Sometimes when you are using text books in teaching you want pupils to read whole chapters of information, sometimes you just direct them to a small paragraph and a few questions in the corner of the page. Well that flexibility is what Birchfield Interactive offers with its Lesson Kits, the possibility of following a topic all the way through, or simply selecting the sections that seem most useful and building your own resources.
The materials themselves are well designed, visually engaging with clear instructions and often with upbeat soundtracks that work well on interactive whiteboards. At Riverston School in Lee Green, South-East London, the pupils could barely stay in their seats so keen were they to get involved in the lesson. They were revising computer input and output devices. On screen a question popped up and three possible answers listed, each read aloud. "What does one 1024 bytes equal? A gigabyte, a kilobyte, a megabyte," a soft female voice asked. The consensus around the room is, "kilobyte", with someone chipping in that "kilo means thousand". As they progress through the questions they are rewarded by building a pop-video. They debate the soundtrack and settle on "Techno", before moving onto level 3.
Here they are supporting each other, working together to build the video, or to manoeuvre a rocket around a space track, or avoid the alien invaders, but they can as easily work at individual machines, with the built-in assessment tool recording the questions they tackle, the answers they give and how long they take on each one. This is done in real-time, as students work, and can even be exported to a spreadsheet for detailed analysis. However, when working together their understanding can be quickly gauged, such as when, in two different games, they twice answer, "What is data?" with, "Information", so ICT Teacher Tony Brimmicombe knows this is an area to re-visit. "They enjoy answering the questions as much as playing the games," he believes, "It is equally as important that they are both learning and having fun at the same time."
Voice of authority
It is not all about answering questions, topics are introduced through uncomplicated multimedia displays, a text box, a voiceover and usually a simple animation, so students can absorb the information however they like. A presentation about a central processing unit, for instance, gives essential information, but leaves room for the teacher, too. "When you are using the teaching tools," Tony Brimmicombe explains, "you get an animation with a voice over. I let them hear this then give them a little bit more information. For example I might mention the adverts and tell them 'Intel inside' is what this is about."
The Year 7 students appreciate this way of working, "Instead of just listening to the teacher talking we have something we can all see. It is easier for us to understand," says one. They also like the fact that the same materials from the interactive whiteboard come up on their own workstations too, "It's interesting when the teachers are talking but it is even better when you can do it yourself," another offers, to general nods around the group.
They also appreciate the opportunity to express some friendly rivalry. When they finally complete the video-building game they are asked for a couple of messages. They agree on, "7b is the best" then "7t is the worst". As the video plays, a performance of flashing colours and spinning images, cheers go up when the slogans dance across the screen. As a motivational tool this is certainly one that will see them coming back for more.
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