After a rather inauspicious start when the school had a single data projector that resided in The DP’s office and three laboratories needed a makeover from a demolition squad (one remains and is now our temporary staffroom) substantial progress has been made. We have developed the use of ICT in our teaching practice and are currently incorporating web 2 philosophies with blogs, podcasts multimedia etc to assist student learning. We have state of the art laboratories in the new Arts/Science block.
It hasn’t been a giant leap for Green Bay but rather a series of steady improvements including:
Supplying teaching areas with projectors.
Developing the use of computers in the classroom primarily through using a professional presentation tool such as Powerpoint. Building up digital resources.
Early in 2007 we occupied custom built laboratories. Three architecturally superb classrooms with fixed projectors and interactive boards are attached to a dedicated practical area with none of the design compromises present in a bog standard laboratory a time traveller from the nineteenth century would have recognised.
Interactive boards placed in all science teaching areas
This term we have begun to adopt the very latest educational philosophies outlined at the Ulearn conference held in Auckland recently.
We are currently developing:
- Blogs, to take advantage of the way students develop their creative talents and learning skills playing simulation games and interacting socially on the networking sites Bebo and Facebook.
- Subject blogs class to keep parents and students informed.
- Class blogs to give unit outlines and homework. They can be used let parents watch the progress of and assist with their child’s development
- Student blogs to keep a record of their web based learning and receive better feedback from their teacher.
- Blogs as portals that allow easy access to the resource rich and largely free environment of the web.
With professional development and time we might need to rebrand ourselves as the Green Bay High School Science Department and Centre of Web Based Learning!!
You certainly have some nice labs from what I could see in the quicktime movie. I appreciate that the students were doing a titration with what may have been harmless chemicals but I was still surprised by the lack of safety glasses.