This kit was used in one of the P6 classes. The children were learning about USA as part of an interdisciplinary topic as part of this the children have carried out research on weddings. They used play-dough to take their knowledge and create characters to set up a wedding scene. The children incorporated work on Elvis that they had completed. They used the animation kit and made movies. These movies were were included in a Keynote presentation that the class produced and shown at the school concert. The use of the animation kit gave the children the opportunity to develop their ICT skills in a new context. They really enjoyed creating their very realistic characters and viewing the completed work.
ICT was identified by HMIe as an area for improvement within the school. As a staff we felt it would be beneficial to widen the learning experiences through using other types of equipment. As a result of this we have borrowed the consoles twice over two years. Previously they had only been used in P7. On this occasion all classes within the school were given the opportunity to use the set of Nintendo Dsi. All children responded very positively to the use of these in class. The equipment was used to motivate learners and to develop skills in maths and language through the brain training activities. In some classes the children recorded their scores and set themselves personal challenges to improve. The scores that the majority of the children were receiving by the end of the term showed a good improvement in speed and accuracy. They were also used during Golden Time and had a positive impact on behaviour in some classes. The children were so disappointed when they had to be returned and we would definitely look to use them again.
Background
We already have a couple of BeeBots in school but they are not greatly used by classes. We decided to borrow extra to allow them to be used as a whole class resource and so increase staff and pupil awareness of how they could be used.
How ICT supported learning and teaching
The BeeBots provided a huge motivation for the children and encouraged them to engage with the tasks given. They meant that the children were active in their learning, which in most classes linked to maths. They gave the children great opportunity to develop talking and listening skills, group work and problem solving skills.
Impact/Conclusion
An enthusiastic response from staff and pupils throughout the school. They added a new dimension to the maths programme and encouraged the use of mathematical language in the children. We are already seeing greater use of the BeeBots that we have in school and are hoping to order more to enhance our ICT provision.
We borrowed a set of 10 DSI’s with Braintraining from the lending service.
They were initially used as an incentive during Golden Time and as part of the mental maths programme.
After reading the feedback from Thornlie Primary on the blog we followed their model of taking a base brain age for each child and completing training everyday. We would then check our brain age once a week.
The children enjoyed charting their progress each week and comparing their progress with friends.
As a class teacher I found them to be a great motivator and a super way to engage all learners.
Feedback on ICT Hardware in the classroom
