Análisis de la integración ambiental en la programación

The construction of meaning through project-based learning (PBL) is an approach that facilitates real life problem-solving activities among students. It is viewed as a process that is problem oriented and encourages collaboration in that it requires the student to investigate that context. This further implies that the student is reliant on other sources of information familiar with that context (Baran et al., 2011). This instructional strategy exemplifies a constructivist approach to teaching and learning as the student has direct input on how they acquire knowledge.

Technology-enhanced, project-based strategy uses real-world situations: students are provided with resources and instruction as they develop content knowledge and substantial problem-solving skills (Baran et al., 2011). For example, TrEd002 in this study designed a project based learning activity that allowed pre-service teachers to investigate socio- economic patterns in a specific community, to do that they collaborated with high school students that were part of that community. The success of this projects was facilitated by the use of certain technologies such as WhatsApp to communicate and google application GoogleDocs for synchronous sharing and capturing of information. Students had to use their findings to work on a feasible solution that they would build or design based on theoretical influences. Interestingly, the TrEd in this case upon realising that the pre-service teachers were using WhatsApp to interact, decided to use the WhatsApp communications as part of the assessment on the final portfolios. Once again highlighting the benefit, to both educator and student alike, of student-centred approaches.

TrEd003 with the DST project also requested the pre-service teachers to address the topic of social inclusion based on their real life experiences. The researcher was present at the presentation of these DTSs and noted the authenticity of the presentations. The pre-service teachers shared very personal and emotional accounts of the topic. The level of engagement in this project may be attributed to the fact that the stories the students were telling were personal stories, that addressed real life struggles they had experienced. (Drake, 2017) argues that students develop a sense of responsibility and an accountability when they have to work on projects that are applicable to real life situations. According to Tiantong and Teemuangsai, (2013), the project-based strategy engages students actively and purposefully through their critical thinking and reasoning skills as they will be able to see the tangible result of their contribution. The application of knowledge acquired is key in that it exhibits the development of higher order thinking skills. The Bloom taxonomy model shows that once the student is able to apply what they have learnt they are at an advanced stage

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of learning (Kurt, 2014; Drake, 2017), they have gone beyond the stages of merely understanding and remembering it.

Technology was used in these cases as a facilitative and creative tool, with regards to accurate data collection processing and presentation. The researcher also observed that in the DST project, pre-service teachers became creators of content using the technological tools. This student-centred approach provides an opportunity for autonomous decision making as students in this example were not told what technology to use rather, they made an informed deduction on what technologies or strategies would best meet their project objectives. It is important for TrEds to consider the benefits of using this strategy in their disciplines i.e. disciplines that require analytical thinking, problem solving and continuous innovative upgrades.

In both cases team members would use technology to consult with others whenever they needed moral, technical and project related help. According to (Tiba et al., 2015), the project based activities tend to be beneficial as they have the potential to (i) motivate and engage learners, (ii) promote voice/self-expression, and (iii) promote collaborative learning and acquisition of multiple skills. As presented, the TrEds only set the goals of what was to be learned, the pre-service teachers themselves, then collaboratively applied their pre-existing and newly-acquired technology knowledge to present their knowledge and solutions on these real life scenarios. This technology-enhanced approach emphasises the constructivist principles that learning should not take place outside of contextual influences, it should rather take into consideration all existing knowledge (Drake, 2017). All these benefits make this approach suitable for the development of 21C skills.

The project-based learning affords transformed teaching and learning processes as well as outcomes. This may be attributed to the autonomous approach that allows pre-service teachers to make their own decisions on how they learn and how they express their understanding of acquired knowledge. This teaching approach is rich in terms of its affordance of choice to the pre-service teachers. Choice with regards to how they wish to explore a concept, how they experience it and how they present it. There was also choice with regards to what technology to use. This approach is also effective with regards to technology integration in that there are numerous sources of technology knowledge. The educator, the students and third party (online sources, peers and knowledgeable others) sources all contribute to the technology knowledge used. Exposure to technology unfolds almost in a snowball fashion.

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