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.
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