Asking yourself how ICT could enhance and enrich learning within this topic?

Asking yourself how ICT could enhance and enrich learning within this topic?

I am going to discuss with you a way of introducing the concept of melting in relation to changing states from a solid to liquid. This is always a tricky one because of how time consuming it can be, as well as keeping track of it and your class!

One question for you... Have you ever heard of a data logger? This could be the answer for you!

Imagine...You need to plan and teach your class about what happens to a solid when it changes states into a liquid, including the change in it's temperature...How are you going to do this?

It takes a long time for the solid to change states, there is so much other stuff you need to do within your school day? Many of you are more than likely thinking back to previous lessons when you used ice lollies or ice cubes to show your class but found this took a long period of time and ...A Data Logger could be the answer for you!

Click on this link below and this will take you to a page which is exploring the use of data loggers in the primary school and if they are been used to their full potential, as well as how they can be used within science experiment...

http://www.ict.oxon-lea.gov.uk/OXONLINE/24/datalogging.html

Want to see Data loggers in action the primary classroom? Below is a video which will give you an insight to the way in which they can be used and how they can benefit our children's learning!

Why use data loggers in this subject area?

By using data loggers within this specfic topic of changing states within materials, this will enable the children and yourself to keep track of the temperature without struggling to do it manually. It will also allow you to get on teaching other subjects and you can then go back to this when you can pyhsically see the change in the materials. This will lead to a discussion amongst yourself and the children in relation to what they can see from the results as well as promoting and developing their level of knowledge and understanding. It also supports a view in which the children will support each others learning and will be able to scaffold their ideas and opinions with each other through a discussion by yourself, the class teacher.

What about...

This also offers the opportunitiy for you to also use a camera within this topic area as this would also enhance the children's learning as it is visual way of approaching this scientific topic. The children could capture a picture every hour for example as this would allow them to use these to compare the results in which the data logger has logged, allowing them to make connections between the results.

What do teachers and educators think of data loggers/sensors within the classroom?

Below is a link which is from an educator who is exploring the use of data loggers within the national curriculum area of science : What does he think?

http://rogerfrost.com/primar.htm

This is a link which explores ways in which other teachers have used data loggers within their classroom as well as issues which they may find with the use of their data logger and how to resolve them...

http://rogerfrost.com/data_logging_notes_from_bulletin.htm

You wondering how you could use a data logger within other areas of science as well as changing states of materials...

http://www.christchurch-pri.lancs.sch.uk/curriculum/science/getfile.php?src=66/ict+and+science.pdf&s=!B121cf29d70ec8a3d54a33343010cc2

This website offers different experiments in which you could do with your class, covering different areas of the National Curriculum, take a look!

Like to see a data logger in action? Watch the video below, it is a primary class who have used it too record temperature when out on a school visit at a wetlands centre and then used the results to produce a line graph. This is similar to what I have suggested above in relation to the topic of changing states of different materials.

Data Loggers, what do I think of them...

I think they are a fantastic and accurate way of recording information. In relation to this specfic topic area,  it can be so time consuming and sometimes even boring waiting to see results from the changing materials. It is not practical to have 30 children sitting watching and waiting, drip drip drip, for an ice lolly to melt, just for them to be able to see the process and what is happening...

Data Loggers allow you to record accurately over a period of time, recording the temperature of the changing material,which can then be developed into the resource, also discussed : the spreadsheet. While the data logger does its job, you can then go on to spend the rest of the time teaching the children other areas within the curriculum. I spoke about the opportunity for capturning what is happening over the period of time, through the use of a digital camera - allowing the children to link their results with the images, leading to a very engaging and exciting way of learning for them, through a discussion and learning from each other.