Σχεδιασμός, ανάπτυξη, εφαρμογή και αξιολόγηση ηλεκτρονικού εκπαιδευτικού (λογισμικού) υλικού μέσω Η/Υ: μια στρατηγική για την επίτευξη της περιβαλλοντική ευαισθητοποίησης των μαθητών στη δευτεροβάθμια εκπαίδευση

Abstract

The present dissertation concerns the process of development, application and evaluation of educational software application “the house as a source of pollution” that was materialized in the frame of doctoral thesis titled: “Planning, development, application and evaluation of electronic educational (software) material via PC: A strategy for the achievement of environmental sensitization of students in the Secondary Education”. More specifically, the particular educational software was drawn specifically for the support of teaching of environmental subjects, enriching at the same time the pedagogic material that is used in the frames of Environmental Education Programs. The basic objective was the concretization of “new expression” for the teaching ofenvironmental subjects, which contributes in the benefit of valid environmental knowledge, with the import of new ways of “environmental thinking”. Simultaneously, the sought objective was the creation of an “attractive” software material and innovative instructive approach for the cognitive of E.E. The planning of multimedia educational software attempts to use the existing pedagogic, instructive and research experience in the region of environmental sciences, by exploiting the most modern technological means and the existing knowhow for the educational software production. The educational software application is structured according to the pedagogic and technical specifications for the educational software. It incorporates a summation of pedagogical interactive activities in playful form. At the same time, it seeks through an interdisciplinary approach of knowledge and with a visually rich learning environment to achieve the active student involutionfor the knowledge discovery and the further modification of his behavior toward the nature. As an educational software material, it aims to achieve an interactive relation between the user and the tool, so as to involve the subject in a process of interaction, which prompts in the active attendance in the instructive practice with “action of students, direct retroaction and liveliness”. Particularly for the tutelage of environmental subjects, multimedia can offer a holistic regard of environmental problems of facts. Besides, the particular software aspires to stir the interest ofstudents, to extend it and maintain it undiminished. It is able it provide the students a crowd of experiences, which would be impossible to acquire through the forecasted analytic programs. Particularly important is the fact, that its structure allows the adaptation of instructive process in the individuality of student, since he, himself selects the way via which he will be “evolved” to the holder of knowledge. It incorporates the suitable pedagogic and instructive approaches, that can modify the traditional way of teaching and strengthen the possibility for culture of dexterities ofcritical thought to the students. This cd-rom takes into consideration preexisting knowledge of students regarding the subject and as a result the knowledge is built with the incorporation ofnew elements in already preexisting cognitive forms, so as to strengthen the cognitive structures and further develop the cognitive operations. The formulation of specifications of evaluation of instructive material from pedagogic and technical opinion, as total software material requirements, was based to the “General Specifications of Educational Software” written by the Pedagogic Institute‟s Certification Office and is focused in the following points: richer, friendlier andmultifaceted presentation of curriculum, experiential approach of knowledge, exploratory learning, condensation of information in optical messages and promotion of cooperative, but also personalized learning. The educational software was materialized with the program Dreamweaver MX with Script Language (language of planning) Php and Mysql. It is a very interesting tool of Web development (Web means interaction) which incorporates a lot of other technologies as CSS, Java Script, e.t.c., strengthening the possibility of creation of work with text, sound, picture and video. At the same time, animations were drawn with Dreamweaver Flash MX while the pictures‟ milling was done with the program Adobe Photoshop CS. The educational software‟s issues are structured in 5 basic units: Water, Energy, Atmospheric Pollution, Litter and Biodiversity. Each unit of educational software includes: theoretical approach, educational games – work sheets and bibliographic examination. Under this prism, the interest of this research was oriented to: a) whether theexploitation of the particular cd-rom in the frame of environmental subjects‟ tutelage is able to attract the students‟ interest and to strengthen their active attendance in the educational process according to the social constructivism‟s principles and b) the thorough examination of software effect to the qualitative improvement of training and instructive transaction of E.E., proving at the same time that the particular software application recommends priceless tool in the hands of teachers, in order that, they help students to acquire knowledge for subjects of environmental interest and to experiment with original solutions for the environmental problems that they examine. The educational software was applied and evaluated by teachers and students of the Second and the Third Grade of several High schools (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 8th High school of Aigaleo City) via the completion of anonymous questionnaires. Two different questionnaires were therefore created one for the students and one for the teachers. The students‟ questionnaire constitutes exclusively by closed type questions that aim, on the one hand, to record the children‟s opinions for the computational technology and the School Environmental Education Programs and on the other hand, to evaluate the effectiveness of the instructive action via the particular educational software. The teachers‟ questionnaire consists of closed and open type questions thataim to investigate the degree of the familiarization of the teachers with the computational technology, the exploitation or no of the I.C.T. educational software in the instructive practice, the subjective estimates of the teachers regarding the content, the pedagogic and technical characteristics of particular computational application etc. The results of the research showed that the students and the teachers were positive as far as the computational support of the instructive action of E.E. via the particular software is concerned. More specifically, students: ● seem to be, in a great percentage, familiarized with the computational technology. ● wish to realize the courses tutelage via PC. ● claim that the computer contributes in the facilitation of training process.● evaluated, in their bigger percentage, the environmental subjects‟ tutelage, easy procedure via the particular cd-rom. ● believe that the teaching via the particular software, offered them in a satisfactory level, knowledge for environmental subjects. ● With regard to the evaluation of the particular software application: a)consider easy the pilotage from one page to the other of the software, b) believe that the texts that are included in the cd-rom are absolutely comprehensible, c) are, to a large extent, satisfied from the pictures, the graphic and software work sheets, d) support in their majority, that there is no need for any change in the particular educational softwareand e) are sure that they can use the particular software application on their own (without the help of the teacher). At the same time, the teachers: ● do not use I.C.T., in a satisfactory degree, in the instructive practice, pointing out that the lack of equipment and the lack of the necessary educational software recommend the two main factors that prevent the use of New Technologies in the instructive process. ● believe that training on I.C.T. issues can contribute positively in the exploitation of computational technology in the teaching of their courses. ● are in favor of the positive contribution of Information Communication Technology in the concretization of environmental programs and demonstrate positive attitude with regard to the exploitation of software in the teaching of environmental subjects. ● characterized, almost in its entirety, the software, as an easy computational application with regard to its use and interesting as far as teaching via the particular educational software is concerned. ● are almost absolutely satisfied by the content, the pedagogic and technical characteristics of the software. ● With regard to the teachers perceptions about the way students faced the teaching via the particular computational application, they believe that: a) they were familiarized easily with the particular educational software, b) they were excited with the particular computational material and c) last but not least, they can use the cd-rom very easily without their help. All the above, are also confirmed by the answers that the students themselves gave to the corresponding questionnaire. The exploitation therefore, of educational software applications in the training practice, recommends innovation and creates a new instructive model, which stirs the interest and activates the correspondence and the attendance of the students in the educational process.

Η παρούσα διδακτορική διατριβή αφορά στη διαδικασία ανάπτυξης, εφαρμογής και αξιολόγησης της εκπαιδευτικής λογισμικής εφαρμογής «Το σπίτι ως πηγή ρύπανσης». Το συγκεκριμένο εκπαιδευτικό λογισμικό σχεδιάστηκε για την υποστήριξη της διδασκαλίας περιβαλλοντικών θεμάτων, εμπλουτίζοντας παράλληλα το παιδαγωγικό υλικό που χρησιμοποιείται στο πλαίσιο της διεξαγωγής προγραμμάτων Περιβαλλοντικής Εκπαίδευσης. Ως εκπαιδευτικό λογισμικό υλικό, στοχεύει στην αλληλεπιδραστική σχέση μεταξύ του χρήστη και του εργαλείου, ώστε το υποκείμενο να λαμβάνει μέρος σε μια διαδικασία αλληλεπίδρασης, η οποία παροτρύνει στην ενεργό συμμετοχή του κατά τη διδακτική πράξη. Το εκπαιδευτικό λογισμικό υλοποιήθηκε με το πρόγραμμα Dreamweaver MX καθώς και με χρήση pure HTML Script Language. Η θεματολογία του εκπαιδευτικού λογισμικού διαρθρώνεται σε πέντε βασικές ενότητες, Νερό, Ενέργεια, Ατμοσφαιρική Ρύπανση, Απορρίμματα και Βιοποικιλότητα, ενώ η κάθε ενότητα του εκπαιδευτικού λογισμικού περιλαμβάνει θεωρητική προσέγγιση, εκπαιδευτικά παιχνίδια - φύλλα εργασίας και βιβλιογραφική ανασκόπηση. Βασικός σκοπός της έρευνας είναι η εμπεριστατωμένη εξέταση της επίδρασης του λογισμικού στην ποιοτική βελτίωση της διδασκαλίας των περιβαλλοντικών θεμάτων που εμπεριέχονται σε αυτό. Το εκπαιδευτικό λογισμικό εφαρμόστηκε σε μαθητές της Β’ και Γ’ τάξης Γυμνασίου ενώ αξιολογήθηκε από εκπαιδευτικούς μέσω της συμπλήρωσης ανώνυμων ερωτηματολογίων. Τα αποτελέσματα της έρευνας έδειξαν ότι οι μαθητές και οι εκπαιδευτικοί ήταν θετικοί όσον αφορά στην υπολογιστική υποστήριξη της διδακτικής πράξης της Π.Ε. μέσω του συγκεκριμένου λογισμικού και ικανοποιημένοι από το περιεχόμενο, τα παιδαγωγικά και τεχνικά χαρακτηριστικά του.