The promotion of the 21st century learning skills through the development of games using scratch / A promoção das habilidades de aprendizagem do século XXI através do desenvolvimento de jogos usando o scratch

Abstract

The work described in this paper addresses the development of a game focused on a project developed as a teaching strategy in the context of action-research study aimed at testing the impact of the participation in a collaborative project. The project aimed to motivate student’s to use and learn foreign languages and also to develop their intercultural communicative competence. The team consisted of 14 teachers from 11 different countries and 167 students in an international educational context. Regarding the Portuguese participation we have introduced the Area of Study namely Discovery in a class from the 7th grade students (23 students).All the work was based in two premises: use Scratch online, web 2.0 and ETwinning platform.Students from various countries together create their own games using programming Scratch. During the project, partners collaborated using web 2.0 tools, at the end, they have share their games and get feedback.This work identified the benefits and challenges of global education and intercultural interaction amongst students. Fourteen schools from 11 European countries have participated in this eTwinning project. Six schools had won the European quality eTwinning label.The methodology applied in this learning environment motivated the students and improved their learning process. It also contributed to a higher level of concentration and promoted collaborative learning. Additionally, it facilitates creativity, dialogue and the overall relationship among students.The results demonstrate that teachers perceive eTwinning as contributing towards the enhancement and development of global education through intercultural interaction.The pedagogic model based on the collaborative construction of knowledge was easily understood by the teachers.