Botanical Gardens Pocket Book Project
Botanical Gardens Pocket Book Project
Under construction !
"We took our sketch books, five thermometers, ten
pocket computers and a packed lunch. Mr Graham told us to look for the green signs
.....then I saw the green label so I typed in the data of the coconut tree." Year 4 child, Somerville Primary School
Introduction
The project is about ways of promoting and extending ICT opportunities across the curriculum. It originated as part of Birmingham Education Department's Year of Information Technology, using and evaluating Acorn Pocket Book computers as an exciting way of working outside of the classroom.
Teachers from over twenty schools have met together to develop competence with Pocket Books, share expertise and carry out some creative work. A group of pupils from each participating school will make a visit to the Botanical Gardens and use the Pocket Books to try out a range of ICT activities as part of studies involving English, geography, maths and science
Back at school, follow up work might involve the Pocket Books being used in the classroom or the information being simply downloaded for use with a PC.
So far the project has demonstrated that the use of Pocket Books improves the quality and range of pupils' learning. A class set of pocket books offers greater hands-on access to IT and interesting opportunities to extend competence - it does not replace but complements the classroom PC.
Pupils are highly motivated using the Pocket Books; their size and portability encourages active and collaborative work. We feel they have a significant impact on the outcomes of tasks in subjects such as English, science and geography.
In particular, there was surprise how pupils with special needs or learning difficulties acquired language and numeracy skills far more easily than expected. Freed from the constraints of pen and paper and given a purposeful task, they perform better than usual.
For the teachers, it is an opportunity to be part of an innovative project, share expertise with other schools and develop ideas for a wider audience.
This web site does not set out to be an exhaustive manual on the educational use of Pocket Books. It is designed for you to dip into and act as a stimulus to your own planning. By sharing some of the scope of work undertaken, it is hoped that you will be inspired to take up ideas, which then spark off even more exciting ones!
Bill Graham botanic@rmplc.co.uk
Head of Centre, Botanical Gardens Base.
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