O2.1/A1.2 Training and Support Material Empowering spatial thinking of students with visual impairment O2.1/A1.2 Training and Support Material (c. Implemented Scenarios) Dissemination Level Public Version Final Date 31/07/2019 Authors: Philippos KATSOULIS – Headmaster (SESBA) Ramona Ionela MURESAN – Headmaster (LSDV) Mary STYLIDI – Occupational Therapist (SESBA) Mihaela POPESCU – Head Teacher (CCDC), Alina BOCA – Teacher Trainer (CCDC) Reviewed by: Anke BROCK – Researcher (INRIA) Eleni Tomai – Researcher (NTUA) Co-funded by the European Union The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use, which may be made of the information contained therein. Empowering spatial thinking of students with visual impairment 2016-1-EL01-KA201-023731 1 O2.1/A1.2 Training and Support Material Table of Contents Summary .............................................................................................................................. 3 1. Introduction to VISTE .................................................................................................. 3 1.1 The concept of Educational Scenarios ...................................................................... 3 1.2 Structure of the VISTE Educational Pathway Patterns ............................................. 4 2. VISTE Implemented Scenarios Phase A ...................................................................... 5 2.1 “Earth’s Relief”........................................................................................................... 5 2.2 “Planning and conducting a route” ........................................................................... 9 2.3 Pet Detective – strategic problem solving and planning game for 3rd- 6th grade . 17 2.4 “Prefectures of Greece” .......................................................................................... 25 2.5 “The solar system” ................................................................................................... 28 2.6 “The tilt of Earth's imaginary axis and the change of the seasons” ...................... 31 2.7 “Train of Spatial Thought – Divided Attention for 3rd- 6th grade” ......................... 40 2.8 “Water in everyday life” ......................................................................................... 48 2.9 “Imaginary Tour of Europe by Plane” ..................................................................... 65 2.10 “Integration /consolidation of spatial concepts in independent mobility” ........ 72 2.11 “Color and perception of paintings” ..................................................................... 79 2.12 “Accessible Journeys” ........................................................................................ 85 2.13 “Proportion in the Solar System” .......................................................................... 91 2.14 “Space and Time in Frame Stories” ....................................................................... 96 2.14 “The Fascination of the Road” ........................................................................ 101 3. Scenarios using the VISTE Toolkit ........................................................................... 106 3.1 “Let’s start from Kallithea to visit three important ports of Attica’s Prefecture: Piraeus, Rafina, Lavrio” ..................................................................................................... 106 3.2 “The Hercules’ labours in Peloponnese” ....................................................... 123 3.3 “Facial Expresion” .................................................................................................. 139 3.4 “Torball Game” ...................................................................................................... 148 Empowering spatial thinking of students with visual impairment 2016-1-EL01-KA201-023731 2 O2.1/A1.2 Training and Support Material Summary Training and support material (O2.1/A1.1) contains guidelines and support materials for covering users’ needs (presentations, online materials and tutorials). It is divided into three parts: a, b, and c. Part c, which is the current document constitutes a collection of all scenarios implemented in the classroom by the two schools in Greece and Romania during phases A and B of Implementation and Validation Activities. Scenarios herein are only in English to maximize outreach. Original versions of the scenarios are on the VISTE Community: https://portal.opendiscoveryspace.eu/en/community/viste-community-848648 1. Introduction to VISTE Spatial thinking is a blending of knowledge and skills that supports people in identifying, interpreting and visualizing location, distance, movement, change patterns and trends through space. For VI students access to the geographic world is limited and the environment they are able to perceive has relatively few, unique location clues. Spatial thinking is considered as a critical compensatory skill for VI students to foster their mobility and independence, as well as their academic progress in curriculum subjects. Therefore, spatial thinking constitutes a crucial skill both for sighted and VI students and presents an excellent case for cultivating collaborative learning of sighted and VI students across different subject, grade level, curricula and learning scenarios. VISTE is addressing to the unique needs of VI students in enhancing their spatial skills and it is cultivating these skills within collaborative activities with sighted students to foster inclusion within mainstream education. VISTE provides an innovative methodological framework, a technical infrastructure (in terms of an educational platform and augmentative reality tool), and a knowledge infrastructure (in terms of resources, educational scenarios and learning activities) to support teaching spatial thinking in collaborative, inclusive settings. The VISTE project proposes a methodological approach that will support learners (sighted and VI students and teachers) to apply spatial thinking and purposefully address spatial concepts, across all curricular areas and at any developmental level. This approach will help them grasp the interdisciplinary character of fundamental spatial concepts to facilitate inclusion. 1.1 The concept of Educational Scenarios Educational Pathway in the GEOTHNK project describes the organization and coordination of various individual science learning resources into a coherent plan so that they become a meaningful science learning activity for a specific user group (e.g. teachers, students, other museum visitors, etc.) in a specific context of use. Further, Educational Pathways directly serve the priority assigned by the project to the integration of resources scattered in various science museums/centers into the same learning experience rather than the mere selection of resources from a single museum or science center. Those scenarios will be adapted to the specific need of VI students during the VISTE Project. Empowering spatial thinking of students with visual impairment 2016-1-EL01-KA201-023731 3 O2.1/A1.2 Training and Support Material 1.2 Structure of the VISTE Educational Pathway Patterns In many cases, learning experiences should be ideally embedded in a context which provides the means for the preparation of the learner for the learning experience before it takes place, as well as for facilitating the retention and future exploitation of the outcomes of the learning experience for a longer time after it has taken place. This is a fundamental principle in formal education, but can also be seen as a useful dimension (even if not that prescriptive) in informal learning environments. For this reason, the VISTE Educational Pathway Patterns propose the organization of the science learning experience in three steps: i) Pre-visit: activities preparing for the interaction with the digital learning science resources; ii) Visit: activities involving interaction with the digital science learning resources in or outside the science museum/centre; iii) Post-visit: activities rounding up and concluding the learning experience, after the interaction with the digital science learning resources. From these, the Visit phase is the core of the learning experience and indispensable in any Pattern. The Pre-visit and Post-visit phases are absolutely essential for the realization of effective connections between school science education with learning activities involving work with science museum/centre content; however these ‘auxiliary’ preparatory and follow- up phases may well or may not be relevant to and desirable for open visits by any lifelong learner. Indeed, the degree of freedom or prescription in the design of a pathway has proven to be the most debated aspect of the VISTE approach in the consortium, which brings together two considerably separate ‘worlds’: those of formal school education and informal learning settings. Thus, although each pattern should include sections corresponding to these three phases, in the case of an open pathway pattern the pre-visit and post-visit phases should be seen as possible but not obligatory. In addition to the three phases, there is an introductory section outlining the identity of the Educational Pathway and providing guidance for any preparations necessary before the launch of the learning activity. Each section consists of a number of fields, for each one of which