Learning on the net
Developing strategies for thinking, approaching and building knowledge in the network.
In the global knowledge society, the use of the Internet has become an essential tool for learning. However, its use requires students to develop a set of strategies related to the acquisition, understanding and construction of knowledge on the Internet. Numerous research studies show that the development of this set of strategies in all students, especially those with extra learning challenges, does not occur spontaneously with the simple interaction of the student with new technologies. It is necessary to design and evaluate specific teaching processes aimed at explicitly teaching these digital information processing strategies.
The research project, funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation, is based on this line of work and aims to achieve the following five objectives:
1. Evaluate which competences and strategies need to be developed in secondary school students so that they can find, manage and integrate Internet-based learning information.
2. Explore which ESO curricular contingents, specifically in the areas of social sciences, experimental sciences, mathematics and technology, can be worked on in the classroom with the use of online information.
3. Design activities in the areas of social sciences, experimental sciences, mathematics and technology that include strategies for research, management and integration of information on the Internet in compulsory secondary education. Specifically, these activities will develop the following five strategies for solving digital problems: defining the problem, searching for information, selecting sources, reading and analysing information, organising and presenting information.
4. Implement continuous instructional processes over time that include the use of the information available on the Internet to solve real problems linked to curricular contents.
5. Evaluate the impact of Internet mediation throughout the period of instruction according to three educational variables: a) the results of learning curricular contents; b) the cognitive and metacognitive processes of learning and c) the processes of interaction between peers.
Manoli Pifarré Turmo
Associate Professor in Educational Psychology (tenure track), Department of Psychology and Pedagogy, Faculty of Education. Universitat de Lleida.
Honorary Research Fellow. Graduate School of Education. University of Exeter (U.K.)
Doctor in Psychopedagogy by the Universitat de Lleida (1999).
My research interest focuses on the dialogical use of technology as a tool that can promote the development of unique cognitive, metacognitive, and social processes. In this field of study, I have led six consecutive R&D projects funded by the Ministries of Education, Science, Universities and Competitiveness. Also, in this subject, I have led the UdL work team in three European research projects.
I lead the research group “Context and Cognition mediated by Information and Communication Technologies” –COnTIC. From 2005, the group has the recognition of Consolidated Research Group by the Generalitat de Catalunya.
I have carried out various research stays in international centres which have helped me to create a solid network of collaboration with other international research groups. Specifically, I did research stays as guest researcher at the Centre for Language and Communication -CLAC- The Open University (UK) with the team of Dr. Neil Mercer; at the Graduate School of Education at the University of Exeter (UK) with the team of Dr. Rupert Wegerif; at the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge with the team of Dr. Wegerif and Dra. Sara Hennessy and at the University College of London Knowledge Lab with the team of Dr Manolis Mavrikis.
I am currently participating as an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Exeter in various research activities at the University’s Graduate School of Education. I am an associate research member of the Cambridge Educational Dialogue Research Group (CEDIR) at the University of Cambridge.
My research career has a dual purpose, on the one hand, to transform the teaching and learning processes in secondary education. As a result, part of my research has been done in high schools and I have worked closely and equally with teachers and students. On the other hand, my research aims to achieve high scientific quality in the use of technology in education.
Esther Argelagós Castaño
Associate Lecturer in Educational Psychology, Universitat de Girona (since 2012) and Universidad Internacional de la Rioja (from 2018).
Doctor in Psychopedagogy by the Universitat de Lleida (2012).
Bachelor in Special Education (1998) and Bachelor of Arts in Psychopedagogy (2007) by the Universitat de Lleida. Master in Educational Psychology (2009) by the Universitat de Barcelona.
She worked as a teacher in Primary and Secondary Education in Aragon, Spain (1999-2001). She also has worked as a university teacher at the Faculdade de Educação e Comunicação at Universidade Católica de Moçambique (UCM) during 5 academic years (2001-2006), teaching subjects related with educational psychology, communication and higher academic competences. During this stage, she coordinated the implementation and development of Problem Based Learning (PBL) method at the Department of Education at UCM, with the partnership of the Maastricht Universiteit (the Netherlands).
She has been working as research assistant at the COnTIC group (2008-2011). Among her research activities, it can be highlighted her pre-doctoral stage at Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies (now, Welten Institute) of the Open Universiteit Nederland (2010).
She carried out the defence of her doctoral thesis with European mention: Information-problem solving in Secondary Education: analyses of cognitive processes using Web information and their improvement through embedded instruction, supervised by Manoli Pifarré, and to which the Universitat de Lleida awarded the doctoral extraordinary price.
Her lines of research are mainly the analysis and instruction in solving problems with the use of Internet information and the development of informational competencies in Primary, Secondary and Higher Education. She also takes part of the research group Competencias Académicas Universitarias CAUNIR.
Alejandro Guijosa Guzmán
Associate Lecturer in Educational Psychology, Department of Psychology and Pedagogy, Faculty of Education, Universitat de Lleida.
PhD in Educational Psychology (Jun 2012)
Master in Educational Psychology Universitat de Barcelona, 2009.
Bachelor in Physical Education by the Universidad de Zaragoza (2004) and Bachelor of Arts in Educational Psychology (2007) at the Universitat de Lleida (Spain).
His research interests are currently focused on various differentiated lines of action related to content learning, the development of cognitive and social processes, and the use of digital tools:
- The design of instructional models and processes that incorporate digital tools and use active and participatory methodologies in collaboration.
- The development of collaborative creativity through web 2.0 environments (blogs, wikis and forums) at the university studies.
- The study of virtual communities of inquiry in collaborative environments.
- The study of digital tools effectiveness that allow the collaborative resolution of information problems with the use of the web (eg WebQuests) in the learning of social science and history content.
- The use of critical discourse analysis tools for the evaluation of texts produced collaboratively, with the use of digital tools, and in educational contexts.
Every day we find information on the Internet. If the 5 phases explained below are put in practice, learning from the information obtained and found on the Internet is much better. These phases can be followed consecutively and iteratively. The phases feed back on each other in a process of self-regulation.
In this phase it is important to:
· Activate the prior knowledge we already have about the problem or the subject.
· Determine what information we ignore and what we have to look for online.
· Formulate a clear question about what to look for. This question will guide the process of searching for information and the selection of search terms.
In this phase it is very important to:
· Identify and generate the key words to be used in the search engine (e.g. Google).
· Execute the search.
In this phase it is very important to select the relevance and reliability of the sources found. In order to do so, it is necessary to:
· Evaluate objectively the information found.
· Decide between reliable and unreliable sources.
· Scan the information from reliable sources to ensure its relevance.
In this phase it is very important to:
· Read the selected information carefully.
· Compare and contrast useful information.
· Build up relationships with our previous knowledge. This skill requires a high level of effort and motivation.
This phase is essential to guarantee success in solving problems using the Internet.
The last phase consists of integrating and organising the information in a personal way. To achieve this, it is necessary to:
· Synthesise the most relevant ideas.
· Think about how to organise and represent the information in a visual and attractive way.
· Use organisational and communication tools, such as concept maps, graphs, and illustrations.
It is important to verify that this information responds to the question or challenge posed at the beginning of the process.
It is not enough to "copy and paste" information from the web.
Real, complex problems related to everyday life are posed, and in order to solve them it is necessary to access information on the Internet. Moreover, these problems deal with subjects related to the curricular contents.
To solve the problem, students have to implement the five phases of information gathering: Defining the problem, Gathering information, Selecting sources, Reading and analysing the information, Organsing and presenting the information.
During the resolution process, students are provided with five types of support:
· Guiding questions or key questions that are formulated in each phase of the research process. These questions provide guidance and insight into the actions needed in each phase.
· Tips or advice on how to successfully carry out the search for information.
· Forms of data representation, such as maps or tables, which help students to understand and structure the information found in the many digital resources on the Internet.
· Process templates present the most important actions to be carried out in order to successfully resolve the task of searching for information. These process templates follow-up and verify that students systematically carry out the important actions to find relevant and reliable information on the web.
· Support for communication and writing of the main conclusions of the research process.
The project provides help for each phase of the information retrieval process. These aids enrich and diversify the strategies of student research. The main aids designed are summarised in the image.
Numbers are all around us and hold many secrets.
In this activity we propose a series of puzzles related to the numbers Pi and Phi. If you solve them, you will learn about the importance of numbers in everyday life.
Do you know what a MagLev train is?
According to mNATEC: "MagLev is a system where the vehicle moves levitating above the track thanks to an electromagnetic field between the electromagnets of the vehicle and the earth coils".
Do you know what "levitate" means?
Do you know what an electromagnetic field is? What about electromagnets?
Your task is to prepare a panel on MagLev technology trains, or magnetic levitation trains, taking into account the above aspects.
Are you ready to start? Let’s go!
We are members of a local NGO working in Senegal.
As you may know, in recent years Spain and Catalonia have been receiving a constant flow of migrants of African origin.
The Catalan Parliament has organised a youth’s debate on immigration. Your NGO has been invited to participate in this debate.
You have volunteered to write and read a 10-minute speech to the Parliament defending the ideas of your NGO on the two following and central questions of the debate:
Why do these immigrants come to Spain?
What should be done in home countries to stop this flood of immigrants to Europe?
Publicacions
Argelagós, E. (2012).
Argelagós, E. & Pifarré, M. (2012).
Argelagós, E. & Pifarré, M. (2016).