November 2006

Our motivation

INTRODUCTION
Today at school the next book and audiovisual computer is becoming an increasingly important tutorial. The aims of the school are fundamentally educational purposes, but the task of the school is not so much to acquire knowledge as to promote the training of skills and competencies.
is this prospect that the problem must also be seen in the use of educational technologies, including multimedia.
Multimedia technologies must not only be used for transmission knowledge, to lecture, to expose and present, but also to discover, build, invent knowledge.
As computer use has proved very useful in teaching practice, it is important not only that schools must provide themselves with equipment and technological tools, but that teachers are also able to teach students responsible use of the technologies themselves. As a result, the usefulness of competency in schools to teach a course that provides the basics of tools used in education and make people think about the importance of the use thereof to facilitate the learning process.
The computer is now seen as a tool active in the construction of knowledge. Is no longer used only as an aid to cognitive activity based on other mediums (books, oral transmission of knowledge), but it works as a buffer information, allowing to overcome the big problem of access to information through research on WEB or use of software, from cooperative amplifier, providing a set of tools that facilitate the sharing of ideas beyond the physical scope of the class work, finally, cognitive amplifier, as it promotes listening, understanding and focus, developing skills such as intuition and planning.
New technologies for life, must be treated in the same way as old as the blackboard or the book. That is their natural place is in the classroom, where, however, the teacher often considers them an unnatural presence.
With the introduction of computers in schools and universities, the Internet, the information superhighway has become a tool for teaching and are more and more people who use it daily for work as well as study.
What seemed primarily a system of cables and computers has become a vital means of communication for all, the average par excellence, the most effective and fastest way to access a wealth of services and information spaces.
The man, in fact, has always had the desire to communicate their thoughts and gave the word. So, aided by technological innovations, has learned to communicate more quickly, and complex media: the past with the advent of radio and television today with the advent of the Internet.
In the field of education and training, through multimedia, new and interesting form of communication, students are encouraged to take an active role in their learning process and have the opportunity to influence the level of detail and style of presentation of issues they face.
is thanks to the Internet for material that students are their research, deepening the topics including news, first, were either too small or inaccessible.
Internet, now has assumed the character of an immense store of information, not always, though, you can not find what you need quickly. It's a little 'how to go to a public library and not being able to navigate the shelves without the aid of bibliographic or without the guidance of the register. Those who access the network is facing an endless repertoire of data that increase and change constantly.
It may seem paradoxical, but have a vast amount of information is equivalent to not have any information.
To overcome the inevitable difficulties encountered by surfers in the acquisition of useful information are born, since the late 90s, search engines, which facilitate the search by entering a keyword 10
The course in educational technology has allowed us to deepen the biggest, "perhaps", new search engines in recent years: Google. Unlike most search engines, Google has in its results list only the pages that are present in the text or links on the search words.
The section devoted to the search of images allowed us to quickly find the images that represent the system iconografico della nostra lezione, incentrata sui Malavoglia.
Le immagini inserite (nella scelta abbiamo preso solo immagini con qualità superiore), riguardano il paesaggio in cui Verga scrive il suo romanzo.
Servendoci del programma di PowerPoint, abbiamo creato una presentazione con le immagini relative al nostro lavoro.
Ci proponiamo di far visualizzare le immagini ai nostri alunni. Chiediamo loro di farsi un’idea sull’argomento o, ancora, dopo aver trattato l’argomento chiediamo ai nostri alunni di creare una collegamento tra immagini e le parti dell’argomento trattato. Ai nostri studenti, potremo chiedere, infine, di cercare immagini collegabili all’argomento trattato.
Per presentare la nostra lezione abbiamo utilizzato due programmi molto utili ai fini didattici: IHMC CmapTools, attraverso il quale abbiamo creato delle mappe concettuali, e Gimp 2.2, che ci ha permesso di lavorare sulle immagini.
Una mappa concettuale è una rappresentazione grafica che serve per comunicare delle informazioni chiare e dati utili per esprimere un ragionamento che abbiamo fatto o che vogliamo comunicare agli altri.
I concetti, racchiusi in ovali o rettangoli, sono collegati con frecce, con parole scritte sulle linee per indicare la relazione tra i concetti e sono disposti in modo gerarchico.
Una mappa concettuale è utile per costruire, rielaborare e trasmettere la conoscenza, in quanto mostra relazioni tra le idee.
La vera forza delle mappe concept is its ability to stimulate and achieve simultaneously all key aspects of learning. Promotes clear and precise expression of the path explained and facilitates the understanding of simple and immediate multi-disciplinary connections.
When working with maps, cross, in fact, the boundaries of individual disciplines: logic is a methodology that stimulates reasoning, mental associations, the conceptual references, the graphic representation of thought. Obviously, this is true in any discipline and any discipline because it is like a "mindset" that facilitates the reasonings, conceptualizations and their representations for personal study and communication with others.
The concept map as a sequential process changes inherent in thought, in a synoptic view that, with a single glance, may include a number of things, perceiving the structure, the derivations and relationships.
Map presentation to the novel I Malavoglia fact allows to make connections with other disciplines such as history, geography, science.
Concept maps are thus an essential tool in teaching because they allow teachers to: prepare presentations or lectures to be done in the classroom, introduce new concepts; plan recovery activities. With the example
The presentation of the novel Malavoglia want to offer our students a tool through which they can organize their study materials, developing ideas and concepts, integrate large bodies of information, express their existing knowledge on a subject, put new concepts in their knowledge structure, secure the material learned in the long-term memory.
The first map will show that our students will provide a comprehensive map on which are shown all the arguments that relate to our lesson. The lecture will consist in part of a lecture, in part by an interactive lesson in which students are invited to participate by using their prior knowledge. Each bubble
later will have its hub. Below are five daughters
maps where detailed arguments are summarized in the parent map.
(All maps have been inserted at the end of the Introduction).
addition alongside the use of the maps we use a PowerPoint presentation on any topic.
images, each of us posted, after they have been properly handled and modified through the program Gimp, are used to enhance the effect evocative and to facilitate the associative process, to highlight one aspect, for example, draw from photos of the clothing Verga , the characteristic features of Aci Trezza.
The use of technologies, as we ourselves got to check out, strengthens social skills through group work and discussion, improve communication skills and stimulates learning, regardless of cognitive styles. Power, in addition, the study skills and logical thinking, promotes the acquisition of information concerning the subject of study and increase the motivation of the student, which is released from a purely rote learning and feels involved in a cognitive process.
is why, thanks to the tools provided to us during the course of educational technologies, we proposed to create a blog,
a diary, to help our students find the materials for the lesson and use it as means of exchanging information.
In a blog, for example, you can express your ideas, comments of others. The blog becomes a tool to optimize the work: not only store but also data center and information exchange center. Among the side benefits of building a blog is then to deal directly with the new technologies, acquiring field skills needed in the world of work. Each course will come to a different level of preparation, but nothing is more valuable than personal experience.
Students will find all the material that was used for the realization of our lesson on the blog: http://malavoglia.blogspot.com/

Amico Valentina
Angelucci Chiara
Catroppa Gabriella
D'Emilio Federica