| 1| 1 econtentplus stencil final conference, kassel 1. december 2012 sonia hetzner...

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Stencil Final Conference, Kassel 1. December 2012

Sonia HetznerSonia.hetzner@fim.uni-erlangen.de

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Stencil Final Conference, Kassel 1. December 2012

Innovation in Learning Institute

University of Erlangen-Nürnberg

E-Learning competence centre: Innovation at the University

Applied research: Pedagogy and Technology for supporting

First, Lifelong and lifwide Learning

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Stencil Final Conference, Kassel 1. December 2012

KEY TO NATURE IS ABOUT IDENTIFICATION OF ORGANISMS IN FORMAL AND INFORMAL LEARNING SETTINGS

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Stencil Final Conference, Kassel 1. December 2012

KeyToNature

EU – Project, funded in the scope of the eContentPlus Program (2007-2010)

11 Partners • Universities (Italy, Germany, Belgium)• Science Museums: Natural History Museum UK and

the Natural History Museum Slovenia• Botanical Garden: Madrid• Technology Companies (IT, AT)

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Stencil Final Conference, Kassel 1. December 2012

WHY? Pedagogical

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Stencil Final Conference, Kassel 1. December 2012

Pedagogical: Identification of Organisms (I)

Formal: Part of the curriculum

Informal: Curiosity about plants & animals

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Stencil Final Conference, Kassel 1. December 2012

Supports providing learning environments that

…open …explorative …collaborative …visual learning & thinking & communication

Pedagogical: Identification of Organisms (II)

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Stencil Final Conference, Kassel 1. December 2012

Supports the development of basic science skills…

…Observing & Defining

…Hypothesizing

…Collecting & Formulating & Classifying information

…Interpreting & Inferring

…Predicting

Pedagogical: Identification of Organisms (III)

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Stencil Final Conference, Kassel 1. December 2012

Identification for different target groups Primary – They like to

a vehicle for general pedagogical aims problem-solving , team work abilities, improvement of social skills

High curiosity of the children, Activate emotion Small set of species to identify, no technical terms

Seconday – They have to a vehicle for general pedagogical aims But also subject related teaching Difficulties in motivating – contribution to the KeyToNature Keys can be a vehicle

Terciary and research communities Improving Identification techniques Create knowledge on species and taxonomy Detailed information Contribution to the community

http://www.keytonature.eu/handbook/

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Stencil Final Conference, Kassel 1. December 2012

WHY? Tools for

Identification

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Stencil Final Conference, Kassel 1. December 2012

How to identify

an organism

?

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Stencil Final Conference, Kassel 1. December 2012

Genus

Family

Order

Species

Ovary inferior Ovary superior

Stamens hairy

Carpels 5, fusedCarpels 4, free

Stamens glabrous

Fruit dehiscent Fruit non dehiscent

The traditional approach, developed prior to the computer era, is mainly based on classification. It first requires the identification of Order, Family, and

Genus. The characters distinguishing Orders, Families and Genera are usually

difficult, hence these identification tools are also difficult.

The traditional approach…

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Stencil Final Conference, Kassel 1. December 2012

The KeyToNature approach

Genus

Family

Order

Species

Characters: Flower red,

leaves divided

In the modern approach, the characters for distinguishing the organisms are organised into a database, and the identification

tools can select those characters which render the identification easier

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Stencil Final Conference, Kassel 1. December 2012

Several “classical” keys include organisms occurring in widely different areas or ecological

conditions

The “difficulty” of identification tools tends to increase with the number of organisms which they

include

The KeyToNature approach

??

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Stencil Final Conference, Kassel 1. December 2012

The new approach permits to automatically produce

identification tools restricted to small subsets of organisms or for a

certain area

e.g. “the plants of our schoolgarden”

The KeyToNature approach

!!

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Stencil Final Conference, Kassel 1. December 2012

e-tools

Tailored to the

needs of a certain activity

-Organism group / subgroup-Region-Complex / less komplex

Work on every media

The KeyToNature approach

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Stencil Final Conference, Kassel 1. December 2012

Example1 Treasure hunt in the Botanical

garden

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Stencil Final Conference, Kassel 1. December 2012

Italy – ”treasure hunting” in botanical gardens:

A map of the Botanical Garden with ten colour dots refers to woody plants to be identified. In the Garden each plant is recognizable by a numbered billboard of the same colour as the dot on the map.

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Stencil Final Conference, Kassel 1. December 2012

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Stencil Final Conference, Kassel 1. December 2012

Example 2: Identification keys in a

primary school project in Italy

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Stencil Final Conference, Kassel 1. December 2012

Example 3Braoadleaved trees of the UK,

Key developed for the Natural History Museum in London

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Stencil Final Conference, Kassel 1. December 2012

Example 4At the botanical garden in Madrid

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Stencil Final Conference, Kassel 1. December 2012

Some examples

Spain – At the Botanical garten in Madrid

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Stencil Final Conference, Kassel 1. December 2012

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Stencil Final Conference, Kassel 1. December 2012

WHY? Pedagogical: Specific pedagogical

needs

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Stencil Final Conference, Kassel 1. December 2012

Customised keys

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Stencil Final Conference, Kassel 1. December 2012

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Stencil Final Conference, Kassel 1. December 2012

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Stencil Final Conference, Kassel 1. December 2012

Customised keys

Teachers can change what they like… textual information, pictures, Set of species,

etc.

Translate

Add information from the field via Location based services Pictures and comments

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Stencil Final Conference, Kassel 1. December 2012

Feedback from the users In general very positive results…

Why?

Flexible – KeyToNature continuously growing data base

Customised, e.g. school garden, shrubs of the hedge of …

Re-written keys: teachers become co-authors, adapted to the needs of the children

Multimedia support, especially the pictures

Additional information

Better scores if embedded in class room activities

New, different from what was being used before… Often nothing else similar

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Stencil Final Conference, Kassel 1. December 2012

…Further perspectives

Germany: Offener Naturführer http://offene-naturfuehrer.de/web/

KeyToNature for Italy and Slovenia www.siit.eu

weSpot: weSPOT is a project supported by the European Commission launched October 2012.

aims at propagating scientific inquiry – Pedagogical models and Tools as the approach for science learning and teaching

Thank you