FAiry TAle ScIence Augmented Erasmus Project

Project Title

FAiry TAle ScIence Augmented

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Natural sciences; Pedagogy and didactics

Project Summary

The educational landscape is shifting. Augmented reality is gaining traction as a way to engage students, and its impact on learning can be summarised by the Confucius quotation: “Tell me and I will forget; Show me and I may remember; Involve me and I will understand”. A user’s real, visible environment is the predominant element, with extra information intended to augment the actual environment a user sees on an ad hoc basis, rather than fully replacing it. As a result, the capacity for immersion with AR is lower than that offered by virtual and mixed realities. Nonetheless, it is likely more useful than Virtual reality (VR) in many professional contexts as being totally isolated from one’s environment is generally not the desired outcome for professional informatics tools and interfaces. Moreover, according to the Commissions Digital Transformation Monitor report, the market for both VR and AR is immature, with high potential. Currently, the vast majority of users experience AR using a smartphone or a tablet. AR with its much-reduced hardware requirements and intuitive usability (i.e. the user can still see the world around him/her) remains a more practical tool in a professional context from a technical standpoint. Furthermore, AR experimentation relies on custom, tailor-made software designed to work with a company’s physical environment and integrate with its existing systems.
FANTASIA project aims at developing an educational package for the teaching of some basic scientific concepts & skills. It will be in such a form that it can be easily used by anyone regardless whether they are teachers, parents or guardians and regardless of their training. It can be used independently in class or at home, with the support of an adult. The educational material will be implemented in science classrooms as well as at homes and science centers, in participating EU countries and evaluated in regards to its educational objectives. Finally, the impact of the project on the target groups, as well as potential impact on individuals and organisations outside the partnership will be also evaluated.
Content: The basic subjects which will be addressed are the concept of the spherical earth, as a planet moving around itself & the sun, the concept of the sun, the phenomenon of the change of the day/night cycle & the explanation of floating & sinking of solid objects in the water. Moreover the students will learn how to apply the scientific method in order to evaluate their beliefs concerning the above phenomena. The educational package will include:
a) A fairy tale describing the adventures of a young illiterate person who starts a trip around the earth in order to explain what seems to be a “mystery” to him/her, namely the explanation of the day/night cycle. During this trip s/he will have to solve scientific problems by conducting observations & experiments using simple materials & having discussions with people who he/she will meet during his/her trip. Thus, step by step he/she will discover the answers to the questions concerning some laws of nature. The fairy tale will be in written form with illustrations & accompanied by a recorded form with soundtrack & sound effects.
b) Scenarios for the educational use of the fairy tale with detailed descriptions of educational activities that children will be asked to perform with the assistance of the educators/guardians. Most of the proposed activities have been already evaluated in real science class environments during research projects. They are based on a theoretical framework with great impact in the research in cognitive psychology & science education.
c) A discussion of the difficulties that students have in learning the specific concepts, a simplified description of the theoretical framework underlying the proposed educational activities and a discussion of the aim of the proposed educational activities. Therefore, educators & adults will be able to help the students overcome these obstacles.
d) A description of a set of drama & music kinetic activities connected to the story to make the process of learning amusing & new knowledge which otherwise would have been emotionally indifferent will become emotionally stable & enduring.
e) Augmented reality 3D content that has not yet become a reality in many scientific domains and it will facilitate effective and efficient use of digital content through the open source availability.
The educational material will be suitable for use by students ranging in age from 5- 12 years. The results of the evaluation & of the impact effects of the implementation of the educational package in EU countries will provide an indication whether this will be suitable for students in other countries as well and in different languages.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 276008 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, DUBLIN & Country: IE

Project Partners

• CLEVERBOOKS LIMITED
• CONSIGLIO NAZIONALE DELLE RICERCHE
• PANEPISTIMIO AIGAIOU