Citation :
Kalogiannakis, M. (2004). A virtual learning environment for the French physics teachers, Education and Information Technologies, 9(4), 345-353.

Abstract

This paper presents a study about the new roles that some French physics teachers develop in class when they use ICT. The presence of ICT in class practice seems to affect both the role of the teachers and how they teach. The content analysis of exchanged e-mails in two mailing lists and semi-structured interviews gives a glimpse on the way teachers are considering that their role in class is changing. New models of teaching seem to be constructed by teachers who feel more active and more dynamic when using ICT to teach physics. Thanks to the introduction of the ICT they have become'mediators' for their students. Scientific knowledge is no longer on the teacher's side but it is now shared between different sources. They present also the use of ICT as a form of life long learning. Furthermore, the teachers consider that the mailing lists facilitate the communication and contribute to the progress of educational practices.

1. Introduction
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) have begun to be established as an information and communications resource in the working and home environments of most teachers. ICT is not only bringing changes to the world we live in, but also transforms the way we can learn, opening a new gateway to information, providing a new potential for interaction and dialogue. The use of ICT is becoming a part of everyday life in schools. According to Pinto (2002) teachers need to change if they want to try out with new methods and technologies for education. One of the main means of this change is ICT. New possibilities for teaching and learning are introduced and new learning environments emerge offering the flexibility to achieve goals of lifelong learning.
In the process of collecting, analyzing and processing information and sharing ideas with others, ICT serve as essential enabling tool. ICT are often associated with changes in for students and this has an inevitable impact on the role that the teacher is asked to play. ICT have been seen as a vehicle for teachers to carry out major changes in how they teach students. But it may also be that the ICT enables teachers to follow a whole new approach to teaching based on a different theory of how students attain understanding or new perspectives on what it is important for students to know. However, new teaching strategies are emerging and teachers themselves need the opportunity to develop new classroom skills, new relations and new models of teaching (Baron and Bruillard, 1996).
Since the introduction in 2000 of the Personal Guided Projects (TPEs'Travaux Personnels Encadrés' in French) for students, which are a new educational form of learning in the eleventh grade of the French secondary school, the role of physic teachers has changed. In this new learning approach, students work in small groups: they have to choose a topic, to develop an approach, to do a documentary research and then to write a report that will be publicly. Access to the information is crucial to the success of TPEs. In this context, it seems convenient to base the TPEs on ICT as a research tool.
Our research covers some French physics teachers in secondary school and considers the impact of ICT on pedagogical practice. The purpose of the research is to provide information on the nature of changes taking place in teaching and the new roles of physics teachers using ICT in class. Using ICT effectively requires a radical transformation of practice in the classroom. Our purpose is to provide information for the potential impact of ICT for the French physics teachers and the new role of physics teachers after the introduction of the TPEs and the use of ICT in the class practice.
It is well established that if any form of innovation is proposed in isolation it is doomed to fail. Faced to the introduction of the TPEs, it is very important that French physics teachers should be able to update their knowledge, to guide their students and to develop new roles. The French Ministry of Education created the mailing list called PHYSCHIM (http://listes.educnet.education.fr/wws/info/physchim) in November 1999 and the list TPE-TICE (http://listes.educnet.education.fr/wws/info/tpe-tice) in March 2000. These two lists are moderated and concern all the French teachers of secondary schools. The public archives of these lists are available by topic or in a chronological way. According to the list's chart, the purpose of these two lists is to foster the exchanges between teachers in relation with: (i) the ICT use and more particularly the Internet use in class practice and (ii) the innovative educational practices and the didactic reflection. In order to put the new roles of physics teachers into context, we shall offer a case study of this actual ICT based learning environment of the mailing lists PHYSCHIM and TPE-TICE. These two lists can be perceived as a valued platform for continuing professional education for teachers and as a communicational tool and a learning environment for physics teachers.


2. Background and framework ou The context of the study
In the information society, ability to collect, develop, exchange, store and manage information from various and dispersed data along with the ability to generate additional information of value are essential. E-mail enables professional communities to interact freely and increases efficient communication between teachers and stuedents. Cyberspace is a new environment created by computer and communication technology. Over the last few decades, various computer-mediated communication structures and tools have been created that allow virtual communities to work together online, not only communicating about specific activities, but also building a kind of knowledge base. The mailing lists can be used as collaborative work tools for interaction and dialogue (Rojo and Ragsdale, 1997).
A few secondary French physics teachers have experience of the Internet or of using it for teaching (Kalogiannakis and Caillot, 2001). The traditional organisation of the secondary schools sometimes creates practical difficulties in using new technologies in class. The limited impact of ICT has as much to do with teachers' attitudes and skills as with access to equipment. Since 1994 the French Internet development policy in the field of education has deliberately aimed at encouraging all the members of the school institutions to communicate with new tools such as mailing lists, academic or personal web sites. These networks can be characterised as pedagogical networks (Drot-Delange, 2001) playing a vital role in the diffusion of innovations and new practices in class.
The need and shared purpose of an education community is learning. Online communities can offer a lot of opportunities to students and teachers which are comparable with face to face meetings. Teachers have a variety of purpose for using these two mailing lists. They use the lists as a way of getting information and keeping updated in their field of interest. Another use of the lists as a way to participate in or listen to the exchange of ideas and still others use the lists to network with others with similar interests. Rogoff (1994) argues that mailing lists may serve as zones of development for communities of teachers and learners and as places where all participants may learn.
In our study we propose the mailing lists PHYSCHIM and TPE-TICE as virtual communities in the sense of Rheingold (1993), with a potential for learning and development. Virtual learning communities are learning communities based not on actual geography, but on shared purpose. Through technology, learners can be drawn together from almost anywhere, and they can construct their own formal or informal groups. While virtual communities are often built around central themes, ideas or purposes, the organizing principles are not externally imposed. Purposes, intentions and the protocol for interaction are construction by participants. Today's use of virtual learning environment is not restricted to well-structured information spaces. The archives of these two lists are also a rich source of the exchanges between French teachers and they are good examples of how PHYSCHIM and TPE-TICE contributors, each from their perspective, may contribute as well as benefit from others' contributions.
According to Wellman (1997), those who communicate on-line maintain a variety of links, exchanging information, emotional aid creating multiplex relationships. In our study we consider the lists PHYSCHIM and TPE-TICE list as a computer social network connecting physics teachers facing the introduction of TPEs and ICT into their physics classes practice. Can these relationships be strong enough if they are only sustained on-line? Wellman (1997) notes that Computer Mediated Communication is rich enough and can develop strong ties between the participants of the on-line interactions. Mailing lists provide a new way of sharing and discussing these new experiences. Users of mailing lists often feel that they are part of a social gathering or in some cases a community (Jones and Rafaeli, 1999)
Although we can not predict how virtual learning environments will influence learning effectiveness, an important point to consider is that, for teachers, a virtual space is an open space, a space where they can try new approaches. Teaching has always been an individual work: teachers do not collaborate a lot, they rarely attend to each others lectures, do not much exchange teaching material. The challenge is to turn teaching into a collective performance like in the mailing lists. Virtual communities may contribute to break the barriers around the schools. According to Levy (2002), a virtual community is simply a group of people that are in relation through the cyberspace, from a simple temporary mailing list to virtual communities whose members maintain intellectual relationships. Being mostly connected via the Internet or by an interactive telecommunication network does not necessarily mean that present-day meetings are no longer valid.


3. Research Methodology
Our methodology has consisted in: (i) retrieving electronic messages from the TPE-TICE and PHYSCHIM lists archives of the French Ministry of Education and (ii) interviewing 26 secondary school physics teachers. The discussion in the PHYSCHIM list has been studied for a period of 26 months. There are archives reaching back to November 1999 when the list was made. In terms of number of messages from the make of the list 3023 messages were posted by the 650 subscribers of the list. Only 227 physics teachers' messages speaking about ICT and TPEs were selected and analysed by a content analysis. The discussion in the TPE-TICE list has been studied for a period of 22 months. There are archives reaching back to mars 2000 when the list was made. In terms of number of messages from the make of the list 2260 messages were posted by the 1360 subscribers of the list. Only 120 physics teachers' messages speaking about ICT and TPEs were selected and analysed by a content analysis. All these messages can provide important elements about the roles of teachers.
In these two mailing lists that we have studied, most of the time the end of the messages is demarcated by a sign-off presenting name and professional affiliation of the sender. There is considerable variation in the actual methods of complying, from simply signing a message on a first-name basis, to elaborate automated signature files containing contact information like visiting address, paper mail address, telephone and fax. In contrast to the header information, which contains mandatory parts, provided or forced by the ICT, it is entirely possible to send messages without a signature part. For our research we did not select this category of messages.
Messages use the first-person plural, expressions of agreement (and polite disagreement) and attempted employment of humour. Teachers need to familiarise themselves with new possibilities and to adopt new approaches and applications. Some physics teachers left these two lists when too many messages were exchanged and if they found too much irrelevant information. An important factor related to teachers dropping out a mailing list is the threat of information overload, the time investment and the relevance of the content. The problem of relevance in academic mailing lists is difficult to solve because what one person considers irrelevant may be relevant for another. Also, the presence of a large proportion of silent participants is a regular feature of successful mailing lists and PHYSCHIM and TPE-TICE lists are no exception.
The teachers of the sample worked with ICT in their teaching and/or for their personal work. Some of them have pioneered the use of ICT in classes for at least fifteen years. It must be underlined that the sample came from French secondary schools located not only France but also in India, Martinique, Italy etc. French physic teachers exchange and share ideas and material with their colleagues through these two lists that then are used as collaborative work tools for interaction and dialogue and as a way of sharing and discussing their new experiences. All the French physics teachers using these two lists share the same interest: the introduction of the TPEs in their class practice. By using these two lists they can find that other teachers have similar questions.
For our research, we consider that the content of messages posted by physics teachers in the PHYSCHIM list and the twelve interviews give important information about their new roles and their new class practices. Our methodology is based on the following hypotheses: (i) the TPEs introduction and the ICT use in class have changed the role of physics teachers and (ii) a discussion list like the PHYSCHIM and TPE-TICE have also contributed to the integration of TPEs, into the French educational system.


4. Results
French physics teachers exchange and share ideas and material with their colleagues through the lists PHYSCHIM and TPE-TICE. Many individual pioneering teachers as those we have interviewed for this study have examined the use of ICT for teaching, learning and communication. For these teachers open access to the world of the Internet is undoubtedly one of the major assets of the information society. But this new possibility has many implications for teaching and learning, such as: (i) the increasingly dynamic nature of the content of learning, (ii) openness as to participation in learning, (iii) the need for learners to learn how to learn independently and (iv) the need for teachers to become facilitators and managers of learning.
First, the messages of these two lists were reviewed to identify and categorise major dimensions that occurred throughout the data. Two dimensions were identified: (i) communicating on TPEs topics through discussions on their links with physics lectures and (ii) stimulating the interlocutors' responsiveness. The texts were reviewed again to identify the types of communication content. Most of the messages in the lists TPE-TICE and PHYSCHIM contain statements of facts. More than a quarter of the messages contains a question or request providing information, probably in response to the messages that were predominantly requests for information.
And more than a third of the messages contain personalising content, in the form of a verbal self-disclosure, an admission or introduction. Most of the messages use first-person plural pronouns. Messages were more likely to contain agreement than disagreement. In these two lists a fairly general mailing list phenomenon occurs: within a given period of time a few subscribers post a very large number of messages, a somewhat larger cluster post a moderate number of messages each and a lot of contributors post only a single message (Rojo and Ragsdale, 1997). Physics teachers often invoke personal experience and ask if they have expressed themselves in ways that make sense to others. These discursive features reinforce the character of the lists PHYSCHIM and TPE-TICE as a learning environment. Once connected to the Internet, individual physics teachers can prepare and publish their own teaching material.
For the teachers of our research ICT use is very important mainly for the communication between their colleagues and their students. Some of the physics teachers use these two lists as a way of getting information and keeping updated in their field of interests, others to find out about new things to be done in class. It is very important to keep in touch with other teachers who have the same interests and the same questions (Drot-Delange, 2001).These lists users can also develop purposes as a group and collaborate on common goals. Some other physics teachers use lists to make announcements and other only to learn about this new medium.
The physics teachers question the traditional role of the teacher as the only source of knowledge, which seems to decline gradually. These teachers are aware of the fact that new teachers' roles are developing. Among these different roles, a new one is emerging, that of'mentor'. After the introduction of TPEs, they feel like'guides','facilitators','advisors','coaches' and'mentors' for their students. They also mentioned the diversity of the teaching skills and the new tasks they have to face. The teachers of our research consider that scientific knowledge is no longer on their side but it is shared between different sources. Among the positive aspects of the ICT and the TPEs some teachers underlined the new and better relations between students and teachers, the development of the students' autonomy. These two lists are considered to be a viable (inter)national distance education service and a pedagogical network playing a vital role in the diffusion of innovations and new practices in class. French physics teachers often develop the habit of helping each other. They teach one another and exchange addresses of useful web sites or some exercises for their students. As ICT becomes embedded in education, one of the most dramatic changes for teachers is loss of control.
ICT and TPEs in the French educational system require a modification of the role of the teacher, who in addition to classroom teaching will have other skills and responsibilities. After the introduction of the TPEs they feel like'facilitators' and'managers' for their students. The teachers who have taken part in our research study consider that they could serve as models for their colleagues interested in adopting the ICT in teaching physics. Most teachers who report how they use ICT in their teaching implicitly depict themselves as pioneers. Other dimensions should also be mentioned: teachers consider ICT systems as tools for enriching their own knowledge and for carrying out the research required by their every day teaching. In most cases, they are indeed pioneers in their school or district. French physics teachers see themselves as students''guides' and'coaches'. After the TPEs introduction, they had the impression that they were becoming their students''facilitators' and'supporters'. One of their primary roles is to help the students to determine a research topic for the TPEs. Thanks to the introduction of the TPEs we think that the physics teachers have become a'mediator' and a'mentor' for their students.


5. Conclusions
Important questions have been raised about the new roles assumed by physics teachers when they introduce ICT in their classes. These teachers are relatively different from the typical physics teacher. They have developed a new image of their job, a new relation to knowledge and a new way of teaching with less teachers' interventions and more responsibility on the students' part. Teachers have become regular electronic mail users, although that the same degree of taking-for-granted access has not yet been provided to many students. The relationship between ICT use and professional leadership suggests that if leaders among teachers can be encouraged to share their enthusiasm and knowledge of ICT with other teachers, this will also have an effect of diffusing use more broadly within the profession. It is important to realise that these'innovative' teachers remain true physics teachers and they have not swapped their teaching mission for an uncertain role of trainer in ICT.
In all sectors of education, the role of the teacher is changing. Teachers question the traditional role of the teacher who used to be the only source of knowledge. Therefore, new class practices of teaching emerge with the introduction of these tools. With ICT, scientific knowledge is no longer on the teacher's side, but it is now shared between different sources such as the Internet. The physics teacher often appears to be'less present' in class. Some teachers present the use of ICT as a form of life long learning, which seems to be in accordance with the'knowledge society'. On the other hand the traditional educational role seems to decline gradually. The PHYSCHIM and TPE-TICE lists allow French physics teachers to'meet' other colleagues, to keep and build contact with others. Teaching style has to be transformed, which is a difficult thing when education culture is in transition from an old-fashioned centrally controlled system.
The interviewed teachers express great satisfaction when they teach with ICT because it creates a greater class autonomy. However, in spite of their general enthusiasm, the teachers also reported that they had encountered technical problems in the use of ICT in class and particularly with the Internet. Nevertheless, the teachers who have worked with ICT have developed a different professional image: they always use the personal pronoun'I' and consider that they belong to a distinct and very special category of teachers. They do have a very strong feeling of being pioneers in their jobs and of being models for the near future.
For the teachers of our research using computers as tools is analogous to using pencils as tools in writing. But users often need help to learn how to use computer as a tool. Tools are used in performing operations in the process of achieving goals of users. The sense of progress in learning, the level of appropriate presentation, the possibilities of varied activities are among the positive elements underlined by the interviewed teachers. The role of the teacher changes because ICT can cause certain teaching resources to become obsolete. New electronic forms of distributed communication can be employed. One of the new roles of the teacher is to separate information from misinformation. Identification, classification and authentication of electronic information sources will be critical some of the new tasks for teachers in the near future.
Furthermore, ICT are also characterised by teachers as effective educational tools for explaining physics concepts. The teachers said that they also work with ICT to simulate experiments, which in the past could not be carried out. It is also important to find how to manage the transition from a rather traditional pedagogy to a teaching based on a project pedagogy where the students could conduct a research on the Internet by themselves. ICT can put modelling tools in the hands of students that let them carry out activities that are much more like real science than are traditional activities in introductory courses. Students can learn that nature of science as a model of reality and see that they can actually do science for themselves.
They face technical and institutional adversities, they take risks, namely some distance with the curriculum, they escape from the established routines. These teachers spend many more hours on their teaching preparation than they are expected to. This is the positive side of the coin, but there is also a negative side: teachers spending a lot of energy to find resources devoting all their energy to technology instead of educational goals. The real problem raised by teachers is how to integrate and generalise the use of ICT in class practice. We are still watching very closely these two lists. The PHYSCHIM list and during the year 2002 the list has almost reached 1320 exchanged e-mails and 1450 e-mails in the year 2003. During the year 2002 the list TPE-TICE has reached 3150 e-mails and 3230 e-mails exchanged in the year 2003. These number show that teachers are still greatly interested in this list. Many participants of this list think that lists are going to be an important avenue in the future for sharing information and practices. Sometimes it is the on-line interaction itself that makes teachers contribute messages.


6. Discussion
As the new information and knowledge-based society comes schools face challenges to bring up students with intellectual creativity and critical thinking ability that can adapt themselves to the new society and even lead the society. Computer mediated communication has emerged as an attractive channel for education.
We consider the two lists studied in this research as a computer social network connecting teachers facing the introduction of these two innovations (TPEs and ICT) in their classrooms. In these two lists there is always a core of participants who have stayed long enough on the list. At the same time there is room for innovation through the addition of new resources and interests when new users join the list. We consider these two lists to be successful mailing lists in so far as there are some teachers who have sent messages at the opening of the list (November 1999) and remain still active participants (April 2004). They have the potential to become an important medium for continuing professional education and group collaboration.
Changes to learning make new demands on physics teachers and they are likely to result in: (i) the change in the relationship between teachers and learners; focus on learning, on increased autonomy of learners, and on group and collaborative learning, (ii) an enlarged role of teachers, as facilitators and managers of learning as well as purveyors of knowledge and (iii) a changing locus of control, from teacher to learner.

References
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Citation :
Kalogiannakis, M. (2003). Information and Communication Technologies in class practice: a case study of secondary physical sciences teachers, Welsh Journal of Education (Special Issue on ICT), 12(1), 64-74.

This paper seeks to explore the new roles that some French teachers of physical sciences are developing through the use of information and communications technology (ICT). Based on a content analysis of e-mails from a French Ministry of Education physical sciences mailing list and follow-up qualitative interview data with twelve teachers, this paper identifies and examines the perceived new roles of teachers alongside their use and appropriation of new technologies. The paper develops the argument that the introduction of ICT changes the role of physics teachers with scientific knowledge no longer solely on the teacher's side but now shared between different sources.

Introduction

It is widely acknowledged that teachers need to change in contemporary education, with one of the main drivers of this change being information and communications technology (ICT). Via ICT new possibilities for teaching and learning are introduced and new learning environments emerge offering the flexibility to achieve goals of lifelong learning. ICT is not only bringing changes to the world we live in, but is also transforming the way we can learn, opening a new gateway to information as well as providing a new potential for interaction and dialogue. Although we do not yet know enough about how to manage the new tools of ICT for educational purposes it is possible to derive pointers from today's experience of teaching and learning in order to help teachers in all types and levels of education to use ICT effectively. If nothing else we can be sure that in the coming age of virtual education, teachers will remain critical to quality of learning. My present research focuses on French physics teachers in secondary school and considers the impact of ICT on pedagogical practice. The purpose of the research is to provide information on the nature of changes taking place in teaching as well as the new roles of physics teachers brought about by the use of ICT.

Although a few secondary French physics teachers have experience of the Internet or of using it for teaching (Kalogiannakis & Caillot 2000), the traditional organisation of the French secondary school sometimes creates practical difficulties in using new technologies in class. However, there is currently great debate in the French educational system about how teachers should adapt their current teaching skills in the face of recommended new educational forms such as the'Travaux Personnels Encadrés' (Personal Guided Projects). The Travaux Personnels Encadrés (TPEs) are a new institutional form of learning and were introduced in all French secondary schools in the eleventh grade during the first quarter of 2000-2001 and the year after in the twelfth grade. In this new form of learning, students work in small groups, choose a topic, conduct documentary research and then write a report that will be presented publicly. It is seen as being very important for students to use ICT as a tool of research for their TPEs on the. In order to guide students, teachers are also expected to develop new roles and new skills in ICT and in its use in classroom.

ICT is often associated with changes in both learning activities and learning objectives for students and this has an inevitable impact on the role that the teacher is asked to play. However, with ICT new teaching strategies have emerged and teachers themselves need the opportunity to develop new classroom skills, new relations and new models of teaching (Baron & Bruillard, 1996). For example, e-mail enables professional communities to interact freely and increases the efficiency of communication between teachers. E-mail-based mailing lists can be used as collaborative work tools for interaction and dialogue. In this spirit, the French Ministry of Education created an electronic mailing list called PHYSCHIM (http://listes.educnet.education.fr/wws/info/physchim) in November 1999. The PHYSCHIM list is moderated, meaning that the messages are first sent to a moderator for approval before being available to all list members. The PHYSCHIM list covers all the French physics teachers of secondary schools and the public archives of the list are available either by topic or in chronological order. According to the supporting documentation, the purpose of this list is to foster exchanges between teachers in relation to: (i) their ICT use and more particularly their Internet use in class practice, (ii) emerging innovative educational practices and the didactic reflection.

The use of e-mail lists in education

The Internet is a network of networks and teaching strategies and resources can be shared through communication with other educators and may be integrated across the curriculum. Since 1994 the French Internet development policy in the field of education has deliberately aimed at encouraging all the members of the school institution to communicate via new tools such as mailing lists, academic or personal Web sites. These networks can be characterised as pedagogical networks (Drot-Delange, 2001) playing a vital role in the diffusion of innovation and new practices in class. Shank (1993) argues that Net communication is neither oral nor written, but it is semiotic and that the Internet is, in essence, a text producing machine. He proposes the term multilogue for this computer-mediated form of interaction. Shank suggests that the most effective and unique forms of scholarly Net communication emerge where the multilogue is used for fostering shared understandings of circumstances and phenomena. Rogoff (1994) also argues that mailing lists may serve as zones of development for communities of teachers and learners and as places where all participants may learn.

In our study we propose the PHYSCHIM list as a virtual community in the sense of Rheingold (1993), with a potential for learning and development. The PHYSCHIM list archives are also a rich source of the exchanges between French physics teachers and they are good examples of how PHYSCHIM contributors, each from their own perspective, may contribute as well as benefit from others' contributions. We also consider the community of practitioners of this list as a community of learners in the sense of Rogoff (1994). In principle everybody, no matter how long they have been subscribers to the list, may have something to contribute and something to gain from participating. On the other hand, Lewenstein (1995) argues that in spite of the great expectations for computer mediated communication (CMC) as a medium for the advancement of scientific knowledge, such channels tend not to be actually used in this way. His results point rather towards an educational, autodidactic function of electronic discussions for "qualified amateurs".

Generally speaking, a scholarly mailing list offers a new and attractive way for a semiotic interfacing between education actors in a virtual environment (Rojo & Ragsdale, 1997). Faced with the introduction of the TPEs, it is very important that French physics teachers should be able to update their knowledge, to guide their students and to develop new roles. In order to put these new roles into context, this paper now offers a case study of an actual ICT based learning environment in the form of the PHYSCHIM list and examine the extent to which this list is perceived as a valued platform for continuing professional education by teachers who are facing ICT-based changes in their day-to-day practice. In this research, PHYSCHIM mailing list is considered as a communicational tool and as a learning environment for physics teachers.

Research Methods

This paper now presents a content analysis of e-mails exchanged in the PHYSCHIM mailing list alongside the results from follow-up semi-structured interviews with twelve secondary school physics teachers. The discussion in the PHYSCHIM list has been analysed for a period of 26 months using the available archives reaching back to November 1999. In terms of number of messages from the initiation of the list in November 1999 to December 2001, 3023 messages were posted by the 650 subscribers to the list. Table one shows the total number of all the e-mails that French physics teachers have exchanged per month and per year over these 26 months. Of these 3023 messages the 227 messages concerned with ICT and TPEs were selected and analysed by a content analysis. In Table two, we indicate the number of the exchanged e-mails by physics teachers concerning ICT and TPEs over the last 26 months. It is hoped that these messages can provide important elements about the roles of teachers as using ICT effectively requires a radical transformation of practice in classroom.


Table one. Traffic in the PHYSCHIM list


Table two. Traffic in the PHYSCHIM list concerning ICT and/or TPEs


In terms of identifying the characteristics of contributors to the PHYSCHIM list, most of the time the end of a message to the list is demarcated by a sign-off presenting name and professional affiliation of the sender. There is considerable variation in the actual methods of complying, from simply signing a message on a first-name basis, to elaborate automated signature files containing contact information concerning a visiting address, paper mail address, telephone and fax numbers. For our research we did not select messages which were lacking a signature part.

The follow-up interviews were carried out with twelve physics teachers who were identified as contributors to the PHYSCHIM list. This sample came from secondary schools located in Paris and as such, cannot be considered to be representative of all French physics teachers. The twelve interviewees were physics teachers who had a long experience of innovation and had used new technologies in their classroom. Having considered the content of messages posted by physics teachers in the PHYSCHIM list the twelve interviews then give important information about their new roles and their new class practices. Our research is based on the following hypotheses: (i) that the introduction of TPEs and the associated rise of ICT use in class have changed the role of physics teachers, (ii) a discussion list like the PHYSCHIM list has also contributed to the integration of TPEs, into the French educational system.

Results
The use of PHYSCHIM list by physics teachers

A first analysis of the messages and the interviews reveal some interesting points: primarily that using ICT effectively requires a radical transformation of teachers' communicative practices. In the PHYSCHIM mailing list a fairly general phenomenon for email lists was observed (Rojo & Ragsdale, 1997), i.e. that within a given period of time a few subscribers had posted a very large number of messages, a somewhat larger cluster had posted a moderate number of messages each and that a lot of contributors had posted only a single message. In many of the messages physics teachers would often invoke personal experiences and ask if they have expressed themselves in ways that make sense to others. These discursive features reinforce the character of the PHYSCHIM list as a learning environment.

Some of the physics teachers used the list as a way of getting information and keeping updated in their field of interests, others to find out about new things to be done in class. Some physics teachers used the PHYSCHIM list as a means to participate in or listen to the exchange of messages whilst others used the list in order to find other teachers with similar interests or similar problems. There was a sense that it was felt very important to keep in touch with other teachers who have the same interests and the same questions. These list users also developed purposes as a group and collaborate on common goals. Some other physics teachers used lists to make announcements and others only to learn about this new medium. There was also evidence of physics teachers exchanging and sharing ideas and material with their colleagues through the PHYSCHIM list. There was also evidence of French physics teachers developing the habit of helping each other via ICT; teaching one another, exchanging addresses of useful web sites and sharing exercises for their students.

The silent participants in the PHYSCHIM list

The presence of silent participants (lurkers) in email lists may be also problematic in the sense that many subscribers seldom, if ever, contribute postings and therefore do not contribute to the production of collective goods in the virtual community. It is therefore worthwhile examining briefly the phenomenon of lurking in the PHYSCHIM list. Most users of PHYSCHIM list appeared to participate mainly in a "fishing for information" mode, while relatively fewer users were actively involved in the more interactive modes of "enjoying the debate" or "social networking". The presence of non-posting readers on this list can occasionally be seen as troublesome but on the other hand, among the silent participants, there may be a great number of silenced voices and teachers with things to contribute, who are too intimidated by the discourse to dare post their share. Lurking did not appear to be necessarily negative in the PHYSCHIM list that we have studied. The silent participant obviously does not contribute actively to the building of community, however, silent participation on PHYSCHIM mailing list may be considered as a potential resource. We can regard lurkers as external elements to the community, as participants who read but never write a contribution and could be categorised as subscribers to the local newsletter.

Physics Teachers' Perspectives on ICT as a communicative and collaborative tool

As ICT becomes embedded in education, one of the most dramatic changes for teachers is loss of control. With ICT use it is the computer user who is in control - in education this is the learner. This is a radical change from the traditional situation where the teacher controls the class and the content of learning. Before the ICT use, a teacher could guide learners in their individual work by recommending reading or directing them to a particular learning package. Now the learner seems to have the control of the classroom and for some teachers this is a rather difficult situation. Many individual pioneering teachers, such as those we interviewed for this study, were actively examining these new dynamics of use of ICT for teaching, learning and communication. For these teachers open access to the world of the Internet was seen as one of the major assets of the information society, but this new possibility also has many implications for teaching and learning, such as: (i) the increasingly dynamic nature of the content of learning, (ii) openness as to participation in learning, (iii) the need for learners to learn how to learn independently, (iv) the need for teachers to become facilitators and managers of learning.

In Table three we indicate teachers' perspectives on the communicative aspect of the ICT use through our interviews with the twelve secondary school physics teachers. For these teachers ICT use was seen as being very important mainly for the communication between themselves and their colleagues and students. Interestingly far fewer teachers saw ICT as being a useful communicative tool for student-to-student or school-to-school contact.

Table three. Physics teachers perceptions of the communicative aspects of the ICT use. x indicates a teacher's perception of ICT being useful.


Physics teachers' perspectives on the new role of teachers

As physics teachers learn to live with ICT, it is argued that they often take on a role frequently described as''guide on the side". Their role becomes less dominant, since information and content are increasingly available using ICT. With the introduction of TPEs French physics teachers now need to provide advice on learning choice. Whilst in the'traditional' system, learners had to follow a series of fixed steps, now they may travel a pathway with branches in a lot of directions. The notion that the teacher should have a role as manager is well established. In the new environment with the ICT use in class practice, the teacher has the task of weaning the students from dependence on linear learning. New demands of autonomy are often made with the introduction of TPEs in the French educational system. A greater use of ICT can increase the potential for each individual learner to develop according to personal capacity.

A lot of messages in the PHYSCHIM list showed teachers often seeing themselves as managers of learning. In the PHYSCHIM list French physics teachers often saw themselves as students'''guides'' and''coaches''. After the TPE's introduction, they had the impression that they were becoming their students' "facilitator" and "supporter". It is very interesting to examine the different perceived roles of the physics teachers as expressed on PHYSCHIM (see figure i). One of their primary roles was seen as helping the students to determine a research topic for the TPEs. Thanks to the introduction of the TPEs it seemed that the physics teachers were now seeing themselves having become''mediators'' and''mentors'' for their students.

French physics teachers were aware of the fact that new teachers' roles are developing. Among these different roles, a new one is emerging, that of mentor (Kalogiannakis & Caillot, 2000). In an academic sense, mentor is often used synonymously with faculty adviser yet a fundamental difference between mentoring and advising is that mentoring is a personal, as well as, professional relationship. An adviser might or might not be a mentor, depending on the quality of the relationship. A mentoring relationship develops over an extended period, during which a student's needs and the nature of the relationship tend to change. A mentor will try to be aware of these changes and vary the degree and type of attention, help, advice, information, and encouragement that he or she provides.

Figure One. The new roles of the French physics teachers as expressed through the PHYSCIM mailing list



Discussion

We are still watching the PHYSCHIM list very closely and during the first seven months of 2002 the list reached 1320 exchanged e-mails. This number shows that teachers are still greatly interested in this list. Many participants think that such e-mail lists are going to be an important avenue in the future for sharing information and practices as well as the attractiveness of the on-line interaction itself that makes teachers contribute messages. In our analysis of the PHYSCHIM list there was a core of long-term participants who remained long enough on the list to provide a sustainability whilst there also being room for innovation through the addition of new resources and interests when new users join the list. In this respect the PHYSCHIM list can be considered to be a successful mailing list in so far as there are some teachers who have sent messages at the opening of the list (November 1999) and still remained active two years later.

In all sectors of education, the role of the teacher is changing and French physics teachers need to complement their expertise in subject content and pedagogy by becoming facilitators and managers of learning. We have also come to understand the difficulties of transposing features from virtual environments of discussion between voluntary contributors into real class practice. A new culture of lifelong learning has emerged which means that more people are learning outside traditional educational structures. From our study we would conclude that the PHYSCHIM list allows French physics teachers to "meet" other colleagues, to keep and build contact with others. Teaching styles are also having to be transformed, which is a difficult thing when education culture is in transition from an old-fashioned centrally controlled system.

It is clear that ICT and TPEs in the French educational system require a modification of the role of the teacher, who in addition to classroom teaching will have other skills and responsibilities. After the introduction of the TPEs they feel like "facilitators" and "managers" for their students. Some physics teachers were using the PHYSCHIM list to get information, or just to listen to the exchange of ideas or to participate more directly in the debates by contributing themselves or by giving their opinion. French physics teachers mainly recognise the main interest of TPEs in the secondary school.

With the inevitable proliferation of ICT in the classroom, the role of the teacher is changing and here are some key arguments why this must happen: Firstly, the role of the teacher changes because ICT can cause certain teaching resources to become obsolete and new electronic forms of distributed communication can be employed. Secondly, ICT may also make some assessment methods redundant. Thirdly, the role of the teacher must change in the sense that it is no longer sufficient for teachers to impart content knowledge. It will however, be crucial for teachers to encourage critical thinking skills and collaborative working. One of the new roles of the teacher is to separate information from misinformation. Identification, classification and authentication of electronic information sources will therefore be critical new tasks for teachers in the near future.

References

Baron, G.-L., & Bruillard, E., (1996) L'informatique et ses usagers dans l'éducation, Paris: PUF.
Drot-Delange, B., (2001) Mutualisation et listes de diffusion: une pratique émergente? Dossiers de l'ingénierie éducative. "Communautés en ligne", 36, pp. 16-19.
Kalogiannakis, M., & Caillot, M. (2001) New roles and new social representations of French physical science teachers using multimedia, in: Psillos, D., Kariotoglou, P., Tselfes, V., Bisdikian, G., Fassoulopoulos, G., Hatzikraniotis, E., and Kallery, M. (Eds) Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Science Education Research in the Knowledge Based Society, 2, 459-461.
Lewenstein, B. (1995) Do Public Electronic Bulletin Boards Help Create Scientific Knowledge? The Cold Fusion Case, Science, Technology, & Human Values. 20,2, pp. 123-149.
Rheingold, H. (1993) A slice of life in my virtual community, in: L. M. Harasim (Eds) Global networks: Computers and International communication. 57-80, Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.
Rogoff, B. (1994) Developing understanding of the idea of a community of learners, Mind, Culture, and Activity, 1,4, pp. 209-229.
Rojo, A., & Ragsdale, R., G. (1997) A process perspective on participation on scholarly electronics forums, Science Communication, 18, 4, pp. 320-341.
Shank, G. (1993) Abductive multiloguing. The semiotic dynamics of navigating the net, Arachnet Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture. 1,1, pp.1-14.

Citation :
Kalogiannakis, M. & Caillot, M. (2001). New roles and new social representations of French physical sciences teachers using multimedia, In D. Psillos, P. Kariotoglou, V. Tselfes, G. Bisdikian, G. Fassoulopoulos, E. Hatzikraniotis and M. Kallery (eds), Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Science Education Research in the Knowledge Based Society, (Vol. 2), 21-25 August 2001, 459-461, Thessaloniki: ESERA (European Science Education Research Association).

ABSTRACT
In this research study, an attempt was made to identify the social representations of the new role that some teachers of physical sciences develop when they use multimedia in their class practice. Based on individual interviews and content analysis this research elicits the new role of teachers in the context of new technologies. The presence of multimedia in class practice seems to affect both the role of the teachers and how they teach. Indeed, the use of multimedia is not really suited to the traditional purely disciplinary practice. The real problem is how to integrate the use of multimedia in class practice and how to manage the transition from a rather traditional pedagogy to a teaching based on a real project.


1. Background, Aims and Framework
In France some physics and chemistry teachers teach with multimedia in some well-equipped secondary schools. Here multimedia involves CD-ROMs and the Internet. Our investigation dealt with teachers' representations as regards their pedagogical roles and the way they teach physics and chemistry when they use multimedia in their classes. The aim of our study is not to ascertain the "operating system" employed by individual science teachers but to estimate the social "metasystem" proposed by Moscovici (2001) in order to determine the teachers' representations that influence their performances and their roles. According to Moscovici it is through communicative exchanges that social representations are structured and transformed. Thus, the use of multimedia by teachers in itself is not the primary concern of the study but is an indicator of a possible change in the representations of teachers' roles.
The investigation assesses whether or not the representation of a traditional model of teaching has changed and whether new models of teaching have been built (Baron & Bruillard, 1996). The methodology of this study is based on the following hypothesis: working with multimedia modifies physics and chemistry teachers' social representations as well as their traditional school practices, and contributes to the creation of new roles (Redish, 1997).


2. Method and Sample
The research methodology used in this study consists of semi-directive interviews of twelve secondary school physical science teachers. The teachers of the sample worked with multimedia in their teaching and/or for their personal work. The interviewees were often teachers who are postgraduates in physics or chemistry and who have had a long experience of innovation. Some of them have pioneered the use of computers in classes for at least fifteen years. Furthermore an IUFM trainer and two trainees of the same institution were also interviewed. It must be underlined that the sample came from secondary schools located in Paris. This sample was not representative of all French physics and chemistry teachers.
The main questions (Newton, 2000) dealt with: (i) the profiles of the teachers and their places of work, (ii) to what extent they teach with multimedia, (iii) the way they see the use of multimedia in their classes. Then, a thematic analysis was conducted and social representations were classified in four general categories on the possible uses of multimedia: (i) information, (ii) learning (iii) communication and (iv) experiments. In the first category the teachers consider the multimedia as a tool for research and enrichment; in the second one as a means of pedagogy and active teaching; in the third one as an instrument of communication among teachers, among students, between teachers and students and among schools; finally, in the fourth category, as a way of carrying out experiments.


3. Results
New models of teaching seem to be constructed by teachers who feel more active and more dynamic when using new class practices to teach physics and chemistry. These teachers are aware of the fact that new teachers' roles are developing. Among these different roles, a new one is emerging, that of mentor. The teachers question the traditional role of the teacher as the only source of knowledge. With multimedia, scientific knowledge is no longer on the teacher's side, but it is now shared between different sources such as the Internet, electronic encyclopædias, etc. The students are now used to visiting sites of science organisations, laboratories or astronomic observatories, often guided by their teacher. The physical science teacher often appears to be "less present" and "less learned" in class. Some teachers present the use of multimedia as a form of life long learning, which seems to be in accordance with the "knowledge society". On the other hand the traditional educational role seems to decline gradually.
The new roles were more easily constructed by the teachers who have used for years computers, and then multimedia, in their class practice. Thus, young teachers trainees are less interested in teaching with multimedia than experienced teachers who have had a long experience of innovation. The trainees are completely overtaken by the preparation of their lessons and by the running of their classes. On the other hand, the teachers who have taken part in our research study consider that they could serve as models for their colleagues interested in adopting the multimedia in teaching physics and chemistry.
The study also shows that the number of years spent in teaching as well as the experience regarding multimedia systems, have played a vital role in the emergence of new teachers' instructional roles. The interviewed teachers express great satisfaction when they teach with multimedia because it creates a greater class autonomy. However, in spite of their general enthusiasm, the teachers also reported that they had encountered technical problems in the use of multimedia in class and particularly with the Internet. Nevertheless, the teachers who have worked with multimedia have developed a different professional image: they always use the personal pronoun "I" and consider that they belong to a distinct and very special category of teachers. They do have a very strong feeling of being pioneers in their jobs and of being models for the near future.
Moreover, this different representation of their profession is related to the social pressure put on them by parents and students. They feel that their students value and prise them, precisely because they use multimedia, since they are still considered as modern tools of teaching. Other dimensions should also be mentioned: teachers consider multimedia systems as tools for enriching their own knowledge and for carrying out the research required by their every day teaching. Furthermore, the teachers consider that multimedia facilitates the communication, and contribute to the progress of educational practices by connecting school to the outside world. The sense of progress in learning, the level of appropriate presentation, the possibilities of varied activities are among the positive elements underlined by the interviewed teachers. Concerning the limits of the use of multimedia in class practice, only a few teachers among the interviewees indicated that the multimedia systems are just additional teaching tools which will not revolutionise the class practice.
Furthermore, multimedia applications are also characterised by teachers as effective educational tools for explaining physics and chemistry concepts. The teachers said that they also work with multimedia to simulate experiments, which in the past could not be carried out. The use of such simulations improves the level of comprehension and offers the possibility for teachers to emphasise important aspects of physical science. Thus, the computer, which used to be a mere calculator has been transformed into a tool which promotes a new vision of the world of physical science teaching. In spite of this aperture, the real problem raised by teachers is how to integrate and generalise the use of multimedia in class practice, how to manage the transition from a rather traditional pedagogy to a teaching based on a project pedagogy where the students could conduct a research on the Internet by themselves. This new approach should affect both the pre-service and the in-service teacher training. But this issue was out of the scope of this preliminary research.


4. Conclusions and Implications
Important questions have been raised about the new roles assumed by physics and chemistry teachers when they introduce multimedia in their classes. Through the interviews, we have seen that the teachers who have taught with multimedia are relatively different from the typical physics and chemistry teachers. They have developed a new image of their job, a new relation to knowledge and a new way of teaching with less teachers' interventions and more responsibility on the students' part. It is important to realise that these "innovative" teachers remain true physical science teachers and they have not swapped their teaching mission for an uncertain role of trainer in ICT.


5. References
Baron, G.-L., & Bruillard, E., 1996. L'informatique et ses usagers dans l'éducation. Paris: PUF.
Newton, R.-L., 2000. Data-logging in practical science: research and reality. International Journal of Science Education. 22, 12, 1247-1259.
Moscovici, S., & Duveen, G., 2001. Social representations: Explorations in Social Psychology. New York (NY): University Press.
Redish, E., F., 1997. What can a physics teacher do with a computer, In Jack Wilson (Ed) Conference on the Introductory Physics Course, 47-60. New York (NY): Wiley.

Citation :
Kalogiannakis, M., Rekoumi, Ch., Antipa, E. & Poulou, V. (2010), Preschool education and geology within the scope of environmental education: the case of a teaching intervention at kindergarten, In J. Holbrook, M. Rannikmäe, R. Soobard, B. Cavas & M. Kim (Eds.) Proceedings of the 3rd World Conference on Science and Technology Education (ICASE 2010), Innovation in Science and Technology Education: Research, Policy, Practice, 159-163, Tartu, Estonia, 28 June - 2 July, 2010.

ABSTRACT

Natural sciences in early childhood are of great importance to many aspects of children's development. We teach natural sciences in nursery schools in order to support the children's intellectual autonomy. This leads their thought, from a simple and undifferentiated observation of natural phenomenon, to a systematic investigation, to the formation of a critical and inquiring attitude. In the context of the present research, we explored the pre-school children's ideas and perceptions, in relation to their knowledge about earthquakes and volcanoes and an educational approach is attempted by the means of Greek and global mythology. In this article, we present the planning and the application of a teaching intervention, concerning basic geological concepts such as earthquakes, volcanoes, rocks and geological changes. This intervention was carried out, in a Greek nursery school, during the school year 2008-09. In order to detect children's ideas, a semi-structured questionnaire was used based on children's interviews before and after the teaching intervention. After conducting the teaching intervention, it was ascertain that there was a significant differentiation in the children's ideas, based on the scientific acceptable explanation of geological phenomenon. All in all, the present teaching method, by using Greek and global mythology, showed that the geological phenomenon, could be explained, in pre-school education, in a significant extent.


Key words: Preschool Education, Geology, Environmental Education, Mythology, Earthquakes, Volcanoes


SYNOPSIS
THE WHAT (Introduction)
Nowadays, most programs of natural sciences, in preschool education, are based on the nursery teacher, who organizes activities of open exploration and guides children so that they become capable to investigate (Ravanis, 2005). Children develop their everyday concepts and theories about the world on the basis of daily observations and conversations with adults (Vosniadou, 2002). A valuable skill in such an environment is the ability to think. With no contradictions between new and pre-existing information, knowledge is enriched but often there are inconsistencies and current knowledge has to be restructured (Hannust & Kikas, 2007). The development of basic scientific skills in children, must be the central core of a nursery teachers aims. The reason is because these skills will support in a posterior stage, the building of a notional understanding in many aspects of natural sciences. It must be stated that the nursery teacher doesn't need to and shouldn't behave like a special scientist of the natural world and should learn together with the children (Fromberg, 2006).

For the past 6 years in Greece a new Diathematikon Programma (DP) / Cross-Thematic Curriculum Framework for nursery, primary and middle school education (Hellenic Ministry of National Education - Pedagogical Institute, HMNE-PI, 2004) has been in place and is being tried out. According to this, individual subjects are maintained within the DP, while at the same time the horizontal and vertical linking of subject matter content are promoted (Tselfes & Paroussi, 2008). The DP introduces natural sciences as a learning subject in the curriculum of modern nursery school. It is believed that the children's familiarization with natural sciences, aims to the creation of foundations in order to develop capable and responsible citizens, towards a continuously changing world and therefore proposes some teaching activities (HMNE-PI, 2004). However, a cross-thematic approach must be supported by teaching methods in which children learn through their active participation (Tafa, 2004). The DP proposes 4 basic categories of goals, which must be accomplished, from the children during the teaching of natural sciences: the theoretical scientific literacy, the initiation of "scientific methodology" and to "scientific practices" as well as the link with every day life (Tselfes & Paroussi, 2008).

According to Ravanis (2005), we teach natural sciences in nursery school in order to support the children's intellectual autonomy. Also, this leads their thought, from a simple and undifferentiated observation of natural phenomenon, to a systematic investigation, to the formation of a critical and inquiring attitude. In general, we teach natural sciences in order to create and develop educational framework, in which with procedures of active learning, are structured in the children's thought, regardless of their age, models of interpretation and confronting the natural world and also compatible with the natural sciences (Fromberg, 2006).

In the present research, we study the case of a teaching intervention based on the project method, in order to link preschool education and geology in the context of environmental education. Children's preconceptions about various environmental issues sometimes are mainly based on abstract learning derived from different sources of information (Cohen & Horm-Wingerd, 1993). The project method consist a modern alternative and innovative tool of teaching and learning. Basically, it is a kind of propulsive cross-thematic material. On the one hand, the project method, places the pupil in the centre of the learning process with his experiences and his active participation. On the other hand, the nursery teacher guides the pupil towards a searching and cooperative action. According to Frey (1982) the most important feature of the project method, is the course of pupils and teacher towards the accomplishment of their original goals. Concerning preschool education, Katz & Chard (2002) presented the project method like a story with a beginning, middle and end. In this story, conversations are carried out, scope projects (out class activities like visits, interviews), investigations, depictions (writing, drawing, constructions, dancing, theatrical play), in a constant preplanning and evaluation of the method. In general, the project method is a plan lesson, which however, cannot have strict limits because, it can be pre-planned from the existing point or even reviewed, according to the needs and the findings of the pupils team.


THE WHY (The object of the research)
In this article, we present the planning and the application of a teaching intervention, concerning basic geological concepts, as earthquakes, volcanoes, rocks and geological changes. This method was carried out, in the Greek nursery school of Perigiali in Corinth in Greece, during the school year 2008-09. The basic object of the present research, in the first stage, is the investigation of pre-existing ideas of preschool children, about the basic concepts of geological science (earthquakes, volcanoes, changes in the earth). In the second stage, there is the post check, in order to evaluate the teaching intervention that proceeded, so that to record the differentiations in the children's ideas, in comparison to their pre-existing original knowledge.

The value of the myth is important since apart from the entertainment that offers to the child, it brings him in contact with literature. Also, it contributes to his cognitive development moreover, to his social, emotional and moral development. Using Greek and universal mythology and the proper educational methodology (project method) in order to approach geological phenomenon, we tried to evaluate the degree, that this teaching method changed and turned to the scientific acceptable explanation of preschool children.


THE HOW (Procedure)
Children's explanations of natural phenomenon are of particular interest worldwide since they provide powerful insights about children's developing understanding of causality (Metz, 1991). Children frequently do not realise on their own pace the actual elements of the environment, but their perception is heavily influenced by other indirect sources (e. g. media, parents, teachers). This argument suggests that students may have not been taught in a proper way how to understand and appreciate the various environmental issues (Cohen & Horm-Wingerd, 1993). In order to detect their ideas, a semi-structured questionnaire was used before and after the teaching intervention. The questionnaire was based on 4 children's interviews. The semi-structured interview was selected as a basic methodological tool as it offers information of preschool children's ideas and experiences. Also, it allows us to interpret their knowledge about the geological phenomenon, before and after the teaching intervention.

The proposed activities of our project began with the narration of Greek myths, which were associated with geological phenomenon and continued with the development of innovative techniques by using expressive activities, such as drama, painting and laboratory observation. The teaching intervention was based on the idea of using myths from the Greek and universal tradition in order to introduce the geological phenomenon to children. The project was developed based on the following 3 parts:
(a) planning based on brainstorming from the teacher about the basic questions,
(b) brainstorming derived from the children,
(c) realization of the action coming from the research and enrichment of the topic and evaluation of the developed topic.

The teaching approach was attempted with the use of Greek and universal mythology. This means, myths and legends of different civilizations that are linked to the creation of earthquakes. The sample of the research consisted of 24 nursery and pre-nursery school children (10 boys and 14 girls), preschool age (4-6 years old) whose mean age was 5.5 years. Seven of these children were foreigners. For the present research, which is a case-study, the topic of earthquakes-volcanoes was chosen due to the seism city of the Greek territory and the need of protecting children. The 3 phases of the teaching intervention were the following:
(a) preparation,
(b) collection of the material,
(c) assessment.

In the first phase, we recorded the pre-existing ideas of children with the aide of a semi-structured questionnaire, as well as with drawings that they created about earthquakes and volcanoes. In the second phase, we processed myths from Greek and universal mythology. There was acquaintance with natural phenomenon, as well as connection of mythology with geological phenomenon and the mechanism of their creation. Then, there was the realization of activities applied in a laboratory which was operated at the nursery school and experiment with a fake volcano, a display of rocks, and creation of a book with children's drawings inspired by myths they had processed. Also, instructions were given, about safe behaviour and protection in case of an earthquake.

A successful teaching intervention is ensured from its assessment with the recording of new ideas in relation to geological phenomenon (post-check). In the third phase, this assessment was carried out, based on the same questionnaires also used in pre-check as well as the use of drawing for the interpretation of earthquakes and volcanic activity, as considered new knowledge. More specifically:
(a) There was reporting of possible changes in children's attitudes and knowledge, in the direction of correct practice and avoidance of accidents, during and after an earthquake.
(b) We drew material from the Geophysics sector of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and from the website of the Greek Earthquake Planning and Protection Organization (EPPO).
(c) We examined, in which degree, the goals of the DP for nursery schools, were linked and accomplished.
(d) We examined, in which degree, children obtained skills like reading, writing, maths and knowledge in natural sciences, in relation to the teaching object.
(e) We also examined if strategies and problem solving skills were developed.
(f) We achieved a link of the project with learning areas of natural sciences. We are talking about mixing materials for the volcano-experiment, endurance of rocks, observation and reproduction of fossils, theatrical expression by dramatizing myths, constructing and using language.


SO WHAT (Conclusions)
Pre-existing ideas of children
In the content analysis made on the original material of the interviews, we searched through the children's answers the pre-existing ideas about the geological phenomenon of earthquakes and volcanoes. In more detail, we presented some of the children's answers about earthquakes and volcanoes.


Earthquakes
It was found out that the vast majority (18 answers), replied in a not acceptable scientific explanation, about the nature of earthquakes and the mechanism of their creation:
because there are rocks below (Alexandros, 6 years old)
because God shakes the earth (Christina, 5.5 years old)
earthquake is war (Penelope 4.5 years old)
earthquakes are made by the sun (Andreas, 5 years old)


It must be stated that in their majority, children's answers, about the actions taken for our safety, during an earthquake, were towards the scientific acceptable explanation:
we hide under the table or under our bed (Joanna, 6 years old)
we hide under the table (Dimitris, 5.5 years old)
we mustn't run (Irene, 4.5 years old)


Volcanoes
Concerning the nature and activity of a volcano, the overwhelming majority of children were unaware of the phenomenon. Only 4 children replied very close to the scientific acceptable explanation of a volcano and the mechanism of its appearance on the surface of the earth:
a mountain that throws fire out of it (Eva, 6 years old),
from the hole which is on top of the volcano, lava comes come it (Andreas, 5 years old),
a light that burns and makes bubbles (Irene, 4.5 years old),
a high mountain that has smoke inside of it (Gerasimos, 5 years old),


Perceptions after the teaching intervention
In the content analysis made in the original material of interviews, after the teaching intervention, we searched through the children's answers, the new obtained knowledge. This knowledge differentiates in a significant degree from the pre-existing ideas of the children in both basic topics that were developed in the context of the present study, about earthquakes and volcanoes.


Earthquakes
After the teaching intervention, we obtained 22 scientific acceptable answers, about the creation of earthquakes. In addition, we observed, a significant improvement in understanding the phenomenon of an earthquake and almost complete consolidation of protective instructions during this phenomenon:
because under the earth, there are plates that collide (Alexandros, 5.5 years old),
plate collision (Christina, 5.5 years old),
we must hide under the table and we mustn't use the elevator or stairs (Anastasis, 6 years old).

In two cases, the children were ignorant about it. Probably, this difficulty in expression in Greek language comes from the fact that they are foreigners. In the drawings, that accompanied the answers, all children drew pictures related to earthquakes, according to their age and level of drawing expression.


Volcanoes
During the content analysis of answers concerning volcanoes, it was observed that, most children understood much better after the intervention, volcanoes and the volcanic activity (23 scientific acceptable answers):
hot lava that comes out of the crater, burns everything in its way (Alexandros, 5.5 years old),
the earth and sea, open up and lava pours out (Eva, 6 years old),
lava, crater, volcano is the volcano (Alexandros, 6 years old).

Based on these first results of our research, we argue that the studied geological phenomenon (earthquakes, volcanoes) consist topics that can be approached by preschool children. Through mythology, the nursery teacher, can improve or dispel any misunderstanding or wrong ideas that pre-exist or have been formed by children, about earthquakes and volcanoes. Volcanoes and earthquakes are natural phenomenons that belong to the teaching object of natural sciences. The research's results show that the extent of approach of scientifically acceptable explanations, about geological phenomenon, that were developed after the teaching intervention, in preschool children, ranges to a quite satisfactory level.

The proposed teaching intervention, with the aide of myths as well as raising environmental awareness to children, seems that it can improve children's ideas, towards scientifically acceptable explanations, about the above natural phenomenon. In addition, it was observed that it can obliterate possible misconceptions, at this age, about the geological activity. Nevertheless, it must be stated, that more systematic research, in a bigger number of preschool children, is needed in order to generalize the results of the present study which is still open to further investigation. This is our aim in the near future.

All in all, the present teaching method, by using Greek and global mythology, showed that the geological phenomenon, could be explained, in pre-school education, in a significant extent. This study demonstrated that children could understand phenomenon, related to the earth's history and obtain environmental awareness. In general, nowadays, those natural resources are decreased; we must stress more emphasis in their conservation than in their excessive waste. If we want to teach children the protection of the environment, it is important to help them understand the properties of the world around them. Through the understanding of the properties of the air, water, weather and other natural phenomenon that surround them, these future citizens will be able to hope that they will solve the ever growing problems that the world faces. The development of a searching spirit, the respect towards the natural environment, the spur of curiosity as well as the wonder and admiration, form attitudes that could be cultivated and developed from an early age, since they create the conditions for the development of scientific knowledge.


References

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Citation :
KALOGIANNAKIS, M., (2004), Nouvelles formes de communication, nouveau métier pour les enseignants? Educational Media International, Vol. 41, N°4, 339-345

Résumé
Au travers d'entretiens semi-directifs et de l'analyse de messages envoyés dans deux listes de diffusion institutionnelles par des professeurs de sciences physiques, nous tentons d'appréhender leurs nouveaux rôles et leurs nouvelles pratiques après l'introduction des TPE et des TICE dans les lycées. La création de véritables réseaux pédagogiques par ces enseignants compte parmi les premiers éléments pertinents de ces types de communautés virtuelles. Les enseignants de sciences physiques présentent l'utilisation des TICE et des listes de diffusion comme des éléments qui sont apparus tout naturellement dans leur pratique quotidienne. Pour eux, les listes constituent une sorte de formation permanente à distance. Ils redistribuent rapidement leurs informations et leurs méthodes, créant ainsi une sorte d'apprentissage de la communauté par la pratique.


Abstract
Through semi-directive interviews and content analysis of emails exchanged between physics teachers using two institutional mailing lists, we have tried to evaluate the new and changing roles and practices of teachers since the introduction of TPE and ICT in French high schools. The real and functioning teaching networks created by physics teachers count among the first relevant and concrete examples of such virtual communities. The interviewed physics teachers consider ICT and the use of mailing lists as elements which have inserted themselves naturally alongside other more traditional teaching methods and practices. For them, the lists can thus be likened to a kind of ongoing at distance training course. Furthermore, participating teachers are in the process of rapidly sharing and redistributing information and methods, this contributes to the ongoing training of the community based on practical experience.


Zusammenfassung
Durch gelenkte Interviews und Inhaltsanalysen der zwischen Physiklehrern ausgetauschten e-Mails, die zwei institutionelle. Mailinglisten benutzten, haben wir versucht, herauszufinden, wie sich die Rollen und Praktiken der Lehrer seit Einführung von TPE (travaux personnels encadrés) und TICE (l'information et de la communication pour l'éducation) im höheren Bildungswesen Frankreichs erneuert bzw. verändert haben. Die real vorhandenen und auch funktionierenden, von Physiklehrern aufgebauten Unterrichtsnetzwerke zählen zu den ersten relevanten vorzeigbaren Beispielen dieser virtuellen Communities. Die befragten Physiklehrer betrachten die Nutzung von TICE und den Gebrauch von Mailinglisten als Elemente, die natürlich einen eigenen Weg gegenüber den mehr traditionellen Methoden und Praktiken darstellen. Für sie bedeuten der Einsatz dieser Elemente erste Schritte zu so etwas wie Distance-Training-Lehrgängen. Die teilnehmenden Lehrer sind auch weiterhin in den Prozess eingeschlossen, sich schnell Informationen und Methoden auszutauschen und diese weiterzuverbreiten. Sie tragen damit zu der auf praktischen Erfahrungen beruhenden Weiterentwicklung der Community bei.

INTRODUCTION
Les TICE (Technologies de l'Information et de la Communication pour l'Education) sont actuellement en plein développement dans l'ensemble du système éducatif et plus précisément pour les enseignants, les élèves et la société. Avec leur introduction dans le processus éducatif, les TICE ne se limitent pas à un rôle prédéterminé à l'avance et ne constituent pas simplement un nouvel outil ou une nouvelle forme de méthodologie pédagogique. Selon Laurillard (2002, p.43), l'éducation est plus constructiviste aujourd'hui, elle développe un apprentissage plus actif pour les élèves, sous la condition que nous ne nous en remettions pas aveuglément à la technologie pour nous guider.

La question à laquelle nous nous sommes intéressé dans cet article est celle des nouveaux rôles des enseignants de sciences physiques face aux innovations TICE et TPE (Travaux Personnels Encadrés) au lycée. Les TPE comptent parmi les nouvelles actions pédagogiques mises en place dans l'éducation secondaire en France. Les TPE ont pour ambition de privilégier d'abord la démarche de découverte et de recherche et de développer, ou susciter, le désir d'apprendre à partir d'un projet personnel de l'élève. En 2000, au moment où nous avons commencé cette recherche, l'introduction du nouveau dispositif des TPE dans l'enseignement secondaire faisait grand bruit. Cette innovation est mise en place pendant une durée prédéterminée, au cours de l'année scolaire, d'environ 6 mois. Dans le cadre du travail de groupe, les élèves disposent de 2 heures par semaine aménagées dans leur emploi du temps pour réfléchir, traiter, réaliser et présenter par écrit et oralement une production finale collective et des productions individuelles. Les TPE affichent clairement comme objectif de développer l'autonomie des élèves et s'inscrivent dans une démarche de décloisonnement des disciplines, sous des formes variées : recherche de l'interdisciplinarité, recherche du travail en commun entre professeurs de disciplines différentes et enrichissement mutuel des disciplines.

L'intervention des professeurs dans les TPE peut revêtir divers aspects : apport de documents ou de pistes d'information, conseils méthodologiques, aide dans l'élaboration d'un plan de travail et dans la gestion du temps, bilans successifs des travaux en cours. Les professeurs accompagnent le travail depuis l'élaboration du sujet jusqu'à sa réalisation finale, lors des séquences hebdomadaires réservées aux TPE dans l'emploi du temps. Ces séances de travail sont employées à des entretiens réguliers avec les différents groupes d'élèves, à leur demande ou à celle des professeurs. Les élèves les plus fragiles bénéficient, de la part des enseignants, d'une aide plus personnalisée et d'un suivi plus important que les groupes capables de travailler en autonomie. Ces séquences constituent aussi pour les élèves l'occasion d'un entraînement à la prise de parole, en vue de la soutenance finale de leur projet. La mise en œuvre des TPE va demander aux professeurs d'emprunter des voies pédagogiques qui, sans être radicalement neuves, ne leur sont pas spontanément habituelles. S'agissant de travaux personnels d'élèves, l'accès à l'information apparaît d'ores et déjà comme une condition-clé de la réussite. Dans ce contexte, il apparaît opportun de s'appuyer sur les TICE.

L'enseignement de sciences physiques requiert de la part du professeur une compétence accrue, une bonne connaissance des principales notions de cette discipline, un talent d'organisateur, une capacité à procéder à des expériences ou à diverses autres observations scientifiques, ainsi qu'un savoir méthodologique. D'après Caillot (1996, p.28), l'enseignant de sciences physiques essaie d'expliquer, à travers les lois physiques et les modèles construits, les phénomènes naturels du monde qui nous entoure. Il est également pertinent dans le cadre de cette recherche d'examiner comment l'introduction des TICE se trouve au service des ens