| Abstract |
In this research the development, the implementation and the evaluation of an
Environmental Trail with QR codes, for the Municipal Garden of Chania, which was
designed according to the principles of Place-Based Education and Urban Environmental
Education are presented. Our educational program was implemented and evaluated by six
future primary school teachers of the Department of Primary Education of the University of
Crete, who came from and / or lived in Chania. In this research we have tried to understand in
depth the future teachers’ experience from their participation in the Environmental Trail as
well as to explore their Sense of Place about their city, Chania.
Our research is divided into 3 Phases. In Phase A, which lasted 9 months, the
Development of the Environmental Trail and its Digital Transformation into QR Codes took
place. In Phase B, the Implementation of the Trail in the Municipal Garden of Chania took
place in May 2022. In Phase C, the Evaluation of the Program took place, through
semi-structured interviews, which were conducted remotely, through the ZOOM platform, in
June 2022. The last two Phases constitute our Empirical Research.
The goals of our environmental trail were: 1) To promote the connection with the
Local Environment of Chania, its Biodiversity and its Environmental Problems i.e.
Ecological Place Meaning, 2) For the participants to recognize and appreciate their city and
the urban parks as Places of Learning and as spaces for Environmental Education. 3) To
combine the use of mobile technologies with Environmental Education and achieve learning
outcomes, 4) To promote the Method of the Environmental Trail to future teachers, so that
they can apply it in the future themselves.
The Environmental Trail included 14 stops at points of interest, 5 stops at plants, 3
stops at animals, 3 at urban environmental problems, 2 stops at cultural sites and 1 stop was
about the History of the Municipal Garden and city of Chania. At each stop- point of interest,
some information and some activities were displayed through the QR codes and the
participants had to answer in a brochure. To read the QR codes, participants used their smartphones, which were connected to a 4G network. The activities cultivated knowledge
and skills such as observation, critical thinking, etc.
For the evaluation of our Environmental Trail, we tried to link the research data drawn
with qualitative methods from the semi-structured interview, through the observation of the
researcher during the implementation of the Trail, as well as from the completed student
brochures (triangulation) with the questions of our research, ie. 1) How did the 6 future
teachers experience their participation in the Environmental Trail and what learning outcomes
were achieved for them? 2) What is their sense of place about Chania, whether and how was
it affected through the Program? 3) How did the use of mobile technologies affect our
program? 4) Was the Method of the Environmental Trail promoted so that it can be used by
the future teachers, in the future?
The results of the research showed that all participants, apart from one who was
neutral, appreciated the environmental Trail as a method of Environmental Education, and
would like to apply it in the future.
Regarding the use of technology, the participants were very satisfied with the use of
QR codes and their smartphones, and their experience was not negatively affected by some
small technical problems. Only one participant would not like to use technology, while
recognizing interactivity, as a teacher she prefers to attract students’ interest away from
technology because she considers that nowadays, children are addicted to it and to the use of
their smartphones.
Finally, in the results of our research, it seemed that the ecological place meaning of
the participants was positively affected, since they considered the Municipal Garden of
Chania, as part of urban nature as well as a place of learning. In fact, the participants noticed
the elements of urban nature that they had not noticed before our educational program.
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Ανάπτυξη και αξιολόγηση περιβαλλοντικού μονοπατιού με χρήση κωδικών QR στον Δημοτικό Κήπο Χανίων : σύμφωνα με τις αρχές της Βασισμένης στον Τόπο Εκπαίδευσης και της Αστικής Περιβαλλοντικής Εκπαίδευσης
