e-Circuito em Guimarães

: uma experiência de mobile learning com alunos do 9º ano

Abstract

In the context of the information society we live in, it is essential to associate the information and communication technologies to the educational practices, enabling the teacher to differentiate his classroom methodologies and make his interaction with the pupils go beyond his native space, the classroom. Pupils now deal with new ways of approaching teaching with the use of new tools such as Web 2.0 and Mobile. The use of these tools has become more and more relevant, as they bring new methodologies into the classroom and make the student more active and participant. Mobile devices have been used as teaching and learning tools, which shows that we are in the Mobile Learning age. The teacher’s role in this process has to be praised in his ability to follow this new way of teaching, working hard in the production of new contents. Thanks to the intervention of Parque Escolar (School Park) (created by the Decree-law no 41/2007, 21st February), schools were given new spaces and resources, making the classrooms more equipped with computer equipment, enabling more moments for research and study. Nonetheless, the activities developed outside the classroom also play an important role in the teaching/learning process and this is not always recognized. School trips have been assuming a leading role in the reorganization of curriculums, as they are one of the most motivating strategies for students. Their performance and effort in the activities favour knowledge acquisition. They enable the promotion and the interconnection between theory and practice, teaching and reality. Curriculum enrichment activities, just like school trips, promote knowledge acquisition through multidisciplinary activities and projects, pupils’ personal and social formation and school-environment articulation. The present study is an exploratory one which intends to analyze the importance of the use of Web 2.0 and Mobile platforms in school trips as a curriculum enrichment activity. It also intends to think over the interest of this kind of action in the teaching process, as well as to establish an interconnection between the potential of the tools used and the school subject curriculum, and, thus, take up the relevance of their use.

Date of Award	29 Oct 2014
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Sónia Cruz (Supervisor)