings and photographs from another era and were excited to see older photographs of their city. For most of the implementation they worked independently and in groups, which promoted their autonomy in the knowledge building process and also increased their confidence. They learned to use authentic materials and to respect the copyright of the authors. At the same time, they were introduced to artificial intelligence and its use for the first time and learned to use it for the benefit of the learning and writing process.
By using Europeana resources, my course became ‘alive’ because it was based on authentic material. The learning scenario was adapted to the age and cognitive background of my students, keeping what I found workable and extending it accordingly.
Did you find this story of implementation interesting? Why don’t you read about the related learning scenario? Link to the learning scenario implemented: Travelling the World with Europeana.
Do you want to discover more stories of implementation? Click here.
PDM 1.0: the featured image used to illustrate this article has been found on Europeana and has been provided by the National Library of Israel.