Science
Science
The main contribution IT can make to the Science curriculum is in:
For less able or younger pupils, the opportunity to see the results of an experiment accumulate as a graph on screen creates an immediate sense of achievement. For more advanced pupils, the breadth of support software available for Science on the Acorn platform transforms the classroom computer into a sophisticated virtual lab, where every experiment becomes possible. One excellent example of this level of potential is shown by ILP's Science CD-ROM, which provides video-based, multimedia resources allowing pupils to follow experiments with rare and volatile substances such as caesium, usually not seen outside university research laboratories.
In many schools, the likelihood is that IT will be used more simply within the Science curriculum, to present existing information in an interesting and interactive way. Pupils at Cranbourne School, Basingstoke, have profited from Terry Chapman's screen-based teaching package on pollution. Using a selection of articles from Which? magazine, Pollution presents information in the form of text and scanned photographs, and includes interactive elements such as true/false choices and quiz screens.
Pollution
Pollution allows pupils hands-on experience with IT, while not detracting from more traditional Science activities. The application supports the delivery of science at Key Stage 3. It addresses parts of AT1 (Scientific Investigations) strand (i), and also elements of AT2 (Life and Living Processes) strands (iii) and (iv). There can also be cross-curricular links with English, Home Technology and Geography.
Apparatus
Hardware: Acorn Archimedes A-Series computer or Risc PCExtras:Software: Genesis II (Oak Solutions) !Draw (Acorn) Paint (Acorn) PipeDream4 (Colton) Oak Recorder (Oak Solutions)
Articles from Which? magazine.
Pollution was designed as a teaching application to present information to pupils at Key Stage 3, using articles from Which? magazine. There is a series of screens which present information in various ways. Some screens are interactive with self-marking quizzes and true/false questions which refer to text given. There are also tasks to be undertaken off the computer, as well as some text pages to read.
The application starts with a title screen which requires the user to single-click select or adjust somewhere on the screen. A menu page is then displayed which takes the user to the main body of the application. A single click of the select button on one of the icons allows exploration of any of the topics. All topic screens can be moved through by a single click of the select button.
There is also a facility to move back to the Main Menu or to go to a help page. Using the help screen, the user can obtain text files of the four Which? articles used. To do this, the user must provide some RAM Disc memory and then double-click select on the required file. Which? articles used in this application cover a range of topics: Going Green, Hazardous Waste, The Greenhouse Effect, and River Pollution.
There are times when more than one page is open on the screen at one time. When this happens, it is possible for one of the pages to be brought to the front and obscure the other. All that is required is to click select on the back icon.
The application was constructed using Genesis II. The illustrations were produced using !Draw and Paint. Some sprites were scanned photographs which appeared in the Which? articles, and text files were constructed using Edit or Impression. The charts were produced using PipeDream. The sound files were obtained using the Oak Recorder.
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