The MCL Research group, at the Department of Communication and Internet Studies (CIS) of the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT), organized a meeting on 27.6.2018 with Associate Professor Yiyu Cai from the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and Dr Sue Patratos from the Nelson Mandela University in South Africa. The members of the MCL group had the opportunity to present information on the CIS Department at CUT to the visiting professors, and discuss the group’s current research projects. The participants had a fruitful discussion on the latest trends on innovative technologies for learning such as Augmented Reality and the Internet of Things. The meeting set the basis for possible new collaborations between the three universities!
The MCL Research group in collaboration with the Internet of Things Lab (IoTLab) of the Department of Communication and Internet Studies of the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT), have been awarded a 6-month grant to work on developing illustrative cases on how to integrate “Internet of Things” (IoT) in secondary education.
The project named “IoT for Education: Air Quality matters” (IoT4ED) is part of a larger Horizon 2020 funded program aiming to enhance physical environments with IoT platforms and applications, thus contributing to the development of of smart and connected environments (i.e. smart city, smart campus, intelligent transportation, etc).
The Cyprus University of Technology team will work on the development of an IoT-based mobile application for secondary school students, aiming to promote environmental awareness about air pollution and an understanding of how the “Internet of Things” works. The mobile application will be co-designed with students and will be tested in secondary schools in Limassol to evaluate the usability and impact of the app. The mobile app will communicate with the platforms and databases which collect data from other cities in the EU and will also display environmental data from Limassol.
The CUT team which will work on IoT4ED consists of Dr. Lambros Lambrinos, Dr. Eleni A. Kyza, Andria Agesilaou, Loucas Constantinou, and Markos Souropetsis from the Department of Communication and Internet Studies at CUT.
Το πρόγραμμα “Νέες Τεχνολογίες Μάθησης και Επικοινωνίας“
- Απευθύνεται σε όσους ενδιαφέρονται να κατανοήσουν καλύτερα την επίδραση των νέων τεχνολογιών σε τυπικά και άτυπα περιβάλλοντα
μάθησης και διδασκαλίας - Χρήση καινοτόμων τεχνολογιών και νέων μέσων για προώθηση της μάθησης
- Εναλλακτικοί τρόποι φοίτησης μέσω τεχνολογιών εξ αποστάσεως μάθησης
- Αναγνωρισμένο από την Εκπαιδευτική Υπηρεσία Κύπρου
- Διανύει επιτυχώς το έβδομο έτος λειτουργίας του
- Μειωμένα δίδακτρα ύψους €4100 για το σύνολο του προγράμματος
- Τελευταία ημερομηνία υποβολής ηλεκτρονικών αιτήσεων 31/3/2018.
https://www.cut.ac.cy/studies/masters/applying/
The aim of the PARRISE project is to collect and share existing best practices across Europe and develop learning tools, materials and in/pre- service training courses for science teachers based on the Socio-Scientific Inquiry-Based Learning (SSIBL) approach.
The goal of the project is to empower and facilitate science teachers and teacher educators, by in-service and pre-service professional development courses, based on reshaped best practices available among the partners. These shared selected best practices will be reflected on from a ‘Responsible Research and Innovation’ (RRI) perspective and improved by an international ‘community of learners’ who incorporate RRI in their teaching and learning processes.
The PARRISE project has established a multidisciplinary team and facilitates networking activities among teachers, teacher educators and educational researchers of 18 institutions in 11 countries. The project builds on recently developed Inquiry-Based Science Education (IBSE) insights and fosters implementation of IBSE in educational practice.
Find out information about the PARRISE here.
Focus: Science teachers’ professional development through a participatory design approach
Funding: European-funded project
Status: Completed
Related Publications
Kyza, E. A., Georgiou, Y., Hadjichambis, A., & Agesilaou, A. (2018). Antibiotics in livestock: Introducing in-service teachers to the nature of contemporary, socio-scientific controversies. School Science Review, 100(371), 53-58.
Hadjichambis, A. C., Georgiou, Y., Paraskeva Hadjichambi, D., Kyza, E. A., Agesilaou, A., & Mappouras, D. (2018). Promoting RRI and active citizenship in an inquiry-based controversial socio-scientific issue: the case of cholesterol regulation with statins. Journal of Biological Education, 1-13.
“Activity Trackers” is a locally-funded research project, which is focused on the investigation of elementary school students’ knowledge about the functions of the human body and healthy lifestyle habits. Employing an exploratory research design, the overall goal of the project is to investigate the potential contribution of this innovating technology in Science Education in order to help students learn about the functions of the human body by collecting data from their own bodies after a set of experiential activities. In addition, the projects aims to promote healthy lifestyle to students and help them adopt healthier eating habits, as well as to exercise regularly. The “Activity Trackers” program has also a parallel goal; to explore the potential of students’ contribution in the co-design of a learning environment which makes use of the activity trackers, in order to be implemented in Science Education in elementary schools. Co-design enables the inclusion of students needs and interests in the curriculum development for more motivating learning environments. The “Activity Trackers” program provides the opportunity to students to communicate their preferences and have an active role in the design of learning environments using innovating technologies.
Read more about the “Activity Trackers” program for schools.
Focus: Participatory design
Funding: Locally-funded project
Status: Ongoing
“Mystery at the lake” is a locally-funded research project, which is focused on investigating the nature of immersion in location-based AR settings for environmental science learning. Employing a design- based approach, the overall goal of the project was to collect multiple empirical data through a set of iterative studies about the nature of students’ immersion in location- based AR settings, its relation to students’ environmental science learning as well as about the successful design of immersive location-based AR learning environments. As part of this project, the “Mystery at the lake” AR learning environment, which is addressed to middle and high school students, has been developed. The learning environment takes place by the Bishop’s lake in collaboration with the Cyprus Center for Environmental Research and Education (CY.C.E.R.E). As part of the design-based approach, the main efforts of the project were focused on the development of an evidence-based framework reflecting the conceptualization and valid measurement of immersion in location-based AR settings, the main learners’ characteristics mediating their immersive experiences as well as a set of design principles guiding the successful development of immersive location-based AR learning environments. This evidence-based framework has also guided the design and re-design, improvement and finalization of the “Mystery at the lake” AR learning environment.
Read more about the “Mystery at the lake” program for schools.
Focus: Immersion in location-based AR learning environments for environmental science learning
Funding: Locally-funded project
Status: Completed
Related Publications
Georgiou, Y. & Kyza, E. A. (2017). Investigating Immersion in relation to students’ learning during a collaborative location-based augmented reality activity In Smith, B. K., Borge, M., Mercier, E., and Lim, K. Y. (Eds.). (2017). Making a Difference: Prioritizing Equity and Access in CSCL, 12th International Conference on Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) 2017, Volume 1. Philadelphia, PA: International Society of the Learning Sciences. [Long paper.]
Kyza, E. A., & Georgiou, Y. (2016). Digital tools for enriching informal inquiry-based mobile learning: The design of the TraceReaders location-based augmented reality learning platform. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 3rd Asia-Europe Symposium on Simulation and Serious Gaming – 15th ACM SIGGRAPH Conference on Virtual-Reality Continuum and its Applications in Industry, VRCAI 2016, 195-198. doi:10.1145/3014033.3017432
Georgiou, Y., & Kyza, E. A. (2017). The development and validation of the ARI questionnaire: An instrument for measuring immersion in location-based augmented reality settings. International Journal of Human Computer Studies, 98, 24-37. doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2016.09.014
Georgiou Y. & Kyza, E. A. (2014). “Can you listen to my voice?” Including a student voice in the design of a chemistry module aiming to increase students’ learning and motivation. In Bolte, C., Holbrook, J., Mamlok-Naaman, R., Rauch, F. (eds.), Science teachers’ continuous professional development in Europe: Case studies from the PROFILES project. Berlin: Freie Universität Berlin. Print: University of Klagenfurt (Austria), 94-102.
“Young Archaeologists” is a locally- funded research project, which is focused on the investigation of inquiry-based AR mobile learning in archaeological and cultural settings. Employing a design- based approach, the overall goal of the project is to collect multiple empirical data through a set of iterative studies about the nature of students’ historical learning in archaeological and cultural settings based on the inquiry-based AR mobile learning approach. As part of this project, the “Young Archaeologists” AR learning environment, which is addressed to 3rd and 4th graders, has been developed. The learning environment takes place at the Neolithic archaeological site of Choirokoitia. As part of the design-based approach, the main efforts of the project are focused the development of an evidence-based framework reflecting the affordances and challenges of the inquiry-based AR mobile learning in archaeological and cultural settings; these efforts will also guide the design and re-design, improvement and finalization of the “Young Archaeologists” AR learning environment.
Read more about “Young Archaeologists” program for schools.
Focus: Inquiry-based AR mobile learning in archaeological and cultural settings
Funding: Locally-funded project
Status: Ongoing
Related Publications
Efstathiou, I., Kyza, E. A. & Georgiou, Y. (2017). An inquiry-based augmented reality mobile learning approach to fostering primary school students’ historical reasoning in non-formal settings. Interactive Learning Environments, 26(1), 22-41.
Kyza, E. A., & Georgiou, Y. (2016). Digital tools for enriching informal inquiry-based mobile learning: The design of the TraceReaders location-based augmented reality learning platform. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 3rd Asia-Europe Symposium on Simulation and Serious Gaming – 15th ACM SIGGRAPH Conference on Virtual-Reality Continuum and its Applications in Industry, VRCAI 2016, 195-198.
PROFILES (Title: “Professional Reflection Oriented Focus on Inquiry- based Learning and Education through Science) was a four year (2010 – 2014) research program, funded by the European Commission, under the FP7 Science in Society program. Bringing together 19 university teams from 21 European countries, promoted IBSE through raising the self-efficacy of science teachers to take ownership of more effective ways of teaching students, supported by stakeholders.
The PROFILES innovation lied on working with teacher partnerships to implement existing, exemplary context-led, IBSE focused, science teaching materials enhanced by inspired, teacher relevant, training and intervention programmes. This was undertaken by reflection, interactions and seeking to meaningfully raise teacher skills in developing creative, scientific problem-solving and socio-scientific decision-making abilities in students. The measures of success were through (a) determining the self-efficacy of science teachers in developing self-satisfying science teaching methods and (b) in the attitudes of students toward this more student-involved approach. Dissemination of approaches, reactions, and reflections formed a further key project target, making much use of the internet and other formats useful for sharing science teacher profiles in an interactive forum.
PROFILES involved the development of teachers on four fronts (teacher as learner, teacher as effective teacher, teacher as reflective practitioner, teacher as leader) consolidating their ownership of society-led, IBSE approaches and incorporating use-inspired research, evaluative methods and stakeholder networking. The project disseminated its innovation with trained lead teachers spearheading further teacher development at pre- and in-service levels and initiating a series of workshops for key stakeholders nationwide. The project focused on open inquiry approaches as a major teaching target and paid much attention to both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation of students in the learning of science. The intended outcome was school science teaching to become more meaningful, related to 21st century science and incorporate interdisciplinary socio-scientific issues and IBSE-related teaching, taking particular note of gender factors.
Find out information about the PROFILES here.
Focus: Science teachers’ professional development through a participatory design approach
Funding: European-funded project
Status: Completed
Related Publications
Hadjichambis, A. C., Georgiou, Y., Paraskeva-Hadjichambi, D., Kyza, E. A., & Mappouras, D. (2016). Investigating the effectiveness of an inquiry-based intervention on human reproduction in relation to students’ gender, prior knowledge and motivation for learning in biology. Journal of Biological Education, 50(3), 261-274. doi:10.1080/00219266.2015.1067241
Kyza, E. A. & Georgiou, Y. (2014). Developing in-service science teachers’ ownership of the PROFILES pedagogical framework through a technology-supported participatory design approach to professional development. Science Education International, 25(2), 55-77.
Kyza, E. A., Georgiou, Y., Hadjichambi, D. & Hadjichambis, A. (2013). Teacher Framing, Classroom Collaboration Scripts, and Help‐Seeking and Help‐Giving Behaviors. In N. Rummel, M. Kapur, M. Nathan, S. Puntambekar (Eds.) To see the world and a grain of sand: Learning across levels of space, time and scale. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning. Madison, WI: International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS), 2013. [Long paper.]
Schulte, T., Georgiou, Y., Kyza, E.A., Bolte, C. (2013). Students’ and teachers’ perceptions of school based scientific literacy priorities and practice: A cross‐cultural comparison between Cyprus and Germany. In: C. P. Constantinou, N. Papadouris & A. Hadjigeorgiou (Eds.), “E-Book Proceedings of the ESERA 2013 Conference: Science Education Research For Evidence-based Teaching and Coherence in Learning”, Part 8: “Scientific Literacy and Socio-scientific Issues” (co-ed. J. Dillon & A. Redfors), European Science Education Research Association, Nicosia, Cyprus, ISBN: 978-9963-700-77-6, pp. 132-140.
Georgiou, Y., Kyza, E. A., & Ioannou, A. (2012). Creating and sustaining online communities of practice for science teachers’ professional development: Overcoming the barriers. In J. V. Aalst, K. Thompson, M. J. Jacobson & Reimann, P. (Eds.), The future of learning. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference of the Learning Sciences (pp. 533-534). Sydney, Australia. [Poster.]
CoReflect (Title: Digital support for Inquiry, Collaboration, and Reflection on Socio-Scientific Debates) was a three year (2008 – 2011) research program, funded by the European Commission, under the FP7 Science in Society program. Bringing together eight diverse and multi-disciplinary teams from seven European states, the project members promoted evidence-based practice in science teaching and learning, by collaborating to iteratively design, enact, critique, and validate problem-based innovative inquiry learning environments. These environments, which are being hosted on the STOCHASMOS web-based teaching and learning platform, coupled data-rich scientific rigor with the flexibility and easy modifiability that is needed for widespread adoption and use by teachers.
Find out information about the CoREFLECT here.
Focus: Science teachers’ professional development through a participatory design approach
Funding: European-funded project
Status: Completed
Related Publications
Kyza, E. A., Herodotou, C., Nicolaidou, I., Redfors, A., Hansson, L., Schanze, S., Saballus, U., Papadouris, N. & Michael, G. (In Press). Adapting web‐based inquiry learning environments from one country to another: The CoReflect experience. In C. Bruguiere, P. Clement, and A. Tiberghien, 9th ESERA Conference Selected Contributions. Topics and trends in current science education. Springer.
Redfors, A., Hansson, L., Kyza, E. A., Nicolaidou, I., Asher, I., Tabak, I., Papadouris, N. & Avraam, C. (In Press). CoReflect –web‐based inquiry learning environments on socio‐scientific issues. In C. Bruguiere, P. Clement, and A. Tiberghien, 9th ESERA Conference Selected Contributions. Topics and trends in current science education. Springer.
Herodotou, C., Kyza, E. A., Nicolaidou, I., Hadjichambis, A., Kafouris, D., & Terzian, F. (2011). The Development and Validation of the GMOAS, an Instrument Measuring Secondary School Students’ Attitudes Towards Genetically Modified Organisms. International Journal of Science Education, Part B, 1 17.
Nicolaidou, I., Kyza, E. A., Terzian, F., Hadjichambis, A., & Kafouris, D. (2011). A framework for scaffolding students’ assessment of the credibility of evidence. Journal of Research in ScienceTeaching, 48(7), 711‐744.
Nicolaidou, I., Kyza, E. A., Terzian, F., Hadjichambis, A., & Kafouris, D. (2010). Scaffolding students in evaluating the credibility of evidence using a reflective web‐based inquiry environment on Biotechnology. Proceedings of ICLS2010: Learning in the Disciplines Conference, Chicago, IL, USA, June 29‐July 2, 2010. [Long paper.]
Stochasmos (Kyza & Constantinou, 2010) is a web – based learning platform for supporting students’ scientific reasoning through scientifically authentic investigations with an embedded authoring tool. Teachers and other instructional designers can use this system to design their own web – based investigations with reflective supports. The STOCHASMOS platform is available in English, Greek, Arabic, Dutch, German, Hebrew, and Swedish. The platform was the main product of the STOCHASMOS project which investigated the role of new technologies in supporting middle-school students’ reflective inquiry practices in science and, in specific, the role of technology-based supports in scaffolding students’ reasoning with scientific data. The research part of the project examined the interactions of the students with the web-based environment following a mixed-methods approach.
Find out information about STOCHASMOS here.
Focus: Development of STOCHASMOS web-based platform for the development of inquiry-based learning environents
Funding: European-funded project
Status: Completed
Related Publications
Kyza, E. A., Constantinou, C. P., & Spanoudis, G. (2011). Sixth graders’ conceptual understanding of iotic and abiotic factors during a disturbance in an ecosystem. International Journal of Science Education.
Kyza, E. A., Michael, G., & Constantinou, C. P. (2011). The design and investigation of a web based synchronous and asynchronous peer feedback mechanism. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Computer Supported Collaborative Learning, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China, (July 4‐8, 2011). [Short paper.]
Michael, G., Papadouris, N., Kyza, E. A., & Constantinou, C. P. (2010). Developing and evaluating a web‐based learning environment for helping 6th grade students appreciate subjectivity and uncertainty in science. Proceedings of ICLS2010: Learning in the Disciplines Conference, Chicago, IL, USA, June 29‐July 2, 2010 [Poster].
Kyza, E. A. (2009). Middle‐School Students’ Reasoning About Alternative Hypotheses in a Scaffolded, Software‐Based Inquiry Investigation. Cognition and Instruction, 27(4), 277‐311.
Spanoudis, G. & Kyza, E.A. (2009). Integrating knowledge of cognitive system and e‐learning applications. In C., Mourlas, N., Tsianos, & P. Germanakos (Eds.), Cognitive and Emotional Processes in Web‐based Education: Integrating Human Factors and Personalization, Advances in Web‐Based Learning Book Series. (pp.72‐85). Hershey, PA: IGI Global Publishing.
Kyza, E. A. & Constantinou, C. P. (2008). A design‐based approach to professional development: the need to see teachers as learners to achieve excellence in inquiry‐based science education. In Zumbach, J.; Schwartz, N.; Seufert, T.; Kester, L. (Eds.) “Beyond Knowledge: the Legacy of Competence Meaningful Computer‐based Learning Environments”. (pp.173‐181). Springer.
Kyza, E. A. (2008). Promises, Challenges, and Realities of a Design‐based Approach to e‐Portfolios. Proceedings of the 7th European Conference on E‐Learning (ECEL 2008), Grecian Bay Hotel, Ayia Napa, Cyprus, 6‐7 November 2008.
Kyza, E. A. & Constantinou, C. P. (2007). Web‐based platforms for learning in science education. In CIT in Primary Science: A Handbook for Teachers, Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture, Nicosia, 2007. [In Greek.]
Kyza, E. A., Michael, G., & Constantinou, C. P. (2007). The rationale, design, and implementation of a web‐based inquiry learning environment. In Zacharia, Z. C. & Constantinou, C. P., (Eds.) Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Computer‐based learning in Science. Crete, Greece.
Ioannou, A. S., Constantinou, C. P., Papadouris, N., & Kyza, E. A. (2007). Development and assessment of web based curriculum materials for decision‐making about socio‐scientific issues: the example of trace chemicals in drinking water. In Zacharia, Z. C. & Constantinou, C. P., (Eds.) Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Computer‐based learning in Science. Crete, Greece.