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Practical Work in the Digital Age

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The Challenges of the Digital Transformation in Education (ICL 2018)

Part of the book series: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing ((AISC,volume 917))

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Abstract

Why should students design and carry out real life experiments when they could use applets or learning games to see what may happen and to check which factors affect the outcome of a chemical reaction? The integration of digital media seems to be the preferred method of improving learning. For the development of some competences, this may be true. Other competences may need students to confront the real world. What can students learn by direct interaction with the physical world? This question came up in science teaching a hundred years ago, when only books and lectures rivaled practical work in science. I will sum up some answers to this question in the theoretical part of this article. The answers found in the literature lead to the study I will present in this paper: How do tasks given to students in chemistry lab work in Austria fit in with theoretical considerations about the importance of practical work in school?

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The initiative IMST (Innovations in Mathematics and Science Teaching) is a project of the Austrian ministry of education and serves the further development of science education.

  2. 2.

    The 27 reports were imported into the program MAXQDA12. The first number shows the number of the report, the second numbers present the lines within that report

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pädagogische Hochschule Niederösterreich, Baden, Austria

    Brigitte Koliander

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  1. Brigitte Koliander
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Correspondence to Brigitte Koliander .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Carinthia University of Applied Sciences , Villach, Kärnten, Austria

    Michael E. Auer

  2. Department of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki , Thessaloniki, Greece

    Thrasyvoulos Tsiatsos

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Koliander, B. (2019). Practical Work in the Digital Age. In: Auer, M., Tsiatsos, T. (eds) The Challenges of the Digital Transformation in Education. ICL 2018. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 917. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11935-5_53

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