July 8th, 2011

Doon in the wee room: Learning about 3D shape via stop-motion animation 2/3

Derek Robertson

Comments: none Tags: Tags: cfe, curriculum for excellence, education scotland, stop motion animation
 : Categories Aberdeenshire, Curriculum for Excellence, Mathematics, animation

Stop-motion animation used to be something that seemed unattainable to me. I remember many years ago watching movies that my uncle had made that had a number of toy cars and trains moving in a orchestrated fashion. Although I now know that he had been using the technique of stop-motion animation at the time I was in awe of the fact that there were no hands helping to move these toys and props… this was a strange magic! I didn’t realise that this was the same technique that was being used in many children’s TV programmes such as Bagpuss, Trumpton and movies such as King Kong (1933). A few years later stop-motion animation came very much to the fore in my generation’s TV viewing experience when Morph made his appearance on Take Hart. It was amazing to see such entertainment and life come to our screens from a simple ball of plasticene.

When I was ‘Doon in the Wee Room’ recently in Tarves PS I saw this very same entertainment, life AND learning in evidence as some P.2/3 children were making their own stop-motion animation using a basic set that they had made, stop-motion animation software, a digital camera and some plasticene. In my discussion with the class teacher I had learned that this activity had arisen as a result of a discussion with the children about 3D shape. One child had made a sphere out of plasticene but had then cut out a mouth and made the sphere talk. This led to an idea to create an animation all about 3D shape and then their subsequent attempts to bring it to life…

In relation to Curriculum for Excellence it is clear that Technologies TCH 1-04b is being addressed here but the main focus of this learning activity is embedded in Mathematics, namely a focus on 3D Shape MTH1-16a. We can also see from the video how the children are working effectively together to make this project work. Even more importantly in my view is that from this early stage in this classroom these children are being given the framework of opportunities to engage with contexts for learning where they can use digital technologies to create and not just consume. How can such positive attitudes, embedded in their perceptions of themselves as learners, at this stage of their development influence and inform these children’s expectations of themselves, their developing skill-sets and ways in which they can apply these across the range of learning experiences that they will encounter? This can only be good for learners.

The challenge for us all in education is to ensure that we continue to offer such challenging and rich learning environments and experiences where our children can show us just what they can do.

July 8th, 2011

Doon in the wee room: Embedding technology in and across learning 1/3

Derek Robertson

Comments: 1 Comment Tags: Tags: cfe, curriculum for excellence, effective teaching, Learning, technologies for learning
 : Categories Aberdeenshire, Curriculum for Excellence

In Scotland as in many countries throughout the world, active learning is seen as an appropriate way for children and young people to develop vital skills and knowledge and a positive attitude to learning. In order for active learning to be embedded in environments that offer challenge, demand and appeal we must have teachers and support staff who are well informed and skilled enough in all requisite areas to be able to do this. This series of three blogposts will feature a teacher from Tarves PS in Aberdeenshire who has made great efforts to embed technologies into the life and learning of his classroom so that they can play an active, purposeful and integral part in his pupil’s learning experiences.

Jonathan Cordiner

Having spent 2 years on secondment as a member of the Glow Development team in Aberdeenshire Jonathan Cordiner was keen to return to class so that he could apply, in his own practice, the range of resources and approaches to learning that he had been promoting in his Development Officer role.

“Doon in the wee room underneath the stair, everybody’s happy, everybody’s there…”

On a recent visit to Aberdeenshire it was recommended that I pay a visit to Jonathan’s class to see just how he had been making progress with embedding technologies in to the life and learning of his class. Having worked with him before on some GBL related initiatives I fully expected to see some good practice particularly in view of the high standard and high aspirational levels that he and the team in Glow team in Aberdeenshire attained. On arrival at the school I was welcomed with a wonderfully happy chorus of that great Scottish folk song - Doon in the Wee Room. It set the tone for our visit because it was obvious that everyone is happy, everyone is there, and we’re a’ makin’ merry each in his chair, doon in the wee room underneath the stair.

It was also immediately obvious that the high standards he had been used to in his development role had been maintained and that technology was something that the children in his P2/3 class were more than used to. I saw technology purposefully embedded across a range of contexts that included his pupils:

• independently using Digital Scrapbook to make graphics for their iCan (more to follow about this)
• managing a stop-motion animation set
• using the Flip camera to video each other’s work
• recording their own reading with Easispeak mics so that it could be played back as an audiobook
• managing and manipulating their own pages in Glow
• confidently controlling the IWB interface
• building their own animated stories with 2Createastory

The level of competence and confidence in the use of a range of technologies displayed by the children exemplified just how a thoughtful and skilled teacher can create the active, purposeful and challenging environment that children can thrive in. You can clearly see this as you watch the video that is embedded in this post and as you do please reflect on just how at ease the children are with the technologies that you see them using. How far down the road of developing and attaining CfE outcomes such as TCH 1-03a, TCH 1-04a & TCH 1-04b do you think these children are?

If there had been more time then the aspects of CfE that were linked to the wider learning experiences in which the Technology use was embedded could have been teased out a bit more because it is clear from what I saw that Technologies were seamlessly woven in to the fabric of learning in this classroom.

Mr Cordiner’s class has since moved on to their next challenge with Technologies by making their own computer games with 2DIY. You can view some of these in their class Glow group.

What an experience these pupils are having ‘Doon in the Wee Room‘ at Tarves School. Isn’t this what school should be about? I am very pleased to say that in my experience in visiting schools throughout Scotland that there are very many teachers like Mr Cordiner who are embedding this level of challenge, demand and expectation in all aspects of learning but who are also effectively embedding technologies in and across learning.

Thank you to all at Tarves PS for sharing their great work and for making me so welcome.

October 26th, 2010

Consolarium comes to Norway

Derek Robertson

Comments: none Tags: Tags: Consolarium, game based learning, games based learning
 : Categories Aberdeenshire, Conferences, Consolarium, game based learning

As a result of presentation about the work of LTS’ Consolarium initiative in Strasbourg last year we were kindly invited to present a keynote talk about the place and value of game based learning in Scottish schools at a teacher technology conference in Bergen.

A few weeks back we received a call from a journalist from the Bergen Times whose interest in what was happening with the Consolarium in Scotland was sparked by his reading of the forthcoming conference’s programme. He told us that he had carried out a bit of research and would really like to see this for himself. A date was duly arranged and his flight to Aberdeen from Bergen allowed us to call on out colleagues in Aberdeenshire to showcase the GBL work that is happening in their schools.

A programme was duly organised and the Norwegian journalist and his photographer spent a day visiting schools who were using a range of computer games in the classroom.

It appears that the game based learning approach that we employ in Scotland is new to Norway and as such it merited a real splash in the Bergen Times Weekend supplement, including a feature on the front cover! It appears that the journalist was somewhat taken aback by the power of what he witnessed in the classrooms he visited and as such he has written a very positive article about GBL in Scotland and what questions Norway can begin to ask itself about how the Consolarium’s ideas, practice and approach might begin to be developed over there.

The article is not online as yet so in the meantime please find attached .pdfs of the article:

Bergen Times Weekend Saturday Supplement main article

Bergen Times front cover

Page1: Photograph of kids playing Guitar Hero

Page2: Article begins

Page3: Article

Page 4: Article continues

Page 5: Article continues

Page 6: Article continues

Page 7: Article continues

Page 8: Article ends

There was also a piece following on from the main article that focused on asking schoolchildren from Bergen what they thought about having game based learning in school.

Page 1: Bergen schoolchildren and GBL

Page 2: Bergen schoolchildren and GBL

Finally, there was also a piece in the Sunday edition of the Bergen Times that included comments from prominent Norwegian educationalists about the work of the Consolarium in Scotland.

Bergen Times Sunday edition article

In order for you to make sense of these article we have attempted to use Google Translate so that you can make some sense of the stories featured in the Norwegian press. The translation has worked well although we do think that some meaning has been lost in translation.

Bergen Times Translation

There are also some errors in detail in the article that need to be highlighted and corrected:

• The Consolarium is not situated in the University of Dundee but within Learning and Teaching Scotland’s offices in Dundee.
• The figure of £30million was used in reference to the cost of Glow, Scotland’s national intranet, not the cost of the Consolarium!
• We are not saying that books, movies and newspapers are no longer of use in school. That is definitely not our message. Games can be used to complement and enhance the media that is on offer to help learners progress.

It appears that the input that we gave at the conference has been well received and has at least started a discussion about the place of game based learning in Norwegian schools. The Bergen Times article has certainly helped!

February 24th, 2010

Consolarium Podcast 5: Samba de Amigo inspired learning

Derek Robertson

Comments: 9 Comments » Tags: Tags: Aberdeenshire, Consolarium, crazy talk, game based learning, games based learning, GBL, Glow, Nintendo
 : Categories Aberdeenshire, Added Value, Glow, Literacy, Nintendo, game based learning, podcast, writing

The latest edition of the Consolarium podcast is now available. You can subscribe to the podcast from itunes via this link or listen to it via the embedded player.

Super samba inspired learning in schools!

This edition of the Consolarium podcast is solely dedicated to a project that came to an end just before Christmas 2009. Meldrum PS and Slains PS in Aberdeesnhire had been working with the game Samba de Amigo for the Nintendo Wii. When this game first came out the team at the Consolarium thought that this would have great potential in schools and so it was duly purchased. Here’s what it looks like:

OK, I think that after that clip you may be asking, “How on earth can a game that requires the player to shake out samba rhythms help children learn?” Well it most certainly has. What has been going on?

Samba de Amigo inspires ‘relevant and engaging learning’

The methodology that the Consolarium invariably employs in our approach to game based learning involves the computer game being used as the central ‘contextual hub’ about which learning can be situated. We have used this approach with many of our previous projects and it has proved to be a successful methodology. The teachers involved in this project worked together to create a collaborative story that focused on a rags to riches tale about a favela dwelling samba musician who made it to the big time. Accompanying this came the story of a plane, that was carrying the newly created Samba music superstar, crashing in the Amazon jungle and the associated learning about that. Here is some of the children’s work. Here is a news report of that event:

Some people may still be of the opinion that the idea of game based learning is something that does not sit with what school should be about but we would argue that game based learning, if used appropriately, can excite, challenge and create relevant and appealing contexts for learners. Just look at how writing has been developed here”

• The children created their own samba stars and wrote a biographies about them. Have a read of one these: The life of Angelo de Rimosto (biography)
• The children were inspired to carry out research about the Amazon Rainforest as a result of the “plane crash’ scenario and other ways in which the teachers had created the settings in which intrinsic motivation to explore the topic. Have a read of this piece of writing: The Amazon Rainforest
• The children from both schools used Glow to begin to explore how they could work together on story start project. Here is the beginnings of their efforts: Trible Troubles Chapters 1, 2 and 3 If you would like to find out more about how Glow was used then join their Samba de Amigo Glow group.
• The children also used Crazy Talk to great effect to bring their writing to life. Here we see how writing about an imaginary Amazonian rainforest creature can be enhanced by this simple piece of technology:

If you take the time to listen to the podcast about the Samba de Amigo project then you’ll here us talking to a pupil about his experience. If we could have written a script for a pupil to read out about the benefits of game based learning then what he said (without coaching or prompting we may add) would have been what we would have said. He talks about his learning connecting up, about it being exciting and active and how he will rmember this project. Great stuff from him. Here is a brief clip of some boys actively involved in the project and warming up for their Samba music creation lesson.

Hopefully the podcast and this brief blogpost will give you a flavour of just how good this GBL project was. A fuller account of what was done and how this GBL context impacted on learning will be released in the near future. In the meantime can we just say thanks to all at Meldrum PS and Slains PS for working with us on this project.