Creative Teaching & Learning

Reviews

But why? Developing philosophical thinking in the classroom Teaching Children to Learn: beyond flat–packs and fine words Strategies that work: teaching comprehension to advance understanding and Thinkers

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Reviewer: Adrian Porter

Ridiculous Rhymes V2
Reviewer: Marion Archer

Birchfield Lesson Kits for English
Reviewer: Sarah Casey"
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      string(134) "Notate
Reviewer: Adrian Porter

Ridiculous Rhymes V2
Reviewer: Marion Archer

Birchfield Lesson Kits for English
Reviewer: Sarah Casey"
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      string(1191) "National NumeracyStrategy and a Roman theme such assharing food amongst guests at dinner(division); putting numbered tiles inorder at a Roman bath house(sequencing) and counting votes atthe Senate (adding and differences oflarge numbers). The activities can beused at 3 different levels of difficultyand include colourful animatedscreens to help retain children’sinterest. Children’s correct and wrongresponses are recorded and may bereported at any time with save, reloadand print optionsThis simulation program issupported by a user guide andsupport material about  ‘Everyday Lifein Roman Times’, which includes aRoman history timeline, a map of theRoman Empire and cross-curricularreferences. The program allowsprimary school teachers to address 2key aspects of the NationalCurriculum in an engaging way inline with QCA guidance. It can beused alongside other resources whereRoman Britain is the focus of work inKey Stage 2.Strom Educational Software alsopublishes The Calabash Pirates, asimilar adventure with amathematics/history theme. In itchildren take the role of pirateslooking for treasure on a tropicalisland. Further details can be foundon the Storm Educational website."
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Digital Learning

Reviews

15 Apr 2013

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      string(343) "teachers need to know about how to getstudents to learn’.The chapter on curriculum development containssuccinct summaries of key areas of theory and researchevidence on teaching thinking. Each section of thechapter is well supported by references to recent articlesand will be useful for anyone wanting to learn moreabout thinking skills ..."
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      string(1254) "teachers need to know about how to getstudents to learn’.The chapter on curriculum development containssuccinct summaries of key areas of theory and researchevidence on teaching thinking. Each section of thechapter is well supported by references to recent articlesand will be useful for anyone wanting to learn moreabout thinking skills in the curriculum.While the book does not shy away from engagementwith theory, it is imbued with pragmatism based on directclassroom experience. The bulk of the book is concernedwith setting out approaches to teaching geography thatdevelop pupils’ thinking. Chapters are devoted to differentstrategies, such as classification exercises or readingphotographs, with case studies to exemplify how theteacher has used the strategy in the classroom. Theteachers are honest in their appraisals of the success orotherwise of a strategy, and offer suggestions as to how itcould be refined, developed and extended to other topicsin the geography curriculum.Thinking through Geography is a valuable resource forsecondary geography teachers. Sister publications areplanned for history, RE and primary teachers. In themeantime, there is a lot for teachers of all subjects andphases to learn from this book.Vivienne Baumfield"
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Reviews

23 Feb 2011

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      string(318) "just as an ex-tension of ‘circle-time’. Using stories and narrative texts are apowerful way to develop questioning, thinking and reason-ing with learners of all ages. We have used ‘Teaching Philoso-phy Through Picture Books’ in early years settings and in KeyStages 1-3 with considerable success. Storywise ..."
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      string(4246) "just as an ex-tension of ‘circle-time’. Using stories and narrative texts are apowerful way to develop questioning, thinking and reason-ing with learners of all ages. We have used ‘Teaching Philoso-phy Through Picture Books’ in early years settings and in KeyStages 1-3 with considerable success. Storywise: ThinkingThrough Stories should be no less successful.Further information about Storywise can be found on theDialogue Works web site: http://www.dialogueworks.co.uk/Steve HigginsUniversity of Newcastle upon Tyne62 Teaching Thinking Summer 2001www.teachthinking.comReviews: SoftwareReviews: SoftwareReviews: SoftwareReviews: SoftwareReviews: SoftwareYoiks!TERCworksCD-ROM for windows 95 and 98For age 10 and up.Yoiks is a seriously stretchinggame that children andadults can both enjoy. It canbe used by individuals, pairsor groups as there are trickyproblems to discuss. Thestory is that a group of data-munching bugs have es-caped from the computerwaste bin and you have tohelp them get back in again.The bugs are found on a se-ries of grids, each of which isa different maze. Each bug has a unique combination of at-tributes and these attributes interact differently with the ob-jects on the mazes – some will make the bug stick to mag-nets, others will change the direction of movement, otherswill release bugs trapped on magnets and so on. It is your jobto work out how each of the grids works so that you can movethe bugs through the grid to the recycle bin. This can be hardto do. The makers claim:As they work to foil data-munching computer-bugs, players solvea series of puzzles which engage them with concepts and reasoningprocesses that lie at the heart of all math, science, and engineering.I have to agree with them. This is an excellent programmefor developing an experimental approach to problem solv-ing and careful analytical thinking habits. It is impressive thatan activity so focused on logical reasoning is presented in away that is so appealing to children.BrainBenderMattel InteractiveCD-ROM for windows 95 and 98Claims on box:Exercise your WHOLEbrain!● Logic, strategy andmemory puzzles!● Wacky, creative activities!For ages 8 and up.This CD-ROM is about sen-sory overload. Everythingis brightly coloured, mov-ing and noisy with somequite ‘in-your-face’ designfeatures. To choose a ‘game’for example you need toclick on parts of a squirming exposed brain! The interface isinnovative in other ways, a hand on a spring for ‘exit’, a spiralfor ‘go’ and so on. While the design is fun it takes some get-ting used to and the instructions are not at all clear. Anotherpossible drawback is that the games all use characters fromthe USA based Nickelodeon TV channel. Some of these char-acters are well know such as the Rugrats but others will bestrange to children who do not watch this channel.The content is quite entertaining but disappointing fromthe point of view of teaching thinking. The ‘left brain: rightbrain’ motif is obviously a ploy to claim educational value forsome pretty silly games. The ‘DancingToons’ game, for instance,simply allows you to interact with a dancing rat by clickingon four buttons, each of which makes him do a different move-ment. The addition of a facility to programme steps in advanceand so design dance routines might have made this genu-inely creative. As it is, it offers a bit of mindless fun that mightdistract a child but would not teach them much.The other ‘creative’ activities are similarly over-programmedleaving very little role for the learner. Any decent drawingpackage offers more opportunity for creative work. The gameson the left side of the brain menu are mainly about memoryand pattern recognition. These do not really require a com-puter as they are better done with cards, dominoes or mazesin puzzle books. There is, however, one rather good game –‘SplatHurl’– that really does call for logical reasoning and strat-egy. This game is about choosing combinations of attributesto discover a hidden pattern on a grid. There are three levelsof difficulty, the third of which I found quite challenging.Overall I could not really recommend this software for teach-ing thinking but some children will love it.Rupert Wegerif"
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Reviews

30 Dec 2010

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      string(403) "segments for a particularteaching purpose.‘Instant Lesson’ comprises a ready-made curriculum lesson, in which studentsare presented with a variety of challengesconstructed around the topic, includingword searches, quizzes and interactive 3Dgames. ‘Lesson Builder’ allows a teacher tocreate personalised multimedia lessonsusing the editable resources and toolssupplied. The lesson can then be ..."
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      string(2747) "segments for a particularteaching purpose.‘Instant Lesson’ comprises a ready-made curriculum lesson, in which studentsare presented with a variety of challengesconstructed around the topic, includingword searches, quizzes and interactive 3Dgames. ‘Lesson Builder’ allows a teacher tocreate personalised multimedia lessonsusing the editable resources and toolssupplied. The lesson can then be presentedusing the Lesson Viewer or,alternatively, be exported intoPowerPoint or Word.Both lesson deliveryoptions make use of anAssessment Tool whichrecords and assessesindividual pupil or classperformance while lessonsare being completed.Topic-related zones areaccessed from the main menu.Each zone contains a 3-D animation,photo or video footage, plus text withreinforcing voice-over, the latter beingespecially useful for students with readingdifficulties. A final interactive activity ineach zone tests comprehension of thatelement of the topic.The Extended Question Zone allowspupils to type answers to exam-stylequestions. Activities in the Drag and DropZone, and multiple-choice questions inthe Quiz Tone, also test pupils’ knowledgeof the academic content of the topic.This versatile and stimulatingsoftware enables adaptation of lessonsand activities for different levels ofability. Very capable students can bechallenged with more complex taskscreated using the Lesson Builder. Theblending of curriculum content with 3-Danimations, narration, and activitiessuch as word searches, acrostics andmatching exercises is designed tostimulate all pupils, whether theirpreferred style of learning be visual,kinaesthetic or auditory.The software is compatible withstand-alone PCs, networks, projectors orwhiteboards, so pupils can studyindividually, in groups or with the wholeclass. A clear user interface makes iteasy to navigate, and all materials arewell designed and visually engaging.Certificates of Achievement can beearned and printed out, detailing whichactivities, quizzes and tasks a pupil hascompleted and the scores attained.The program includes a TeacherOptions screen from which varioussettings can be configured to tailor it tothe specific requirements of your pupils,including setting passwords or limitingthe number of places to be visited tospecific locations. There isalso a Pupil Records tabhere which allows theteacher to visit pupilscrapbooks, add, delete orreset names and recordsand so on.The package includesa User Guide witheducational notes, plus aquick start card to getyou into exploring itstraight away. There is also a‘Quicklearn’ feature on the disc whichenables the teacher to take a brief lookat the product, learning objectives andteacher options, and to try an activity,without loading the full program."
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Digital Learning

Reviews

1 Jan 2005

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      string(372) "blackcatsoftware.comPrice: £249.00 (site licence)This CD-ROM package is a powerfulteacher resource that makes it easy tocreate activities to support literacylessons in primary schools. Like manyprograms nowadays, it is designed foruse with an interactive whiteboard. Theprogram offers nine template-basedtools that provide activity-typeframeworks. These are: gap fill ..."
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      string(2920) "blackcatsoftware.comPrice: £249.00 (site licence)This CD-ROM package is a powerfulteacher resource that makes it easy tocreate activities to support literacylessons in primary schools. Like manyprograms nowadays, it is designed foruse with an interactive whiteboard. Theprogram offers nine template-basedtools that provide activity-typeframeworks. These are: gap fill, wordsearch, matching, sorting, snap,punctuation, ordering, identification andmultiple choice.The program is very easy to use, thanksto a wizard-style system which guidesthe user through the creation of thevarious kinds of activities. The programopens with a menu which offers thechoice of creating a new activity, workingon an existing lesson,examining some sampleactivities or looking attutorials on how to usethe package. The samplesprovide useful examplesof just what can beachieved with theprogram, and aregrouped by year so,whether you are workingwith Year 1 or Year 6pupils, you can see something appropriateto what you need. There’s also aninstruction booklet with the disc thatguides you step-by-step through thecreation of each activity type.Once you have familiarised yourselfwith what the program can do, select anactivity type and you can literally becreating something within minutes – it’sthat simple. A ‘play’ button on thescreen enables you to see what youractivity looks like at any stage in theprocess, and activities can be saved aswhiteboard activity files (.wba).To aid with the creation process, thedisc includes a bank of clipart imageswhich can be used within some of theactivities. Activities can be printed outmenu also enables other preferences suchas which tasks can be accessed, passwords,volume, pupil books, record keeping andrewards for completing tasks.As one would expect from a companywith the experience and track record ofSherston, this is a very slick package, withclear, well-drawn and well-animatedgraphics and clearly enunciated speechfrom the Magic Grandad character who isthe children’s guide through the program.The ‘Click and Explore’ activities at thehead of each section are varied andas worksheets so that pupils can workon them away from the computer, e.g.as homework.In a nutshell, this is an excellentprogram which can create some veryprofessional-looking interactivewhiteboard activities that can be usedas part of a literacy lesson, either inwhole-class teaching, with groups andindividuals or even for homework.interesting, usually exploring the differenttoys, what they do and how childrenwould play with them. There are follow-uptasks to each section, which range fromsorting and organising, identifying thingsencountered in the Click and Exploreactivities, giving instructions, and so on.The CD supports a number ofeducational objectives, includingchronological understanding,vocabulary skills and researching skills,and would be a very welcome additionto the infant classroom."
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Digital Learning

Reviews

1 Jan 2005

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