More Games!!!

This is an example of a 'Word Cloud', taken from everything talked about in my blog since it began. It adds greater prominance to words that appear more often throughout a text. From www.wordle.net, its a resource that could be used for a variety of different pursuits, for example word banks.


In our final ICT lesson of the course we experimented with more simple interactive games (http://www.kenttrustweb.org.uk/kentict/kentict_soft_simul.cfm) and looked at 'Myst', a game by Tim Ryland. This game could be an excellent resource for the classroom if used properly. By exploring the world of Myst the children would learn to use creative language in description of the environment and experiences within the game. Also the children would be forced to discuss and collaborate their ideas to form a better understanding and interpretation of the games simulation.

Interactive Gaming in ICT!!!

This is an area that I will have a particular interest in as I have been an avid PC and console gamer from an early age. I feel a game may have sparked my personal interest in history (subsequently I studied ancient history at university) came from a 1990's game called 'Lords of the Realm', a simple game where u had to run the economy and military of a small kingdom competing with other rival nations in a medieval setting. Another game which I feel helped me develop my mathematical ability was 'Transport Tycoon', running a transport business to provide resources and passenger services to a constantly growing area of the world. It helped me to have fun competing with the computer and other players, without realising that I was constantly performing mathematical problems at the same time as learning about aspects of the wider world. This is where I feel games should be aiming at an early age, they have gained too much of a negative stigma as time wasters for young children. Granted there are many games that are of no educational help and can possibly be quite damaging to the morals of KS 1 and 2 children. Games like 'Call of Duty' are just killing fests, that serve no educational purpose and teach children to be abusive and desensitize them to the fact that war and killing go on everyday all over the world and are not issues to be trivialized. I would be being a hypocrite if I said I didn't enjoy playing these games myself but as an adult I realise the seriousness of the issues that they deal with where a child may not.
The games presented in our ICT class were of a far simpler design an have a much more obvious aim at education but still provide an alternative method to learning than standard classroom teaching. The programs like 'Logo' (http://mswlogo.en.softonic.com/) that need you to enter in commands to a computerized sprite to draw things, help children develop reasoning skills and provide quite a challenge when open ended questions are asked, such as 'build me a house'. I feel I will often try to incorporate games into my teaching, especially my core lessons. It will probably be harder to include in foundation subjects like history and religious education but I feel that making learning fun and creating that excitement in education is paramount and will be a very big part of my teaching style.

Lords of the Realm 2 :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lords_of_the_Realm_II 

Transport Tycoon Deluxe:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_Tycoon 

Examples of games and programing applications:
Scratch:  Sprites that are able to be progamed to perform many functions, primaryily to draw patterns but also to make sounds and transform into various different images.

Classroom Electronics!!!

Another great session in ICT this week introducing us to a few resources that can be used in everyday school life. Being able to record your voice adds a whole new dimension to a child's learning, whether it is an account of a group activity or reciting passages from books, a child can now keep a audio record of some of their achievements. Being able to record videos of activities can really make a lesson special as well as more fun. Children like to be in command of cameras and take pride in presenting any work. So the use of any of these resources can diversify a lesson immensely.

We also looked at pod casting, the creation of online audio accounts of events or progression through something. Like the resources looked at in today's session it adds another dimension to the issue being dealt with. It also makes online documentation of events and progression easier to record, as it is just recording what you are saying it can be very easily created, instead of having to write down what was done. This is where it becomes ideal for children as many children have the ability to verbalize what they are trying to explain but they don't yet have the literacy skills to fully express what they mean. Pod cast's allow children to bring their thoughts and experiences into reality without having to be at a high level of literacy.

Robotics!!!

The session on robotics provided a great amount of entertainment and I believe it would for adults as much as students. It would be very useful for children because they would have to explain their actions and plan outwith the robots. This routine me and my fellow students created required a good amount of planning to get the robots to do what we wanted. Children would have to explain their routines and instruct each other on how to perform certain actions which would help develop their discussion skills as well as their ability to express any ideas they might have. Organisations like the one at http://hg-education.com/workshops-for-kids/lego-ks1-workshops/ help to make a fairly complex subject fun as well as educational for key stage 1 children. Attaching a pen or the use of a more specialised robot can also make this lesson have artistic links with the children programing in patterns and pictures.

Technology... Awesome!!

E-Safety Kim and Lee

 Aspects of E-Safety introduced in the professional studies lecture were very useful in laying out the risks and procedure for dealing with children's use of the internet. This short video would be acceptable for the younger children in the primary school system... A more mature version would be required for children in the upper age limits of primary school, but the message is clear enough to know how to deal with these issues should any child be faced with them.
 This idea has always been something I have been aware of. Being an passionate computer gamer I have had an online presence from my early teens and the idea of ''trolling'' has always be pretty prevalent in this form of entertainment. The internet required me to have a thick skin about these sorts of things but the threats in more recent years have become a lot more pressing with the advent of various social networking sites and so a thick skin is no longer enough. Children need to be made aware of the threats of predators online and videos like this may seem a bit silly at times (the song!) but it is crucial that the issues raised are taken on board.

IWB!!!

The following ICT session introduced me to one of the greatest resources a teacher will ever use. The interactive white board (IWB) is a great piece of technology, giving the teacher the ability to really engage a whole class of children with exercises and games. The shear amount of applications available for use on the interactive white board is astounding, from displaying simple maths sums to interactive games for the whole class to enjoy together. I cannot wait to become more attuned with this piece of technology.