Local History in a Digital Environment: Creating an Online Course for Young Children

Abstract

Twenty-first century demands students with critical thinking, digital and other soft skills, and capable of self-directed and self-determined learning. This chapter presents an educational design project, which focused on the development of a history online course for children of pre-primary level and the first grades of primary school, based on the constructivist paradigm of learning. Educational design research was carried out to explore how young children can respond to the demands of a contemporary online course, pursue the online course with growing confidence and independence, and earn history in a meaningful way, while developing twenty-first century skills at the same time. Data were collected by quantitative and qualitative methods and analysis showed that both pre-primary and primary school children responded remarkably well and managed to complete the online course with minimum parental support. They improved their knowledge and displayed critical thinking skills. Children showed no major difficulties in using the digital environment and expressed positive attitudes toward e-learning. The role of parents was also monitored and analyzed since it emerged as a critical factor in the successful completion of the course.

1. Introduction

It is common knowledge that the teaching method is critical for the student’s learning achievements [1]. The teaching of history in the past evolved around memorizing dates, names, and event details that were detrimental to students’ interest [2], as this is limited to the transmission and reception of information. Under these circumstances, students develop misunderstandings [3], display difficulties in learning [4], find it hard to retain information and develop a negative stance toward history lessons. The traditional lecture method does not appear to be an appropriate approach for contemporary students [5].

With reference to history in the early years, it remains a largely unexplored field. Although history belongs to the social sciences, which have a place in the early years’ curriculum, research in this field remains scarce. History as a subject is considered appropriate for the early years [6] and early primary grades [7] as it offers opportunities for young children to explore and develop in the following dimensions:

• Knowledge about the past

• The values of past and present societies

• People’s attitudes and behaviors

• Differences between past and present

• The change over time and the use of dates and time conventions

• The use of historical sources

• Historical reasoning

• Historical empathy

• Historical consciousness

Although there is still a need for further research that will examine the development of historical thinking, historical understanding, and historical consciousness [8], researchers believe in young children’s potential to acquire historical knowledge and develop foundational skills for the future [6, 8, 9, 10, 11].

2. Inquiry-based learning through ICT

Inquiry-based learning is a process in which children seek to find answers to questions raised either by themselves or by the adults. It is a process that appeals to children’s natural and intrinsic curiosity [12]. Traditional teaching and learning methods [13, 14] can be replaced by inquiry-based approaches that actively involve students in the learning process, and the use of ICT can increase children’s learning motivation [13, 14, 15, 16].

Amid the demands of the contemporary era, the increasing use of technology in every aspect of life and education, and the demand of students to increase the use of technology in school [17] ICT use in the social sciences is increasing worldwide [13, 18, 19, 20, 21 to name a few]. Despite this, persistence in the traditional means of lesson delivery is also noted by research (see, e.g., [22, 23]). Many educators or future educators hesitate to abandon the traditional approach to teaching history due to their technical deficiency [24, 25], because of disbelief, or because the change of approach demands advanced skills and longer preparation times [26, 27].

The digitization of information can open new possibilities in theoretical lessons, such as history, in the contemporary era. The internet allowed scholars and students the retrieval of information from a variety of sources in a short amount of time [28, 29]. The use of digital libraries opens access to primary and secondary sources of information [26], which makes the development of individual exploration and personal interpretation easier [30, 31]. The development of study groups in social media enables collaboration, interactions, and exchanges among distant students, teachers, and organizations [32]. The role of virtual visits and simulations is equally important [32, 33, 34] for historical eras and landscapes that we would not be able to visualize otherwise. Visual data offered by simulations yield complex information that facilitates better understanding and spatial perception in children [34]. Rich cooperative learning environments allow students to learn collaboratively in spaces outside school [24], overcoming the restraints of space and time. The digitization, sharing, and publishing of research results contribute to the development of a new learning environment in which students help other students of diverse backgrounds to learn, revise and complement each other’s knowledge by utilizing twenty-first century skills, such as creativity, communication, collaboration, critical thinking, decision making and empathy [35].

Quality and developmentally appropriate ICT software and applications can support active learning even in young students [36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43], once this satisfies some basic criteria, which are as follows: a) children’s bodily and socio-emotional health must be protected [44, 45, 46, 47] b) the nature of children’s participation in using ICT must be active and exercise agency [38], c) the construction, features and the content of the digital material must be appropriate to children’s age [43, 48], and d) the methodological ways in which educators integrate ICT in learning activities and everyday practices must adhere to constructivism, interactivity, and child-centered orientation [43, 45, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53].

To this effect, using ICT and inquiry in history lessons provoke children’s interest [54, 55], makes learning enjoyable, and offers extra motives for developing historical knowledge and skills. In this aspect, ICT contributes to successful learning, the development of collaboration, and the removal of stereotypes, while it also allows children to exercise control over their learning [43]. It can also gain high learning value, as students develop their critical thinking, problem-solving, and cognitive skills in vigorous knowledge construction [37, 40].

Still, in the early years, children must deal with serious challenges when called to use primary or secondary resources (digital and non-digital) in the context of an inquiry. Due to the limitations imposed by their age they cannot locate, access, assess, and use resources without support, which might be proved detrimental to their learning [56].

3. 4C skills in history teaching and learning

Twenty-first century education strives to go beyond learning in a linear and predictable way, and it focuses on preparing learners to respond to a dynamic and unpredictable world [57]. The development of twenty-first century skills, such as critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication skills (which are called the 4C skills, and are categorized as “soft” skills), aims at preparing students to cope with the swift changes in the contemporary job markets. The 4C skills contribute to the development of each student in a unique way, and they are all necessary for the internet era [58]. The development of soft skills and twenty-fist century skills in early childhood and primary levels is highlighted as important for the development of a resilient, capable, and productive future workforce [59]. Moreover, care for the development of soft skills serves educational equity and is deemed as an imperative investment for the early years [60, 61].

These skills are also vital to learning history in the early and primary years and can be embedded in online learning environments, such as Learning Management Systems (LMSs), in a bid to prepare responsible and well-informed citizens.

Through the development of critical thinking, which is one of the essentials in learning history, students not only learn about events and facts, but they also learn how to inquire into, analyze, and interpret historical events. They learn to question and investigate, to cross-check different sources of information to discover multiple truths, realities, and interpretations. Moreover, they learn to make decisions and search for the answer in data they are not familiar with, apply different thinking modes, and consider different ideas, different kinds of evidence, and multiple aspects. These capacities are very important as the twenty-first century economy deals with a constantly evolving technological world that brings changes at every level of human civilization and demands from citizens to respond and adapt to unknown and fluid situations [62, 63, 64].

Creativity goes hand in hand with innovation and progress and is supported by flexible thinking. Students do not need to repeat routines constantly in the same manner. Instead, they can modify or shape new working methods, new ideas, or test new solutions in old cases [62, 64, 65]. Teachers ought to encourage and support thinking out of the box. Moreover, collaboration, that is, the capacity to work as a team member, is a basic life skill. Students learn to express their ideas, support equity in a group, deal with disagreements and have a fair share of the group achievements [62, 64].

In the contemporary digital world, which is based on communication—verbal or written, via email, social networks, etc., it is immensely important for students to learn how to transfer thoughts, ideas, questions, and solutions in ways that make them accessible to the others. Thus, students must learn how to articulate their thinking, in the best possible way, using contemporary multimedia technologies [62, 64, 66].

4. Educational design - a history online course for young children

4.1 The pedagogical and quality framework of the educational design

The development of our history course is an educational design that purports to address young children’s introduction to historical thinking. The development paradigm we followed was the “instrumental” in which the design follows learning objectives [67]. We “identified” our “instructional goals,” [68] which were to enable children:

• To understand what excavation is and how archeologists use it as a method of inquiry about the past.

• To realize that object features reveal information about people’s lives in the past.

• To detect information about the Knossos palace’s construction materials, the palace’s rooms/sections, and their function.

• To compare the Knossos palace construction with contemporary housing; on the same track to compare the way of life in the Minoan and contemporary domestic environments.

• To learn about significant people and roles in the Minoan era and distinguish historical facts from fiction.

• To realize change, continuity, and connectivity in the Minoan past and the present of local people.

In addition, the design of the online history course took into account the pedagogical and quality framework proposed by the Vtt-Box project [69], which takes into consideration the quality benchmarks as set by the European Association of Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU), the E-xcellence quality label [70] and work carried out by Ossiannilsson, Williams, Camilleri, and Brown [71]. The main benchmarks that gave our course its distinctive character were: a) the provision of independent learning materials that enable and accommodate children’s inquiries, b) stages of work in which interactivity with peers and materials gradually increases, c) collaborative tasks, and d) self-assessment tasks that promote children’s independence in learning [72]. Moreover, the course included physical tasks that respond to young children’s need for active learning and holistic, physical investigations in real-life environments [73].

4.2 The content of the history course

Learning about local history is an excellent pathway through which students can cross over from the more familiar to the more distant events of the general history. For this reason, local history seems to better suit the needs of young children. Thus, we created an online local history lesson in a Moodle environment, which is an open-source Learning Management System (LMS). This was comprised of three units. Each unit included a) information delivered by multimedia content, eBooks, and presentations, all with voice-over enhancement to accommodate students who were not fluent readers yet, and b) quizzes and knowledge games tailored to the needs and capabilities of young students. Moreover, the course contained open-ended tasks, which required students’ physical collaboration and inquiries, purported to take place in various places of the physical environment. Finally, online communication between users (students, parents, and researchers) was enabled by forums created in the LMS space. Quick or urgent communication could also take place via phone or email. Table 1 briefly presents the contents of this history course that was geared toward the Minoan era.

The course subject is the Minoan civilization, as it developed from 3000 to 1500 BC. The main palace of Knossos was excavated at the beginning of the twentieth century. More Minoan remnants are continually being discovered since then throughout the area of Crete. Three main units constitute this course, each introduced by clearly articulated learning targets and instructions on how parents can support work and handle the platform. The units contain the following:
Unit 1	The science of archaeology
	The unit introduces children to the science of archaeology and the excavation missions. It contains one physical task of collaborative work in which students take part in a simulation of a Minoan house’s excavation, a multimedia e-book, and a video introducing students to the concept of excavation and the discovery of the Minoan palace, three knowledge games, and two quizzes. Moreover, it prompts children to participate in a physical visit to the local archeological museum with activities about excavations and archeological findings from the Minoan era (this is organized by the course creators). At the end of the visit, children are asked to collaboratively create a poster about their visit.
Unit 2	The Minoan Palace of Knossos
	This unit introduces children to the structure of the palace, the palace rooms/sections, and their function. Through extension work, children are guided to discover the influence of the Minoan on contemporary Cretan life (e.g., influences on local architecture, names of people, streets, businesses, places, and the organization of the contemporary households). The unit contains presentations, videos with a 3D reconstruction of the Minoan palace, virtual tours through “Google Earth,” two quizzes, and one physical task of collaborative inquiry.
Unit 3	The Palace people
	The unit focuses on the important people of the palace and the Minoan era. Moreover, children are called to distinguish historical fact from fiction because a variety of Minoan myths are popular in contemporary Crete and taught in schools. The unit contains multimedia presentations, videos, three quizzes and one digital, and open-ended task on the Minoan frescoes.
Other course components	The course also contains: Glossary of the main vocabulary used in the course. Reading list with books for further reading. Extension work with outdoor activities. Reference list. Course evaluation questionnaire.
	The course is available through open educational resources commons at; https://www.oercommons.org/courses/the-minoan-civilization-the-knossos-palace

Table 1.

The contents of the course: The Minoan civilization – The Knossos palace.

Thus, the course was set to be fully conducted as asynchronous, without direct teacher involvement (with the sole exception of the museum visit), giving students the freedom to a) form collaboration groups by themselves; b) choose the method of inquiry in each task (e.g., taking photographs, voice or video recordings, drawings, etc.); c) choose when and where the activities and learning will take place; d) decide about the order and length of study, and e) choose the modes of communication.

5. Educational design research on the effectiveness of the course

5.1 Research scope and research questions

The current research project falls under the category of educational design research [74, 75]. Thus, the scope was to explore, if young students (Kindergarten and children of the first two primary grades) can learn local history through an asynchronous online course with the minimum of adult support. In this context, the role of parents was monitored as pivotal to the development of children’s independence in e-learning, and its impact had also been studied. Moreover, the development of a history online course that had the potential to cultivate twenty-first century skills, such as critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and digital skills, as well as inquiry skills, was also a focus. Finally, we explored the way e-learning could meet the demands of contemporary history education, which is meaningful to young children.

5.2 Participants and process stages

The sample of this study was constituted of ten pre-primary (Kindergarten) and ten primary (Grade 1 and 2) children, who were chosen via convenient sampling. They all pursued our online course on local history, which lasted for an average of 3 weeks. The course was pursued in an asynchronous way, and without a teacher’s support (with the sole exception of the museum visit). Instead, one parent per child (usually the mother) undertook the role of the supporter in the learning process. None of the children had previous experience with e-learning or had pursued an online course in the past, and only one of the parents had previously used Moodle, which was the chosen LMS. Both age groups (pre-primary and primary) were exposed to the same course content. In other words, there was no differentiation in the course content to match the different age groups.

The implementation process went into two stages:

1st stage: Getting participants familiar with the learning management system and the learning process.

A thorough introduction to the online course was organized prior to the course implementation. In this, parents were given a guided tour of the learning platform (LMS) and all the necessary details about the implementation process. The parental role was clearly defined and strictly restricted to allow children’s initiative to play a major role. Parents had the opportunity to ask questions about the features of the platform, the amount of support they had to provide to the children, the time they could spend on each activity, or the course in general, and other relevant issues.

2nd stage: Course implementation.

Children started attending the course. This took place during their summer holiday, and it ensured that children did not receive any input from school on the course topic. They were encouraged to work in a variety of ways. Namely, they could study the platform materials independently, or in small groups with their siblings or friends. Then, each child had to carry out activities that combined online and physical tasks. Online activities were implemented on the platform and results were directly logged in. The results of physical tasks had to be uploaded with the help of the parents.

5.3 Data collection

Children’s knowledge of the subject was assessed before and after the course via an interview comprised of 10 questions. The second interview, which was carried out when the children had finished the course, included additional questions, that explored the children’s general stance toward e-learning. Moreover, data about children’s attitudes and learning practices were collected by observation. An observation checklist was filled in by the parents after each course unit. The principal researcher also carried out non-participant observations of selected children when working on the course. Fifteen out of twenty children agreed to be observed at different times whilst working on the course. During observation, the researcher recorded data on the platform’s ease of use, children’s concentration span, and children’s ability to collaborate and communicate with each other. There were also data on how frequently children sought parental help, at what point, and the level of parental intervention. Finally, statistical data on the use of the platform were drawn from the platform logs.

5.4 Data analysis

Quantitative data were subjected to non-parametric tests since they did not meet the conditions for parametric tests (the sample size was less than 40). The quest for statistical analysis was to show: a) if the pre- and post-test difference in learning results were because of the online course, and b) if there was a statistically significant difference in the performance means between preschool and primary school children.

Data from observations and children’s interviews were subjected to qualitative analysis, which went through two stages: a) coding, and b) interpretation. In the coding stage, data were scanned for incidents that revealed children’s satisfaction, dissatisfaction, difficulties, and attitudes toward online learning, as well as the degree and nature of parental support and/or intervention. A “codebook” thematic analysis approach was followed, in which codes were initially developed but the coding was also open to new entries forming a partly deductive and partly inductive process [76]. Coding was followed by an interpretation of incidents in accordance with the aforementioned dimensions (satisfaction/dissatisfaction/difficulties, attitudes, parental support/intervention) [76, 77]. The results from the qualitative analysis were compared to those from quantitative analysis to achieve data understanding in its entirety.

In other words, there was a triangulation of data in an effort to strengthen the validity and credibility of the analysis and to bring out different elements and information collected from different angles at different times [75]. More specifically, three types of triangulation were carried out: α) triangulation of method in which quantitative and qualitative data about the same situation were combined, b) observed triangulation, since observational data were collected by the researcher and parents, and c) triangulation of data collection procedures as different tools, such as interview, non-participant observation, platform logs, or parents’ observational forms, were used for data collection in the same research procedure [78].

6. Results

6.1 Learning outcomes

Children’s knowledge levels of local history before and after the study of the online course were compared in paired groups with a Wilcoxon matched pairs test. There was a statistically significant difference between the pre- and the post-test in both group ages (pre-primary and primary). Primary children increased slightly more their knowledge (M = 39.6) than pre-primary children (M = 36.8). The Wilcoxon difference of the two test scores from the dependent pre-primary population was −2812 with a p-value of 0.02 < 0.05, which means that the difference in children’s knowledge was statistically significant and not random (Wilcoxon, N = 10, z = −2812, and p = 0.02 < 0.05). The Wilcoxon difference of the two test scores from the dependent primary population was −2805 with a p-value 0.02 < 0,05, which means that the difference in children’s knowledge was statistically significant as well (Wilcoxon, N = 10, z = −2805, and p = 0.02 < 0,05). Furthermore, the qualitative analysis showed that children’s work in open-ended tasks was focused, in line with the learning intentions, and meaningful to the children due to the connections drawn by the tasks between past and present and with children’s everyday life.

6.2 The Mann: Whitney U-test for the unrelated samples of scores by pre-primary and primary school children

The Mann–Whitney U-test on children’s knowledge of local history showed that there was a difference between the performance of pre-primary and primary children (U = 42.00 with p value 0.579 > 0.05), which was not statistically significant. Both groups showed progress that did not seem to relate to their age, or level of skills (reading skills and digital skills, etc.). Thus, no statistically significant differences were observed between preschool and primary school students.

6.3 Indications from the qualitative analysis of observational data

The results of the observation process carried out by the researcher gave answers regarding: a) the usefulness and user-friendliness of the platform and children’s satisfaction, b) the development of children’s critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creative skills (4C skills), and c) the role of the parents during the whole process. The above were confirmed by the observational data collected by the parents.

6.3.1 User-friendliness, satisfaction, and digital skills

Qualitative data showed that preschool children, who were not yet competent readers and writers, as well as children in the first grades of primary school, showed great easiness in using the Moodle platform and completed their online course according to schedule without support from a teacher. Children did not encounter any major difficulties in using the platform, the multimedia material, or the platform interface. Three preschool children from the total sample (10 pre-primary and 10 primary children) showed clumsiness in using the mouse, which affected the speed of navigation and browsing, however, that did not affect the overall learning process or limit children’s attention span. Even so, disturbance of attention occurred only in cases of poor internet connection that caused disruptions in the online flow.

Moreover, the course allowed children to familiarize themselves with digital tools. The pre-primary children were mainly observed, and the ten primary children learned how files (documents and pictures) can be stored, uploaded, and shared with other users, or how to use search machines, voice search, and keywords. All the children were introduced to manipulated tools, such as Google Earth, 3D browsing, pictorial material, and voice recordings, and played several digital games, such as quizzes, memory games, matching, and multiple-choice games, among others.

It was shown that the collaborative learning model in combination with attractive digital elements, such as multimedia, pop-up screens, immediate feedback in activities, as well as the open-ended activities, initiated children’s interest. All children referred to their satisfaction and 18 out of the 20 children also expressed their willingness to pursue more courses in an LMS. The communication tools and the opportunities for collaboration offered by the LMS contributed to the reduction of the alienation feeling in the LMS environment. Moreover, they seemed to contribute to the development of a sense of belonging as children felt they were part of a class with common goals, interests, and activities.

The multimodal presentations, the multiple screens, and the interactive elements of the LMS learning objects made the course materials attractive to children and provoked sustained interest and attention. In general, no indications of fatigue or hyperactivity were observed after coursework on the computer or the tablet. Only two preschool children from the total sample showed tiredness and discomfort when their parents put pressure on them to progress at a fast pace contrary to the researcher’s instructions.

6.3.2 Improving 4C skills

The Moodle features and capacities allowed the creation of an online course that offered opportunities for critical, creative, and collaborative learning in opposition to a traditional classroom lesson.

6.3.2.1 Critical thinking

A change in children’s behavior was indicative of the development of their critical thinking skills. That is, the number of children asking questions focused on local history and examining all relevant evidence with curiosity increased. So, while in the first course unit children who asked questions were as many as those who did not, in the second and third units the percentage of children who had questions to ask increased to 65% and 80%, respectively. These numbers indicate that not only did children maintain their interest, but wished to delve into deeper and more critical inquiries as well.

The course was successful in helping children to connect the past with present and their everyday life. This connection was also the result of critical thinking. Fifteen out of the twenty learners seemed to grasp continuity; that is, to understand that there were historical elements in many aspects of contemporary life. Moreover, they were able to recognize those elements and recall historical information about them. Evidence of this was found in children’s interviews and parents’ observations.

The open-ended course tasks demanded that children carry out inquiries in the physical world, Internet, printed information, and books, or oral sources of information. Thus, children engaged with interviewing, observing, reading, processing, comparing, synthesizing, and finally, presenting data. All these processes were beneficial to the development of critical thinking skills. Moreover, children had to respond successfully to quizzes focusing on the distinction of the history from the mythological elements, and the fictional from the nonfictional narrative, which is also a demanding cognitive process and makes use of advanced critical thinking.

The course features that allowed children to freely form collaborative groups, or tailor the course study according to personal preferences and even choose the method of inquiry or data presentation also contributed to the development of critical thinking and the ability to exercise initiative.

6.3.2.2 Communication and collaboration

Observational data and children’s work showed that the course offered children the opportunity to exercise communication and collaboration skills both in digital devices and in physical tasks. Children’s age did not hinder their collaborative efforts. In cases of mixed-age collaboration, older children were keen to support the younger, although this was not always necessary. Younger children were quick to understand the procedures and displayed a remarkable degree of maturity as members of the group. More specifically, children found it easy to form groups, take on responsibilities, discuss, or offer help and suggestions. They communicated effectively and shared fairly. For them it was an opportunity to spend time with their friends, so no rivalries were developed, and their work was remarkable.

An important feature of this course was the development of links with the social environment. Children did not work in isolation from their environment. To collect information, they had to come into contact with local agents, and other members of the society (e.g., archeologists, museum educators, historians, neighbors, and local residents, etc.). This gave them the opportunity to develop a sense of belonging to wider social groups. They also realized that there are different codes of communication according to age, professional roles, and the environment in which communication takes place.

6.3.2.3 Creativity

Inquiry-based learning provides students with many opportunities to work according to their personal style of learning in opposition to more traditional approaches in which all students are assigned the same type of work and are expected to produce the same outcomes. Moreover, in inquiry-based approaches to learning students come across and must pick up information from a variety of sources, beyond their school textbooks. They can exchange information from digital sources, from their physical and social environment, or from printed matters. They can also become creators when preparing collages and 3D works, etc., or take photos, sound, or video records of evidence and information to create a written piece of work. In this approach, every student finds space for free and creative expression according to their talents, personal style, and available resources. It is very important that this process is inclusive for all students. For example, young students who do not like or feel unable to draw and write, can create a video recording or a collage. Students who do not possess equipment, such as a digital camera or a printer, can find alternative solutions to present their work. Young students do not always need adults’ support to write down their findings since they can make recordings through a variety of means (physical and digital).

Children’s samples of work showed that their creativity thrived. They did not repeat themselves using always the same methodological approach, but they tried new ways of work. They experimented with digital means, collected data in a variety of ways, and used them to create original pieces of work. When, for example, children learned about the Minoan labyrinth, they retrieved information from the internet (with support from their parents), they carefully examined a labyrinth model at their local museum, and they created: a) maze drawings, b) a labyrinth with junk material, c) a table game in the shape of a maze, and d) a model of the Minoan labyrinth.

6.3.3 The role of parents

Distance learning for young children demands family support. In this project, we realized that parents faced a variety of difficulties in providing support to their children. They frequently called for help or the researcher’s intervention to solve practical issues, such as difficulties in using technology (e.g., difficulties in uploading files, lost passwords, or problems with Internet connection) and in helping their children to participate in group work or to organize a task. The researcher logged 17 incidents of this type; therefore, her role was to offer mainly technical support and reassurance to parents and children.

In children’s first steps in the online course, parents provided the scaffolding facilitating their children’s transfer from the adult-directed and adult-supported to the independent use of the platform. This is also confirmed in a study by Plowman, McPake, and Stephen [42]. Parents showed children how to upload their work on the platform, what each screen icon does, how they should sit in front of the computer screen, and how to organize the resources in their course tasks. Gradually, the children moved from one-course unit to the next more independently. Multimedia material was particularly important because it offered visual and audio information. Picture and sound were the two elements that allowed children’s independent work. They enabled students to extract information and carry out the required tasks without much adult help.

Children’s family type (nuclear, single-parent, divorced-parent, reconstructed, and family with many children) and parents’ obligations seemed to affect the family’s spare time and, consequently, the time the family could devote to participating in this course. At times, it was not children who made the choice of how much time they could spend on the course each day. This was rather dependent on the parents’ schedule, fatigue, or mood. Parents’ intention to engage with, collaborate, and support this project seemed to affect children’s participation, especially in the case of divorced families. There was an instance in which the child’s participation was put to a halt when the child had to stay with the other parent.

The parenting style and mother’s personality seemed to play an important role too and affect the degree of children’s dependency as well as their progress toward self-directed learning and autonomous work. The authoritative style of parenting seemed to be more effective in promoting children’s independence, as opposed to the authoritarian.

7. Discussion

The present project brought up several issues. It showed that even young children of preschool age could be effectively engaged with inquiry-based learning in LMS environments, with parents’ minimum guidance and support. This agrees with research [79, 80], which showed that preschool children can successfully use a personal computer with very little support and supervision from the adults.

Through their engagement with our online course, both pre-primary and primary children succeeded in increasing their knowledge and skills. The learning approach adopted together with the digital elements of the course (multimedia, learning objects, quizzes, and digital activities) enabled children to develop historical knowledge and skills and grasp concepts which are necessary for understanding their local history. The results of the current study could, therefore, extend the spectrum of previous studies on the educational potential of ICT and the way it supports learning in subjects, such as literacy, numeracy, and science. [48, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86].

Children were involved in learning activities with a positive attitude and declared their willingness to pursue similar courses. 80% of the children indicated that they prefer to have this course via digital means rather than with a teacher. These results bear similarity with results from a study by Spires, Lee, Turner, and Johnson [17], which showed that children link the use of technology to enjoy learning and would like to see an increase in the use of ICT in school.

Our course was based on the principles of inquiry-based learning. Children’s engagement with inquiry activities that were directly related to their life and interests and took place in a variety of environments (the digital, social, and physical environments), allowed the development of both knowledge and critical thinking skills. Thus, the results of this project can be added to those from other studies, which also showed that inquiry-based learning supports the development of knowledge and critical thinking [1, 87, 88], and ICT’s role in active learning [32, 36, 37, 39, 40, 42, 43, 54, 55, 79, 89, 90, 91, 92]. Moreover, our research results agree with the results from studies [93, 94, 95, 96], which highlighted the importance of meaningful learning for children.

The course supported children’s communication and social skills through tasks that required collaborative work and tasks which brought them into contact with members of the social environment (experts, such as an archeologist, neighbors, and family members) This social dimension of learning would have been difficult to develop through a more traditional approach to learning history in which the lesson proceeds through the mere presentation of information. A prosperous collaborative environment facilitates communication, mutual assistance, negotiation, knowledge integration, boosting learning results [97, 98]. It was this type of environment that our online course strove to develop by combining independent with collaborative tasks together with indoor and outdoor tasks.

Students in this course showed evidence of thinking “out of the box” and this was the result of the flexibility deriving from the open-ended tasks. Copy-paste tasks with historical content presented to students, followed by comprehension questions were systematically avoided in our course. Instead, learners were encouraged to pursue their own investigations, discuss puzzling elements and queries, and discover the remnants of history in their everyday life. This enabled children to bring their investigations down to their level, claim answers to their questions, and craft multimodal and meaningful pieces of work, which were linked to their own life, and interests. All work was deemed acceptable, regardless of the mode of expression (e.g., writing, drawing, constructions with junk materials, photographs, or videos, etc.) without considering one way of work as the most appropriate. This of course did not imply that misconceptions were approved, but rather that misreading and misconceptions were treated as chances to try new approaches out and multiple readings [62, 64].

The role of parents was substantial, and this agrees with other reports that bring up the critical role of the family in educational practices [99, 100, 101]. It is also confirmed by studies that show the degree to which the family environment and the general cultural framework define the use of ICT at home [102].

Twenty-first century students are in continuous interaction with technology, Internet, and social media; thus, they display little patience, or tolerance for theoretical presentations and get bored when learning relies solely on school textbooks. The use of ICT is integral to children’s everyday life and continues to spread and shape new kinds of experiences. Teachers, therefore, ought to take this into account when designing learning activities. Children unavoidably transfer their experiences in their school life, affecting the way in which they learn, explore the world, and create using available resources. Moreover, the mediums and instruments they have access to also define what children can become capable of doing [103].

The fact that children experience difficulties in studying history, do not retain details and develop a negative stance toward the subject of history demands for approaches alternative to rote learning and memorization [104, 105]. Our study suggests one such alternative way of studying history using the means of an LMS.

It also gives some first indications for the capacity of LMSs, and the perspectives opened to the training of young children on the use of digital resources available to historians and the teachers of history [30, 31]. Using LMSs in pre-primary and primary education can be successful under conditions. For this, educators need to be trained and become competent in using technology, choose, evaluate and use of appropriate digital resources and tools, and introduce and support their students in using them. A similar kind of training is necessary for parents, since their support is critical to the success of distance and home learning.

8. Conclusions- limitations

The development of inquiry skills as well as the twenty-first century skills is essential to a post-modern view of history teaching and learning. The post-modern history curriculum is an “inclusive curriculum” in which history teaching and learning acknowledge diversity. It includes inquiry into both the social and the personal experiences and alternative narratives from marginalized or minority groups. Understanding multi-perspectivity is the foundation of quality teaching and learning practices: “With a multi-perspectivity in perceiving history, the students will get more views to understand and to learn history from diverse angles that can be very useful in history learning.” ([106] p. 203) Having succeeded in this, students could also be engaged in analysis and critique of what Brickley [107] defines as the overarching theories that construe and define our understanding and the articulation of historical narrative and explanation. Thus, history teaching and learning should be based on open-ended tasks and activities that promote flexibility and provide opportunities for students to “develop their own alternatives and insights.” ([108], p. 251) The learning environment must support the development of inquiry, communication, and critical thinking skills that will enable students to examine diverse and conflicting views of the past [33, 56]. Besides, the inquiry-based approach as supported by instructional technology in this study is a “transformative” approach that empowers children, promotes independent learning and research, and counters the “deficit” discourses that distrust children’s capacity to lead their own learning [109, 110]. At the same time, it enables children to individualize their learning process, maintaining the social dimension of learning through the promotion of peer collaboration [56, 111].

The small sample of the present study does not allow the generalization of the results and conclusions. A study of a greater scale is needed to yield a broader picture and lead toward safer conclusions. Future research should also consider studying a more diverse sample, composed of different learning and cultural profiles, children of special educational needs included.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.