Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Students teach students: Alternative teaching in Greek secondary education

  • Published:
Education and Information Technologies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The students of a Greek junior high school collaborated to prepare the teaching material of a theoretical Computer Science (CS) course and then shared their understanding with other students. This study investigates two alternative teaching methods (collaborative learning and peer tutoring) and compares the learning results to the traditional learning context. A test was used to measure all participating students’ learning results and a questionnaire was distributed to record participant student attitudes towards the alternative teaching conditions. The questionnaire was designed to evaluate each aspect in terms of perceived knowledge, experience, satisfaction, diversity, oddness and interest. The analysis explores potential differences of students’ learning results between alternative and traditional teaching and also differences in the two aspects in relation to students’ preferences. Results provide evidence that active-learning methods can promote positive attitudinal shifts and improve skills in creativity, teamwork, collaboration and communication. Students perceived higher levels of learning than with traditional teaching. Finally in terms of students’ preferences, the majority wanted to have more courses taught with active-learning methods.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aiken, R. M., Bessagnet, M. N., & Israel, J. (2005). Interaction and collaboration using an intelligent collaborative learning environment. Education and Information Technologies, 10(1–2), 67–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, W. L., Krathwohl, D. R., Airasian, P. W., Cruikshank, K. A., Mayer, R. E., Pintrich, P. R., Raths, J., & Wittrock, M. C. (2000). A taxonomy for learning and teaching and assessing: A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives. Boston: Addison Wesley Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arapoglou, A., Mavoglou, C., Oikonomakos, E., & Greek, F. K. (2006). Computer Science A’, B’, C’ of high school; Student’s book (Greek Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs). Athens: Pedagogical Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ballantyne, R., Hughes, K., & Mylonas, A. (2002). Developing procedures for implementing peer assessment in large classes using an action research process. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 27(5), 427–441.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baran, B. (2010). Facebook as a formal instructional environment. British Journal of Educational Technology, 41(6), E146–E149.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beck, L., & Chizhik, A. (2013). Cooperative learning instructional methods for CS1: Design, implementation, and evaluation. Transactions on Computing Education, 13, 3(10).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berg, I., Admiral, W., & Pilot, A. (2006). Design principles and outcomes of peer assessment in higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 31(3), 341–356.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bergmann J., & Sams A. (2012). Flip Your Classroom: Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day. United States of America: International Society for Technology in Education.

  • Berry Jr. L. (1991). Collaborative Learning: A Program for Improving the Retention of Minority Students. U.S., Virginia: ERIC Digest 384323.

  • Bloom, S. B., Engelhart, D. M., Furst, J. E., Hill, H. W., & Krathwohl, R. D. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives Handbook 1: Cognitive domain. London: Longman Group Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonwell, C. C., & Eison, A. J. (1991). Active learning: Creating excitement in the classroom. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No. 1. Washington, D.C: The George Washington University, School of Education and Human Development.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bouras, C., & Paraskevas, M. (2003). Educational Information Society in Greece: The Greek School Network. In Proceedings of the 2003 conference on Association for Development of the Information Society, Lisbon, Portugal, 179–186.

  • Cartwright, D., & Zander, F. A. (1953). Group dynamics: Research and theory. London: Tavistock Publications Limited.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chang, T. Y., & Chen, Y. T. (2009). Cooperative learning in E-learning: A peer assessment of student-centered using consistent fuzzy preference. Expert Systems with Applications, 36(4), 8342–8349.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dagdilelis V. (2004). History in birth: The route of Informatics in Greek education. Greek. In Proceedings of the 2004 International Conference on History of Education, Patras, Greece. Retrieved September 9, 2013 from http://www.elemedu.upatras.gr/eriande/synedria/synedrio3/praltika%2011/dagdilelis.htm

  • Dillenbourg, P. (1999). Introduction: What do you mean by “Collaborative Learning”? In P. Dillenbourg (Ed.), Collaborative learning: Cognitive and computational approaches (pp. 1–19). Oxford: Elsevier Science.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dimitriadis S. (2011). Computer education in the era of the Greek digital school. ACM’s CSTA Voice, 7(3),5. Found online at http://csta.acm.org/Communications/sub/CSTAVoice_Files/csta_voice_07_2011.pdf

  • Dochy, F., Segers, M., & Sluijsmans, D. (1999). The use of self-, peer and co-assessment in higher education: A review. Studies in Higher Education, 24(3), 331–350.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ebert-May, D., Brewer, C., & Allred, S. (1997). Innovation in large lectures—Teaching for active learning. Bioscience, 47, 601–607. University of California Press and American Institute of Biological Sciences.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Engleberg, I. N., & Wynn, D. R. (2009). Working in groups (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Felder, M. R., & Brent, R. (1996). Navigating the bumpy road to student-centered instruction. College Teaching, 44, 43–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Felder, M. R., & Brent, R. (2003). Learning by doing. Chemical Engineering Education, 37(4), 282–283. North Carolina State University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Felder, N. R., Felder, M. R., Woods, R. D., Stice, E. J., & Rugarcia, A. (2000). The future of engineering education: Part 2. Teaching methods that work. Chemical Engineering Education, 34(1), 26–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gerlach J. M. (1994). Is this collaboration? New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 1994, 5–14. doi:10.1002/tl.37219945903

  • Gouli, E., Gogoulou, A., & Grigoriadou, M. (2008). Supporting self-, peer-, and collaborative-assessment in e-learning: The case of the Peer and Collaborative Assessment Environment (PECASSE). Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 19(4), 615–647.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grissom, S. (2013). Introduction to special issue on alternatives to lecture in the computer science classroom. ACM Transactions on Computing Education (TOCE), 13(3), 9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Informatics Europe & ACM Europe Working Group on Informatics Education. (2013). Retrieved online at 23 March 2014 at http://europe.acm.org/iereport/index.html

  • Johnson, W. D., & Johnson, T. R. (1986). Mainstreaming and cooperative learning strategies. Exceptional Children, 52(6), 553–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirschner, F., Paas, F., & Kirschner, A. P. (2009). A cognitive load approach to collaborative learning: United brains for complex tasks. Educational Psychology Review, 21(1), 31–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laws, P., Sokoloff, D., & Thornton, R. (1999). Promoting active learning using the results of physics education research. UniServe Science News, 13, 14–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lipponen L. (1999). The challenges for computer supported collaborative learning in elementary and secondary level: Finnish perspectives. In Hoadley, C. M. & Roschelle, J. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 1999 conference on Computer Support for Collaborative Learning (CSCL ‘99), International Society of the Learning Sciences, 46.

  • Lombardi M. M. (2007). Authentic Learning for the 21st Century: An Overview. Educause Learning Initiative, 1(2007), 1--12.

  • McCarney, R., Warner, J., Iliffe, S., Haselen, R., Griffin, M., & Fisher, P. (2007). The Hawthorne effect: A randomised, controlled trial. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 7(1), 30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McManus, M. M., & Aiken, R. M. (1996). Teaching collaborative skills with a group leader computer tutor. Education and Information Technologies, 1(1), 75–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mellor, D., & Moore, K. A. (2013). The use of Likert scales with children. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 39, 369–79. jst079.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Michael, J. A., & Modell, H. I. (2003). Active learning in secondary and college science classrooms a working model for helping the learner to learn. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michel, N., Cater, J. J., & Varela, O. (2009). Active versus passive teaching styles: An empirical study of student learning outcomes. Human Resource Development Quartely, 20(4), 397–418.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Education, Continuing Learning and Religious Affairs. (2011a). Greek. New curriculum and instructions about the teaching of the Project at school. Athens, Greece: Ministry of Education, Continuing Learning and Religious Affairs. Retrieved September 9, 2013 from http://www.minedu.gov.gr/publications/docs2011/odhgies__ereynhtikh_ergasia_a__lykeioy_2011_2012_110830.doc

  • Ministry of Education, Continuing Learning and Religious Affairs. (2011b). Greek. Curriculum for the informatics literacy in high school. Athens, Greece: Ministry of Education, Continuing Learning and Religious Affairs. Retrieved September 9, 2013 from http://digitalschool.minedu.gov.gr/info/newps/%CE%A0%CE%BB%CE%B7%CF%81%CE%BF%CF%86%CE%BF%CF%81%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AE%20%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B9%20%CE%9D%CE%AD%CE%B5%CF%82%20%CE%A4%CE%B5%CF%87%CE%BD%CE%BF%CE%BB%CE%BF%CE%B3%CE%AF%CE%B5%CF%82/%CE%A4%CE%A0%CE%95%20%CE%93%CF%85%CE%BC%CE%BD%CE%AC%CF%83%CE%B9%CE%BF.pdf

  • Panhellenic Union of Informatics Teachers (2012). Greek. Historical overview of the course of Informatics in Secondary Education. Athens, Greece: Panhellenic Union of Informatics Teachers. Retrieved online at March 2014 from http://www.pekap.gr

  • Parham, J., Chinn, D., & Stevenson, D. E. (2009). Using Bloom’s taxonomy to code verbal protocols of students solving a data structure problem. In Proceedings of the 47th Annual Southeast Regional Conference (ACM-SE 47) (p. 39). New York: ACM.

    Google Scholar 

  • Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (2011). P21 Framework Definitions for 21st Century Learning. Tucson, AZ: Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Retrieved March 9, 2013 from http://www.p21.org/storage/documents/P21_Framework_Definitions.pdf

  • Ploetzner, R., Dillenbourg, P., Preier, M., & Traum, D. (1999). Learning by explaining to oneself and to others. In P. Dillenbourg (Ed.), Collaborative learning. Cognitive and computational approaches (pp. 103–121). Oxford: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prince, M. (2004). Does active learning work? A review of the research. Journal of Engineering Education, 93(3), 223–231.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Rea, L. M., & Parker, R. A. (2012). Designing and conducting survey research: A comprehensive guide. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

  • Roschelle, J., & Teasley, D. S. (1995). The construction of shared knowledge in collaborative problem solving. In Computer supported collaborative learning (pp. 69–97). Berlin: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Saavedra, R. A., & Opfer, D. V. (2012). Teaching and learning 21st century skills: Lessons from the learning sciences. Asia Society report—Partnership for global learning. Santa Monica: RAND Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sarason, Y., & Banbury, C. (2004). Active learning facilitated by using a game-show format or who doesn’t want to be a millionaire? Journal of Management Education, 28(4), 509–518.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, L. B., & MacGregor, T. J. (1992). What is Collaborative Learning? In A. S. Goodsell, M. R. Maher, & V. Tinto (Eds.), Collaborative learning: A sourcebook for higher education. University Park: National Center on Postsecondary Teaching, Learning, and Assessment.

    Google Scholar 

  • Starr, W. C., Manaris, B., & Stalvey, H. R. (2008). Bloom’s taxonomy revisited: Specifying assessable learning objectives in computer science. SIGCSE Bulletin, 40(1), 261–265.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stephenson, C., Cooper, S., Owens, B. B., & Gal-Ezer, J. (2012). The new CSTA K-12 computer science standards. In Proceedings of the 17th ACM annual conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education (ITiCSE ‘12) (pp. 363–364). New York: ACM.

    Google Scholar 

  • Terenzini, T. P., Cabrera, A. F., Colbeck, C. L., Parente, J. M., & Bjorklund, S. A. (2001). Collaborative learning vs. lecture/discussion: Students’ reported learning gains. Journal of Engineering Education, 90(1), 123–130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, J. (1972). The variation of memory with time for information appearing during a lecture. Studies in Adult Education, 4, 57–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Topping, K., Smith, F. E., Swanson, I., & Elliot, A. (2000). Formative peer assessment of academic writing between postgraduate students. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 25(2), 149–169.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Veerman, A., Andriessen, J., & Kanselaar, G. (2002). Collaborative argumentation in academic education. Instructional Science, 30(3), 155–186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitman, A. N., & Fife, D. J. (1988). Peer teaching: To teach is to learn twice. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No. 4, ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Reports (pp. 20036–1183). Washington, DC: The George Washington University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson C., Sudol A. L., Stephenson C., & Stehlik M. (2010). Running on Empty: The Failure to Teach K-12 Computer Science in the Digital Age. Technical report on behalf of Association for Computing Machinery and Computer Science Teachers Association. Retrieved November 5, 2013 from http://csta.acm.org/runningonempty/fullreport.pdf

  • Wright, K. D., & Asmundson, G. J. (2003). Health anxiety in children: Development and psychometric properties of the Childhood Illness Attitude Scales. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 32(4), 194–202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the students, the CS teachers and the principal of the 3rd Junior High School of Tripolis for participating in this research. We would also like to thank the director of the Secondary Education of Arcadia prefecture for his valuable help.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Peloponnese, Tripolis, Greece

    Anastasios Theodoropoulos, Angeliki Antoniou & George Lepouras

Authors
  1. Anastasios Theodoropoulos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Angeliki Antoniou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. George Lepouras
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anastasios Theodoropoulos.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Theodoropoulos, A., Antoniou, A. & Lepouras, G. Students teach students: Alternative teaching in Greek secondary education. Educ Inf Technol 21, 373–399 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-014-9327-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-014-9327-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation