Computer Programming and Game Based Learning

Session 5

In today’s session we discussed the benefits of modelling software. Modelling software is the term given to work which allows children to explore “What happens if...”. Modelling software enables us to try activities on a trail basis before committing to them. Here are some examples of modelling software that can be used by children in schools...

Purplemash- http://www.purplemash.com/
Purplemash is an online space for Primary children with online tools, curriculum based activities , programs and games which support and inspire learning in the classroom. Its features include all the 2simple software such as 2design and make and 2DIY which allow children to design their own characters and games, going back and changing details when they want. Here are some examples of activities children can do on Purplemash...

Curriculum based activities...create a leaflet:

2DIY...make your own game:

 2design and make...practice making nets:    

Games...practice maths skills- ‘bond bubbles’:

 

 

The benefits of a software like Purplemash is that it allows children to play around with their ideas and design their own activities on a trail and error basis because they have the freedom to go back and change features to improve on their ideas.

LOGO- this is another piece of modelling software that we got to try out in this session. LOGO is more focused on computer programming and coding much like the programmable toys we looked at in session 3. LOGO allows you to draw shapes or create patterns by entering specific commands such as ‘fd 30 rt 90’ (forward 30 paces, right turn 90 degrees). This is great for promoting cross- circular learning in ICT and Numeracy by getting children to practice their programming skills whilst thinking of angles and shapes.

Scratch- Scratch was the final piece of software we discussed in class, similar to Purplemash scratch is a programming language for children which allows children to create their own interactive stories, games and characters and share them online. Again the features of scratch give children the freedom to change their minds and ideas by altering the features of their stories or characters as they go along. They can add motion, sound and music to their “sprites” (characters) and even dialogue making them interactive. 

Session 6  

The benefits of Games based learning
Research has shown that learners in the UK are some of the unhappiest in Europe and this could be a result of lessons which are not engaging enough and are therefore de-motivating.

Here are a few computer based games that can be used in the classroom as part of an interactive, engaging lesson. Each game holds educational value in that it gives children an opportunity to practice their programming skills as well as promoting cross circular learning.

Kudo Game Lab
Kudo is a new visual programming language which allows children to create their own games. Children can create their own “world” and program their Kudo (character) to perform certain actions as the click of a particular button, such as shoot, drill etc.

Dance to Advance
Children can choose from or create their own range of quizzes and games which they can the play using the interactive dance mat connected to the computer. All they have to do is type in “responses” and “prompts” which will then appear randomly on the screen and children can select the right answer by using the dance mat.

This has to be my favourite game so far, it is extremely interactive as children can create quizzes for one another to play at the same time as being very educational- the children must have the subject knowledge in order to create the quiz in the first place. It is also a very practical and fun lesson which is likely to motivate children more than sitting at a desk filling in a quiz worksheet and also gets them to practice their basic programming skills.

All in all I have realised the impact that ICT resources can have on children when applied in lessons meaningfully and I will definitely apply this in my teaching...

“benefits have been identified including motivation and engagement, independent learning and autonomy and key or core skills such as collaborative learning and communication, all of which can contribute to improved knowledge, understanding and skills” (The impact of ICT in Schools, Professor Rae Condie and Bob Munro, Quality in Education: University of Strathclyde, 2007)

Simulation or adventure games
Similar to the modelling programs we looked at during last week’s session, simulation games allow children to try out more than one possibility or idea.

A good website to use with children that has many simulation games is Kent ICT http://www.kenttrustweb.org.uk/kentict/kentict_home.cfm .
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Speaking and Listening

In this week’s session we looked at types of technology which can encourage speaking and listening in the classroom. As a group we came up with typical examples such as interactive whiteboards, webcams and paired work at computers, however none of us had seemed to have come across any of the equipment we were about to be shown …

Talking Photo Albums
The clue is in the name- record a personal message for each photo page and then listen to it back. These are great in schools for supporting speaking and listening and for making links between Literacy and ICT lessons. Children can use them for an endless number of activities such as, creating stories with their own drawings, practicing their letters and sounds, writing about school trips with photos that were taken, working in pairs to create presentations and so on.
 

 
Talk Tins
Talking Tins allow you to record and playback your own voice messages, music or sound effects and are proving to help children of all ages to develop their speaking and listening skills. Talk tins can be incorporated into the classroom in many ways…

• Put on each table to reinforce learning objectives or instructions.
• To set extension activities.
• To differentiate work.
• Used on display boards with recordings of children talking about their work.
• Used to record questions or clues.
• Children can record an interesting fact, or record their pronunciation of letters and sounds.

 

Talk time cards are another resource similar to talk tins which allow you to record a message or multiple messages, these resources are called talking tools.  
Podcasting
A podcast is a recording distributed over the Internet which you can download and listen to directly through your computer. Schools can use podcasts to record and display children’s work over the internet for parents to listen to, such as children reading poems or stories. This is a great way to motivate children as it gives them an audience and connects them to the world around them by allowing them to become a part of what they see on the internet or television. Audacity, is a programme that can be used by schools to set up a podcast used headphones and a mic, this can be connected to a SMART board and incorporated in slides.

Digital Imaging
There are various types of equipment that can be used in schools to create digital imaging such as “tough-cams” and digital cameras where children can record a sequence of pictures to make a story. Photostory3 is a piece of software provided free from Microsoft that allows you to take pictures, record sound, customise motion, add music and play back (and probably a lot more). Having had an opportunity to play with these pieces of equipment in class, I realised the endless amount of fun and enjoyment they can bring to a lesson and the discussions they invoke between groups. They are fantastic tools in motivating children and encourage children to practice their speaking and listening skills with one another.
  Here are some images of the animation we made in class using playdough and digital imaging to record a sequence of pictures... 　
　

 

Equipment Workshop

In the first half of today’s session we spoke about computer control. Computer control is the transfer of data from a computer to a peripheral device making it perform a specific procedure or routine.

 

Here are some examples…

 

Inside the Home	Outside the Home
Central Heating	Traffic Lights
Microwave	Central car lock
Washing machine	CCTV camera
Digital alarm clock	Barcode Scanner

 

So…why do we use computers to control things?

·    Accuracy- computers don’t make mistakes- unless a human error has occurred.

·    Consistency- a computer can repeat the same operation over and over again.

·    Computers never get tired or lose concentration!

·    Cheaper than employing humans (Note: when working with KS2 you could discuss the impact this has had on workers).

In the second half of our session we looked at programming and monitoring and how they can be taught in the classroom as part of a very practical lesson.

Programmable Toys

Bee-bots

A Bee-bot is a floor robot with a simple and child friendly layout that is a perfect starting point for teaching control, directional language and programming to young children. Children simply press the buttons to control how many ‘steps’ forwards or backwards they want the bee-bot to take and to control the direction it moves in. The fun is guessing how many steps the bee-bot needs to make to reach a destination, but the trick is getting your head around how many times it needs to turn to go in the direction you want it to move in. Once you’ve finished programming simply press ‘Go’ and see what happens! Bee-bots are great in foundation stage and KS1.

 

Pippins and Pixies

Both pippins and pixies are programmable toys, just like the bee-bot, except they require more complex commands and are therefore often more used in KS2. Programming a pippin involves specifying the angle of the direction that you want it to move in., you can also place a pen in the centre of a pippin and programme it to draw a shape.

 

 

Flexiscope

A flexiscope is a microscope used in schools which is set up to computer software allowing you to take pictures of what you are seeing. This piece of equipment would be particularly beneficial in lessons like science and means children can save images as evidence of the work that they have done and to go alongside any written work about the objects they were examining.

Data-loggers

A data-logger is a device used to collect data which can then be connected to a computer or SMART board and represented in a series of graphs and tables. A data logger records changes in sound, temperature and light, children can use it to investigate all types of things such as the amount of traffic on their school road (by recording sound) and the different factors which may affect this, such as changes in temperature which may equal more cars on the road. I feel out of all the gadgets we tested today, the data logger seems to open up the most amount of interesting ideas for possible lessons, and the fact you can then evaluate the results so easily when connected to the computer, is another plus side to this piece of equipment.

 

Workshop Activity- Pippin

 

1.       I would use the pippin to make cross circular links between ICT and Numeracy by asking the children to programme their equipment to draw a particular shape.

 

2.       The purpose of this activity would be to teach new skills and to consolidate existing skills in both subjects.

 

3.       From an ICT perspective, the purpose of the activity would be to improve children’s programming skills which they are likely to have first developed in the early stages of KS1 using bee-bots. The pippin would require the children to input more complex commands thus extending their knowledge of programming. From a mathematical perspective, the pippin would teach children the skill of recognising which angle an object has to turn in order to move in a particular direction. The pippin would also consolidate children’s existing knowledge on shapes.

 

4.       The key vocabulary used in this activity would be: pippin, degree, angle, 90 degrees, 180 degrees, 360 degrees, turn, left, right (and any shapes the children wanted to draw).

5.       This activity could be extended for more able children in the class by firstly specifying a complex shape to make the pippin draw other than the standard square, after this the children could be given some big card sectioned into squares, each with a letter from the alphabet, and asked to spell out their name.

 

6.       This activity could be differentiated for less able or younger children of the class by firstly giving them the task to follow instructions to program the pippin move in a set of directions, and then extending by asking them to try and draw a shape.

 

7.       There are opportunities to assess children’s knowledge on directions, shapes, angles and programming, putting children in small groups will show those who are more confident than others and this very practical lesson means the teacher can walk around and monitor each group easily.

 

8.       The nature of this activity would require a lot of space- maybe floor space would be better than tables- but can be done in a normal classroom, no real need for an ICT suite.

                                                                               

 

Interactive Whiteboards

Before this week’s session, having to learn how to use an interactive whiteboard was one thing I wasn’t particularly looking forward to as part of my teacher training. Watching teachers desperately trying to figure them out, during lessons when they wouldn’t do what they wanted them to, made me feel that they are sometimes more trouble than they’re worth. However, I realised during this week’s lesson on how to use a SMART board, that during my experience I hadn’t always seen them being used to their full potential.

In class we had to teach ourselves and other members of the group how to use a specific tool featured in the SMART software so that by the end of the session everyone knew how to use a number of tools. Each feature is one that allows children to become actively involved in the lessons with opportunities to come up and use the board- and in doing so being interactive!

Recorder- allows you to record what you are doing as you do it and thus play it back when you are done, pause, fast forward or rewind.

Fade Buttons- allow you to hide an answer or part of a sum (for example)- children that think they know the answer can come up and check themselves by clicking on the ‘button’ on screen to reveal the answer. Balloon Pop and Erase to Reveal are similar tools - pop the balloons or erase the pen to reveal something hiding beneath.

Checker Tool- here you can have a question and a set of multiple choice answers and a ‘checker box’ - you can drag each answer into the checker box and it will tell you whether it is right (tick) or wrong (cross).

Tunnel- drag a question through the tunnel and the answer will come out the other side.

These were just a few of the new skills we learnt in class, most of which you can search under ‘Gallery’, remembering that for certain tools you have to ‘group together’ or ‘send to the front/back’. The session was an eye opener to the many things you can do with an Interactive Whiteboard to aid your teaching and make lessons more interactive- its how you choose to use them!