Just before Christmas, computer science teacher Kelly MacDonald organised a family engagement day at the Harris Academy, a high school in Dundee.
The aim of the event was to showcase what pupils had learned to achieve with technology and, alongside the pupils themselves, the star of the show was the Raspberry Pi.
“As it was December, we got them to demonstrate how to use a Raspberry Pi to make a Christmas decoration with lights,” says MacDonald, explaining how one pupil used the event to teach her younger sister how to program too.
“The younger girl ended up borrowing [the Raspberry Pi] to take into her primary school and show her friends how to do the same,” she says.
Hi-tech library
While the use of microcomputers to develop pupils’ coding skills is standard in schools, more unusual is the way in which the Harris Academy is making technology available to tomorrow’s students, rather than just today’s.
At the Christmas event, the younger girl’s actions were only possible thanks to the school’s policy of lending out devices via the library, in the same way they do books.
“We have some media deprivation issues at the school, so it’s important to be as inclusive as possible with the technology so that children can experiment with it outside the classroom,” says MacDonald.
With a high percentage of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, the school has placed technology at the forefront of its campaign to close the poverty-related attainment gap. “As much as half the class can fall into this category,” says MacDonald, whose family learning days are part of a targeted strategy to address the issue.
The family days are often pupil-led and involve young people teaching their parents and family members how to code. Children attending the day are allowed to take the devices home in order to extend their learning in a home setting.
“In some cases, if parents’ own experience of school was negative, the family days might be the first positive experience of learning that they’ve had,” MacDonald says. “When parents start to engage with the school, it helps their children’s engagement too.”
One pupil has used his borrowed device to develop games at home, she adds, with the help of online tutorials.
Although still in its trial phase, the lending scheme has inspired at least one other school in the area to start lending out some of its devices. Harris also plans to extend its lending policy by buying in software to teach pupils how to build websites.
Empowering reluctant learners
Lending schemes may not come easily for some schools, but where there are issues around access to technology they can be a good way of making sure pupils don’t miss out. Harris’ example shows the dividends that can come from taking an unconventional approach to technology.
To introduce a lending scheme, you need to consider what resources you will provide and what you expect learners to have at home. Supplying activities for students to follow can help to make sure that equipment is being used effectively.
It’s a good idea to trial a scheme with a small group first: you can see what works, what the students want to do, what extra kit they need and what might get broken. Sponsorship or crowdfunding could be an option if you need to meet an initial financial outlay.
MacDonald regularly witnesses the empowering effect of technology and harnesses its power to engage reluctant learners. At one family event focused around gaming, she noticed that one pupil - who had previously struggled to engage across the whole curriculum - was particularly enthralled. Encouraging the boy to join one of her clubs reaped incredible results.
“He’s now a key member of the team and comes along most lunchtimes. When I was away from school for a while, he stepped up to play a lead role in my absence and was integral to getting a Lego League competition submission sent in on time.”
The transformation in the boy’s level of engagement in school was dramatic, and MacDonald attributes it to him being given access to technology outside the classroom. “This is someone who normally struggles to stay in class, but who’s now developed all-round interpersonal skills. He’s learned to lead, manage and organise, as well as program. He’s flying,” she says.
Weather forecasting
Martin Caddy, headteacher of Stokeinteignhead Primary School in Devon, uses technology to engage pupils’ curiosity about the wider world from the outset: his reception class were able to watch their classroom chicks hatch via a webcam on the incubator.
But now he plans to take these efforts an unusual step further, by getting pupils involved in weather forecasting. “We’re going to start by setting up a weather station, which will require them to log data and apply the programming skills they’ve learned,” he says. From there, they will attempt to predict the weather.
Not only does this give a real-world application to their learning, but it also helps to reassure parents that technology can have a positive impact on their children’s education rather than being just about gaming and social media.
“Parents like it when their children are doing something constructive with computing,” Caddy says. “It counters some of the worries they have about social media, and means the kids aren’t using technology just to play games.”
Real-world outcomes
Using technology to pursue real-world outcomes is at the heart of learning at the Ron Dearing University Technical College in Hull.
“Students work with industry-standard tools and technology to equip them with skills applicable across the emerging digital employment sector,” says vice-principal Steve Willacy.
The school runs various enhancement clubs that allow students to experiment with cutting-edge technology and the latest applications, where they can learn to build robotic arms, develop their own computer games or program drones to take aerial films and photographs.
One of the more unusual projects has been through a partner employer of the school, renewable energy company Siemens Gamesa, which owns a Hull-based wind turbine production plant. Students have used the company’s virtual reality technology to explore some of the health and safety issues involved in working at heights.
“The technology shows them what it will be like to work on wind turbines, where students have to virtually climb up to the top. It’s all about putting them safely into a dangerous situation,” Willacy explains.
And in a first for the college, students were able to be of practical help when Siemens was short of a vital component after a supplier let them down. Using the college’s 3D printers, the students were able to produce the component to exacting specifications, and all in time for it to be shipped to the company’s Denmark factory the next day.
Although not all schools will have this capability, Ron Dearing’s experience shows some of the advantages of developing links with local businesses, providing opportunities to use technology in ways students never thought possible.
*Read more inspiring stories about how students are using technology in unconventional ways in this video from SMART
