Click here to see the Digital Kids Homepage
I have been asked to work with CWSA (Children with Special Abilities) children in a school and use computers with them. I have the use of one iMac connected to the internet with a scanner and a printer attached. I have brought along a Mac 3400 laptop which I connect to a TV set for whole group teachng, a Mac G4 laptop and a Toshiba Windows laptop.
I have changed the name from CWSA to Digital Kids and I now work with 33 children ranging from Year 3 to Year 8 for an hour and half each session. The groups are organised in year levels
| Monday | 9.00 - 10.30 |
| Year 5 | 8 children |
| Monday & Wednesday | 11.00 - 12.30 |
| Year 6-8 | 12 children |
| Wednesday | 9.00 - 10.30 |
| Year 3-4 | 13 children |
I designed a criteria to guide teachers in their selection of possible candidates making it quite clear that knowledge of computers was not part of the criteria.
| high degree of motivation | able to work co-operatively | lateral and divergent thinker |
| excels in Maths or Reading or Social Studies or Science | is goal directed | |
| high degree of intellectual or creative ability | is persistent in reaching goals | is able to integrate ideas |
| preference for more complex solutions | has advance comprehension in most areas | is reflective about own work |
| learns basic skills quickly | has a high level of curiosity | is able to handle abstract ideas |
| is an original thinker | has a highly developed sense of humour | can handle complex problems |
All of the children have started off doing the same things. It is interesting to observe how the difference of maturity impacts on what the children do. The initial activities comprised of
| get to know the computers and how they Open, Close, Start up, Shutdown |
| connect all the leads and disconnect them |
| how to launch applications |
| how to save to the desktop and floppy |
The first lesson was how to make a name badge. This consisted of teaching the basic skills in Microsoft Word of
| draw a text box |
| change the font size to 36 |
| change font, style and colour |
| create an interesting border with a background colour (Fill effects was introduced here) |
| insert a suitable graphic |
I would demonstrate initial skills and depending on how quickly the groups moved on I would introduce new skills. These badges were then printed out and put into plastic name badge holders.
All the children have to have a Clear File folder to put their printouts or any handouts I may give them. So the next activity was to create a Spine for their folder. We did this using WordArt.
| open WordArt |
| select the Style that goes down the page |
| type in Name and Digital Kids |
| make changes to colour and outline |
| stretch it to go down the whole page |
| put a border around it |
| print out and stick in spine of folder |
All the children need typing practice so they all have to spend at least 10 minutes on Mavis Beacon. After they have completed at least 2 activities they have to fill in their Typing Practice Record sheet. I have also given them a copy of a Keyboard sheet to practice on. I will introduce more activities to use with this in later weeks.
I have started the groups off on Tessellations and I am basically following the Tessellation Unit I have written. Visit the Digital Kids Homesite to see some of the tessellations they have done so far.
The Year 6-8 group have moved through the Tessellation Unit very quickly and will be ready for their assessment task soon. I have taken the unit one step further and set them problemsolving tasks of tessellating 2 shapes together i.e. hexagon and triangle. This was an interesting exercise as they had to be able to co-operate and work together. I still have to remind all but one of the groups to change over mouse and keyboard operator. Interesting to hear the mathematical language coming through such as flip, rotate, translate, reflect etc. in the instructions they give each other.
The groups had to design a tessellation for their class to complete. They have worked out that they need to design one pattern and then duplicate it many times to fill the page. These were then printed and photocopied for the class.
The older ones are all coping well with looking at the Digital Kids Homepage and keeping up with their homework. Some of them have started emailing their homework to me and I have been putting it onto the website. I will start the Year 5's on the Internet but I won't start the Year 3 & 4s until later in the term.
A couple of Year 5 girls experimented with a graphic. They ungrouped it, re-coloured it and then tessellated it.
The younger ones have been making certificates. I have set up a separate page for the Junior digital kids. They have been coming up with some interesting designs.
The older Digital Kids have nearly finished their PowerPoint presentations on How to do Tessellations. They will present these both in their classes and for parents. They have all managed to set up a basic structure for their pages with Fonts, colour etc. The most interesting aspect of their presentations is the Backgrounds they have created. They have created new tessellations and made them their backgrounds. As all students do they have taken to animation and sounds with great gusto until I set the specification of no more than 2 effects to a page. They have all managed to insert hyperlinks to either websites, or other pages in their presentation. I have been very impressed with the sophistication in the language they have used and the skill of writing directions.
I have started Myst with the older group of children and they are progressing very quickly through it. After 3 sessions most of the group have nearly completed 2 islands. the next step after this is to create their own interactive mystery game using PowerPoint. I would have liked to use HyperStudio with them but we are running out of time with only another 4 sessions left. I have prepared for them a log book which has questions and places to write clues. The children have soon learnt the value of writing down clues and tracking their path with notes.
The Year 5 children have had a couple of sessions on PowerPoint and are well into creating their presentations. The Year 3 to 4 children have had to have a couple of sessions postponed but they will be carrying on with tessellations.
Click here to see examples of children's work and the homework tasks I have set them
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This site was updated 03/12/2002