October 15, 2008

Museums Sheffield
As you may be aware from previous posts, the museum at Weston Park has a number of Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPCs) – essentially computers you can carry around with you, and two interactive trails to accompany the exhibits. The two trails are Ancient Egypt and Animal Adaptation and are aimed at year 6 pupils. This summer the UMPCs have been available for family groups to use during their visit.
The feedback from the primary school and family sessions has been excellent:
“Great way of getting children to interact with the artefacts.”
“Kept them on task and directed their activity, at the same time allowing them to work at their own pace and in any order.”
“Recording answers verbally instead of writing them was much better for the SEN group. Higher achievers could use the audio facility to add expression and be creative, such as making it like a news report.”
If you are interested in taking part in one of the Trails with your class, see the previous post here for details, or contact Pauline Sharkey on 0114 278 2655, pauline.sharkey@museums-sheffield.org.uk.

Science Trail
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News | Tagged: history, mobile learning, primary, science, Weston Park |
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Posted by ssclc
May 20, 2008


There are now two possible trails that can be completed by primary classes at Weston Park using Ultra Mobile Computers (UMPCs). There is the History Trail, looking at the museum’s collection of Ancient Egyptian artefacts, and a Science Trail, which investigates animal adaptation. The trails are aimed at year 6 pupils, with students working in small groups to complete interactive exercises and record their findings.
There will be an INSET afternoon at the museum on the 24th June (12.45-16.00) for year 6 teachers. The session is free and supply cover will be paid for. The INSET will provide teachers with an opportunity to follow the animal adaptation trail, learn how to use the UMPCs and provide feedback on the trail.

From September 2008, Museums Sheffield will only offer the UMPC sessions as part of a full day package (the other half of the day will be a led workshop about the same curriculum area) for which there will be a charge. As an attendee of the INSET day, you will be able to book your class onto the full day package free of charge in the next school year. Alternatively, you may bring your class for the free half-day session this summer term.
- To find out more about the UMPC sessions or to book a place on the INSET afternoon, please contact:
Jacqueline O’Neil, E-Learning Co-ordinator
0114 2782653
jacqueline.o’neil@museums-sheffield.org.uk
- To book a half-day session for your class to attend this summer term, please contact:
Pauline Sharkey, Learning Bookings Administrator, 0114 2782655
The UMPC project has been supported by the South Yorkshire e-Learning Programme and Sheffield South CLC, and funded by the European Union Social Fund.



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News | Tagged: history, mobile learning, primary, science, Weston Park |
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Posted by ssclc
May 6, 2008
Fifty-one year 6 pupils from Sir Harold Jackson Primary School took part in a project to revise what they have learnt in science lessons using Glofiish M700 PDAs (personal digital assistants – i.e. small, handheld computers) last week. They worked in small groups, following a trail around the school, with experiments and questions on their surroundings at 6 stations. For example they answered questions on the life cycle of the frog at the pond, and grappled with forces in the adventure playground.
Despite the showery weather, all of the pupils reported that they enjoyed it. One pupil said she enjoyed it “because you could get involved and experiment with the items.” Another said “it is good to be outside for learning and it’s a really fun idea.”
The year 6 teachers were all agreed that it was good revision and the pupils were engaged throughout.
If you are interested in undertaking in a similar project, contact Catherine at the CLC (0114 2587728).
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Projects | Tagged: mobile learning, PDA, primary, science |
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Posted by ssclc
April 10, 2008

http://www.powerleague.org.uk/
This website from Futurelab describes itself as a “fun and easy way to explore any topic [...] Power League is a versatile resource that lets you ask tough questions, stimulates debate and creates a visual league table based on votes gathered across your group.” Essentially you choose a question, for example, “Which is the bigger cause of climate change?”and set up a league. Students are offered a series of random choices between two people or things, e.g. Deforestation and Farming, each backed up with a link to more information. After they’ve made a number of choices you can view the league. Currently in the World Power League (“Who do you wish had more power?”) Albert Einstein is top of the list, Michael Owen second from bottom.
This ideal for use in English, Citizenship, Geography, History, RE and indeed any subject that asks students to make decisions about aspects of what they are studying and be able to debate why they made that choice. The website includes a number of lesson plans.

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Resources | Tagged: citizenship, English, geography, history, RE, science |
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Posted by ssclc
February 8, 2008
Here are two good websites to explore the human body, excellent for science or sports science lessons.
http://www.medtropolis.com/vbody.asp is a reasonably simple site with sections onthe brain, skeleton, digestive system and heart. Take tours, put bones in the right place, watch animations and organise your organs.
http://www.visiblebody.com/ is more detailed with a complete, fully interactive, 3D human anatomy model and detailed models of all body systems.
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Resources | Tagged: PE, science |
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Posted by ssclc
January 15, 2008
Check out this fantastic site: http://weather.atomwide.com/ for information from a number of weather stations across
England, the nearest being in Rotherham. It has an attractive, clear pictorial view of the temperature, pressure, humidity, rain rate, wind direction (and others), updated every minute for each station. You can also click on any of the images to get a graph of, for example, the temperature over the past 24 hours. Obviously ideal for teaching about the weather and climate in geography and science, but could also fit in other curriculum areas. See the Met Office Education site for ideas:
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/education/index.html
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Resources | Tagged: geography, science |
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Posted by ssclc