National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Pedagogical Department of Primary Education, Science, Technology and Environmental Section, Didactics of Science
The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens is recognized for its pioneering work on student teachers education and the technological applications in educational settings. Pedagogical Department of Primary Education trains approximately 1200 students in a 4 year setting in order to become primary teachers and approximately has enrolled 200 M. Ed. Students and 150 PHD Students.
The laboratory of Didactics has a lot of experience in European and national projects. Its aim is to carry out fundamental and applied research on teaching, learning and the design/evaluation of technologies to support teaching and learning. Two of its major research areas are the creation of constructivist learning environments and the computer support for collaborative learning. Also, it is concerned with the development of new communication technologies with a particular focus on support for social interaction in collaborative learning environments. A National recognized example of this work is provided by the NAYSIKA program..
The research group who will work on the current proposal consists of Prof. Panos Kokkotas, Dr. Ioannis Blachos, Dr. Aikaterini Plakitsi, Dr Panagiotis Piliouras, Aikaterini Malamitsa, Euthumios Stamoulis and Myronas Maurogiannakis. Their work involves design and development of educational materials, instructional design, teacher’s training in didactical approaches in Science Education, teacher’s training in environmental education, design and evaluation of collaborative inquiry teacher-training courses and multimedia.
http://www.uoa.gr
Brief biographical notes of the members of the research team:
Panos V. Kokkotas is professor at the Pedagogical Department of University of Athens. He teaches Science Education, Multimedia (audio, visual etc.) teaching tools and Museum Education to both initial and in-service teachers. He has a degree in Physics from the University of Athens. His PhD is on pedagogy in science education from the University of Wales. He has taught science in high school, he has been a school consultant for science teachers. He has mainly published in science education. His recent books include Science Education I (Athens, 2000), Science Education II - The constructivist approach to teaching and learning science (Athens, 2002). Additionally he has edited Teaching Approaches to Science Education (Athens, 2000); as wells as he has edited the Greek translations of the books: Words, Science and Learning by Clive Sutton, (Athens, 2002) and also of the book Making Sense of Secondary Science by Driver et al. (Athens, 2000).
He is also writer of the following science textbooks: 1) Science textbook for 5th grade of primary school based on constructivism, 2) Science textbook for 6th grade of primary school based on constructivism, Physics Textbooks for students of Upper Secondary Shools as follows: 3) Physics textbook for 16 years old, 4) Physics textbook for 17 years old student, 5) Physics textbook for 18 years old student.
a) He is the Foundation president of the “The Hellenic Union for Science Education (EDIFE)”. Till now the Union has organized two large Conferences with international participation and also many small conferences in Greece. The 2nd Conference of EDIFE organized together with the 2nd IOSTE Symposium in Southern Europe.
b) He is Foundation Editor of the Greek journal: Science Education: Research & Practice.
Dr Ioannis Vlachos is a Science teacher Advisor, working in the Secondary Education. He graduated form the Physics Department of University of Ioannina, in 1975. Then he attended postgraduate studies (M.Sc) in Informatics and Telecommunication at the Physics Department of the University of Athens. He has contributed, as co-author, in the creation of innovative physics textbooks that are used in secondary education since 1983. After 15 years of teaching Science at the public secondary school, he turned to the Research in Science teaching and got his PhD in Teaching Science Methodology at the University of Athens. His research interests are focused at: a) utilization of History and Epistemology in Science teaching i.e., development and testing of education material aiming to change teachers’ and students’ beliefs on scientific concepts, b) study of the development and use of reasoning skills in science teaching classrooms and laboratories.
Dr Katerina Plakitsi is Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at the University of Ioannina in Greece. She teaches Natural Sciences and Science Education to Early Childhood teachers. She teaches Museum Education related to Science Education to initial and in-service teachers as well. she has degrees in both science and education. She got the degrees of Med and PhD in the University of Athens, her PhD thesis is on children’s conceptions of time. She carried out an action research program concerning the construction, the application and the evaluation of an innovative curriculum about teaching the topic of time in primary school. She has published articles in some journals and conference proceedings; she has contributed to some school textbooks. She is co-editor with Prof. P. Kokkotas to the book Museum Education: Theory and Practice).
Dr Panagiotis Piliouras got his PhD degree from the University of Athens, his Thesis is on teaching science in a sociocultural context. In 1984 he got his degree in primary education and in 1993 he got a degree in Mathematics. He attended postgraduate studies (M.Sc) in Science Education at the Pedagogical Department of Primary Education at the University of Athens. From 1985 until 1998 he has taught in a primary school. Since 1999 until 2005 he worked in the Pedagogical Department of Primary Education at the University of Athens. He is co-author of an environmental textbook for primary school pupils, in two interactive CDs on environmental education. His current work involves teaching, in-service teacher-training and design and development educational material and educational multimedia. His research interest is focused on teaching science in a collaborative inquiry mode, social interaction in learning and instruction, methodological questions in the analysis of social activity, sociocultural perspectives to learning and development, and applications of the educational technology.
Dr Katerina Malamitsa is a PhD holder from the Pedagogical Department of Primary Education at the National University of Athens in the issue of Critical Thinking development in twelve years old primary school students through the teaching of science. She got the Bachelor’s Degree as a Teacher in Primary Education in 1982. From 1982 tili 1995 she taught in primary schools of Greece. In 2002 she got the Master’s Degree in “Science Education” at the Pedagogical Department of Primary Education at the National University of Athens. She has participated in national and international conferences in topics concerning Science Education. She has published papers in Greek scientific journals and in the proceedings of national and international conferences. She is co-author of the Environmental Education textbooks which are for the 3rd & 4th grades of Greek Primary School., Her main research interests focus on the critical thinking development, Science Education in Primary School, the use of aspects of History of Science in Teaching Science, the teacher in service training and education, the reflective teacher, the professional development of teachers etc.
Efthymios Stamoulis is a PhD student at the University of Ioannina in the field of using “History and Philosophy of Science in teaching Science with new technologies”. He got the Bachelor’s Degree in Primary Education in 1984. From 1986 until 1998 he has taught in primary schools of Greece. In 2003 he got the Master’s Degree in “New Technologies in Education” at the Pedagogical Department of Primary Education at the National University of Athens and in 2005 he got the Master’s Degree (“Master in Education”) at the Hellenic Open University. He has participated in national and international conferences concerning Science Education and teaching. He is co- author of a science web-based multimedia which is used in Greek primary Schools His main research interests focus on the use of aspects of History of Science in Teaching Science, the design and development educational multimedia and web-based educational activities, teacher training, the reflective teacher, the professional development of teachers etc.
Miron Mavrogiannakis is a PhD student in the Paedagogical Department of Primary Education at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in the field of “Using ICT to promote Creative Thinking in Science Education in Primary School”. He got the Bachelor’s Degree as a Teacher in Primary Education in 1984. He has been teaching in primary schools of Greece since 1984. In 2003 he got the Master’s Degree in “Science Education” at the Paedagogical Department of Primary Education at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He has participated in national and international conferences in topics concerning Science Education and Teaching. He has also published papers in Greek scientific journals. He is an author of a Science CD-ROM which is used in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, & 4th grades of Greek Primary School in national level Some of his main research interests focus on the creative thinking development, Science Education in Primary School, the use of ICT in science education, the use of aspects of History of Science in Teaching Science, the teacher training and the professional development of teachers.
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