As the nation’s children prepare to return to school, thoughts inevitably turn to issues such as textbooks, school uniforms and lunch boxes. Teachers, for their part, will be busy formulating plans and organising timetables etc in order to provide a well-structured and effective range of educational experiences for their charges.
Thankfully, more and more teachers can now include computer-based resources as part of these plans, as they think about how best to approach the variety of challenges that lie ahead. In the knowledge that the children who are helped and encouraged at home do far better in school, parents too, should consider how best they can do this, to ensure their children have every advantage. And in this information age parents too should also consider how their home PC—and its associated peripherals—can enhance what happens in school, and increase their children’s opportunities to benefit from today’s technologies.
Use IT properly
It is an unfortunate fact that in too many of our schools and homes lie shiny, highly specified computers that for most of the time are unused or are used inappropriately. And having a child—or group of children—sitting working or playing at the computer is no guarantee whatsoever that any learning, or indeed, anything useful at all, is taking place. The key issue, of course, both at home and at school, is the software being used by the child, and the context of its use. The right software, being used correctly and appropriately, can have enormous benefits for a child of any age, stimulating and engaging the child, and developing a range of invaluable skills like problem-solving, communication and creativity.
Let them explore
Educational software can be broadly divided into two main types: Content-free (like word processing, presentation, data-handling and authoring applications) and content-rich (such as drill and practice, adventure and simulation games and reference materials). If possible, children should have opportunities to engage with as many different types of software as possible. Also, bear in mind that almost all modern educational thinking emphasises the social nature of education: Children learn best when engaged in social—rather than individual activities—and the same is true of computer-based tasks.
If possible, children should work (and play) in groups of at least two, thereby generating lots of opportunities for discussion, collaboration and joint decision-making. It makes perfect sense, we suggest, to argue that this type of multi-faceted, social activity best prepares children for their future lives as workers, citizens and productive members of a rapidly changing society.
Designed for children
It is also preferable, we suggest, that children should use software applications that are designed for children to use. For example, there are several excellent children’s word processing/publishing applications available, as an alternative to the more familiar Microsoft Word type application, which were designed for use in a business environment. One of the better children’s word processors is WriteOn for Windows, and there are numerous good reasons why such a package is preferable, at least for those under the age of around eleven.
WriteOn, for instance, contains the facility for all text to be spoken by the computer, a powerful stimulus for youngsters to write. It also boasts a comprehensive range of age-appropriate clipart, which is far more attractive—and useful—than what is available in standard business applications. For young writers—and those who may be struggling with the business of writing—the program also contains a selection of wordbanks. These are thematically arranged banks of words that can sit at the bottom of the screen and are entered into the text when clicked on. New wordbanks can easily be created to suit particular writing tasks, thereby enabling the young writer to concentrate on what they want to say, rather than being caught up with the mechanics of vocabulary and spelling.
This program can be set to four different ability levels, allowing access as required to an increasing range of tools, toolbars and functions, depending on the age and experience of the user. The use of a children’s word processor in this way is the best way for children to learn how to use such an application. When the time comes to move up to a fully-fledged application, such as Microsoft Word, the child will already have learned all they need to know, but in a seamless, informal and more meaningful way.
Software essentials
Over the years, in this magazine, we have recommended numerous high quality educational software applications for children of primary school age. It is an unfortunate reality, however, that many of the very best programs are no longer available, having been withdrawn by their producers for reasons best known to themselves. We will list a number of them here, for the simple reason that you may be able to pick them up second-hand, or even unopened, if you’re fortunate:
1. Creative Writer II (Microsoft): A brilliant children’s publishing package.
2. Maths Workshop (Broderbund): Maths computation and problem solving for kids of all ages.
3. Dangerous Creatures (Microsoft): Superlative multimedia guide to some of the world’s most fascinating creatures (over 10’s).
4. GSP Children’s Encyclopaedia (GSP): The best ever general encyclopaedia for primary school children; British produced.
5. Carnival Countdown and Millie’s Math House (Edmark, Iona): In our view, the best maths programs for kids (up to age eight) ever produced.
6. Marty and the Trouble with Cheese (Maxis): A real gem for pre-schoolers, an interactive adventure game of unrivalled ingenuity.
7. Explorapedia Nature (Microsoft): A multimedia children’s encyclopaedia of the natural world, a superlative tool for project work, or just exploring.
That’s not to suggest, however, that there is precious little available for your child to use as an enhancement to their education. Thankfully, there is still a good variety of high quality software, but care is warranted, as packaging can often be grossly misleading. What follows, therefore, is a selection of what TechCentral.ie deems to be the best educational offerings currently available, all of which have been thoroughly tested in the classroom by either this author’s children or other schoolchildren.
1. Learning in Toyland (Fisher Price): Aimed at the three to six year olds, this delightful package offers a suite of six attractive activities, cleverly designed to engage the children in a range of interactive learning games. Activities include painting, drawing and craft-making, music, language development and fundamental mathematics, with the emphasis very much on learning through play.
2. The Computer Classroom (Nightingale Software, distributed in Ireland by Prim-Ed): This is actually a series of seven CDs, starting with Pre-School level, going all the way to upper primary (age 12). The series is quickly becoming established as a firm favourite in Irish schools, based on an outstanding selection of well structured, colourful and varied activities, each one firmly grounded in solid curriculum content. We know of no other software that covers the basics of English and mathematics so comprehensively, but which children enjoy so much. These programs are very easy to use, and will provide children with an excellent enhancement of topics covered in school, at each particular level.
3. The Cluefinders series from the Learning Company offers a range of four programs designed to engage children in stimulating adventures in exotic locations such as Egypt or Amazon rainforests. Once again, a huge range of curriculum content is covered in these programs, across a wide range of subjects, but, rather than go through specific topics in a linear fashion, as in the Computer Classroom series, children cover the topics in order to progress through the particular adventure they are involved in. This series of programs manages to do what the majority of programs fail to do: Achieve a balance between fun and learning so that the child is learning almost without realising it.
Homegrown learning software
If educational computer usage at home is to have maximum impact, it will need to enhance what is currently being covered at school. It’s always a good idea to monitor what topics are current, in order to be in a position to provide appropriate help. Unfortunately, however, with a few notable exceptions, there is no computer software designed solely for Irish school children to use.
We may well be one of the largest exporters of computer software in the world, but as a nation we have failed dismally to provide any indigenous software for our children to use in school. In my view, this fact is an extremely poor reflection on the commitment of Irish government to provide the best resources for the nation’s pupils.
Possibly the only computer program to have been based on an Irish primary school textbook is Fallon’s Spelling Games. This inexpensive program presents a suite of ten games and activities to help children practice their spellings. All the word lists are built in to the program and are easily accessed. It is a simple matter, however, to add new word lists, as required, no matter what spelling scheme is being followed. This program has proved to be very successful in Irish schools, and it offers a very simple and practical way for parents to enhance their child’s schoolwork at home.
Much of today’s schoolwork is project based, designed for children to learn through discovery and exploration instead of being fed information through a teacher. This is particularly so once children have passed through the ‘learning to read’ stage, and have reached the ‘reading to learn’ stage (typically, but not always from third class upwards).
Having access to child-friendly and age-appropriate reference resources, such as encyclopaedias, is a wonderful help for children wishing to locate information. Unfortunately, at this point in time, there is no high quality general encyclopaedia available aimed at primary school children. For those at the upper end of primary education, packages such as Encarta or Britannica can be useful, but one should remember that these products were not designed for young readers and much of the language and syntax used is simply too difficult.
School studies online
Thankfully, there are plenty of suitable resources on the Internet, much of it put there by teachers, and judicious use of a good search engine is guaranteed to produce results. Two examples of such Websites are:
Enchanted Learning (enchantedlearning.com): US-produced, but a superb resource for teachers and parents who wish their children to locate appropriate information for research and project work. The site is intelligently organised so that relevant information is easily accessed and includes lots of printable materials for off-computer work.
BBC (bbc.co.uk/learning): Undoubtedly one of the world’s best Websites, it contains a vast range of information and resources, including plenty of online interactivities for children.
Children are doing it for themselves
Many educationalists argue that although content-rich software has much to offer, it’s when children are making their own software that computers have most to offer. It’s in this regard that parents and teachers should consider acquiring a children’s presentation/authoring application. Older children can achieve astounding results with Microsoft Powerpoint, but programs designed specifically for children have most to offer.
Again, there is a variety of such programs available (such as the established Hyperstudio and Textease), our favourite being Opus Max Creator (Digital Workshop). Basically, this program is a children’s version of the increasingly popular Illuminatus authoring application, and is easily affordable.
Using such a program allows children tell their own stories or create their own projects in multimedia format, using pictures, sound, animation and a host of special effects. They can use buttons and hypertext to make pictures, frames or pop-up windows appear, create their own navigation sequences and, most important of all, put their own stamp of individuality on everything they produce.
The benefits of children using a package like Opus Max are many and varied: It will engage them in writing, talking, creating, recording, solving problems and thinking about presentation and audience in a way nothing else will.
If your child has special educational needs or is in receipt of learning support, there are plenty of superb resources available with which you can build on work done in school. Examples include: Wordshark, Numbershark, Wellington Square and Clicker, to name but a few. Such applications are frequently more expensive than mainstream products, so it’s well worthwhile consulting with your child’s teacher in advance of any purchase. The teacher should be able to recommend a particular package, and offer advice as to its use, in line with their own specific learning objectives, and with the needs and interests of the child.
Secondary selections
For children attending second level education, there is a good selection of software available. General purpose reference products will come into their own at this stage, as will the Internet as sources of information. For specific subjects, Irish company Rosk eSystems offers a selection of excellent tutorial-type products, and language learning in particular has a huge variety of multimedia resources available to enhance children’s schoolwork.
That shiny PC in the corner has far more to offer than office applications and game playing. It offers unlimited potential for children of all ages, interests and abilities to enhance their educational development, in particular when parents make a concerted effort to support the work of the school. To ignore this fact is to restrict your child’s development.
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