We are pleased to award Haileybury Turnford a STEM award to purchase 4 iPads for use in their Science department. In these difficult times, schools are having to adjust very rapidly to blended learning. Sam Williams (Director of Science), explained the issue at Haileybury Turnford:
“To resolve this we have become reliant on electronic based assessment such as Microsoft forms to address misconceptions and move understanding forward. It has also become difficult to effectively and safely complete practical investigations due to the 72hour quarantine period for practical equipment. This has meant that we are relying heavily on YouTube tutorials that do not necessarily meet all of the desired outcomes.
To overcome this, I would like to purchase four iPads that can be used within Science. These can be used to help those students without IT equipment at home to complete their assessments electronically within the school context (subject to sanitisation of equipment). It will also enable my staff to show demonstrations via IOS apps that are not readily available or possible using standard school IT equipment. Our technician can also use this to video demonstrations that can be broadcast into other classrooms so that students receive the best Science education possible during the current crisis.
If there were to be further school closures in response to COVID-19 staff would also be able to take the iPad home and use it to model exam questions by recording the screen and publishing this to students using ClassCharts or Microsoft teams.”
Sam also gave us a specific example of how the iPads could be used for home learning:
“…beneficial for staff to use them to model exam questions such as calculations in Physics. By screen recording the iPad you can write on the ipad showing each step with your voice recorded over it. The biggest loss for our students during the recent lockdown was our inability to effectively model how to answer a question in steps. This would allow us to overcome this and thus aid the understanding our students.”
Sam also explained another specific use for the equipment:
“At our school we also use a program called Class Charts. This software is used to organise seating plans, view student information such as reading age and SEN status and reward positive behaviour. By having access to an iPad staff can do this electronically at the front of the classroom with ease and reward students at the time without waiting until the end of the lesson.
… It also means that you can randomly select students to answer questions then reward them instantly. You also have the electronic seating plan in front of you and can clearly see the details of each student such as reading age, PP, disadvantaged etc.”