Constructivism embedded in the digital activities of the eBooks of Religion for Secondary Education

Vasiliki Mitropoulou, black@where.and.where

Dept of Theology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Nikolaos Argyropoulos, nickargiropoulos@gmail.com, Vasilios Vasiliou, billbas@sch.gr, Alexandros Gikas, alexgkikas@gmail.com, Alexandros Kapaniaris, kapaniaris@yahoo.gr, Alexandra Kolovou, alexkol@sch.gr, Ioanna Komninou, kilm@otenet.gr, Nikolaos Marinopoulos, n_marinopoulos@hotmail.com, Nikolaos Pavlou, nipavlou@otenet.gr, Georgios Papanikolaou, elfinor3@yahoo.gr, Kostas Prentos, kprentos@sch.gr, Konstantina Tsitouridou, ktsitour@gmail.com, {Computer Technology Institute and Press "Diophantus", CTI "Diophantus"}

Abstract

This paper will present the relationship/links between certain pedagogical principles and modern learning theories which we took into consideration for the design and development of the digitally enriched e-books of Religion for the New Digital School of the Greek Ministry of Education. The theoretical framework of our design decisions is embedded in the human-computer interface elements, the browsing strategies of the e-book, and the “learning strategy” in the interaction of the students with it. In order to understand better how the learning theory of constructivism is embedded into the pedagogy and the design of our digital activities, we shall first present in brief the most important elements of this theory, some of the digital activities we designed and how constructivism is embedded in them. As concerns the teaching principles that are based on constructivism, we took into consideration for the design of digital activities for the enrichment of e-books the development of authentic activity, that is how the student will handle the obtained information in order to transfer the activity into “authentic” (today’s real environment). Constructivism aims to provide authentic learning activities related with real world experiences, encourage personal involvement in the learning procedure, the social framework and social interaction promote cognitive constructions.   

One of our basic aims for taking into consideration the constructivist model is the change of the view that the content of Religion is isolated from the reality and to show that it deals with human activities that are directly related with daily life, provides experiences in relation to the procedure for the construction of knowledge, provides experiences and appreciates the multiple perspectives, implementation of learning in a authentic context directly related with the real world. E-books include technologies that enhance the cognitive powers of human beings through knowledge construction and thus should be perceived as cognitive tools for educational purposes. E-books facilitate learning due to its innovative features: flexibility in handling information quickly and directly, ability to carry out interactive tasks faster, experiential learning (i.g. learn by doing), provision of learning facilities (e.g. record keeping, automatic scoring, email feedback, information databases, glossaries, transcripts).

Keywords

digitally enriched e-book, religious education,  digital applets, digital school.