Visiting Unknown Terrain
Educational Level
Secondary – Higher Education
Student Age
10 – 99
Number of students
Full classroom activity
Lesson duration
15 – 60min
Students…
- … learn to interpret clues.
- … raise awareness about their own school
- … raise awareness how other schools can look like
- … get to know other places
- … broaden their view
- … connect with people/students in other places
Students can guess where they are as robots based on an intensive examination of their own and other people’s environments.
Own school: Internet connection. Smartboard / large screen / projector to be able to control a robot together as a class.
Other institution (school): Internet connection, telepresence robot
Students (the whole class) visit a foreign place (e.g. a school) without knowing where it is or what kind of place it is.
Authentic Learning: Students learn about a place they can explore themselves in real time. They can get in touch with real people in real time and ask them questions if necessary.
Game-based Learning: The students practice skills through a playful challenge.
Groupwork: An entire class shares a telepresence robot. While only one person can control the robot, the entire class is involved in the decision-making process of how to explore the site.
Problem-based Learning: The main goal for students is to figure out where they are. Along this problem they acquire further knowledge.
Lesson Plan
Before the Lesson:
Teacher
- The teacher contacts another institution (e.g. school) that has at least one telepresence robot.
- A date is found that is possible for both parties.
Students
- No preparation needed
Lesson:
Teacher
- The teacher starts the task by logging into the other institution’s robot and giving the students the task of exploring the area to find out where they are.
Students
- The students agree on who will operate the robot.
- Students explore the foreign environment. They look for similarities and differences and write them down.
- If possible, they also interact with people in the other place.
- Direct questions about the place or the names of the institution are not allowed.
After Lesson:
Teacher
Teacher starts a roundtable discussion and addresses the following points:
- Group work
- Differences / similarities / special characteristics
- Clues that led to the solution
Students
- Students discuss these points. Reflect on their own school environment. What is different? What could be improved?
Ex
Author: Simon Wimmer (University for Continuing Education Krems, Center for Applied Game Studies)
How did this Teaching Scenario work for you?
Have you tried this or a similar Teaching Scenario?
Feel free to share your experiences with a comment below.
Possible questions for your evaluation of the TRinE Teaching Scenario
- What feedback / reflection was provided by the teacher?
- How is the feedback from the students?
- Why did you decide to use TRs?
- How did the TRs inform your lesson plan?
- What shifts or stretches are you making regarding the TRs?
Does the use of the Telepresence robots:
- align to learning outcomes?
- align to assessment?
- support your educational context?
- differentiate for individual students?
- enhance student thinking by addressing different levels of thinking?
- extend learning authentically beyond the classroom?
- increase engagement and active learning?
- promote and support collaboration?
- provide opportunities to construct knowledge?
Are the students participating / motivated / progressing?
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