Content area
In an era where a plethora of unhealthy dietary choices is readily accessible, traditional educational approaches often prove insufficient in equipping students with essential life skills, such as self-regulation and self-control. To address this gap, this thesis presents the design and development of an innovative digital course (ecourse) for third-grade elementary school students, which is pedagogically grounded in Zimmerman’s theory of Self-Regulated Learning (SRL). The course’s modules and activities are structured according to the three phases of the model: the Forethought, Performance, and Self-Reflection phases.
To enhance student engagement and ensure a holistic learning experience, the SRL framework is enriched with modern pedagogical approaches. Project-Based Learning (PjBL) served as the organizational axis of the scenario, as students engaged in authentic projects that connected theory with practice. Specifically, the STEAM methodology is utilized for the interdisciplinary exploration of nutritional concepts, gamification techniques enhance intrinsic motivation and agentic engagement, while an Artificial Intelligence digital assistant (AI avatar) provides personalized feedback, directly supporting the self-regulation cycle.
This thesis constitutes a design proposal and does not include the implementation and evaluation of the intervention on a student population. However, the work presents a complete methodological framework for the future evaluation of the ecourse’s effectiveness. To investigate the course’s impact on self-regulation skills, the use of pre-test and post-test questionnaires is proposed, while assessment rubrics are suggested for evaluating school projects.
The contribution of this study, therefore, is centered of a new, integrated pedagogical framework that organically combines the theory of Self-Regulated Learning with the modern approaches of STEAM, Gamification, and Artificial Intelligence. Primarily, the thesis offers a practical and theoretically grounded educational tool for the promotion of health education in primary school.