1. Designing the classroom of tomorrow Advanced technologies in education Sofoklis A. Sotiriou Ellinogermaniki Agogi Athens, November 13, 2004 Ellinogermaniki Agogi – R&D Department

2. Industry

3. Medicine

4. Education

5. Attitude towards S&T During the last decade some attempts have been made to evaluate the impact of efforts and investments made in Science and Technology Education worldwide, for example the two large scale studies [TIMSS, 1994 and PISA, 2000]. Among other things these two studies have explored the achievement and the attitudes towards S&T of the students’ population in many countries of the world. The main findings of these studies are that the average achievement of the students’ population is relatively low in most of the southern European countries. Additionally while the vast majority of students hold positive attitudes towards S&T at the early schooling stages (70-80% of the 4th graders in all countries), this situation is considerably moderated at the later stages.

6. Current practice is not adopting the results of research For many years a considerable number of pedagogues and educational practitioners (e.g. Comenius, Pestalozzi, Montessori and Dewey) have stressed the importance of visualisation and of hands-on experiences as vital components to the learning process. As a result of these perspectives, many different pedagogical methods have been developed, especially those to be used in lower grades at elementary schools. But as the age of the students increases, more theoretical and abstract the teaching and the learning tends to be.

7. Motivation – One of the most important parameters in the learning process Emerging trends in education are moving towards learner-centered approaches. In these, learning becomes an active process of discovery and participation based on self-motivation rather than on more passive acquaintance with facts and rules. The ideas of collaboration and joint construction of knowledge have also found their way into the school system. Still, this construction is often mostly theoretical and do not involve real products.

8. The role of the informal learning settings Everyday experience suggests that students are eager to learn in informal settings such as excursions to museums and science centres. This positive attitude is believed to have two main roots: The freedom of leaving the formal setting of the classroom and The students’ positive motivation towards informal learning beyond the school to a real life setting where contextual knowledge occurs. In order to achieve the best results from informal education one has to take advantage of the motivating effects of freedom and physical context.

9. Main questions and concerns for the future How will we apply what we have learned about teaching and learning to help students prepare for their life in the information society? Will students be motivated to achieve better? Will classroom environments promote outcomes like process skills, problem solving abilities, teamwork, stronger self concepts, career goals that include science and transfer of knowledge to novel situations? Will learning environments be enhanced by effective use of new tools? What will be different and what will look the same in the classroom of the future?

10. Working hypothesis –Amending the traditional scientific methodology for experimentation with visualization applications and model building tools will help students and learners in general to articulate their mental models, make better predictions, and reflect more effectively. –Additionally, working to reconcile the gaps and inconsistencies within their mental models, system models, predictions and results, will provide the learners with a powerful, explicit representation of their misconceptions and a means to repair them.

11. The vision We should point to a future hybrid classroom that builds on the strengths of formal and informal teaching and learning strategies in ways that can support learning of all students. Our vision for the school of the future is that it will not be an island, a self-contained campus, a counterworld. The school of the future will be able to emit and absorb along different wavelengths, be immersed in contemporary culture, be open to the emotions, facts and news of its time. It will be permeated by society, but not unprotected: the relationship between school and society will be one of osmosis, where the advanced pedagogical tools filter, guide, and act as a membrane and interface.

13. What will classrooms be like in the future? This symposium along with the School Foresight exhibition provides an opportunity to dream how technology can not only improve instruction, but also transform what we think of as education.

14. Access to expensive Laboratories and facilities Shared virtual environments Field trips to science museums and centers Kick life into the classroom

16. Three complementary “interfaces” will shape learning in the classroom of tomorrow The familiar “world to the desktop interface”, Interfaces for “ubiquitous computing”, “Alice in the wonderland” multi-user virtual environments interfaces

17. The familiar world to the desktop interface, providing access to distance experts, archives and experiments, enabling collaborations, mentoring relationships, and virtual communities in practice.

18. Access to unique resources

19. WebTV productions from students

20. Selling local products over the Internet

21. Working with journalists

22. Interfaces for ubiquitous computing, in which portable wireless devices infuse virtual resources as we move through the real world.

23. Kick life into the classroom

24. GSM networks New cities on old cities

25. “Alice in the Wonderland” multi-user virtual environments interfaces, in which participants interact with computer-based agents and digital artifacts and avatars in real and virtual contexts. The initial stages of studies in shared virtual environments are characterized by advances in Internet Games and work in virtual reality.

26. Teaching geometry

27. Teaching history on-site

29. Teaching and learning physics in Ancient Olympia

30. Images of plausible futures The case studies that are presented during the symposium and the exhibition are images of plausible futures that depict how applying these interfaces might reshape teaching, learning, and the organization of educational institutions. The objective of these case studies is not to detail blueprints of an unalterable future but instead to show the range of possibilities enabled by emerging interactive media and the consequences – desirable and undesirable – that may follow from their application in secondary education settings.

31. Still.. Many have to be done: Solutions to technological constrains Training of the teachers Development of systematic evaluation schemes for such activities Wider application - Validation Integration to the national curricula – Need for educational reform …

32. Closing… All the computers in the world won’t make a difference without enthusiastic students, skilled and committed teachers, involved and informed parents and a society that underscores the value of learning. Finding effective ways to use technology to enhanced learning is a challenge that educators, academics, policy makers and the technology industry must work together to solve. The ideas and the concepts that will be presented in this symposium are just one step towards a better understanding on how technology can help everyone – from preschoolers to lifelong learners – to realize their full potential.

34. www.school-foresight.org