Butterfly42

ICT, education and young children...... it's a bit like herding cats.. but as the man says " I wouldn't do nothin' else"

Gadgets! love 'em... A current favourite is the XtremeMac micromemo for the iPod video ( and for the nano too) It’s a ‘high-fidelity’ recorder for the ipod. . it connects to the docking port and the flexible, detachable microphone captures audio. Or you can use any microphone with a 3.5mm-plug. It’s a one touch control and no extra batteries or cables are needed. Which it makes it as portable as the ipod. Dinky and useful. The unit also acts a mini speaker of some value as recordings can be played back immediately. I’ve also found it useful for playing videos when two or three people are sitting around watching... Recordings are saved as MP3 voice memos which are downloaded to the computer via Itunes. From there they can be imported into podcasting applications. While away from home during the summer I travelled round with it ready set up in my pocket and recorded my progress. On return the voice messages automatically downloaded when I connected to the computer and then I’ve i

Yesterday I had a timely reminder ( I’m preparing work for a group of early years students) about ICT in the Early Years , the Homerton Nursery ICT, site from my friend Doug Dickinson. Homerton Nursery in Cambridge is a center of excellence and part of it’s outreach is supporting ICT in the foundation stage. The site offers examples both in text and video and support for planning. As you would probably expect from a centre of excellence everything is firmly linked to Early Years Foundation Stage . It’s worth spending some time having a look around the site.

It’s the time for returning to school after a summer break, and with that comes professional development for schools. Last week a group of local schools got together for a ‘Science day’ at the East Midlands Science Learning Centre. During the day a couple of groups working with me considered such questions as ‘Why do penguins huddle?’, ’What’s the best colour to wear at night?’ ‘How can I make it quieter?’ ‘What are the best curtains to help someone sleep during the day’? using data logging equipment to gather information to prove or disprove their hypotheses. As the photos below show everyone was intent on making and testing the hypothesis, as well as giving consideration to when and how they could use the activities in science work. Datalogging, is one of many tools for scientific enquiry and can be used by teachers and children, fruitfully through out the school, including the foundation stage. It provides opportunities for immediate, visible feedback and for recording changes ov