The paper presents the results from a study which examined whether tablets together with a mobile application with augmented reality features can help students to better understand the functions of the respiratory and the circulatory system. The target group was 75 sixth-grade primary school students, divided into three groups. The first group was taught conventionally; students studied using a printed handbook. In the second, a constructivist teaching model was used, but the instruction was not technologically enhanced. The third group of students used tablets and an application, and the teaching was based on a slightly modified version of Bybee's 5Es model. All three groups of students worked in pairs, they were taught the same learning material, and the teacher acted as a facilitator of the process. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire and evaluation sheets. Results indicated that students in the third group outperformed students in the other two groups. The results can be attributed to students' enjoyment, motivation, and positive attitude towards the use of tablets as well as to the teaching method. The study's implications are also discussed.

The study examines the use of two 3D virtual environments for teaching basic Astronomy concepts, to pre-service teachers. The motivation was the fact that pre-service teachers know very little about Astronomy and that the virtual environments can be used as tools for successfully teaching concepts related to this scientific field. Two online courses were also developed, in order to compare the learning outcomes. A hundred and twenty randomly selected students from the Department of Primary School Education, University of the Aegean participated in the study, divided into six groups. Two groups used the virtual environments, two groups used the online courses, while the last two were the control groups. Data was collected using evaluation sheets, questionnaires, and log files. Data analyses indicate that even though all groups that used an application showed significant progress regarding knowledge acquisition, the groups that used the virtual environments had better results. Implications are also discussed.