Hosted by OSOS , contributed by Milopoulos on 12 October 2020
The implementation of KROS at EA was an excellent opportunity to turn the school in to a hub for scientific knowledge transfer. In particular, EA with the support from RSI, organised events in which the students were informed public on Road Safety guidelines and latest technologies, examining the myths around driving that effect the behavior of drivers of all ages. Students then had the task to transfer their new knowledge to their parents at home.
EA exploited the innovative resources that KROS provided from different stakeholders (open content) through a project-based multidisciplinary approach (open pedagogy) that required extended collaboration and networking between the school and different stakeholders (open collaboration) who brought significant expertise in the design and implementation of the proposed activities. KROS Training took place for two very different student groups: Students of the elementary school used the VR application of KROS, learning how to walk in a big city and how to bike safely, respecting the traffic lights, the road signs and the crossings. KROS is based on the use engaging presentation forms to attract the whole community of teachers, students and parents within each school.
KROS is introducing cutting edge technologies in order to accompany the retention of information regarding the subject of road safety. More in particular the project uses Virtual Reality technologies so as to firstly introduce attractiveness in the learning process and secondly to improve the quality of the delivery channels of the content to be taught.
KROS has also strengthened the profile of the teaching profession to EA teachers, by offering a multidisciplinary approach for the introduction of road safety in the school curriculum. The project achieved to support activities that implement best practices and tools for professionals working with and for children in communicating in a way adapted to their age and stages of development and thus improved the quality of teaching and learning in the classroom while endorsing innovative methods and digital integration in teaching technology and innovation. Students become familiar with Road Safety, mainly through hands-on experimentation. This educational approach promotes inquiry, creativity and collaborative learning.
Osjetiti
Elementary and High School students at EA are very worried about the fact that road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death in the 5–24 years age group in Europe and worldwide. At EA, each year students are informed about road safety issues from experts such as the Road Safety Institute "Panos Mylonas". They have learned that all European governments are committed to the reduction in the number of road fatalities and casualties, however the problem remains unsolved. They believe that there is a need to improve road safe behaviours and attitudes of all citizens, not only through education programmes in schools but in their parents also and other local stakeholders.
EA teachers, in order to facilitate the process of introduction and implementation of road safety education in the school curricula, followed closely a comprehensive training programme which KROS offers and they learnt to use its educational resources, especially the created activity sheets and the VR application.
The goal is that effective road safety education in schools will influence all members of the school community, including students, families, school administration and teachers, to be responsible on the road. This holistic school approach is needed to be encompassed and promoted by a relevant pedagogical framework.
In conclusion, in the framework of KROS and complementary to the road safety related objectives, the training programme has succeeded:
- To enable teachers trying new ideas in practice as a means of improvement and as a means of increasing knowledge about the curriculum, teaching, and learning in open schooling.
- To raise their level of critical thinking about teaching and learning, and in general about their practice or commonly adopted methodologies.
- To engage them in collaborative and reflective implementation and development of practices.
- To facilitate the adoption of innovative approaches in teaching and learning.
- To emphasize the importance of sharing experience, expertise and valuable outcomes with other teachers in their community and beyond.
- To strengthen teachers' confidence to become active change agents.
- To empower students in engaging in similar approaches that affect their families and local communities
Zamisliti
Teachers from different disciplines collaborated across multiple subjects to use the integrated interdisciplinary learning activity sheets of KROS to connect their otherwise separate subject-specific content. The training resources available at the KROS website offer a range of ideas on implementing relevant activities in the classroom.
It was decided that the KROS VR application will be very engaging for students of the elementary school. EA has a VR training centre consisting of three stations. 141 Students of the elementary school where devided in groups of 3 and with the guidance of their teachers used the VR application of KROS, learning in a fun and engaging way how to walk around in a big city (as the one they live in) and how to bike safely among the passing people and cars. Furthermore, it was decided that students of high school, should follow, in their physics lessons, the KROS Activity sheets, in order to address major road safety issues that respond to the needs and problems of adolescent road users:
- Speeding
- Seat belt use and protection devices
- Drink driving
- Distraction
- Cycling and motorcycling
- Fatigue & drowsiness
- Passenger safety
- Vulnerable Road Users
- Sustainable and active travel
- Peer pressure
Kreiraj
KROS provides a series of 24 Training modules and relevant demonstrators in the form of Activity sheets aiming to provide ideas to the teachers for real world learning activities that develop problem solving, collaboration and effective communication. These can be found in the Resources of the KROS Community.
The training modules are addressing the following road safety topics:
- Speeding
- Seat belt use
- distraction
- drink driving
- vulnerable road users
- emotions in traffic
- sustainable & active travel
- motorcycling and
- passenger safety.
Teachers of physics from EA High School found these activity sheets very useful. They successfully combined them with the curriculum and during physic classes they implemented many of the proposed scenarios:
EA High School Students implementing KROS Activity Sheets in the classroom
The activity sheets are supplemented by the 2 VR scenarios-demonstrators (1 for pedestrians, 1 for bicycle) that were taken from the eDrive Academy platform and customized according to the needs of student road users.
The following photographs demonstate the implementation of KROS at EA Elementary School students:
These activities helped the teachers and inspire students to start road safety projects Teachers can also find a manual (e book) at the KROS website that offers a presentation of techniques on how teachers can motivate their students on issues related to road safety with real world learning activities that develop problem solving, collaboration, and effective communication.
The guide promotes a whole school approach that includes:
- Integration to the school curriculum
- Parental engagement
- School ethos and organization.
Extended presentation of case studies and examples of good practices on the above issues are given throughout this booklet as well as guidance on how to use the Activity Sheets and Start a project in class addressing a local road safety problem according to the pedagogical framework of “Feel-Imagine-Create-Share” and “Inquiry based” teaching methods. Moreover, a manual on how to use VR is uploaded at KROS website (Virtual Reality Manual).
Based on the abovementioned Activity Sheets and using the KROS VR Training Applications, teachers can get inspired and create innovative, engaging and pedagogically rich PROJECTS for their students. They can also use their own training material and resources and upload them to the KROS Community.