Month: August 2017

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Integrating Technology – Tinybop Plants

Tinybop has created a number of apps. They include apps about the human body etc. One app in particular that I liked was called Tinybop Plants. This app is an educational application about different types of plants and plant life cycles. The app includes videos, interactive dioramas and sounds. The app is available in over 50 languages so it can be used if you are teaching a non-English speaking class. Students can look at the plants that are featured in the app and determine which plants can be eaten/which plants they eat at home. Overall, it is a great change from the classic chalk-and-talk method of teaching students!

Year Level: 1-2

Subject: Technologies

Strands: Design and Technologies

General Capabilities:

Literacy – the students need to be able to effectively read what they are seeing on the screen in order to interact

Numeracy – the app goes into detail about different life cycles which could incorporate numeracy

Information and Communication Technology(ICT) – students will be using iPads to use this app, which is a form of ICT

Critical and Creative Thinking – the teacher could get students to think about different plant adaptations and how this may effect the animals eating the plants etc.

Integrated Learning Opportunities:

Mathematics, Science, English, HASS

Content Descriptors:

Explore how plants and animals are grown for food, clothing and shelter and how food is selected and prepared for healthy eating (ACTDEK003)

Link:

https://tinybop.com/apps/plants

Additional Information:

  • Easy to use
  • Interactive and fun
  • Cost: $2.99
  • Over 50 languages featured
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Go Noodle

https://www.gonoodle.com/

Gonoodle is a fun interactive website and app that students and teachers can use in many different ways.

Subject: Digital Technologies

Year Level: Kindy to year 6- This app is probably most rewarding for lower primary aged children, but all students can have fun with is and the meditation activities can be beneficial to all ages.

Strand: Knowledge and Understanding.

Sub Strand: Digital systems (hardware and software) are used in everyday life and have specific features(ACTDIK001)

 

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Integrating Technology – Meta Chart

Students can use Meta-Chart to create different types of graphs online. Students can choose how they would like to represent their data – the site allows them to create bar graphs, pie charts, histograms etc. This is a great way for students to experiment with technology while still learning about data representation. Students follow three easy steps and are then able to create their graph and see it represented on their screen.

Year Level: 3-4

Subject: Technologies

Strands: Digital Technologies

General Capabilities:

Literacy – the students need to be able to effectively put titles, labels etc on the graph

Numeracy – the graphing will have to do with numbers

Information and Communication Technology(ICT) – students will be using ICT to complete their graph as it is based online

Integrated Learning Opportunities:

Mathematics, Science

Content Descriptors:

Descriptor: Recognise different types of data and explore how the same data can be represented in different ways (ACTDIK008)

Elaboration: using a table to reorganise information that includes sentences, and/or words, and/or numbers and/or images

Link:

https://www.meta-chart.com/

Additional Information:

  • Free
  • Easy to use

 

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Cool Food Planet

Cool Food Planet is a interactive website for learning about Nutrition, Food safety and health. Teachers can use this resource as a support for students to interactively engage in and help develop understanding.  The website is split into “missions” which each have their own theme supporting the learning of Nutrition, Food Safety, Understanding where food comes from, how to prepare food safety in the kitchen as well as the benefits of exercise.  The website has interactive games and challenges that the students can complete at their own pace making it a suitable resource for different ability and understanding levels.

Australian Curriculum: Design and Technologies, Design and Technologies Knowledge and Understandings: Foundation to Year 2.

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CodeSpark- Academy with the Foos

Code Spark Have created an App called Academy with the Foos.

That can be used in classrooms to support students learning of coding through interactive activities. These activities include puzzles, games, step by step projects and printouts.

In the classroom, the teacher can use this app to help support the teaching and develop the students understanding of coding in interactive activities. The activities are suitable for different levels this gives students who a struggling an opportunity to develop their understanding.

Australian Curriculum-  Digital Technologies: Processes and Production skills.

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Food and Fibre Investigations

There are so many resources available that can aid both educators and students on Food Fibre Production! How can you condense down to just one or two resources for students? Why not just use the Cool Food Planet resource.  It is a one-stop-shop for all your food and fibre needs. Not only does it provide students with interactive learning based games, but it provides a means of extension for those students that are developing their knowledge and want to move on to the next level!

Subject

Design and Technology

Year Level

Foundation to Year 6

Strand

Knowledge and Understanding

Sub Strand

Foundation to year 2 –

Explore how plants and animals are grown for food, clothing and shelter and how food is selected and prepared for healthy eating

Year 3 and 4 –

Investigate food and fibre production and food technologies used in modern and traditional societies

Resource Link

Home

Price

Free resource for students and teachers

 

General Capabilities

Cool Food Planet encompasses the general capabilities of:

  1. Numeracy
  2. Intercultural understanding
  3. Critical and creative thinking

 

Snapshot of Cool Food Planet

As discussed in the video below, children are exposed to food that is just present to them at meal times or presented to them in forms of packaging.  Cool Food Planet is a resource that enables teachers to teach to students the benefits of good nutrition and poses as an introduction to food production.

Link – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs9H-wL0P3E

 

 

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Popplet

Popplet

Subject:

Design technologies

Year level:

Upper primary

Strand:

Design and Technologies Processes and Production Skills

Sub-strand

Designing

Content descriptor:

Generate, develop, and communicate design ideas and decisions using appropriate technical terms and graphical representation techniques(ACTDEP015 – Scootle )

What is it?

Popplet is a fun and engaging graphic organiser tool for students to organise and represent their ideas. Students create digital mind maps based on what they are learning in class and create relationships between these ideas. Students personalise their own graphic organiser by allowing them to insert images, texts and videos as well as selecting different colours, shape and positions of ideas. The mind-map can be saved, exported and shared on other types of digital platforms.

How do I access it?

Popplet can be accessed on a computer using the Internet – whether this be laptops or desktops. It can also be accessed using iPads through the use of the Popplet application. There are two applications you can choose from that include the free version, Popplet Lite, and the paid version of $7.99. The Popplet Lite is limited to one Popplet while the paid version lets you create an unlimited number of Popplets.

Cross-curriculum priorities and general capabilities

Literacy, Numeracy, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Capability, Critical and Creative Thinking.

Links to other learning areas

Popplet can used for any subject. It can focus on one or multiple.

 

Kahoot!
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Kahoot!

Kahoot!

Subject:

Technologies

Year level:

Year one – year six

Strand:

Digital Technologies

Sub-strand

Digital Technologies Processes and Production Skills

Content descriptor:

Plan, create and communicate ideas and information independently and with others, applying agreed ethical and social protocols (ACTDIP013).

What is it?

Kahoot! Is a fantastic way to introduce technology into the class room. It is an online game-based system that allows individuals to answer questions in the form of multiple choice.The creator of the quiz (this can be either the teacher or student) choices the questions or the quiz type to further develop what they are learning in the classroom. These answer choices are represented using symbols and colours. The questions can include videos, pictures and words.

Kahoot! is typically displayed on a large screen using the teacher account and students answer the questions using their own technological device such as iPads, smartphones or computers.

Students can play individually or in groups and are able to select their individual or group name. Students are rewarded with points on their accuracy and how quick they can answer the questions.

After every question the teacher and students are given the current score board represented in numbers and graphs.

How do I access it?

It is easily accessible through an URL address. Once you as a teacher have accessed this page you can create a free account and create your quiz, survey or discussion. Once this is created, the teacher is given a secret pin once they make the game live. Students access the live game by typing in the pin after accessing the student link. They do not need an account or an application to access the Kahoot! game on their device.

Link:

Teacher Link: https://getkahoot.com/
Student Link: https://kahoot.it/#/ 

Cross-curriculum priorities and general capabilities:

Literacy, Numeracy, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) capability and Critical and Creative Thinking

Links to other learning areas:

Kahoot! can used for any subject. It can focus on one or multiple learning areas.

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Kano

Kano

http://us.kano.me/

Year level: 4

Subject: Technology

Strand: Digital Technology

Description

Kano is a fantastic computer and coding kit for children ages 6 and upwards. Students actually get to make a computer, learn what’s inside, play with the code and hopefully spark a lifelong passion for computing and the arts! Kano is a Raspberry π based project, which also utilises Sonic Pi for the music coding component.

Below is a video introducing Kano…

As can be seen by the video, Kano has been constructed to engage students immediately, showing them how a computer is designed and engineered on a basic level. As stated by Luke, it’s like putting Lego together. Students once into the coding phase can then learn to code and create games, hack into well known platforms like Minecraft and make music.

Here is another great video showing Luke using Kano.

There are great resource packages designed and built for educator and schools, which can be aligned with the school curriculum and provide great levels of support and training for the teachers. There is also the ability for the students to share their work or projects through portals and also check out what other students have created!

Digital Technologies

Link to  SCSA (School Curriculum and Standards Authority)

Looking at the year 4 syllabus Kano could be introduced to explore digital systems in terms of their components and the other peripheral devices. Students learn how to manipulate and interpret data which allow students to develop the data to represent and communicate ideas. This helps to develop computational thinking.

Some Year 4 Content descriptors that would be covered by using Kano:

Knowledge & Understanding

  • Digital systems and peripheral devices are used for different purposes and can store and transmit different types of data (ACTDIK007)

Digital Implementation

  • Use simple visual programming environments that include a sequence of steps (algorithm) involving decisions made by the user (branching) (ACTDIP011)
  • Work with others to create and communicate ideas and information safely, using agreed protocols (netiquette) (ACTDIP013)

You can also easily see how using the Kano package can link in with the general capabilities:

  • Literacy
  • Mathematics
  • Science
  • ICT
  • Creative thinking
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Tynker

 

 

https://www.tynker.com/

Subject: Technologies

Strand: Digital Technology

Year level: 1-6

 

Description:

Tynker is a creative computing platform where students are able to learn how to program and build Apps, games and more. It is self paced and is easily incorporated into the Western Australian school curriculum (School Curriculum and Standards Authority, Government of Western Australia) in the subject of Technologies particularly the strand of Digital Technologies.

Students are encouraged and engaged to create games and animated projects using visual coding and provides them with the knowledge foundations in programming and computational thinking which will then help their progress into mainstream object orientated programming. It has powerful kid friendly tools and guided, independent instruction for your students.

The resources and instruction that are available to teachers are also fantastic. It has ready to use, grade specific lesson plans and links to STEM project templates for Math, Science, ICT and English to name a few.

Tynker can be used across different PC platforms (Windows or Mac) and mobile devices running IOS or Android.

Links:

Below are a link to Tynker’s website which will allow a free initial sign up for schools to look at coding across Year levels 1 to 8. This will introduce your class to visual programming. In this course, students get introduced to basic programming as they create interactive stories, design animations, and make mini-games in Tynker’s game-like interface. Each lesson is designed for a class period of 45-60 minutes.

https://www.tynker.com/

https://www.tynker.com/school/courses/show?id=0-programming-100

https://www.tynker.com/play?p=518173ef75209f6e64000198

This is a great video explaining why everyone loves Tynker!

 Sub-strands and Content Descriptors:

Tynker’s courses cover sub-strands and many different Content Descriptors in each year group such as;

Year 1

Strand: Knowledge and Understanding

Representation of Data:

  • Data can have patterns and can be represented as pictures, symbols and diagrams (ACTDK002)

 

Strand: Process and Production Skills

Collecting, Analysing and Representing Data

Present data of any kind using a variety of digital tools (ACTDIP003)