We need now a more radical social science research with children in which children themselves learn to reflect upon their own conditions, so that they can gradually begin to take greater responsibility in creating communities different from the ones they inherited. We cannot rely upon the traditional approach of social science which observes children's lives and reports it to policy makers in the hope that they will improve children's conditions. I believe that much of what people in this conference find disturbing about the quality of children's lives in cities today will need to be changed by those same children. I have been asked in this conference to provide a link in my talk between those who are talking about the ecology of children in cities and those, who like Anna, are try- ing to improve the lives of children. Her "Passage House" program is a superb example of the change from an entirely "protectionist" approach to a more "empowering" approach to working with children living in difficult circumstances. It was appropriate to open the conference with a talk from Anna Vasconcelos. The paper considers the reasons why this might be the case and comments on the distinction, apparent in two schools, between what was seen as ‘normal’ and ‘special’ outdoor activity. Drawing on data from interviews and observations conducted in four schools, it is suggested that the teachers missed many of the opportunities afforded by the outdoor environment to enhance children's learning. This paper discusses the findings of a research project that aimed to document the current use of the outdoors by a group of early years teachers working in South Wales. While the framework is currently being piloted across Wales, full implementation will not take place until 2010 for many schools, then, this is a time of transition. The Foundation Phase framework promotes a play‐based approach to children's learning in both indoor and outdoor contexts and places children's well‐being and their personal and social development at its core. In 2001, the Welsh Assembly Government announced proposals for a Foundation Phase for children aged three to seven years. The assessment of this initiative, carried out by the undergraduate students during the pilot study showed that there is a distinct need for connecting real spaces with technology and for familiarity with the tools that help pupils visualise the space and that Google SketchUp could be an effective tool that is easily applied to this project and can enrich geography lessons for pupils in upper primary and lower secondary education. The aim of the project was to create awareness of spaces and their functions, and to redesign those spaces using Google Sketch up according to criteria relating both to the environment and the needs of pupils and their education. The educational project involving the design of a school yard using Google SketchUp, presented in this paper, was originally designed and implemented by undergraduate students at the Department of Primary Education of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (UoA) in the context of their studies in the “Teaching Geography with ICT†course.
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