resources update issue 46

• Power Maths
• RM Maths Learning System
• SC1 Skills for Key Stage 3
  
  

• Knowledge Box Literacy
• Kineasthetic, Interactive Teaching system (KIT)
• Troubleshooters: Spreadsheets 2

Power Maths is an interactive CD-ROM, linked to the Framework and supported by a dedicated Teacher Pack (available separately). It is aimed at Key Stage 3 pupils between National Curriculum levels 6 to 8 and is intended to stretch higher ability pupils to achieve their full potential. Power Maths consists of a number of activities centred around eighteen mathematical themes. The activities contain animations, mathematical tools and ICT tasks, differentiated materials and the interactive nature of the software provides immediate feedback.

Quite simply pupils will enjoy using Power Maths. Additionally, the activities and schemes are flexible and this makes it very useful for group and class presentations on an interactive whiteboard. It is an easy to use and flexible, valuable tool for teachers in the mathematics classroom.

The KnowledgeBox™ is a collection of visually exciting and relevant resources for the primary range. In addition to the learning areas that have been written there are excellent web based resources, bookmarked in the appropriate sections. This is a bonus for teachers who may not have hours to ‘trawl the net’ looking for child friendly materials to use in their planning.

Lessons can be assigned and are differentiated with interesting challenges for the more able. The short film clips (particularly in literacy) can ‘hook’ the pupils’ attention. These provide a more stimulating start to a lesson than gathering a class around a big book. It goes
a long way towards embedding ICT into the curriculum, allowing it to be used as a tool, rather than an end in itself.

RM Maths is an integrated learning system for primary age pupils. The idea is that children will use the program for about 15 minutes each day and the software will then assess each individual user and design a specific differentiated set of tasks for them which will be adapted in the light of progress made.

The children do not necessarily need to be good readers to access the questions as there is a full audio capability. The software covers over 1,800 different skills and there are over 10,000 different screen activities. The children have been very eager to spend their time on the computer. After the first few days the children needed no teacher interaction which in turn enabled the teacher to work with other groups of children.

KIT is school equipment comprising of both hardware and software. The hardware consists of two powerful speakers (which can be used independently as a public address system), one main ‘box’ and 30 (Playstation-type) remote controlled handsets. KIT can be used anywhere there is access to a TV or a digital projector and is controlled via an infrared remote. The software has four main uses: educational, PTFA/general fundraising, Karaoke and disco capabilities. The educational content consists mainly of maths, literacy and music topics covered in the interactive games, whilst other subjects include KS2 science, history, french and geography. All the quizzes, ‘Music Challenges’ and literacy games are designed for multiple players, whilst the single player usage includes word search and hangman type games using National Curriculum word lists.

This a very useful resource which helps develop students’ understanding of scientific enquiry (Sc1) set out by the QCA. The material is very clearly laid out and focuses on delivering the starter part of the three-part lesson.

It comes as a clearly laid out CD-ROM with editable Word documents available that can be easily photocopied. You can choose separately between years 7, 8 and 9 and match the topics to the National Curriculum. The starters match topic areas without in-depth recall but instead look at thinking skills, planning, predictions, interpretations of data, concluding and evaluating. The PowerPoint presentations although short are both engaging and stimulating for students. There is also the facility to print off 20 SATs style questions reflecting the SC1 themes.

Troubleshooters Spreadsheets consists of three units to support the teaching of spreadsheets. The unit links effectively to the Collecting and Analysing strand of the curriculum and the QCA Unit 5D ‘Introduction to Spreadsheets’.

The Teachers’ Support section is excellent. Pupils work from instruction sheets - which can be printed off. The sheets contain clear and concise instructions and contain learning targets for each lesson. This clarity of purpose is sure to save teacher planning time. This CDROM will be of immense help in medium and short term planning, as it gives objectives for each lesson and suggests exactly what to practise in advance. The time saving aspects, the clarity of explanations and the way the software can be used for whole class, group and individual learning, make this an invaluable tool in the classroom.

Think carefully about what type of license you will require
• Do you need it on a network or do you just need a license for your interactive whiteboard, for example?
• It is usually cheaper to allow for as many users as required in the first place, rather than topping up later