We initially borrowed a box of 9 NIntendo DS to use in our Gadgets and Gizmos Golden Time Club. When they arrived we tried out the Brain Training games and found how useful they would be during maths to promote recall of facts and to help children to revise number processes. They were timetabled during all active maths lessons throughout the school and children loved using them. They concentrated more, stayed focussed longer and were keen to use them.
Here are some of the children’s comments. “I liked the DS because you got to play brain games. ” “There were great challenges and you got to test yourself.”
Here we are using the Nintendo Wii at our Gadgets and Gizmos Golden Time Club.
This club was set up at the request of the children and we borrowed some items to use as a trial. This has proven so popular that the Pupil Council have now used some money they had raised to buy one for the school.
Here are some of the children’s comments. “Great because you could play against each other.” “Felt more like playing than work.” “Liked playing with all the fun games.” “Made Golden Time more fun.”
WE borrowed a box of 7 iPod Touch to use in our new ‘Gadgets and Gizmos Golden Time Club.’ However, we found they already had many applications we could use in other curricular areas also. We used the French Lite app to help with consolidation of basic vocabulary and also to allow children to listen to words being repeated as they were able to use the headphones. The maths apps were put to very good use in many active maths lessons, where they helped with recall of facts, times tables, time and all of the number processes.
Here are some of the children’s comments. “Really fun because you touched the screen to make it work and I had never used one before.” It was more fun than writing the answers in your jotter.” “You had to get the answers right because the teacher heard the noise it made when it was wrong.” “It made me work faster to answer more questions to get to the next level.”
We borrowed these items to use primarily in our ‘Gadgets and Gizmos Golden Time Club,’ however, they were also used in many active learning lessons and with groups of children during ICT teaching. They were very useful for directional language, programming, and also in estimation and counting.
Here are some of the children’s comments. “These were good because you can program them and they were fun and easy to work with.” “They were useful in our map work where we could test each other with directions.” “I liked the cool noises.” “Fun to play with.”
Using Beebots allowed children to participate in active learning, which helped enhance their understanding of position, direction and movement.
They helped contextualise learning for children, who otherwise found it very difficult to distinguish between left and right.
Children successfully followed instructions and it made describing a journey easier for most of them. Use of the Beebots helped increase children’s confidence in a fun and active way.
Children worked well both independently and co-operatively in helping one another describe a journey. They took more ownership and responsibility in their learning.
We found Beebot to be a good small group activity.
Areas that could be improved to make better use of Beebots:
We did not have all the appropriate materials/resources to carry out tasks i.e. Beebot mats. Therefore, all resources had to be made, which was quite time consuming and an extra work load for us. As well as this, the resources made were not suitable for all tasks, where Beebot could otherwise have been used.
I feel that in order to make the best use out of Beebots, more support is needed in the class to help train all children to use this technology more independently and successfully. I found that using Beebots when the classroom assistant was present was much more effective- better working in smaller groups.
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