Consolarium

June 17th, 2008

Dr Kawashima post tests: The Western Isles

Derek Robertson

Comments: 2 Comments » Tags: Tags: Consolarium, DS, Kawashima, Western Isles
 : Categories Nintendo, Western Isles

This week has seen my colleague from the University of Dundee, Dr David Miller, carrying out the post-tests in participating schools in Dundee with me making my way to Stornoway to carry out those in the Western Isles. The life of a Development Officer for LTS is not an easy one I may add what with a 4:30am wake up on Monday morning so that I could get to Edinburgh Airport in time for my flight! Even so, to get the opportunity to visit parts of Scotland such as the Western Isles is really a bonus. If you haven’t had a chance to come here then take the first opportunity you can…it’s Scotland with a completely different flavour to that of the central belt and it’s great to see, smell and feel.

My host and contact up here, Hamish Budge and I combined to mix up the dates of my visit and so my arrival at the airport was not expected. Eventual phone contact led to Hamish saying, “Don’t worry we’ll fix it,” followed 10 minutes later by a trail of dust left behin by Hamish’s Citroen Berlingo LPG as it streaked into the airport carpark.

All the schools managed to accommodate our rearranged visits to carry out the post-tests and many thanks to all at Laxdale, Stornoway, Tong and Back Primary Schools for their help with the project.

Today we visited Sgoil nan Loch which sits just outside Stornoway. Andrew Reeves (HT) gave me a tour of the school and I must say what an exemplar school it was. A new building with plenty of light, excellent resources, a fantastic situation with wonderful views and superb displays throughout the school. Most certainly a place of learning. See some of the photos on the Rock You slide show.

Thanks once again to all in the Western Isles for their help with this project but also for the warm welcome that is always made to visitors such as myself. Tapadh leibh!

June 17th, 2008

Dr Kawashima: The post-tests begin!

Derek Robertson

Comments: none Tags: Tags: Consolarium, DS, Kawashima, Nintendo
 : Categories Aberdeenshire, Nintendo

Time flies when you’re playing Brain Training in the classroom it seems. The extended research study into the use of Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training that I am doing with Dr David Miller from the University of Dundee is coming to an end. I can hardly believe that it’s been ten weeks since this began and that we are already at the post-test data collection stage.

Last week we went up to Aberdeesnhire to carry out the post tests and were ably assisted in this by the ICT Staff Tutor team that comprises of Anna Rossvoll, Alison Butcher and Caroline Denning. The same tests were given out within the same framework although this time the beautiful weather made the travel betwen the schools hugely enjoyable. What a beautiful part of the country Aberdeenshire is.

We still have Dundee, the Western Isles and East Ayrshire to visit over the next two weeks and then we’re in to the data analysis. At this stage it seems that the experience has been an enjoyable one for the children and that they do feel that the game has helped them with their mental maths. My feelings were that the schools that were using the Nintendo DS machines were very much quicker with the number test this time around but as yet I don’t know about their accuracy. There’s quite a lot of marking to be done now.

Thanks to all in Aberdeenshire for their support with this leg of the LTS Dr Kawashima research project.