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Design
and make resources to help pupils learn about
‘smart card technology’ |
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School: St Cyres School,
Penarth |
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Fellow: Damian Parker |
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Email: n/a |
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Final Report |
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Aims: |
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To design and make a range
of teaching resources to help pupils learn
about ‘Smart Card Technology. |
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The plan for my project was firstly to design
and make a range of teaching resources that
will enable pupils of all abilities to use
the ‘Smart Card’ programmer to
obtain various outcomes and secondly to produce
a teaching resource that will be used to help
the pupils understand ‘Smart Card’
technology and to guide them through the worksheets
that would accompany the kits. The resource
would provide an excellent link between the
computer control work that we were already
completing in yr8 with the ‘IQ’
controller and the ‘Chip Factory’
work that the yr10 Systems & Control group
were completing. This would also increase
their awareness of computer control and the
link with the Systems & Control subject.
When designing the resource I also had to
take into consideration that the work would
have to be easily transported, as the school
has a split site and the yr9 groups on the
other site would need to experience the work. |
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My original plan was to produce a wide range
of control boards using simple graphic images
that were not gender biased to use on the
boards, however during production I decided
to narrow this down to three. This made the
lesson easier to control and teach, and also
reduced the production time. Through the use
of the software Design Tools I have been able
to design the project boards and make the
outer cases using a laser cutter, allowing
me to store the information on CD and use
to re-produce any of the design boards when
necessary. An advantage of using CAD/CAM is
that any other teacher can take a copy of
the work and reproduce, with guidance, when
needed. During the time that I was completing
the project boards I was fortunate enough
to acquire two very large posters promoting
new films. One of these films was I Robot
and the other was for Atlantis. Using these
posters I was able to apply a number of different
outputs that the pupils would be able to control
with the smartcard controller. The boards
were mounted in the Systems & Control
room and made a dramatic impact when you entered
the room, unfortunately this resource is not
portable so only the pupils on the one site
can use them, however when more posters are
acquired the same principles will be applied
and a resource will be produced for the other
school site. To teach and introduce the topic
I have produced a number of PowerPoint slides
which will inform the pupils on what ‘Smartcard’
technology is all about, and how they can
programme and use it in the boards. I have
built enough boards to teach a class of twenty
five to thirty depending on group numbers
and ability. All the boards, the worksheets
and the inputs/outputs are stored in two boxes
that can be wheeled away. This allows teachers
of both sites access to the resource when
necessary. |
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I trialled the resource with
my yr9 group and managed to successfully complete
all the tasks within the four lessons that
were allocated for computer control. The ability
of the group was very mixed from some very
high ability pupils to a number who had support
staff with them. Initially I only gave them
the Christmas tree and happy birthday boards
to use until they became familiar with the
programming language. Most pupils quite quickly
picked up the language and were ready to move
on to more challenging tasks. Through constant
observation it was clear which pupils needed
the more challenging tasks. These pupils were
then grouped together and given the traffic
light boards while the remaining pupils were
given help to complete the other boards. In
order to encourage the lower ability pupils
to further their work with ‘Smartcard’
I placed the remainder of the pupils onto
the larger displays. I realised that these
pupils would not cope with the complexity
of the traffic light programme but would clearly
be able to programme the larger displays.
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Through a series of questions that I asked
the group at the end of the session, it was
clear that the work had been successful. The
only negative comments received were about
the sound quality of the musical chimes. The
majority of pupils agreed that four lessons
was the right amount of time working on the
boards with the traffic light board being
the most challenging as expected. It was very
pleasing to see at the end of the session
the competitiveness of the pupils in trying
to be the first group to complete the final
traffic light task, and even the lower ability,
trying to produce the most dramatic outcome
on the larger display boards again clearly
indicating the success of the outcomes. |
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I am very pleased with the
outcome of my project. I feel that my products
far exceeded my expectations in terms of quality
and impact on the pupils. The use of CAD/CAM
to produce the boards has clearly made the
project look more professional, with most
pupils believing the boards to be a bought
in product. One unexpected outcome from the
project came when I decided to let my MLD
yr8 group use the boards. Many of the pupils
had seen the boards around the room and were
curious as to what they were. Due to the small
class size I felt that I could introduce them
briefly to ‘Smartcard’ technology.
Through working as a class I taught them how
to use the basic commands. I was surprised
at how quickly they were able to switch things
on and off and gave them the boards to try.
Unlike the other groups, I wrote some simple
tasks on the board and let them work through
in groups. The class used the boards and the
larger displays for two lessons, where they
successfully programmed simple outcomes clearly
enjoying themselves. |
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Now that I have completed the work for the
project I will be organising all the files
and documents onto CD so that other teachers
can use to produce their own resource. With
time I would like to produce a step-by-step
guide illustrating how to build the boards
and how to overcome possible problems. With
the unexpected effect the boards had with
the lower ability group I am now in the process
of developing very simple worksheets where
the pupils will have to choose from a number
of commands the correct command to complete
the programme and then test to see if it works.
Next year all yr9 groups will experience and
use the project boards. The effect that this
has on numbers opting for Systems & Control
will have to be monitored. Already our numbers
have risen from classes of around fifteen
to twenty in previous years, to thirty three
this year. Hopefully the use of the project
boards in yr9 will be beneficial to the yr10
Systems & Control group when they use
the ‘Chip Factory’ software, as
they are very similar in the way they are
programmed. |
