Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group Newsletter 6 2016 | Page 7

Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group July 2016 Newsletter -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The activities that will be depicted to portray the focus and intent of the present paper derive from the projects carried out in the two primary schools I worked at this school year, the 6th Primary School of Pyrgos and the 8th Primary School of Pyrgos. “The Land of Ambrosia” for my 1st graders and their partners was a trip to meet European pupils, learn about them and their country, using the food topic as central theme. “Art in Us” for my 3rd graders and their peers intended to promote in teraction between European children through different forms of art and to develop children’s skills in collaboration, English language, national music and folk dance and creativity. In the project “My First Postcards” my 5th graders and their peers were motivated to learn English and other languages to speak to children in Europe, to know more about other cultures, to have fun, and make new friends. “Planet Diversity” for my 6th graders and their partners aimed to develop the concept of citizenship, social skills and creative thinking of pupils and to explore emotions and basic human values through the book processing of The little Prince, by Antoine de Saint Exupery. “The European Schools Newspaper” in which students from various grades of school took part was an opportunity for the participants to experience an enjoyable, creative and educational process of creating an English School Newspaper. Aims The underlying aims of the above collaborative projects involve the research into the European Member States, the European Union flag and the flags of all members of the European Union and the exploration in an experiential way of national celebrations, traditions, cuisine, music, art and authors. Furthermore, they aim at developing the students’ digital skills and strengthening their digital literacy. As far as the learning process is concerned they intend to raise their awareness on the specific topics and conquer knowledge with active participation through discovery, relate knowledge to everyday life and to develop collaborative skills and critical and creative thinking. They are essentially an endeavor to strengthen the positive self-image of students, to develop their personality and individuality and encourage them to realize the social dimension of individual development and understand the importance of respecting their own personal data, but also of others. Methodology Learning is a social, active, experiential, participatory and evolutionary process of interactive communication. It is important to create within the school a fruitful and friendly learning environment for all students, which can encourage them to pursue exploratory, creative and active learning at higher levels. Dewey (1998) argues that education can be based on natural human impulses for research, communication and creation, formulating purposes, experiencing feelings and generating ideas. The perspective for an experiential and interdisciplinary learning approach, the inextricable connection between our educational activities at school with the curriculum and the European dimension in education are essential aspects of the eTwinning projects. According to the principles of cognitive constructivism formulated by Piaget (1978) students need to be enabled to process their learning experiences, reflect on their work and build knowledge and positive attitudes. The activities implemented with the projects must be in response to their age and needs so that students are able to relate to them and to carry them out. Also, the playful and communicative nature of the activities needs to be taken into account as play and communication are vital to the social development of the child (Schaffer,1999). The exploratory learning theory (Bruner, 1983) and the scaffolding of the students which can lead them to the zone of proximal development -Zone of Proximal Development, ZPD (Vygotski, 1978) is an integral part of all activities so that students collaborate and will later be able to implement them on their own. The theory of multiple intelligences (Gardner, 1983) meets the needs of students and offers them the opportunity to explore and improve their talents. Core values of the projects Robinson (2010) advocates that education is supposed to be the process that empowers learners to develop all resources. The four core principles of the eTwinning projects under discussion that reinforced the learning experience and started up learners’ imagination and motivation are the following. Collaboration eTwinning projects enhance group work among national and international teams creating a positive environment in the classroom. Clear communication and collaboration among teachers and students build a strong sense of purposefulness and guarantee that students will be offered opportunities to find their talents, challenge themselves and be creative with the help and scaffolding of their teachers and their peers. 7