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Implementation
of PIC Technology into Design & Technology
Syllabi at KS4 |
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School: Lancaster Girls'
Grammar School |
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Fellow: John Cook |
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Email: jcooklggs@hotmail.com |
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Recent initiatives such as
the Marconi ’s Electronic and Communications
Technology Project, indicate that there is
a need for Design and Technology teachers
to embrace new technologies and put them into
their schemes of work for delivery to children.
From my experience, this is a high risk strategy
that a lot of teachers feel uneasy with due
to lack of adequate training and guidance,
which they feel rightly necessary to guarantee
success for their pupils, particularly if
it involves examination students. There are
a lot of companies and institutions developing
equipment and software for our area but few
take it to the point of producing exemplar
material. I, like others, have bought expensive
software which promises to be wonderful, only
to find it unusable because of faults or requiring
high order skills well beyond those of normal
school children. |
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Following a less than ideal
experience with PIC Technology last year,
I propose to study and produce the following:
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To identify the strength
of the PIC Systems available for educational
use, and select three widely differing
systems which would be capable of meeting
the needs of most of the Design and
Technology Departments in the country.
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e.g. |
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- TEP Chip Factory -
capable of being used without a computer.
- Economatics - follows a logical path
from the successful Logicator Programme.
- ICON Soft Electronics - uses ladder
logic in an easy, well-presented manner.
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Criteria 1: Select three systems which
cover the very basic to the highly sophisticated.
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Trial each of the three systems with
our Year 11 Systems and Control Groups
and incorporate the PICs into their
GCSE Coursework. |
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Criteria 2: Have successful outcomes
for each system with a variety of inputs
and outputs (particularly electromagnetic
devices). |
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Produce Case Studies for a selected
number of projects so that other teachers
could replicate our work in their schools
with their pupils and produce successful
outcomes. |
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Criteria 3: Pupils produce successful
outcomes for GCSE Coursework with each
of the three systems. |
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The work could be
disseminated in many ways but likely to include:
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as already indicated above
through the WEB. |
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through the teacher journals such
as Electronics Today, DATA Publication,
TEP etc. |
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Through hands-on experience at Inset
Sessions, either at our school or other
centres. |
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through the examination boards. They
are pushing this sort of Technology,
so I would expect them to promote exemplar
material at the regional meetings. |
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