Getting a Sense of the Whole Game: The Idea of Scientific Conferences as Educational Simulations

Your Name and Title: Haido Samaras, Director of Instructional Design and Development

School or Organization Name: Anatolia College

Co-Presenter Name(s): Ellen Proestopoulos, Theodore Filaretos, Kleanthis Lagopoulos, Athinodoros Bandis, Antonis Apostolou, Elias Kalabokis, Eleni Hatzimavroudi, Alexia Seridou,George Lysaridis , Alexia Dara, Thanasis Papadimitriou, Christos Atlasis, Thodoris Andriopoulos, Myrto Katsigianni, John Koutsogeorgiou, Kosmas Dimosiaris, Eleni Mavridou, Maria Spyropoulou, Dimitris Papadamou, Elsa Exintaveloni, Diamantis Bitzilekis, George Papazoglou, Dimitris Tzouris

Area of the World from Which You Will Present: Thessaloniki, Greece

Language in Which You Will Present: English

Target Audience(s): High school administrators and teachers, high school students, university professors, university students

Short Session Description (one line): The logic and ideas behind getting high school students involved with the simulation of a scientific conference where learning is approached with a view of learning as a whole game and not by way of providing elements that don’t make much sense in the absence of the whole game.

Full Session Description (as long as you would like): This proposal involves a reform effort within the framework of an educational simulation that extends a formal education setting. The idea is to allow
students to have the chance to view learning as a whole game. This is achieved by getting students to become actively involved in an educational simulation of a scientific conference and becoming familiar
with the methods of scientific inquiry and scientific paper authoring.

An additional innovation is that students become involved with the various stages and procedures of a conference, since they are asked to assume the roles of conference presenters, organizers, participants, and reviewers.

The ideas behind ACSTAC are based on the views of:

• Michel Rocard et.al, former French Prime Minister, who in 2007 together with EU Commissioner for science and research, Janez Potocnik initiated a European project with the goal of increasing young people's interest in science and mathematics.

• David Perkins, an internationally recognized authority on matters of teaching and learning and Director of the Harvard University Project Zero program.

We allowed students to get a sense of the whole game with regard to what it means
to carry out research and prepare a scientific paper for a scientific conference.

We also allowed them to experience different roles: presenter, organizer, reviewer.

•Students had the opportunity to participate in a research-based process and to present their work.

•Through this process students observed and applied the approaches and methods that
researchers adopt in order to contribute knowledge to their particular field.

•This process allowed them to become engaged in a junior version of an actual conference.

Websites / URLs Associated with Your Session: http://www.acstac.gr, http://www.anatolia.edu.gr, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR2_8KRu5DQ&feature=player_embedded

Global Education Conference acstac.ppt

Hello! It's a joint project which connected students and teachers from secondary and tertiary education. Last year's ACSTAC conference involved 400 participants. These connections run across Greece and are soon to be enriched with global connections. The basic idea is that students will be able to connect with other students in order to present the inquiry-based work they've been researching. This is exactly like the idea behind the Global Education Conference with the innovation of having students plan, organize and conduct the whole conference and also having them serve on the various reviewing committees together with university students and high school teachers. This year ACSTAC is aiming for international participants as well as reviewers. We want to get students around the world excited about science and inquiry-based learning and to interact with each other while working on their papers. We'd eventually like them to work collaboratively on formulating their research questions. The deadline for the abstracts is December 4th so I'd like any teacher who's interested in having students experience all the procedures involved with becoming a conference presenter, to let their students know that all we're expecting from them by the deadline (December 4th) is an idea and a 300-word abstract. Everything is stated clearly on our student-designed website at www.acstac.gr. We look forward in having your students present their work on site or virtually! I believe they're going to fully enjoy this learning experience!

Replies

Haido Samaras October 30, 2011 at 2:09pm

Hello! It's a joint project which connected students and teachers from secondary and tertiary education. Last year's ACSTAC conference involved 400 participants. These connections run across Greece and are soon to be enriched with global connections. The basic idea is that students will be able to connect with other students in order to present the inquiry-based work they've been researching. This is exactly like the idea behind the Global Education Conference with the innovation of having students plan, organize and conduct the whole conference and also having them serve on the various reviewing committees together with university students and high school teachers. This year ACSTAC is aiming for international participants as well as reviewers. We want to get students around the world excited about science and inquiry-based learning and to interact with each other while working on their papers. We'd eventually like them to work collaboratively on formulating their research questions. The deadline for the abstracts is December 4th so I'd like any teacher who's interested in having students experience all the procedures involved with becoming a conference presenter, to let their students know that all we're expecting from them by the deadline (December 4th) is an idea and a 300-word abstract. Everything is stated clearly on our student-designed website at www.acstac.gr. We look forward in having your students present their work on site or virtually! I believe they're going to fully enjoy this learning experience!
Co-Chair

Lucy Gray October 26, 2011 at 9:33pm

This proposal is accepted... however, can you include more language on how this fits into our theme of global collaborations and connections?

Thanks!

This reply was deleted.