From the Part to the Whole

“Our students, gained insight, of how collaboration achieves great goals! It reflects real life through discovery, and raising awareness.”

About our project

• It’s a holistic approach to learning through applying pedagogical methodology, like Cross-curricular Approach, Experiential Learning, Peer Teaching, One to One (1:1) Computing, Collaboration, Critical Thinking and overall Project Based Learning.
• We combined education process with the use of technology and involved students
• …But the most important thing is that our students understood that when parts collaborate the whole outcome can be monumental.
• …And all this in an enjoyable way, being also creative, useful, and effective which is also the motto of our school.

Our activity started in the biology lab, where our students observed cells, and collaborated to make healthy tissues.  In the next activity, through a Cross-curricular approach, students discovered the mechanism of the Greek and English Languages. From there, we went on, to Social Studies, to end up, in Physical Education. In all these thematical areas, parts collaborate to make a whole. For example, there was an interdisciplinary lesson with the biologist and the ancient Greek professor, where, through an effective dialogue, they helped their students realize the similarities between the different subject areas. Like, when cells collaborate, they form tissues, so, letters cooperate, to form words and so on…

The aims of the project

The aim of our project, was to help our students, discover knowledge, while developing the 21^st Century competences, such as combining knowledge, skills, values and attitudes. More specifically, about…

• Knowledge: Some of the aims about the knowledge, were to help our students understand the structure of cells, the collaboration of the organs, to discover the mechanism of the Greek and the English language, and to go from individual to leading (group)  dancing.
• Skills: The tasks and forms of interaction,  guided  students, to develop critical thinking, to solve real-world problems, to organize their educational materials, to develop presentation skills, and all this, through teamwork.
• Values and Attitudes: Regarding values and attitudes, we wanted students to take initiatives, to collaborate, to communicate and to respect themselves and others. (for example: Our students came from different backgrounds, and age groups, and still, managed to cooperate effectively. Moreover, they had constructive dialogues, respecting each other’s opinions).

Our students collaborated and learned in an enjoyable way, combining creativity, critical thinking, problem solving technics, and achieving 21^st Century Competences.

How many students participated in this project…

Initially, we involved 150 students from the 1^st and 3^rd grade of our junior high school, and about 30 pupils from a public elementary school of our community.

Did you use any kind of technology and how?

For us, the use of technology was blended properly in most activities, supporting the dynamic engagement in an effective result. In this specific project, our students used  “One Note” to organize their work, “Power Point” for their presentation, “Movie Maker” for their film–strips, internet browser and MSN for their research, “Mouse Mischief” for their assessment, and also our L.M.S. (based on MS Share Point), for collaboration and communication between them, as well as an educational material repository.

What was asked from the children?

• The students were informed about the purpose and the aims of the project
• They had to answer initial assessment
• They participated in lessons with arguments through effective dialogues
• They collected information from the Internet and other sources and transformed it into learning material
• This material was organized on One Note, which was an extremely useful tool
• They materialized their own assessment with Mouse Mischief
• They created their own models with play-doh
• We asked them to prepare their own scenarios for the sketches
• They also took the various activities on video, which was used for their presentations
• All groups answered the summative assessment with the rubric developed by the educational model of our school.
• They were properly prepared for creative peer teaching.

What kind of materials were used?

• Student’s tablet PC
• Lesson Plans
• Working papers
• Models of cells, tissues and organisms
• Microscopes and stereoscopes
• Play doh

A variety of materials like paper, magazines, costumes which were used in the role playing in Innovatorium (our open learning space).

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How about teachers…

Our school has adopted Project Based Learning. It’s a part of our curriculum, so, we are experienced in the design of projects. In this project, all the teachers involved, formed a work group, discussed details, made lessons-plans with specific aims and activities, and educational material.

All the people involved, are already trained in the use of Microsoft applications and Learning Management System (LMS), because, since 2007, our school has adopted 1:1 Computing educational model for our students. In this context, there is life-long learning process in our Organization.

What was the length of the lesson?

To complete this project, we needed 12 hours in total, which were as follows:

• 1 for every subject area involved (5 hours)
• 1 for laboratory observation
• 1 for the creation of models
• 1 for the presentation of role playing
• 1 for the summative assessment
• 1 for the preparation of peer teaching
• 2 for the peer teaching in the public school of the area

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“Role Playing”

In the open learning space of our school, called Innovatorium, groups of students, through the process of the role playing, took on parts, discussed them and the outcome, was the composition of separate parts to make a whole.

“Peer teaching”

One of the best activities was the Interschool collaboration, (collaboration with a public school in the local community). Some of our students, who attended the different subject areas, became teachers or facilitators for younger students. They chose their subjects, prepared their lesson plans, and went to the public school, where they formed their groups, based on the procedure of Team Building,  and shared their knowledge with primary school students. They assessed their groups with focused software, which they had prepared with Microsoft Mischief.

“Community Building”

Through physical education, students with common interests, like dance, proved to us, that one dancer invites in, other dancers and gradually, form a circular dance with many individuals. Finally, all students and teachers, formed one single dancing circle in our schoolyard. All of us realized that, through dance, healthy parts form healthy body …form a healthy Society. 

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Συμετοχή σε παγκόσμιο διαγωνισμό, μετά από πρόκριση στον αντίστοιχο εθνικό.