GENIKO LYKEIO KARYSTOU

WATER IN HISTORY &

GEOGRAPHY

PORTUGAL 23-27 JUNE 2014

Maria Papavasilopoulou Lina Moustakopoulou

ACTIVITY 1

THE AEGEAN SEA:

GREECES MAIN

SEA CHANNEL OF
COMMUNICATION

A modern teaching
and presentation
method using a web
2.0 technology tool:
padlet

The Aegean Sea

SECTION 1

LESSON OBJECTIVES

to teach students how the element of water is closely related

to the geography and history of
Greece
to enrich students knowledge
concerning geographical and historical features of their country

to familiarize students with web

2.0 technology

to develop students imagination

and creativity through the use of
modern computer applications

The idea we had was to study the Aegean sea, Greeces most important channel of communication with the
world from antiquity to present. We thought of involving our students in an innovative way of presenting
the information they find.
How?
By using a new tool, a computer application which allows them to categorise and display their material online. Thus, the outcome is like posting information on a wall which is accessible to all. . There they can
post texts, pictures, videos and whatever else they find useful. The name of the tool is padlet and the link for
the specific presentation is: http://padlet.com/soflok/v6yhrdqow6va

Below, you can see only parts of this presentation as it is displayed on the link above. There is not enough
space for all the texts and pictures. We invite you to join the link and see how it actually works.

The Aegean Sea is the sea which lies between the coast of the mainland , the coast of Asia Minor and Crete . It has been
formed by the subsidence and elevations, great and long changes of the elements of the sea water and earth billions of years

ago. The result was the formation of coastlines, many islands , and the great variation in
the topography of the bottom with rivers , shoulders , ditches , pits and grooves.
All this combined with the wonderful climate, make the Aegean Sea one of the
most well-known seas of the world . Far from being random is that it has been for centuries the cradle of great civilizations and crossroads for trade and communication between
t h e p e o p l e s o f t h e We s t a n d E a s t , N o r t h a n d S o u t h .

Theseus killed the Minotaur but sailing back home he forgot to change the sails. His father, who was waiting anxiously for his sons ship at Cape Sounion, suddenly saw his sons
ship coming back with black sails on !!
Desperate and certain that he had lost his beloved son, Aegeas fell into the sea and
drowned. Since then, the Sea was named Aegean.

Who was the Aegean sea named after?

There is a beautiful ancient Greek myth giving the etymology of the name Aegaio.
Let us narrate to you this tale and you will surely understand a lot about the
character of the adventurous and brave Greek salesmen of the past.

Once upon a time there lived a horrible monster on the island of Crete. This creature
was called Minotaur, meaning somebody with the head of a bull on the body of a man.
This monster was ugly, but powerful and all people dreaded its existence.
Description of activities:
Students, under the guidance of their teachers, work in groups, look for
information and study how the Aegean sea has influenced Greek history and geography.
They also relate their studies with the islands of the Aegean sea which

have also played a great role in our countrys development through

the ages.
We teach students how the new computer tool works, practicing at its

different stages.
Students create their own presentation, using the web 2.0 tool (padlet)

In the meantime, Athens was ruled by the king Aegeas. His son,Theseus , who was brave
and fearless, decided to go to Crete to slay the Minotaur. He set off on his ship and sailed
to Crete. He had made a promise to his father to kill the monster and he had also told him
that if he managed to beat the monster , he would change the sails on his ship from black
to white.

and show it to the whole class so that everybody experiences this new
method.

1.Materials needed:

they realized the importance of the element of water for peoples life

they became familiar with an innovative method of teaching and are involved in it actively, creating their own presentation

they developed their creativity and imagination

they became more motivated during the learning process

they cooperated with each other and discovered how team work can be
effective and enjoyable.

A computer

Online connection

The tool: padlet

Relevant pictures

Relevant videos
ASSIGNMENTS:

2.Tasks for students:

As a follow-up, students can create a digital poster, for example their own map
of part of the Aegean sea, using another web 2.0 tool: glogster.

For this activity students have to:

Discuss the topic in groups and with their teacher

Look for information in books and the internet and study it

INTERIDISCIPLINARITY:

Collect relevant pictures/photos to be displayed with their texts

In order to carry out this activity we combined the following school subjects:

Learn how to use the new computer application

History and Mythology, Geography, English and Computer Science.

Practice on posting their material

Finalize the form of their material and present it on the internet

Give feedback discussing the experience of the new method and

sharing it with other students

More activities!!
The activities that follow are based on the same concept and students used the
web 2.0 tools to work so they are more briefly described below:

3. Learning outcomes:

What our students have gained through this activity:

they acquired new knowledge and enriched their own concerning their
countrys history and geography related to the Aegean sea.

ACTIVITY 2

ARCHAMPOLIS:
A BEAUTIFUL
GORGE AND
AN ANCIENT
PORT
We used the padlet tool to present a
gorge and an ancient port in our area.
Its name is Archampolis and is situated
on a remote but beautiful site near our
town Karystos, in South Evia.
The idea is the same and the students
worked in a similar way posting their
material online. The padlet tool and the
link is: http://padlet.com/
sofiakountourh1/z8zuhjg8xxxt

SECTION 1

streams or rivers increases the speed and intensity of this erosion, creating
deeper and wider gorges.

How gorges are created

That is how the gorge in our region was created . The ancient site of Archampolis is at the end of this gorge, just by the sea where the waters reach, flowing
from the high mountain above. The rich green and plants and the impressive
rocks form a unique image and as one walks on the path following the gorge to
the sea, he/she can feel the power of the beauty of nature.
A gorge is a narrow valley with steep, rocky walls located between hills or
mountains. The term comes from the French word gorge, which means throat
or neck. A gorge is often smaller than acanyon, although both words are used
to describe deep, narrow valleys with astreamor river running along their bott o m .

A number of natural forces form gorges. The most common is erosiondue to

streams or rivers. Streams carve through hard layers ofrock, breaking down
or eroding it.Sedimentfrom the worn-away rock is then carrieddownstream.
Over time, this erosion will form the steep walls of a gorge. The flooding of

ACTIVITY 3

HOW EUROPE
WAS BORN
FROM AN
ANCIENT
GREEK MYTH
Another group of students worked with
another tool: the issu. This gives someone
the ability to make his/her presentation in
the form of an e-book. Teachers can use this
tool to present new material to students and
students can use it to present information
they have found or a project they have
created.
Our students worked on the topic of the
ancient Greek myth of Europe. The link is
http://issuu.com/vaggelisdamila/docs/
europa.

SECTION 1

Europe

In Greek mythology Europa was a Phoenician woman of high lineage, from

whom the name of the continent Europe has ultimately been taken. The story
of her abduction by Zeus in the form of a white bull was a Cretan story.
The etymology of her Greek name (- "wide" or "broad" and "eye(s)" or
"face")[ suggests that Europa as a goddess represented the cow (with a wide
face) Hathor, at least on some symbolic level. Metaphorically, at a later date
her name could be construed as the intelligent or open-minded, analogous to
glaukopis () attributed to Athena. However, Ernest Klein suggests a
possible Semitic origin in Akkadian erebu "to go down, set" (in reference to the
sun) which would parallel occident.(western world)

Ending this presentation here, we can say that working with these innovative
tools we learned a lot (both teachers and students), we had great fun and we
experienced an adventure into a new technology world.