The schools bringing lessons to life
The Telegraph | Education opinion | Paul Bray | 06 Apr 2015
Abstract : “The iPad is incredibly engaging,” says Jo Wallace, head of Putney High’s junior school. “Education has evolved to become much more interactive and enquiry-based, and the girls relish the opportunity to be free to explore their thinking and learning. They’re getting much better at finding their own solutions to problems rather than being spoon-fed.”
Going on a school trip to Hampton Court Palace? Take your iPad to record the highlights. Want to know why summers in India are so wet? Look up monsoons and create your own graph. Orienteering around the school grounds? Use a map app.
It’s never too young to start. “We’ve introduced LearnPads in our pre-prep, which enables teachers to easily manage what the children are using, or lets them take control of their own learning by scanning QR [quick response] codes to choose topics that interest them,” says David Horton, ICT systems manager at Ballard School in Hampshire.
Even the school nursery has a couple of tablet computers on which one- and two-year-olds can improve their coordination skills (although at that age, the sandpit is usually more attractive).
It’s not just pupils who can resort to new technology; teachers are also finding innovative applications for it. Ballard’s PE, dance and drama teachers use video recording to give feedback and allow pupils to view their performance in an objective light, including slow-motion analysis.
