resources update issue 58

• Reactive Science:Interactive Glossary and Statement Maps
• Vikings!
• Teaching ICT Across the Curriculum, Year 7
• Language Bundle

• DRUM IT d-pro
• Petit Pont Multimedia Primary French Package
• Virtual CD NMS
• Yearbooks Online

This package complements the Cambridge Reactive Science Course, but is equally applicable to other courses. It consists of two parts: The Interactive Glossary and the Concept Map facility. The Interactive Glossary provides definitions and explanations for important Science concepts. Whereas the concept maps help to clarify children’s understanding and develop their grasp of ideas. Concept maps can be created using different colours and shaped boxes with different line linkages. Titles from all
three branches of science are provided to give starting points, however pupils could produce concept maps without using the provided titles.

The instruction leaflet provides essential guidance for teachers to operate the product successfully. It would be most appropriate for single or pair use, though it could also be very effective with an interactive whiteboard.

D-pro is an interactive web based e-book for studying drumming techniques. The software breaks down Rock, Funk, Jazz, Latin, Rudiments, Hi-hat, Bass Drum, Fills, Rudiments in Rhythm and Odd-time into bite size chunks. The e-book topics can be navigated as if they were standard web pages with the added ability to print out instructions and the complete e-book content.

The user interface of d-pro is extremely easy and simple to understand. As well as a sampling tool d-pro can enhance children’s ability to program, as ideas can be played around with and directly imported into the school’s editing software for immediate use, giving direct feedback. An ideal use of this tool would be for independent learning, as students would more likely be motivated and engaged with this activity over traditional home practice methods.

This CD-ROM provides a wealth of knowledge and facts about the Vikings and their lives. There are clear photographs, textual information including a research database that gives information about unfamiliar words
and place names, audio and video clips which enhance the evidence.

Five sagas tell the story of a Viking who travels and settles in England. Audio tracks narrate whilst the text and images are displayed on the screen. Pupils can use a time-line, maps and artefacts to investigate what life was like in Viking settlements. Teachers’ notes are very useful and the
actual text of the sagas can be edited for differentiation. The project gives resources and activities suitable for a range of subjects and provides good material for the QCA History
Unit 6C.

Petit Pont is described as a virtual reality interactive CD-ROM. The software, which is very stimulating for children, can be used in a variety of different ways with different ages and abilities of children.

Once installed, the user can select from one of the following options; interactive activities, speaking activities and games. All of these feature animations which are well put together. The children meet a range of characters including Celine, Matthieu, Mme. Duval, M. Moulin and Domino the dog! The program is supported by rhymes and songs on an accompanying CD-ROM. There are also copymaster sheets for use in the classroom.

Flashcards help to reinforce some of the language that has been studied. The CD-ROM uses a range of highly stimulating scenarios to teach the children specific sets of new vocabulary.

Teaching ICT Across the Curriculum, Year 7

Nelson Thornes Ltd

Aimed at teachers of Year 7 students, this resource should appeal to subject teachers looking for ways in which to use ICT in their subject and to ICT teachers who would like to vary the way in which they deliver the KS3 ICT strategy. Six different subject areas are covered, French, history, English, science, maths and design technology, with each
mirroring a unit of the KS3 ICT Strategy. It provides an overview of the project, editable lesson plans, activities and resources for each lesson.

An A4 folder is included in the pack which includes printed versions of all the resources and a breakdown of curriculum coverage of objectives for both the subject area and ICT. This resource provides opportunities to use ICT across the curriculum and to add interest and variety to the delivery of some discrete ICT units.

At the simplest level Virtual CD Network Management Server is a computer network tool that sits on top of Virtual CD basic software and comes as an optional add-on. The classroom teacher or network manager can operate the software centrally to control CD-images, emulated CD-drives and physical CD-drives on any student’s machine.

Although extremely useful as a CD-ROM sharing tool, this software goes much further and provides many possibilities such as locking emulated CD-drives, creating detailed usage statistics, the ability to take away virtual CD-ROMs away from students among others. Although extremely useful as a CD-ROM management tool the strength of this software is the flexibility it offers in the way it can be used.

The Language Taster Courses are designed for complete beginners, with the aim of enabling them to learn, understand and use useful phrases, questions and structures relatively quickly. These courses would serve equally well as revision for KS4 pupils preparing oral and comprehension exams. There is a useful range of topics that could equally serve the needs of a visitor to the country in question.

The website makes use of graphics and audio as well as interactive tasks and tests to provide a stimulating environment for practice and assessment. There are opportunities to repeat and review the language presented and improve on previous scores. Learners also have the support of key grammatical explanations, vocabulary lists and interesting cultural facts.

Yearbooks Online is an online facility for staff and students enabling the building of a yearbook of memories. Aimed at the oldest students in the key stage, the pedagogy behind this yearbook is to involve a group of students as members of the editorial staff who are responsible for building and marketing of the book. A designated lead teacher has overall responsibility to proof, veto or accept each page however, it is the students themselves who co-ordinate the book building accessing the web site via passwords with ‘high-level security’.

After choosing which templates to use, all schools have to do is upload their pictures and text in to the frames provided and a fantastic stylised year book full of school memories is professionally printed for you… just in time for prom night!

Existing resources
• Decide what you want to achieve with ICT and then assess whether your school has the resources available.
• If you work in partnership with other schools, you may want to consider their resources, too.
• Discuss your ideas for ICT with teaching staff and get their views of products they’ve used.