resources update issue 47

• MediaStage
• Science MultiPack 2 - Powerpoint Presentations
• Explore KS2 Geography Online

• Think History! Interactive Presentations
• Camtasia Studio
• RM Number Magic 1.4

MediaStage provides excellent opportunities for creative learning for a wide range of abilities. The user adopts the role of stage director and can put together a wide range of film/TV settings together with lighting, cameras and characters. This would be a valuable tool for teaching the basics of media skills at GCSE level, but also has opportunities across several Key Stages and abilities.

It would help students understanding Shakespeare at KS3 and also provide great opportunities for creative writing as well as speaking and listening tasks. The Teacher’s Guides are clearly written and divided into separate, very usable sections, which give step-by-step instructions. Within half an hour, I was able to rough-out a chat show sequence with characters that move and interact. My initial view is that this is in impressive and versatile piece of software.

Think History! Interactive Presentations CDROM
has been designed to accompany the Think History! textbook and to improve the learning experience for pupils. The CD-ROM is designed to be used for whole-class teaching, rather than individual pupil use. Although the product would work well on an interactive whiteboard, a projector and PC could be used as an alternative.

A thorough handbook guides you through the installation process and explains how each presentation can be used, how the presentation works and gives ideas for further activities.

The CD-ROM is organised in the same way as the Think History! textbooks. Most of the presentations on the CD-ROM have been designed to relate to activities within the textbooks.

This CD-ROM is a superbly presented package. It is aimed at more able pupils but would be useful with other ability levels, including those with special needs.

The package consists of excellent PowerPoint presentations including animations, full lesson plans, demonstrations and practicals, information for analysis and worksheets. It covers a range of topics to develop an awareness of chemistry and its uses to solve problems. Each topic is designed to teach the pupils to explore ideas and think whilst learning syllabus content and extend pupils by encouraging them to solve problems in structured steps. This process develops the skills required for SC1 coursework and forms a basis for learning at A-level. The package can be used with little effort by the teacher saving time and effort in planning. Assessment is built in via homework or individual tasks.

This integrated set of software tools enables easy creation of screen movies. The succession of images can be recorded as a video which can include sounds, the user’s commentary, annotations, drawings and graphics. The user interface is intuitive and the instructions are so clear that the first video can be produced and saved within 10 minutes. An assortment of media files can be stitched seamlessly together providing an impressive presentation including transitions, callouts and zoom effects for individual frames. Videos of the screen activity can take the drudgery out of explaining the same routines over again. Pupils found making videos, a novel and motivating assessment tool to demonstrate their competence. The TechSmith website has a long list of outstanding tutorials that leave the user feeling competent and empowered.

This website is a great source of information about all the major geography areas and is set out simply. Its user friendly format is ideal for use by children and adults. The site provides back up material for the key concepts to be delivered to KS2 and is linked to the QCA schemes of work. It also includes literacy based activities for teachers to use within the classroom.

There is enough information on each topic to make a worthwhile, instructive and interactive set of lessons. There are maps, animations, videos and text to make the presentations interesting and valuable. There are some fantastic photographs used to illustrate the topics as well as diagrams, maps, tables, charts and graphs.

The site brought geography to life for the children.

Number Magic is designed for ages 4-11. It aims to provide children with the data handling skills needed to use spreadsheets across the curriculum particularly in ICT, science, maths or geography. Children are able to input data, calculate results with a formula bar and a formula builder and use this information to form different types of graphs. These in turn can be used with inserted pictures (from a topic bank) to create reports.

RM Number Magic has four levels enabling a progression of skills to be built in when using the program across the primary age range. The resources on the RM website can be used in a computer suite with an individual or pairs of children or as a whole class activity using an interactive whiteboard.

Check the support offered by the publisher
This is particularly important for new, expensive or sophisticated titles
• Check whether any training is offered by the publisher
• Schoolzone evaluations also comment on the ease of installation and support materials, including handbooks, worksheets etc