Η αξιοποίηση των Τ.Π.Ε. για την καλλιέργεια της σκέψης στις διδακτικές πρακτικές των νηπιαγωγών υπό το πρίσμα των στοχαστικών προσεγγίσεων ορατή σκέψη και έντεχνος συλλογισμός ; The impact of visible thinking and artful thinking frameworks in Greek kindergarten teachers’ ICT instructional practices for teaching thinking

The “21st Century Skills” movement sees the need for critical thinking, and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as a central skill set for success in a rapidly changing world. This argument is even more valid when ICTs are integrated in early childhood classroom because they can foster many benefits, including helping children to extend thinking and problem-solving skills, to find and evaluate information. Many teachers however, do not appear to have an explicit understanding of what constitutes effective thinking. As a result they often use ICTs as a supplement to classroom activities rather than as powerful tools for developing thinking and learning. Considering the above-mentioned challenges this dissertation has a twofold purpose: firstly, to describe Greek kindergarten teachers’ current beliefs as it relates to the use of ICTs for teaching thinking and secondly, to explore the implications of Harvard’s Project Zero’s Visible Thinking (VT) and Artful Thinking (AT) frameworks on their instructional practices. The researcher invited in-service teachers from 20 public kindergartens to engage in an action research. Given the challenges of self-reflective inquiry processes within action research the dissertation also focused on examining the extent to which the use of VT and AT elements can serve as means for facilitating the engagement of first time practitioner researchers. The University Of Western Macedonia’s open e-class was used to create an online learning environment where teachers would have the opportunity to work together to explore the VT and AT framework potential for improving the use of ICT for teaching thinking. Although much survey research exists on how VT and AT ideas support teachers create a culture of thinking, to date there has not been in-depth research on the process of how teacher’s technology enhanced practices may be transformed by those frameworks. The limited research and literature indicated that a qualitative design was an appropriate approach. Data collection came ...