INNOVATION EDUCATION TO IMPROVE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY THROUGH GENERAL EDUCATION

This paper will represent the pedagogy of Innovation Education in Iceland that is a new school policy within the Icelandic school system. In Innovation Education (IE) students trained to identify needs and problems in their environment and to find solutions: this is referred to as the process of ideation. The main aim is to improve their social responsibility through general education. Innovation Education has taken form as a new cross curriculum subject called ‘Innovation and practical use of knowledge’ as presented in the new National Curriculum from 2007. It has a place in the National Curriculum as a part of the new area for Information Technology and Technology Education. Innovation Education in this form can be said to be the result of 25 year’s research work, aimed at developing this new model for education. This was done in cooperation between the school system and the work place. The paper presents how the curriculum subject has developed its character, the pedagogical framework it is based upon as well as the ideology behind it and its ethical value as a part of general education. KEY WORDS: Innovation Education, ideation, ethics, general education, social responsibility, innovativeness, future society

Innovation and practical use of knowledge

This paper will present the Innovation School Policy in the Icelandic school system and our new cross curriculum school subject called ‘Innovation and practical use of knowledge’ in the National Curriculum as a part of the new area for information technology and technological education. The paper presents how innovation has developed, its character, pedagogy, the ideology behind it, its ethical aspect, practical applications and Icelands cooperation with other European countries around Innovation Education, as a new Minerva project, under the name InnoEd. Over the next three years the European Union (EU) is providing funding for setting up Innovation Education as an open and distance learning (ODL) option for European educational systems for both primary and secondary schools and teacher training linking teacher training institutes. The project’s main aim is to build up a databased Internet software for European competition for primary and secondary school students and to make possible research on children’s world of ideas

Exploring the use of a virtual reality learning environment to support innovation education in Iceland

Innovation Education (IE) in Iceland aims to train students to identify needs and problems in their environment and to find solutions: this is referred to as the process of ideation. The thesis explores the contexts of teaching and learning, incorporating the VRLE with IE to support the students’ work. There is a focus on blended learning, as the VRLE is used in conjunction with conventional classroom-based activity. The work employed the grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) perspective, in order to observe the complex social/educational activity relating to this real-life learning context. It was intended to build understanding (grounded theory), rather than an attempt to establish cause and effect. The author intended to observe, describe and interpret settings as sources of data and the main aim was to gain a greater understanding of the use of the VRLE in supporting students work in conventional Innovation Education classes within Icelandic schools. The overall research question was: ‘How does the use of the VRLE affect teacher’s pedagogy and the students’ work, in conventional Innovation Education in Iceland?’ [Continues.

Innovative design and technology education in a virtual learning environment

The Iceland University of Education is currently directing the three-year European Union project InnoEd, which is sponsored by the Minerva Project. InnoEd is a cooperative venture of four countries in the area of Innovation Education: Iceland, Finland, England and Norway. In this project the course in Innovation Education is set up on the Internet (www.innoed.is) and the students work online with their ideas in real time instead of an earlier classroom based model. In addition, the participants have developed a specialised data driven website used for communication and teaching as well as storage and research for all participants. Here the envelope of Information Technology will be pushed to new extremes in the area of Innovation Education

Examining Estonian Schoolteachers’ Attitudes Towards the Use of Applied Science Knowledge Within Craft Education

This article examines the possibility of supporting craft education by incorporating knowledge students have gained via science lessons: such knowledge largely refers to the mathematics and physics taught in Estonian comprehensive schools. Results were gleaned from interviews with craft teachers in Estonia, in order to establish their attitudes to the idea of integrating science with craft. Their ideas are presented here, along with a comparison of their understanding of the pedagogy. The results of the study address the following research questions:   Do teachers consider the National Curricula supportive, in terms of integrating science knowledge in order to support craft education? How do teachers recognise knowledge of science during craft processes? Are teachers aware when science is integrated into their teaching? What do teachers consider the benefits of such integration?   The research demonstrated the pedagogy of integrating knowledge of science with craft as a novel idea, based on a process of merging the two knowledge models. The result of this process is a development of a new area of knowledge that can both enable students’ understanding and their design and fashioning processes. Moreover, it relates to real-world phenomena and thus helps students with their ideation. Such new knowledge is achievable when knowledge from one of the fields is used in the other field, whether science or craft. The integration of science with general craft education is dependent upon both the National Curricula and a teacher’s method of teaching

The Development of Innovation Education in Iceland: a Pathway to Modern Pedagogy and Potential Value in the UK

This paper will discuss how Innovation Education (IE) has developed in the Icelandic school system; its character, pedagogy, ideology, ethical dimensions, and practical applications. In addition it will describe Iceland’s cooperation with other European countries in Innovation Education, as a new Minerva project, under the name InnoEd. The paper then considers IE as a potential tool for use in the UK National Curriculum

An Application of Web-Supported Mental Tools in Technology Education

This article presents the pedagogical model “Network Oriented Study with Simulations” (NOSS) using simulation software and the ICT-based tool “Web Orientation Agent” (WOA) (Page et al., 2006) and supporting findings. The NOSS model was developed and implemented in CSCL (computer supported collaborative learning) type learning situations around computers in technology education utilising novel technologies such as case web-supported simulations and to evaluate the effectiveness of those in teaching, studying and learning settings. The preliminary findings appear to support the effectiveness of this pedagogical model with some limitations which are subsequently discussed

Ideation in a virtual reality learning environment: a pilot project from Iceland in innovation education

Innovation Education (IE) is a new subject area in Icelandic schools. The aim is to train students to identify needs and problems in their environment and to find solutions: a process of ideation. This activity has been classroom based but now a specific Virtual Reality Learning Environment technology (VRLE) has been created to support ideation. This technology supports online communications between students and teacher and enables them to develop drawings and descriptions of the solutions. The VRLE is Internet connected and the students work online with their ideas in real time. As this learning environment is new it is important to evaluate and explore its use and value in supporting ideation in the context of IE. The primary author has run a series of pilot studies to identify the pedagogical issues of using the new VRLE to support ideation within IE. In this paper, he discusses the background of Innovation Education in Icelandic Education and reports the pilot studies. The main aim of the pilot studies was to explore the ways in which ideation was developed in students when using IE materials within the VRLE. The researcher used the following research questions: a. What are the pedagogical issues of using the VRLE for ideation in Innovation Education? b. Which issues influence the ideation process in the VRLE in Innovation Education? c. How can the teacher effectively manage such issues? These questions were explored using a range of specific techniques in an action research model. Data was gathered from three, triangulated, pilot studies. This was analysed and used to prepare a new set of research questions and a more developed exploration using a subsequent series of case studies

‘Reading Woods’ with Teachers in Icelandic Schools in the 21st Century

The curriculum development project, ‘Reading Woods with Schools’, focused on cross curricular outdoor education in Icelandic woods. The participants were 105 teachers from twenty-two elementary schools: these teachers were trained via an in-service teaching course and given a woodland area prior to the project. The aim was to ascertain how teachers could utilise woodland in enabling students to gain an understanding of the ecosystem of the woods, use of the woods in craft, learn about sustainability and understand that woods are resources that influence the wellbeing of the human race. The article outlines the curriculum project ‘Reading Woods with Schools’ and reports on a survey that was undertaken in order to examine teachers’ views and experiences, in terms of the use of local woods in projects. One teacher from each of the participating schools reflected on the project and answered the survey. The main aims of the survey were to examine how the activities were organised, to what extent the woods were used, hindrances in using the woods for schools, knowledge gained via the project and what kind of support the schools required in running the project. The survey concluded that the activities were mostly dependant on teachers’ initiative, as outdoor education is not a part of the Icelandic National Curriculum (Menntamalaraduneyti, 2010). Furthermore, teachers must have access to outdoor education training, educational materials, good facilities and it is important to establish an online database, featuring a collection of different projects, for teachers to access during their courses

Examining Teaching Practises in Design and Craft Education in Iceland

This article reports a survey which aimed to examine the present situation in Design and Craft Education (D&C) in Iceland in terms of teachers’ general standing and their teaching inside the Icelandic elementary schools. A questionnaire was sent to 170 D&C teachers in Icelandic elementary schools. The questionnaire was completed by 101 teachers, and the response rate was 59.4%. The main research questions were: 1. What are the most common methods for teaching D&C? 2. How do D&C teachers utilise the Icelandic National Curriculum? 3. How could the teaching better meet students’ individual needs? Data were collected using an online questionnaire that was distributed to D&C teachers in all elementary schools in Iceland. Findings showed that D&C teachers base their teaching mainly on direct instruction, but also use verbal explanation, practical demonstration and discussion with students during their work. The teachers were quite satisfied with their methods of teaching and were not willing to make dramatic changes. Nevertheless, they were interested in improving outdoor education, field trips and the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in their classrooms. Most of the teachers used the national curriculum for planning their teaching, but generally only at the start of the school year. The research indicates the importance of improving the teachers’ practices in order to strengthen the subject’s status inside the Icelandic school system. This could be done via in-service teachers’ courses and seminars with teachers discussing the outcomes of the research