Hi guys!  This weeks post focuses on my very first Digital Technologies class.

So, this week we created a new Glow Blog page, which you are on right now, and then we had a look at some of the resources that can be found on the Glow Launchpad.  We looked at Twig, TigTag and Glow TV, which are all quite useful; I personally really like Twig and TigTag because they have really good resources for STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths).

Then, after the break we moved on and began working with ActivInspire.  For this exercise, we watched a short video about the different features of ActivInspire with the use of an early level maths game based on shape.  We then followed in the videos steps and created our own maths games for whichever level we wanted.  My group and I created a maths ‘story’ game in which we followed the tale of the ‘Three Little Pigs’.  The pigs were admiring their new house when the Big Bad Wolf appeared and blew it down, the game factor was that the children were asked by the pigs to rebuild their house and were congratulated when this task was completed.  I have attached pictures of the game created for you to enjoy and take inspiration from if you choose to.  Our group chose to focus on early level maths just like in the video, this meant that the house was made up of very big and simple shapes making it perfect for the younger end of the school to enjoy.  These kinds of activities are great for children as there is an aspect that they already have knowledge of, in this example they already know the story of the three little pigs, and this can make the maths element less daunting and boring for children, also by adding in sound effects (which we had) it can make maths even more fun and comical.  This particular game can be used for more than just maths though, it is also useful for cross-curriculum activities such as a literacy exercise.  The children could be given a choice of three sentence structures and they have to choose the correct format (this would probably be for second level), or they use the beginning of the story of the three little pigs and write their own alternative ending to the tale.

There are multiple different ways in which you can use these types of activities across the curriculum and with a little time and effort on your part you can make an occasionally boring day a little bit brighter.

These multi-modal programs are very useful to use in a classroom, in his book ‘ICT in the Primary School From Pedagogy to Practice’ Gary Beauchamp says that “… it allows teachers to present an idea in a variety of different ways to help pupils understand it.  It can also  make work more interesting or motivating.”  .I think that this is very accurate and I believe that the statement is true, technology can allow you to present an idea in different ways and by doing this it can make the learning more interesting for the children, thus increasing their engagement and knowledge.

Until the next time

Chloe x