Applying a Constructionist Frame to Learning about Sustainability英文文献资料.docVIP

Creative Education 2012. Vol.3, Special Issue, 818-823 Published Online October 2012 in SciRes (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/ce) /10.4236/ce.2012.326122 Applying a Constructionist Frame to Learning about Sustainability Maria Daskolia , Chronis Kynigos 1 2 Environmental Education Lab, Department of Pedagogy, University of Athens, Athens, Greece Educational Technology Lab, Department of Pedagogy, University of Athens, Athens, Greece Email: mdaskol@ppp.uoa.gr, kynigos@ppp.uoa.gr 1 2 Received August 30 , 2012; revised September 27 , 2012; accepted October 13 , 2012 th th th Sustainability as a concept is by nature complex and elusive and therefore difficult to address. Creative thinking is thought among the core abilities needed to be fostered for developing a more integrated under- standing of sustainability issues and for achieving a more sustainable world. We argue that Construction- ism offers an appropriate frame of identifying and fostering creativity by viewing learning as an experien- tial process of collaboratively generating new ideas and meaningful digital artifacts through the active engagement with microworld. The study reported in this paper is based on the design and implementa- tion of a pedagogical intervention aiming to engage students in creatively tinkering with a game mi- croworld along with the concept of sustainability. Our analysis focuses on one group of students and exa- mines how ideas and shared understandings of sustainability emerge and evolve along with the creation of a “sustainable city” digital game and through the students’ constructive interaction with a related mi- croworld. Keywords: Sustainability; Sustainable City; Creativity; Constructionism; Game Design; Half-Baked Microworld Dealing C