An award-winning Shropshire school is embracing the digital age by using handheld games consoles to provide an exciting and alternative way of learning for its children.
Youngsters at closure-threatened Clunbury Primary School, near Bishop’s Castle, are using Nintendo DS consoles in the classroom to boost their learning.
And the consoles are linked up wirelessly so teachers can send and receive work and assess each pupil’s progress separately or set group tasks to enhance the learning experience.
Using educational software, the youngsters are improving their maths and English skills while getting to play on the state-of-the-art gadgets.
The school is also using MP3 recorders, blogs and podcasts as teaching tools and as a way of communicating with parents and other schools around the world.Headteacher Andrew Davies said using the consoles was an “exciting and alternative way of approaching education”.
The idea is the latest innovation in teaching at the school, which was named as the joint top Information and Communications Technology (ICT) school in England by government agency Becta - lead partner in the strategic development and delivery of the Government’s schools technology strategy.
However, the school is one of 16 primaries in Shropshire facing mergers under a County Council proposal.
The council cabinet will have to decide tomorrow on one of four options relating to the Lydbury North and Clunbury schools.
14 Comments
What a great idea! If it makes learning fun it can only be beneficial!
It is a good thing in many ways, however if the standard of teaching were in line with the excessive package that teachers get then we would not have a requirement for such gimmicks!
They might be effective, but also expensive!
What is the software called and can you buy it for home use? A pity more schools are not this innovative.
get these kids off the computers and into a playing field i say
More schools should be like Clunbury.
There is a real passion for teaching, learning and motivating the children… and it works.
Outstanding!
A very exciting and innovative use of the technology that children already love.
It sounds similar to work being done in Scotland.
How wonderful that there are still some teachers and authorities that are prepared to innovate.
Well done!
Innovation is always a good thing, but what happens when the children get bored of this? More expensive innovation to keep on top of education standards?
How about we get back to basics and raise the level of education. I expect that most opinions here will along the lines of ‘teachers need motivating to improve standards, pay them a fair wage and give them more holiday’. How about they get motivated and get results through good solid teaching skills and satisfaction will come by return. I’m sure games consoles in classrooms is very effective, however they are expensive and there is no real need for them. It is us the taxpayer that pays for them!
I’m a great believer in raising the standards of education in this country, but this should be done by employing more teachers and reducing their holidays to fair levels.
How very sad this all is.
Having to rely on advanced technology, that few people really understand… to fire the imagination of young people ” to boost their learning.
It really makes me wonder how any of our great minds, Pythagoras, Newton, Einstein and others managed to develop advanced areas of knowledge in their day without so much as a **Cats Whisker** - let alone an inane collection of integrated cicuits in a plastic box with a LCD screen
There seems to me, as an engineer, nothing more inspiring than pondering about and finding a solution to something, using nothing more than your imagination, and a pencil and paper.
These hitech “Tools” that these kids are using can’t really inspire the real creative mind - and what is worse, the electronic technology that is behind the inner workings of these devices is way beyond the understanding and comprehension of most of its young users - and probably always will be.
** cats whisker = the rectifying device used for detecting amplitude modulated radio signals in early crystal sets.
So .. how many of todays’ kids will experience the REAL true thrill such as building something to receive radio signals using mothing more than “junk box bits” - …..yes …..far more inspiring and educational than any nintendo !! -
askeric dotcom
@askeric: “Having to rely on advanced technology, that few people really understand… ”
Maybe that’s the point - rely on advanced technology SO THAT MORE PEOPLE CAN REALLY UNDERSTAND IT.
Why would I use a pen and paper when i can use social networking tools and collaborate with people in different timezones and continents to solve advanced software and social engineering problems?
Instead of fearing the new hitech tools perhaps you should embrace them and begin to understand the thrill that a newer generation is experiencing. Perhaps if you had been given the opportunity to use modern technology at school then you wouldn’t feel so lost in the modern world?
Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.
Well said Marco. Understanding of these devices has little relevance.
Even during your education you were probably only one of a handful that took the time to ‘understand & learn’ the workings of primitive electronics which leads me to ask do you really understand the workings of modern devices…. or just think you do? You may know how to tune into radio 4 using nothing more than a piece of copper and a potato, but do you really understand the correlation between modern software and hardware solutions such as the one discussed above.
My point of view was purely that of logistics, politics and pure financials. However askericdotcom I do understand your point but will a thorough understanding of the workings of such devices be what makes Britain great again….. I doubt it very much, but what will is a thorough understanding of how to WORK with modern computers and electronics to solve problems and create solutions. How to solder a darlington pair onto a zener diode is hardly relevant these days although clearly useful in some niche markets. The equivalent of your childhood thirst for knowledge is that of the computer ‘geek’.
Also if a child gets bored of a nimtendo DS for school work they can swap over to the games.
Now being a bit cynical which use we the DS get the most out of at schools?
well now ,how interesting the above replies are!
Far from fearing the new “hitech tools” (marco), and “do I really understand the workings of modern devices - or just think I do (big Matty) - well the fact is I happen to be a professionally qualified electronics and IT engineer, and the MD, / Major Shareholder of an Internet Service Provider company.
So you see -understanding the fundamantals of “primitive electronics” - which forms the basis of every semiconductor device used in “hi tech devices” -enables me to not only to be able to understand modern technology” and “embrace it in my every day working /social life” - but - also appreciate in fundamental terms how it functions.
A darlington pair, and a zener diode may to some be “primitive electronics” - but these devices, and the physics that defines their operation is fundamental to the operation of every Large Scale Integration Device (LSI ) or “chip” to the general reader, that enables the production and the operation of a nintendo, or your ipod, or your MP3 player etc possible.
Any Decent thinking engineer will tell you that a thorough understanding the basic (primtive … in some people’s eyes?) prinicples of a system first is essential before you can really start to undertand the ” modern technology” upon which it is firmly based
Now …. this is not say that …. I disagree with modern tools , and high tech devices being “used” in this “educational environment”.. we all drive cars for example .. but how many people actually understand how they work ?
All I am saying here is that using High tech devices in a learning environment for young people in my view, whilst of course offering an amazing environment in which to communicate, and be creative, is, or may not be… the way to truly inspire, and awaken, the creative talent of .. the young mind.
Regards
askeric dotcom
just a little extra …
I would love the opportunity to meet some of these “nintendo” users and talk to them about some “real” engineering + “educational” subjects (recent reports about low maths standards etc ??) but I suspect that, in the modern teaching world - ….a wealth of scientific and engineering knowledge acquired bya “non teacher type person” (old git?) that might be useful in a modern british society would probably be seen, if the previous examples are anything to go by …. as outdated and useless.
Yet - I have given many talks / lectures to a variety of “older” audiences - using in most cases basic equipment to demonstrate certain processes, and have nearly always been rewarded with …
“that was really interesting .. I WISH I’d had such an interesting talk / lecture when I was at school / college.”
Ah well …. back to boring computing / IT / Electronics / Electrical engineering in the real world.
regards
askeric dotcom
Im sure you would like to meet these nintendo users to teach them a “thing or two” seeing as they are schoolkids!