DOLPHINS IN MYTH AND REALITY

A Constructivist Approach to Teaching Critical Thinking using I.C.T.

Georgia Pantidou

Department of Primary Education, University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece

Keywords: Myth and Reason, Critical Thinking, Information and Communication Technologies, Constructivism.

Abstract: In a Secondary School in Central Greece ten students worked on a project titled “Dolphins in Myth and

Reality” and published their work on their school’s web-page. Dolphins’ biological and social aspect,

environmental dangers and threats, Ancient Greek myths and the dolphin-theme in several arts (Literature,

Painting, Sculpture, Cinema and Music) were the sections the students worked cooperatively with an

extended use of the Internet and Ι.C.T. This publication formed the basis of an experimental teaching for ten

younger students whose initial ideas and cognitive deficiencies were taken into consideration in order to

design several activities. The joint axis of the activities was the interpretation of myths about dolphins with

the help of scientific and literary information found on the Internet and the raising of awareness on

ecological matters concerning the survival of dolphins in the Mediterranean Sea. The initial hypothesis that

the cooperative, constructivist model assisted by I.C.T. leads to better learning outcomes, compared to

traditional teaching methods, has been confirmed, even if the results cannot be generalized.

1 INTRODUCTION

The complementary and oppositional relationship

between Myth and Reason was exploited in a

research project which took place in a country High

School in central Greece (Omvriaki, Fthiotis).

“Dolphins in Myth and Reality” gave the students a

chance to search and find information, to compare

and evaluate, to discuss and coach cases so as to

come to logical conclusions. They also had the

opportunity to publish their work in their school

web-page and thus offer other students material to

work on.

Constructivism provided the framework for this

research project: the initial ideas and knowledge of

the students were taken into consideration while

scheduling the activities. Their mistakes were

exploited to set the teaching objectives and organize

the project.

Aiming at enhancing critical thinking, the

activities should help the students construct their

own representations based upon each one’s

experiences or, if needed, even to reconsider their

initial ideas.

Interaction between students leads to higher

awareness of what is known, to what extent and

accuracy, and thus to better conceptual and cognitive

constructs due to internal motivation (Solomonidou,

2006).

Besides, an extensive use of I.C.T. contributes

to creating an enriched learning environment which

may enhance critical thinking and lead to higher

cognitive levels (Jonassen, 1996).

2 THE PROJECT

PRESENTATION

2.1 Aims and Objectives

The constructive use of I.C.T. in everyday school

reality, as well as the design and implementation of

a research project based on cooperation and group

teaching, have been the general aims of the work

presented in this paper.

The teaching objectives could be divided into

three categories: cognitive, procedural and

value/attitude creating. The students should be able

to work cooperatively on web-based projects and

acquire the information needed; they should also be

able to ascertain their relevant to the subject

knowledge in order to cover their gaps by further

research conducted in cooperation with their

131

Pantidou G. (2010).

DOLPHINS IN MYTH AND REALITY - A Constructivist Approach to Teaching Critical Thinking using I.C.T..

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Computer Supported Education, pages 131-134

DOI: 10.5220/0002764801310134

 SciTePress

classmates and teachers and thus to create a

publication of their own. Last but not least the

project should raise the students’ awareness of the

risk of dolphins’ extinction.

The most important goal, though, would be to

develop critical and creative thinking by formulating

and testing hypotheses, while learning how to

cooperate and discuss democratically (Scardamalia,

1997).

2.2 The Research

Twenty students living in a village called Omvriaki

in Central Greece were the subjects of this

experimental research. The ten older students (14

years old) worked on the project to create a

publication for their school’s web page and the ten

younger ones (13 years old) used this publication

and the Internet in general to expand their

knowledge on dolphins. The small number of

subjects in this research does not allow

generalization of the results. The intention has only

been to engage the students in an active and creative

way of learning and evaluate the effects of such an

intervention (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2008).

The same semi-structured test was given to the

students twice (before and after teaching) in order to

compare and estimate the progress made. The

questions were either open-ended or multiple-

choice, aiming to trace cognitive gaps or

misunderstandings. The students, whose former

experience in working this way had been limited,

worked for the project in the computer laboratory of

their school for six hours during November 2008.

Extensive research into the bibliography and the

Web did not result in finding similar studies as far as

the issue of dolphins in Myth and Reality was

concerned. Although a large number of projects,

lesson plans and activities found on the web deal

with dolphins, the main idea of this work is quite

original.

The use of the project method as the basis of

designing a school web page and the Constructivist

and Activity-oriented approach to teaching can be

found on numerous studies (e.g. Miao & Holst,

2000; Arapoglou et al., 2003; Arkün, S. &

Akkoyunlu, B., 2008).

2.3 Creating the Web Page

The first team of students was divided into five

couples. Each couple worked on the same computer.

They were asked to create a Word document and

open the Internet Explorer.

After this the teacher proceeded to brainstorming

about dolphins using a photocopied Smart-art

graphic, which was used as a Mind Map and later as

the menu of the Web page. Mind maps and

Brainstorming strategy develop mental capacities,

enhance the project method and help to achieve

teaching objectives, as research has shown (Buzan,

1995).

Each couple should find and save information on

a certain topic or section in their Word documents.

Then they would create a specific page of the

publication, which would consist of text, pictures

and music. In this way Information and Computer

Literacy are being promoted while students become

familiar with the creation of multimodal texts (Cope

and Kalantzis, 2000).

In the middle of the Mind Map a beautiful

dolphin picture was set and then lines connected it

with bubbles-links titled Biology, Ancient Greece

and Modern Art. From the bubble Biology one can

go to the sections Animal Being, Social Life and

Ecology. From the bubble Ancient Greece one can

visit the sections Etymology, Ancient Greek

Religion, Geography, Ancient Greek literature and

Arts. And finally one can go to Modern Art to find

Literature, Music and Cinema works of Art inspired

from dolphins.

Using the Microsoft Publisher 2007 the teacher

showed the students how to place texts, music and

pictures on a web page and then upload it on the

Greek School-Web (http://gym-omvriak.fth.sch.gr).

This way the students and the teacher became

partners to produce a collective work according to

the principles of Situated Cognition (Brown, Collins

and Duguid, 1989; Philips, 1998) and Cognitive

Apprenticeship (Collins, Brown and Newman,

1987).

2.4 The Teaching Procedure

The findings of the pre-test formed the basis on

which the teaching objectives were set. The

activities should be based on the special cognitive

needs of the students but they should also be

meaningful and interesting, so that the construction

of knowledge could be accomplished by the active

involvement of every single student in the group

(Raptis and Rapti, 2001).

The common axis of the first three activities has

been the possible interpretations of Ancient Greek

myths about dolphins according to their biological

substance and social attitude.

In the primitive and archaic stages of social

development the mythical way of thinking has been

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prevailing so that human mind could be able to

explain physical and social phenomena using

imagination and feelings as cognitive tools. Thus

Myth acted as the means of finding and attaching

meaning to a mysterious world. These mythical

constructions were being transferred to each

generation gaining validity and universal

applicability over the times, which later proved to be

very difficult to overturn (Karakantza, 2004).“The

gradual transition from Myth to Reason – beginning

with the Presocratic Philosophers from Ionia, Minor

Asia - means the birth of the Greek and European

philosophy” (Veikos, 1985, p.3).

A beautiful picture of a dolphin is the first thing

to see on the Worksheet and the home page of the

publication on the Web. The dolphin asks the

students to help it find some answers.

The first activity involves the students in

searching and saving information about the way

dolphins breathe, their sonar system and the way

they behave and communicate with each other. Then

they proceed in reading myths about dolphins saving

human lives e.g. the Arion myth, and they are asked

to interpret them in a scientific way. A relevant

documentary by Jacques - Yves Cousteau (“A sound

of dolphins” 1972) is used to prove that dolphins

instinctively move upwards in order to breathe and

they tend to do the same with every sinking body.

In the second activity students are asked to read

what Claudius Aelianus has written about dolphins

in “De Natura Animalium” and watch the same

scene Aelianus has described in Cousteau’s

documentary: on a coast in northwestern Africa

fishermen cooperate with dolphins to catch as many

mullets as possible. Thus students come to the

conclusion that the legendary love between men and

dolphin is due to eternal solidarity and fellowship.

The third activity has to do with Apollo, Neptune

and their relation to dolphins and also with Delphi

and its etymological connection with dolphins (their

common root is the word “delphis” meaning uterus).

The last activity aims to raise students’

awareness of the risk of dolphins’ extinction. The

students are asked to read relevant articles and watch

videos on http://www.pelagosinstitute.gr. They

are also asked to design a postcard addressed to

WWF, which will be posted on their Web page.

In the end the students watched the film “The

little dolphins of the Amvrakikos Gulf” by Dinos

Demopoulos (1993). This movie deals with the issue

of sincere, honest and true friendship between three

children in Greece in early 30’s. One of the children

lives in a hut excluded from society because of

poverty and tuberculosis which was contaminating

and difficult to cure at that time. Nevertheless, the

love and friendship of the other two children saves

him from death and provides him with a better life.

The correlation with dolphins is obvious.

3 RESULTS

The whole teaching procedure since the filling of the

pre-test up to the assessment of the post-test was met

with enthusiasm and interest by the students. It was

a surprise for them to choose their partner and to be

allowed to talk during the lesson- provided that it

had to do with the project. There was a low noise

level and satisfactory efficiency in the use of the

computer. They also enjoyed watching the

documentary and the film and listening to several

sounds of dolphins on the Web.

The combination of multimedia sources with

written and oral speech were extremely appealing to

the students .The fact that the activities did not seem

like usual exercises but more like puzzles or

problems proved to be a stimulating factor for the

children to get involved.

While the intention was to cover the cognitive

gaps and modify the initial wrong ideas, this was not

made clear to the students. It seemed better for them

to come up to the right answers “accidentally” while

working on activities that stimulated their mind and

urged them to express ideas and build their

knowledge in their own pace and mode.

The comparison between the results of the pre-

test and the post-test leads to the conclusion that

there has been a remarkable difference in the

number of right answers and in the quality of the

answers given before and after the teaching

procedure.

For instance, from the beginning every child

knew that the dolphins were mammals and not fish.

They also knew the seas dolphins usually prefer.

They were not quite sure, though, about the length,

the color, the speed and the sonar system of the

dolphins. But in the post test everybody could

answer correctly.

When asked in the pre-test about the dangers and

threats towards dolphins, no child knew the answers

exactly. They also ignored the etymological

connection between Delphi and dolphins and they

could not mention more than one or two myths each.

But in the post-test everybody could answer

correctly.

Most of all they enjoyed debating on their ideas

and explanations, testing their hypotheses and

rejecting what could not be supported. And certainly

DOLPHINS IN MYTH AND REALITY - A Constructivist Approach to Teaching Critical Thinking using I.C.T.

133

they were moved by the shocking pictures of injured

or dead dolphins they saw on the Internet and

became more aware of the dangers and threats

towards this species.

4 CONCLUSIONS

The main conclusion to be drawn not only from this

study but from many others as well (e.g. Miao &

Holst, 2000, Arapoglou et al., 2003, Arkün, S. &

Akkoyunlu, B., 2008) is that applying the principles

of Constructivism, Exploratory and Cooperative

Learning in an enriched learning environment,

where computer is being used as a cognitive tool,

contributes to building knowledge through critical

information processing. Even simple tasks, as those

described in this paper, may enhance critical

thinking since students learn to doubt, search,

discover, argue and speculate instead of absorbing

anything they read or learn.

Besides, according to Seymour Papert, the use of

I.C.T. transforms learning from a process of

discipline and suffering to one offering exploration,

enthusiasm and satisfaction (Solomonidou, 2006).

Since this has been quite evident to all the

participants in this research project, the intention is

to design and implement similar projects in the

future based on students’ interests and needs.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank Mrs. Christine Solomonidou,

Professor in the Department of Primary Education in

the University of Thessaly, for my initiation into

Constructivism and Instructional Systems Design

during my postgraduate studies.

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