KEY NOTE ACTIVITY Mireia, Georgina i Mariona

KEY NOTE ACTIVITY

The last 29^th of May, we had our last session of the ICT optative. As in the previous one, we were working on IPads, a sophisticated technology that nowadays many schools use or start introducing it as an educational tool.

During the first half of the class, we talked and experimented with QR codes and we shared ideas about how we can use them in class to enrich the teaching-learning process.

After that, we went through a list of suitable iPad apps to use in class with our kids. As the list is very long, we focused on the more interesting ones and we also had time to explore and try some of them. Some of the apps we discovered are Class Dojo, Tiny Tap, Toontastic and Skitch.

Class dojo is a very useful app for teachers as it helps them with classroom management. They can use it to reinforce positive behaviors in their students and parents can check their children's progress. It also offers a different but a great opportunity to communicate with parents.

Tiny tap allows us to create and play fun interactive quizzes, lessons and games. Here you can read more about this app and the things you can do with it.

Toontastic is a storytelling and creative learning tool that enables kids to draw, animate, and share their own cartoons. Here you can find a description of the app and a video tutorial with the steps you have to follow to use it.

Finally, Skitch is an app for writing and drawing on pictures. In this page you can read about its advantages and you have some examples for using it in class.

In the second part of the class, we had to design, in peers or threes, a HOTS activity for iPads. Our activity is for Primary 5 and it involves comparatives and animals vocabulary. We decided to use Keynote, an app for designing, create and share beautiful presentations. Our activity consists of two phases. In the first one, children are divided in small groups of four, approximately, and they have to create a quiz to work on comparatives and animals vocabulary. The teacher will show them an example to have an idea about what they will have to do.

The quiz should have five questions. They will have to write the question, for example “Which animal is faster?” and under the question they will have to put the picture of two animals such as a lion and a cheetah, with its name. 

Then, in the following slide, they will have to give the answer of the question by putting the image, the written word or the speaking word (using a recording) of the animal. 

This first phase is a HOTS activity because children have to create the quiz using a lot of skills during all the process. On one hand, students need to investigate on what topic they want to work and all the information about it as well as examine the uses of the activity. On the other hand, they have to design the quiz and decide a plan to make the activity happen. It is really important that while they are creating they are deciding the uses of the game and constructing the questions and the answers.  

The second phase consists on answering the other groups’ quizzes. Once the members of the group have read the question, they have to decide which is the correct answer. So first of all, they will need to discuss among them and come to an agreement and, after that, they will have to record the answer and add it in the quiz. Following the example before, they will have to say: “We think the cheetah is faster than the lion because….” And give the reasons why they have decided the cheetah instead of the lion. After giving the answer, they will be able to check whether their answer is correct or not. This second phase is also a HOTS activity because students have the challenge to decide, choose and justify their answer. It is not a simple yes/no answer, students are applying their knowledge and putting in practice comparative structures to give a reason to the game.