![]() I have recently had the opportunity to try out a few unplugged activities which I will discuss now: World Map This activity involved using a large world map, divided into squares, and a small toy plane. Here one of the objectives was to practise coordinates. With the class divided in two, half of us gave directions for a route for the other half to take with the plane. The instructions acted as an algorithm, and the rules were that the plane had to leave from the square on the map England was in and that they had to pass through Asia and Africa on their journey. Some of the instructions were, for example, turn 90 degrees clockwise. Go forward five squares. Stop. Turn 45 degrees clockwise. Go forwards six spaces. Stop. Which country are you in? Turn 180 degrees clockwise. Go forwards six spaces. Stop. Turn 45 degrees clockwise. Go forward three spaces. Stop. Which country are you in? The activity worked really well. Not only were we writing algorithms but we were also practising our coordinates! It was good fun and it could have easily been adapted to different abilities. For example, lower ability students could have just used directions instead of coordinates and practised telling the time in different time zones. Number and letter eater The first activity here involved using a foam number jigsaw puzzle. Again students were divided in two and half had to write instructions (an algorithm) for the others of a route around the numbers. For example, Start on square. Forward two spaces. Stop. Eat. Turn right. Go Forward one space. Stop. Eat. When told to eat, the students had to take out the number and put it to one side. At the end the students had to add all these numbers together to make the other team’s secret number. The letter eater game was very similar; the difference being it was a letter jigsaw puzzle not a number one. Here students had a secret word which the other team had to work out by following their algorithm. What I liked about this activity was that it could be easily adapted across many different ability levels. For example, at KS1 it could be used to give simple numbers and simple words and at KS2 it could be used to make square numbers, adjectives or even an anagram of an adjective. ![]() Racing track In the final activity the students were again divided into two teams. The first team had different pieces of a race track that they could put together in any way they wanted, to form a circuit. They had to put certain obstacles on the track, such as a stop sign, which would have to be avoided and then they put a toy car anywhere they wanted on the track. The other team then had to write instructions for how to get the toy car back to the start. The rules were they could only go forwards and they would have to change directions if they came to a stop sign. This team then wrote their instructions (an algorithm) and gave them back to the first team who would then follow them to see if they were correct and if they could actually get back to the start. Again, the activity was great fun and adaptable to all levels. What I liked about all the unplugged activities was that we were creating algorithms without even knowing it. We were writing instructions for the activities but we had to follow set rules such as always having to write stop after moving spaces on the world map. If one team made a mistake the other team would not be able to get to the destination without correcting (or debugging) the original instructions. What is so good about unplugged activities is that from here it is a not a great leap that students have to take to the world of computer programming as they are already familiar with the process of writing, debugging and following an algorithm.
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![]() Green screening or Chroma key compositing, to go by its official name, is a special effects technique involving layering two images or videos together so you can superimpose people, objects or places into a shot. I have recently been introduced to green screening in the primary school setting and have seen how well it works. My first introduction to green screening was during a Computing training day at Ladybarn Primary School. We were shown a video two teachers had made during the World Cup in which they were both superimposed onto an old picture of Wembley stadium. They were dressed up as old-fashioned commentators and did a mock report on a football game. The video was used as a ‘hook’ into a lesson. Last week, during a History training day at Armitage Primary School, some teachers had again used Green screening to hook students into a topic. There, a teacher had made a video in which she was dressed as an evacuee and superimposed herself onto an old photo of a bombed building from World War Two. In the video the teacher, in character, asked the students to help her think of what things she should pack because she was going to live in the countryside. It then developed into a class discussion about what things mean the most to us in life. We were also shown a video of the students themselves using green screening in which they did mock interviews and were superimposed onto the BBC Newsroom. Finally, today, at Plymouth Grove Primary School, I have been working with a Year 6 class who were using the Green screen to create weather reports and they really enjoyed it. I think Green screening is great. It is obviously a really engaging way of hooking students into a topic but its application goes far beyond that. Seeing how motivated students were to work when they knew they were going to make a video using the Green screen, it is clearly a good way to incentivise students to work too. In addition, it is novel and a break from just working from the book. It is easy to set up too and you don’t even need a fancy bit of equipment, just some green cloth! In terms of downsides, I noticed how if the green screen is not completely flat then then the video can come out quite pixilated. Also, when I used it on the IPad, there was not a lot of space and so it was easy to cut off students, or parts of students, in the videos. Nevertheless, overall, it seems to be a fantastic resource and I look forward to using it more in the future. |
Paul LArchives
January 2016
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