Creation Of Digital Artefacts Research Articles

Promoting 3rd grade pupils’ learning of science knowledge through project-based learning in a Finnish primary school

We explored third grade pupils’ (9–10-years, n = 22) learning of various science knowledge while engaged in scientific practices during a designed project-based learning (PBL) module. The topics selected were familiar to pupils, such as the dissolution of sugar and rising of dough with yeast. The study sheds light on the type of knowledge the pupils communicate with while they are involved in scientific practices and creation of digital artefacts. The video recorded data were collected in a Finnish primary school classroom. In total 22 clips (duration of 2–8 minutes) were the primary data. The qualitative content analysis revealed that the pupils engaged in factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive knowledge in PBL collaborative activities. The analyses described pupils’ interactions and actions when they employed these different types of knowledge. In conclusion, PBL modules based on familiar everyday contexts can support primary pupils to learn scientific practices and use versatile types of knowledge.

The creation of digital artefacts as a mechanism to engage students in studying literature

AbstractThe aim of the project was to motivate school students to learn about the national literature of their own and others’ countries. Engagement was fostered via the creation of digital artefacts (or “e‐artefacts”) such as online comic strips, live videos or animations. The pedagogical rationale was based on Papert’s constructionism and Bloom’s revised taxonomy. Participatory action research put school teachers at the centre of the research process. School teachers from five schools (Croatia, Denmark, Poland, Sweden and the UK) chose their own pedagogical approaches for classroom activities. Data on how teachers viewed the use of e‐artefacts in their classroom practice were gathered using focus groups. Teachers in all five schools identified the same process for relating texts to activities: involving a close reading of the text, collaborative formatting for the e‐artefact, and points for reflection and discussion. Students and staff were not only more excited with studying the literature, learners also showed improvement in language learning. Teachers also reported that specific students showed noticeable increases in self‐efficacy and classroom participation. By providing alternative means for students to excel and show competencies beyond academic capabilities, more students feel included and valued. Furthermore, the process of creating e‐artefacts demanded greater reflection from students, which was a result of greater engagement with the materials. Finally, including the creation of e‐artefacts in the curriculum, while maintaining more traditional approaches, offers a more inclusive and rewarding provision of learning for both students and staff.

‘Everything’ disappears … reflexive design and norm-critical intervention in the digitalization of cultural heritage

ABSTRACTAccording to narrative trends, digitalization has the potential to deconstruct both power structures and practices of exclusion in society. What we argue here is that this deconstruction is not the result of digitalization alone, it is dependent on how digitalization is done. On the contrary, digitalization has often resulted in reproduction instead of transformation and deconstruction, i.e. digitalization tend to uphold practices instead of challenging them. Being slightly more provocative, what becomes digitalized is often what we can easily capture and understand. Similarly, when we open up for an increased participation in the creation of digital artifacts (sometimes expressed as demand-driven, citizen-centered, or participatory development), those participating in digitalization are often already known; the use of already established contact channels making them easy to reach and connect with. Such logics raise questions about the intersections of norms and power and the potential transformative character of digitalization. The aim of this paper is to, through a theoretical framework combining critical information systems, policy enactment and norm critical design, introduce a reflexive design method to gently provoke norms. We analyze the need to intervene in the everyday practices of digitalization. This is done in an empirical case study of the making of a regional digital cultural heritage portal. The results indicate that digitalization needs norm critical interventions to change existing practices and prevent norm reproduction. Otherwise, as in this case of the digitalization of cultural heritage, digitalization runs the risk of strengthening existing power structures and excluding practices instead of challenging them.

Technology-Enriched STEM Investigations of Place: Using Technology to Extend the Senses and Build Connections to and Between Places in Science Education

ABSTRACTIn this article we explore how reconceptualizing the role of technology in place-based education (PBE) enhances place responsive pedagogies through technology. Combining the strengths of adventure learning (AL) and PBE, Adventure Learning @ (AL@) advances both place responsive education and online learning in science education. This is needed, as the conventional AL model lacks authentic explorations of places that are “local” to the expedition teams and the students following along. The AL@ approach promotes localized authorship and knowledge keeping. AL@ more fully realizes the potential of AL, using PBE approaches that engage students as authors of knowledge through direct field experiences and the creation of digital artifacts of scientific inquiry.

Empowering Creativity in Young People Through Mobile Learning

This paper investigates the potential of mobile learning for creativity in and out of school with a focus on media production. In doing so it attempts to move beyond binary choices around the nature of creativity (e.g., individual vs social) and the role of technologies for creative learning. To this end, it presents the literature on how creativity has been conceptualized, especially in education, and provides the theoretical underpinnings that supported the study by referring to the Vygotskyan perspective of creativity as a transformative process of culture and the self. It then moves to a description of three experiences addressing young people and entailing the creation of digital artifacts through mobile devices. It also presents some results, exploring learners’ and teachers’ perspectives and showing how mobile devices serve as cultural resources that young people use for meaning making and transforming themselves. The paper concludes with some recommendations for future research.