NUI MAYNOOTH
Maynooth Ed Tech Showcase (METS11)
Teaching & learning ideas for sharing
Edited by: Angela Rickard www.mets.info
Maynooth Ed Tech Show (METS11) Ideas for sharing METS 11: The event and the thinking behind it…. Technology lends itself to creative approaches in teaching and learning, but time is required for students and qualified teachers alike to develop their awareness of what is available; to see creative uses of it in practice, and above all, to overcome any fears they may have about it in order to develop confidence in their ability to use it. Student teachers in NUI Maynooth are interested in the tools and techniques that they are shown on their programme, but they feel they have too little time to explore this in depth, and at times, feel overwhelmed with the sheer volume of what is available to them. Though not difficult in itself, much of what is presented appears daunting at first. For many, coping with the constraints of teaching practice, limited access to resources in school and the requirements of an intensive Teacher Education programme, there is simply too little time to become comfortable with technology. Many student teachers have difficulty grasping how it can be integrated, and may have too little confidence in their own nascent teaching skills to give it a try. On April 14th 2011 the Education Department NUIM organised a one day ‘Educational Technology Showcase’. It was generously supported by the Vice-President for Innovation and the Centre for Teaching and Learning, NUIM, the National Centre for technology in Education (NCTE), Typetec Ireland with Apple Education, and the Computers in Education Society of Ireland. The event had a number of aims: • • • • •
To offer hands-on ‘taster’ workshops in the use of innovative and mobile technologies in a range of subjects and settings; To be a timely opportunity for the students to draw on the year’s teaching practice and deepen their knowledge of the technology tools seen in the first semester; To encourage them to progress to the teaching profession with an enthusiasm for technology and its potential at second level ; To assist students for interviews where their knowledge of innovative ideas is likely to be tested; To provide a platform for some of them to demonstrate ways they have engaged with technology already, thereby providing valuable professional experience in working with their peers.
The event provided scope to focus on a wider range of technologies suitable for Special Educational Needs and cross-curricular approaches than is possible to discuss in the lecture format. It gave the student teachers a chance to interact informally with software and hardware suppliers and expert teachers thereby enabling them to make appropriate choices in selecting resources. A key message of the Educational Technology module on the PGDE is that teachers need to develop their own personal learning network and their capacity to find relevant, age and skills-appropriate resources for teaching and this event aimed to facilitate the impetus to collaborate and share ideas. This publication is the outcome of an activity where groups of students discussed ideas for integrating technology in teaching and learning. The ideas produced are random and diverse. They are intended for sharing and we hope teachers viewing this resource will find inspiration for lessons. – Angela Rickard, Lecturer, NUI Maynooth - May 2011.
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Maynooth Ed Tech Show (METS11) Ideas for sharing
Team members’ names: Ruth Savage, Laura Mc Grory, Daniel Travers Subject/s Maths, Science and ICT
Topic/s: Maths: Coordinates
Level/s: 1st Year
Learning outcomes: How to plot and identify coordinates on the x y plane Technology to be used: Scratch Application Other resources required: laptop and overhead projector Detailed implementation of the idea: Pre-program applications to move character to different coordinates on the plane. Ask students to identify the coordinate and when they have selected the point the character will then move to confirm if the student’s prediction is correct. Alternatively the character will move to an unlabelled coordinate and the students will then be asked to identify the coordinate. A second character can be introduced and the students will have to plot the route from one character to another via the shortest route while recording the coordinates. Evaluation of the learning outcomes: Students are asked to come to the whiteboard and identify the coordinates they will also be asked to record the coordinates and map the characters routes. Worksheet could be given containing the xy plane and a series of coordinates to plot on this plane. Students could also be asked to plot a series of points and tell their own story to represent the points.
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Maynooth Ed Tech Show (METS11) Ideas for sharing
Team members’ names: Clair Keohane, Claire O’Mahony, Nawel Amis, Antonio Salveta Subject/s Science/Business/ICT.
Topic/s: A choice of selected topics
Level/s: Transition Year
Aims: To produce junior cycle resources for use in the classroom and as a revision tool. Learning outcomes: To engage with ICT to understand the benefits of technology in assisting their learning to produce a selection of revision resources for the mandatory junior science course. Set-up: Students come together in small groups to form a mini company with each group focusing on one topic. Technology to be used: Visual/audio recordings; Digital cameras recording footage to be edited by IMovie HD/Windows Moviemaker. Students produce the footage to be uploaded to the relevant subject school website available. Then for further use in the classroom or at home. Visualisers - to be used to reproduce still images from textbooks to large screens to be incorporated/inserted into the video footage. Create a class/project blog for students to update daily and collaborate on the progress of the various projects. Podcasts: Using iPod touch because they have the flexibility to record audio, video and still footage. Spreadsheet software. Use of spreadsheets to manage/organise their mini company. Other resources required: Textbook: hard and soft copy; Science lab apparatus; A Green Screen Detailed implementation of the idea:
Students are divided into small groups of three or four. They choose a science topic of their choice. They develop a resource around this topic using any or all of the above technology. They must update a weekly progress report on the class blog with the teacher monitoring the progress of each group. Evaluation of the learning outcomes: Students’ level of work will be evaluated on the resources
they produce and their level of weekly participation in the class blog.
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Maynooth Ed Tech Show (METS11) Ideas for sharing
Team members’ names (up to four): Paul Rooney, Anne-Marie Osborne, Karen Murphy. Subject/s English
Topic/s: Plot key moments in a novel Using photo story and freeze frame strategy
Level/s: 2nd years
Learning outcomes: students will gain a conceptual understanding of the key moments. This exercise will allow for students use their imagination in interpreting and demonstrating key moment s in the source material. Technology to be used: digital camera, laptop, Microsoft photo story application. Other resources required: Google docs as the forum for sharing and storing photos and submitting projects for class and teacher evaluation. Detailed implementation of the idea: Each group of students get a digital camera and given a particular key moment to research and act out using freeze frame and uploading and editing images in photo story. Students to present completed photo story to class who then have to interpret the images shown and determine which key moment is being represented. Students will have to justify their interpretation of the key moment with peer evaluation. Evaluation of the learning outcomes: Our rationale behind this activity is the promotion of ICT through discovery based learning and collaborative learning.
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Maynooth Ed Tech Show (METS11) Ideas for sharing
Team members’ names: Jade, Mark, Gillian. Subject/s Languages
Topic/s: Cultural awareness
Level/s: Intermediate
Learning outcomes: Gain a greater understanding for the target country and an appreciation of prevalent cultural trends and history similar to and different to one’s own culture. Technology to be used: Web-quest: fact sheet, power-point and websites, you-tube Other resources required: Basic ‘prezi’ presentation in groups, elaborating on info i.e. cultural point that students found interesting from fact-sheet on target country that they would like to further explore. Detailed implementation of the idea: 1. Develop a fact based work-sheet for students to interact with: links to informative websites on target country with a focus on geographical, social and cultural aspects of the country. 2. In groups, students work through fact-sheet: writer, someone on internet, someone timekeeping, and someone on translation duties. 3. Students then discuss what they found most interesting and would like to further explore. 4. Groups further investigate chosen aspect. 5. Create a ‘prezi’ presentation for classmates: 10-15 minutes, using target language as much as possible. Students should imbed you-tube clips which demonstrate their chosen cultural aspect. 6. Classmates question and evaluate one another’s presentations, whilst also gaining more insightful knowledge through peer assessment of presentations. Evaluation of the learning outcomes: 1. Basic cultural awareness. 2. Further enriched through independent chosen research areas. 3. Collaborative learning will engage learners and has been proven that students’ learn better through scaffolded, collaborative, active learning strategies. 4. Communicative skills, Investigative research skills, ability to work independent of teacher and in groups are improved. 5. Promotes students’ learner autonomy. 6. Brings the language and culture of target country into the classroom in an imaginative and creative way. 7. Using the language for communicative purposes. 8. Motivating learners through tapping into their own interests
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Maynooth Ed Tech Show (METS11) Ideas for sharing
Team members’ names: Louise McTernan, Christine Salmon, Annemarie Reidy, Niamh Bohan Subject/s CSPE
Topic/s: Introduction/overview of the concepts and issues in CSPE
Level/s: First year
Learning outcomes: Students will understand the importance of CSPE as a subject and will become familiar with the main concepts – Democracy, Law, Stewardship, Interdependence, Human dignity, Rights and Responsibilities, Development. Technology to be used: iPod touch/video recorder, Macbook/video editing software. Other resources required: Lead up activity – PowerPoint of seven concepts Detailed implementation of the idea: 1. Lead up activity: Firstly students will need to know what CSPE is and what the seven concepts are. A PowerPoint presentation on this topic would be suitable as we could input pictures and videos into it. Student activity: a discussion about what topics they would like to cover throughout the year and are related to the concepts. 2. Main activity: Students record interviews with an Ipod Touch and edit the video with a Mac. 1. After the students have covered the basics and have picked what topics/issues they would like to cover, the next step would be to do some research. Students could do research individually or in pairs. They will pick an issue or a theme from one of the concepts. They must then set up a relevant interview – for example if a student was covering Law they could interview a member of the Garda Siochana. If they were doing it on the environment they could interview a member of Tidy Towns committee/environmental officer. If it was democracy they could interview a local TD or town councillor. In terms of Rights and Responsibility there is a range of people who could be interviewed – for example a member of school staff, student council etc. For interdependence students may be able to interview a member from a voluntary aid campaign. For human dignity students could interview a foreign national/a person with disability etc. For development students could interview a voluntary aid campaign, town planners. 2. When students have done a bit of research on their issue/topic they would then be given instructions on interviewing and would be shown how to work the Ipod. After asking students which concept appeals to them most, then the teacher could arrange pupils into the relevant themes. Students will then decide on possible people to interview. While in their groups, pupils should devise a series of questions which they can ask their interviewees. Students will then be given the appropriate technology i.e. IPods (which many pupils may have) to use whilst they are interviewing. Following these recordings, the teacher will edit the footage; otherwise students could volunteer to do this after school. Evaluation of the learning outcomes: Students will gain an understanding into CSPE as a subject by creating their own resources. Pupils will be more engaged with their learning as they are using various types of technology. As they are very familiar with technology it would be a fun and creative activity. Many teachers do not use technology in the classroom so this activity would be something to look forward to. This resource (DVD that would be compiled) could be used in the future by teachers.
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Maynooth Ed Tech Show (METS11) Ideas for sharing
Team members’ names: Clare Lamont, Monica Dempsey, Claire McDonnell Subject/s Maths
Topic/s: Algebra
Level/s: First year
Learning outcomes: Understanding how to solve equations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) Technology to be used:
computers, projector, google docs
Other resources required:
internet access,
Detailed implementation of the idea: We would first start by showing the students the Photostory we made, as a group, at the beginning of the year to show the rules of algebra. Once the students understood the concept, we could move on to using the following website to check understanding. The link is: http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/mathsfile/shockwave/games/equationmatch.html . On this site the student have to match equations that have the same solution. For example: 5x=45 would be a match for x-7 = 2. There are three levels – easy, medium and difficult – which would facilitate differential learning within the classroom. Using Google Docs, a FORM can be used to assess the students. The questions can be multiple choice and students can log on to complete it. Results can be sent to you, and you would be more aware of any problems the students are having with certain types of questions. An example of this type of assessment can be seen at https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dHpxQ0t0UGM1U19Ea0M2NHJMeFVLVVE6M Q Evaluation of the learning outcomes: With the website game, the student has the option to repeat the level again to improve their score. This helps the student to self-assess their progress. It could create a healthy competition between the students that would encourage and motivate them to improve their scores and in turn, their understanding of algebra.
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Maynooth Ed Tech Show (METS11) Ideas for sharing
Team members’ names: Siobhan Devlin Barbara-Ann Mc Auley Aoife Mc Darby Deirdre O’Mahony Subject/s School management communication
Topic/s: Attendance; pupil behaviour, homework, Assessment, timetable etc.
Level/s: All levels
Learning outcomes: 1. To Increase the level of transparency between the school and parents 2. To delegate greater responsibility on behalf of parents re school behaviour Technology to be used: Eportal Other resources required: Teacher’s Journal / School Policy / Time Detailed implementation of the idea: Avail of Eportal system in place. Teachers use e-portal along with Teacher Journal to note information re classroom management, attendance, homework, discipline and assessment. All students and parents have access to Eportal. Students and parents have separate user names and passwords. Students can access info re timetable, results, attendance. Parents can access all of this plus disciplinary issues. Establish an e-mail/text alert system to the parents informing of eventual student merits or de-merits. Evaluation of the learning outcomes: Relations between parents and school should be improved and responsibility shared across the board (students, parents, teachers).
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Maynooth Ed Tech Show (METS11) Ideas for sharing
Team members’ names: Laura Eagan, Sandra Nugent, Rachel Kiernan Subject/s All
Topic/s: Link school and home
Level/s: All levels
Aim/s: The aim is to encourage schools and parents to interact more so that there can be a greater tie between education and the home. Parents can have a better idea what their children are learning by creating a domain to share projects, school tours, school events etc. through the medium of ICT. Also an online space for teachers, pupil s AND parents to view homework details and perhaps a forum to provide support and extra resources. E.g. any students absent have access to material being covered in class. Learning outcomes: 1. Students can complete their homework with greater collaboration and support from the school and parents. 2. To create a seam less link between the school and home 3. Provide transparency for parents that they can see a detail progress and are aware of the standard and work their child must adhere to. 4. That parents become more involved in extracurricular activities such as sports days, school trips, class projects by teachers/pupils creating videos, photos of their work or podcast of reviews of these events. Technology to be used: Windows live applications (movie maker, photo gallery), podcasts, active website or forum Other resources required: Students projects, class work, details of all school activities. Detailed implementation of the idea: This idea appealed to us as we have noticed a distinct lack of communication between the school and home unless a pupil has caused discipline problems. Our idea would be firstly to create a social links between the pupil, school and home. Before this begins, ethical issues would have to be discussed such as providing students with usernames and passwords to ensure all footage remains safe and also permission slips would have to signed so that parents consent was given to their childs involvement. Training would also have to be provided. Content would be explicitly limited to academic and progression purposes only. Pupils would be nominated to document any school trips or events and write a report. Another could take photos and some video. This can give them a sense of responsibility and involvement which would enhance their organisation and ICT skills. These can then all be pooled together to make different resources like videos or podcasts to upload on the schools website. The parents can then log in to view what the students are actively doing in school and thus creating a sense of belonging and involvement in school activities. From an academic purpose, a forum for each class could be set up for homework and assignments to be posted therefore the parents are aware what is required of their children and part responsibility is given to the parents to oversee that this is done.
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Maynooth Ed Tech Show (METS11) Ideas for sharing
Evaluation of the learning outcomes: To evaluate these implementations a constant watch would have to be kept on the forum to see how many hits the site is getting. An online questionnaire or a survey would have to be done to judge how successful the site is and ask is it facilitating the needs of the parents and pupils. Meetings with pupils must also be held as the site is after all to benefit their experience of school. We believe that with parents being more involved socially and academically there is a stronger sense of community between school and the home and this in return will benefit our students.
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Maynooth Ed Tech Show (METS11) Ideas for sharing
Team members’ names: Stephen Pender, Peter Barry, Irene Heffernan, Eilish Foudy Subject/s CSPE, Religion, Geography
Topic/s: Development Education
Level/s: All levels
Learning outcomes: Students looking at their own environment and how potential misuse of their environment can adversely affect their own lives and lives of others. Asking students to connect 3rd World Problems with our 1st world lives. Each group of students are asked to make a video of a resource they take for granted and how they can link this to 3rd world living, focussing on basic areas such as water, clean environment etc. Technology to be used: iPhone, iMovie. Detailed implementation of the idea: We have included a working example of a video taken focussing on water. The theme of the video is the easy access to water in our 1st world which clearly shows the daily access to water in our lives versus the horror experienced in countries like Haiti where disease is rife. Evaluation of the learning outcomes: fun access to technology whilst uniting global issues & learning about the importance of our environment. This subject can be linked into numerous subjects and classes. We are facilitating students learning by encouraging the use of technology in the classroom. We are helping students come up with their own learnings.
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Maynooth Ed Tech Show (METS11) Ideas for sharing
Team members’ names: Rebecca Gunn Subject/s Economics
Topic/s: Micro-Economics: Market Demand & Macro Economics: Profitability & Liquidity Conflict
Level/s: Senior Cycle
Learning outcomes: A picture paints a thousand words and so I have decorated almost every PowerPoint slide with relevant and poignant images to captivate the minds of students and stimulate their senses. The visual element also acknowledges the different learning styles and attempts to move away from an over reliance on ‘chalk and talk’. To minimise ennui I have kept the actual word count on each slide to a minimum. The classroom shop has been designed to simplify the market concepts and inspire student confidence in their own ability and knowledge. Help students understand: 1. How individual demands combine to create market demand 2. How to plot a market demand curve 3. How to calculate price and income elasticity of demand 4. Introduces the basic principle of elasticity 5. How to plot a shift in the demand curve Technology to be used: Data projector, PowerPoint, YouTube Other resources required: Confectionery for shop, Table, Can of coke, Snickers Bar, After Eights, Dairy Milk, Price labels, Student Activity Sheet Detailed implementation of the idea: Please start on slide 40 to 77 Evaluation of the learning outcomes: The market simulation encourages students to actively engage with the topic. Students evaluate their own market behaviour before we link it to the more complex economic terminology. This student focused approach illustrates the markets in their true form using fun and colourful active learning methodologies.
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Maynooth Ed Tech Show (METS11) Ideas for sharing
Team members’ names: Aaron Dowd, Sean Og Collins, Keith Murphy Subject/s History (But can be altered for any subject)
Topic/s: The Roman Empire – A game for student revision
Level/s: 1st Year (A Transition Year class could be used to develop the game)
Learning outcomes: Students will be motivated to answer a series of revision question by completing different levels/stages of a game Technology to be used: Game Maker 2.0 & Moodle Other resources required: ICT Suite Detailed implementation of the idea: Create TY module whereby students instructed on how to create a simple educational game for first years.. This game can be imbedded into Moodle for students to access easily. The objective is to motivate students to revise a topic therefore the idea is to create different stages/levels so that students need to reach the answer before time is up (pacman game for example) in order to progress onto the next level/question. Evaluation of the learning outcomes: TYT students gain an insight into programming and what is involved to create a video game 1st year students are given an incentive to revise in a more enjoyable and entertaining manner.
Example of game uploaded – hopefully!!!
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Maynooth Ed Tech Show (METS11) Ideas for sharing Maynooth Ed Tech Show (METS11) Ideas for sharing template Team members’ names: Emma Davis, Gary Glennon Subject/s English
Topic/s: Shakespearean play e.g Romeo and Juliet
Level/s: 2nd year - Note: a TY class could be used to develop the game
Learning outcomes:
To be able to fully understand and discuss the action of the play Romeo and Juliet To be able to carry out peer assessment Practice teamwork Learn how to improve their public speaking skills.
Technology to be used:
Podcast, Microphone, headphones, Audacity & Laptop
Other resources required:
Text of play, paper and pens
Detailed implementation of the idea: Prior knowledge- experience of creating a Podcast Divide the class into pairs. Each pair would read an assigned section of the play and summarize the events of that act. They would write out a single page summary of the act in their own words. They would be reminded to keep the summary concise and cover all the key points as the aim is that the students would be given a time limit of 1 minute per recording. The students would swop their work with another pair of students and they would correct each other’s work for grammatical errors etc. Next they would each record their own version of their written work. Each person in the pair would record 30 seconds so everyone would have an opportunity to participate. The class would listen to all of the recordings and vote on which was the best version of each of the acts. We would then combine the selected sections. We would create a final version of the play in the students own words for revision purposes and publish it on the school blog. Evaluation of the learning outcomes: We would be able to assess if the outcomes were being met through analysing the resource that was produced by the students at the end of the unit .
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Maynooth Ed Tech Show (METS11) Ideas for sharing
Team members’ names: Frances Shannon, Sarah Crosby Subject/s Geography and Science
Topic/s: The Water Cycle
Level/s: Junior Certificate mixed ability class
Learning outcomes: Students will be able to explain clearly using the correct terms the process of the Water Cycle. Students will be able to draw a clearly labelled diagram of the Water Cycle. Technology to be used: Blogging, Video, PowerPoint, i-pad/i-phone/i-pod, interactive games and www.Doink.com animation creator. Other resources required: Computer/i-pad/i-phone/i-pod, overhead projector/IWB. Detailed implementation of the idea: Reinforcing concepts already taught in previous lessons using PowerPoint. Students will watch the video of the water cycle song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okZBiy_IdBA They will then play the game on their hand held devices(i-pads, i-phones, i-pods). Alternatively students can use a computer. They will then create their own animation of the Water Cycle using the online animation creator on www.doink.com An example of this can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nXVCPdZMo0&feature=player_embedded The PowerPoint used to teach students the concept of the Water Cycle can be downloaded as a PDF file for reference on the iPod, iPad or iPhone. This can be used to evaluate students’ learning. The teacher can set homework to be carried out online i.e. Explain the Water Cycle in your own words and this can be uploaded as a comment on the class blog. Here is an example of a class blog - http://edtech.nuim.ie/users/scrosby/blog/ The animations can be embedded into a blog for future reference and so that students can show family and friends work carried out in class. Another dimension to this is that students can self assess and carry out peer assessment of their work online writing any comments in the comments section. Evaluation of the learning outcomes: Self assessment, peer assessment and teacher assessment of the animations created. Also the students can explain the Water Cycle in their own words in the comments section of the blog. This can be assessed in a similar manner. Level of difficulty for students:
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Maynooth Ed Tech Show (METS11) Ideas for sharing
Students will be using the blog from the beginning of the teaching year and this will have been explained over a number of classes during the year. They will have used it already for a number of other topics. One class will be spent exploring the animation website so students can become familiar with the application. Students who do not have access to internet or computer at home will have an opportunity to use the school computer room during lunchtime each weekday and after school one day a week. Students can contact the teacher in the school or through the blog if they encounter any further difficulties.
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Maynooth Ed Tech Show (METS11) Ideas for sharing
Team members’ names: Amanda Butler, Maedb McKeown Subject/s Biology
Topic/s: Digestive System
Level/s: Junior Cert mixed ability
Learning outcomes: •
Students will understand the stages of digestion
•
Students will understand the importance of a healthy diet
Technology to be used: Photostory Other resources required: images and models Detailed implementation of the idea: •
Teacher distributes photographs from the digestive system, different food types, the food pyramid
•
Students work in pairs to put the pictures in the order
•
Students brain storm key words to describe what is happening
•
Students record a narrative of what is happening
•
Using the student information the teacher puts together a photo story and presents to the class.
Evaluation of the learning outcomes: Check understanding using a hard copy of the g-form survey with a mixture of multiple choice and and higher order questions. (Teacher will input results and present results in graph form in the next lesson)
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Maynooth Ed Tech Show (METS11) Ideas for sharing
Team members’ names: Nuala Commins, Colm Faughan, Maria Guinan, Anna Browne Subject/s History, with links to English, CSPE, SPHE, Maths,Art, Drama.
Topic/s: Social changes in the 20th century
Level/s: Junior certificate
Problem/s to be solved: 1. 2.
Students don’t empathise with social change. They have no sense of time. Teaching the social change of th the 20 century is a challenge for history teachers. Making and improving cross curricular subject links in the school.
Learning outcomes: History: Students construct their own meaning of social change by interviewing family members or older neighbours about the social changes they lived through. Students will create a series of podcasts based on their interviews. CSPE: Appreciate or learn a sense of community. English: Learn to write survey questions – open ended vs closed. SPHE: Social skills, listening skills, discretionary skills, presenting themselves. Maths: Analyse the data generated by the survey Technology to be used: See below - Other resources required: See below Detailed implementation of the idea: The aim of this project is to design a scheme of work that will use
Podcasts and other ICT resources to enliven the subject of History in collaboration with other subjects such as CSPE, SPHE, Maths and English. History is a subject which is can possibly be thought of as irrelevant by students. Firstly, they can often view the subject as an endless ream of facts about things that happened hundreds of years ago and have no relevance to students’ lives. Secondly, Historical topics are seen to have little relevance to the high tech, media rich world that today’s post primary students have grown up in. Another problem in Post-Primary education as a whole is that many subjects are taught in isolation and any incidental crossover between different subjects is rarely exploited to its full potential. Social Change in Ireland is a History topic is towards the end of Junior Cycle that discusses Twentieth Century developments in transport, entertainment, housing, work, women’s status and lifestyles in Ireland. These are issues that have been experienced first hand by the parents and grandparents of the students. This means that students have access to an invaluable resource in their everyday lives. The chance to exploit this through using technology that students are already au fait with, allows the teacher to engage students on a level impossible through using more traditional classroom methods. Such a lengthy project would be a lot to ask from one subject teacher, especially with the pressures of covering the syllabus in time for the Junior Certificate Examinations. This is why the cross curricular element is essential to affording teachers the opportunity to undertake a project on this scale. For future development the project could be produced as a CD to thank the participants, but this could be taken even further to sell the product to raise fundraisers for the school.
The specific processes are detailed below:
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Maynooth Ed Tech Show (METS11) Ideas for sharing
Student Action Explore current knowledge of audio technology
Teacher Support
Subject
Resource nano, iPods, phones
Learning Outomces Recognise variety of techniques and technologies available for audio recording
Input survey data on Google docs, navigate through application, store in cloud
Respectful classroom discussion, prompts Organise time allocation, recognition key strengths and weakness within group , develop ideas to cater for these Provide guidelines for developing survey to allow comparison of data collected from different eras and experiences Give overview of google Docs and location, encourage students to explore and figure out how to capture the agreed questions
ICT
google docs
Communication and listening, social skills, self-presentation, empathetic skills, peer review and respectful feedback
Facilitating and encouraging students to determine appropriate behaviour for this activity
SPHE
Recording role play
Develop background knowledge of key social changes e.g. transportation, housing, entertainment, travel, as reference in survey Students actively engage in compiling clips from community
Relate key elements of historical curriculum, through the application of various types of media
history
video clips, you tube, visualiser of key pictures and artefacts
teachers supports as students raise issues
student can recognise key changes that occurred within the 20th century use technology in the field and apply skill-sets as set out earlier in the programme
editing skills and critical skills to allow assessment of data collected in the field
Assist, allow student to develop own skill set
Editing skill, critical listening, community engagement, bring history to life
Demonstration of current engagement and uses of their own available gadgets Suggest ways to include fairness in presentation of data, discuss appropriate questioning techniques
Peer learning, opportunity to showcase current skill sets,
Project maths
Audacity
Enter data in Google docs, compare and contrast with other interviewers
Assist
Maths
Compile and burn CD's and return to community to share outcomes of the project
Assist with technology
history
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Project maths website
Compilation of appropriate survey questionnaire to identify key questions that will facilitate capturing key periods of time
Engage with using Google Docs to write survey, to learn about and recognise practical application of cloud computing Develop communication and listening, engage in social skills, develop confidence in presentation of survey, develop empathy with other members of the community , peer review and respectful feedback
Generate survey info, pie-chart, bar charts recognise trends and developments that have occurred in the 20th century
CD burning technology
Engagement with CD drive
Maynooth Ed Tech Show (METS11) Ideas for sharing
Evaluation of the learning outcomes: • • • • •
Students can discuss social change in a meaningful way. Events can be tied to dates, and can be sequenced by the students. Students understand where data comes from, and how to analyse it , and draw conclusions from the data gathered. Students have an understanding of the lives of their elders, and what challenges and opportunities they encountered in their lives. Students are comfortable with creating and manipulating audio content Students understand different modes of questioning, and what kinds of answers they get from using these modes.
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Maynooth Ed Tech Show (METS11) Ideas for sharing
Team members’ names: Niamh Walsh Subject/s Geography
Topic/s: Earthquakes
Level/s: 1st Year
Learning outcomes: Students should be able to explain how earthquakes occur, investigate damage caused by earthquakes using Japan as an example, identify the preventative measures that can limit damage and describe how a tsunami occurs. Technology to be used: Internet Access - Interactive map available via http://www.nytimes.com/packages/flash/newsgraphics/2011/0311-japan-earthquakemap/index.html?ref=asia Other resources required: Newspaper articles on the Japanese Earthquake, Youtube news clip Detailed implementation of the idea: 1. Show a YouTube clip of a news item of the recent Japanese Earthquake. 2. Brainstorm in small groups what earthquakes are and how they occur. 3. Show a PowerPoint presentation explain how earthquakes & tsunamis occur 4. In the computer lab, each student logs onto http://www.nytimes.com/packages/flash/newsgraphics/2011/0311-japan-earthquakemap/index.html?ref=asia 5. Students can interactively view the damage the earthquake has made in Japan. 6. Identify on the maps what methods have been implemented to limit destruction 7. Read newspaper articles and look on the map to determine location of any places mentioned in the news article. Evaluation of the learning outcomes: Students should form a link between a topical issue with the formal geography curriculum. Brings real life events into the classroom. Should make geography relevant on a broader scale and not confined to the classroom walls..
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Maynooth Ed Tech Show (METS11) Ideas for sharing
Team members’ names: Jonathan Brookes, Shona O’Callaghan, Richard Seoighe Subject/s Topic/s: English / Maths / Gaeilge and See below can be applied to other subjects
Level/s: Mixed ability levels
Focus: To enhance attention and cater for students will special education needs through the use of technology in the class room Topic/s: • • •
English: Poetry and drama Maths: Pythagoras and other theorems to make them relevant to everyday life History: Early Medieval period but can work for various sections of the course
Learning outcomes: English: To enhance a greater understanding of drama and poetry through visual and audio means this can aid those with learning difficulties and increase general interest Maths: Bring more practical examples into the classroom which gives a greater understanding to students of the practical implications of what they learn in the classroom and thus making the subject more relevant History: • •
To give students a more detailed image of the past as some topics appear irrelevant Key concepts will be explained through visual and audio means which again can help those who find these topics difficult. Can also be a help to students of specific educational needs such as dyslexia
Technology to be used: PC or Mac, PhotoStory 3 software (or iMovie), Data Projector; Internet; Blog; Digital voice recorder PowerPoint to reinforce the knowledge learnt in photo story and can further act as a visual aid for student understanding through pictures, diagrams etc. Other resources required: • • •
Whiteboard to be used as a projection space Textbooks for additional information about material being covered If required hand-outs, worksheets
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Maynooth Ed Tech Show (METS11) Ideas for sharing
Detailed implementation of the idea: For the purpose of this idea, we will only focus on one subject, but as mentioned above we have indicated how this could be applied to multiple subjects that we teach. We have chosen History. It is assumed that before this method is implemented the teacher would have created a blog for students. This blog would contain class notes, images that have been used before. Previous podcasts of classes will be included. If all students have access to the internet then homework would be posted online. If not then some students could be given CDs/DVDs of the work which is relatively inexpensive. Before showing the students the photo-story, they would be introduced to the topic and given some basic terms. They would be shown a PowerPoint which will include some images. Prior knowledge would be assessed through some visual aids where students will be asked if they can identify images and what they know about them. Following on from this, the students will be shown a photo-story. They will see a range of images and key concepts along with audio explaining what is going on in the photo-story. Once this is complete the students will be given a worksheet on these key concepts which will reinforce the learning. Following on from the class the photo-story will be uploaded to the blog so students will have access to the story from then on. There will also be further links on the blog. Their homework will be to draw a picture of their various image of the class and explain the image. These are either in the book or on a hand-out. In the next class the students will have to present their pictures and explain them to the class which encourages peer learning and assessment as the students will be asked if they can add anything to students understanding. Evaluation of the learning outcomes: Students enjoyed this activity. It is very interactive and they learn a lot on the key concepts. By using the various methods the students were able to recall the terms the next day and explain them. Once the information is uploaded to the blog then students who were absent on the day can access the lesson online. This will increase class participation as if a student is absent for something like sport they will be able to access the class online. This method caters for students with learning difficulties as it has a lot of colour and draws upon the multiple intelligences.
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Maynooth Ed Tech Show (METS11) Ideas for sharing
Team members’ names: Grainne Murphy, Roisin Egan, Ciara Doherty, Emily Barrett Subject/s Biology or Jn. Science
Topic/s: Demonstration: Dissection of a Sheep’s Heart
Level/s: Senior Cycle or Junior Cycle
Learning outcomes: • • • •
Identify the structures, vessels, and valves of the heart Understand the blood pathway through the heart, & identify the left and right side of the heart To be achieved through equity of learning by engaging all students t through differentiated teaching methods/ activities. To work collaboratively to follow procedures.
Technology to be used: (Portable) Visualizer and Handheld Tablet, Data Projector and Laptop Other resources required: Dissection kit, hearts, lab coats, goggles, gloves, antibacterial spray and previous knowledge of heart structure. Detailed implementation of the idea: • • • • • • •
Teacher has heart under visualizer and ask students to identify main external features and identify left and right side of the heart. Teacher carries out the dissection step by step under the visualizer while students follow same steps simultaneously in pairs to facilitate co-operative learning. After each step, an image and/or video can be captured and saved on screen for helping students who may have fallen behind. Also the image / video can be returned to during recap at end of lesson and be used for revision in future classes. Full process can be saved as video for exam revision. The tablet can be used for students to annotate, clarify areas of confusion or for teachers to assess and get instant feedback of student learning. As a closing activity the images saved can be used for an interactive quiz with students working in teams to promote collaborative learning in the classroom.
Evaluation of the learning outcomes: • • • • •
Achieved through all students being engaged because the teacher’s demonstration can be seen from their seats. Because of image or video capture no students is left behind as material can retrieved easily and quickly ensuring equity of learning for all. Equity of learning would also be ensured as Multiple Intelligence would be catered for the use technology. Through images /videos /annotations it would aid both assessment for and of learning. Students with SEN would be accommodated through the visual nature of learning, the variation of stimuli and teacher questioning.
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