We are very pleased to award Longdean an Effective Learning grant for two high-spec visualisers and 5 webcams.
It always strengthens a bid when a school has gathered opinions and research for a project. Tracy Doyle, Finance Director, did just this:
“Comments from a science teacher: 'The history dept used the webcam solution to model the marking of assessments to show how to improve the kids’ answers. I've done similar on a modelled exam paper with the visualiser. The kidney dissection I did at my last school worked well on the visualiser as I could easily zoom to show the different sections and freeze it easily while I manoeuvred the organ.”
Thinking carefully about the most effective resource(s) for the project is also a big plus to any application. The same science teacher also explained:
"The zoom also tends to be optical not digital so you can use it akin to a weak microscope; I've been able to get reasonable definition on things like onion cells from what I remember as well as show silver crystals growing on a copper wire. To be honest, this is the make or break function - for marking etc. the webcam solution would be absolutely fine and a fraction of the price but for truly specialist uses you can't beat optical zoom.”
Our Effective Learning focus area is open to bids from any subject in schools and we are particularly impressed when the project will be of benefit across many subjects. Although initially inspired from an observation visit to another secondary school by the food technology department, the visualisers and web cams will be bookable across the school – a great dissemination of an effective learning strategy.