Explaining the important role played by ICT in a Primary school education at Northbridge

Explaining the important role played by ICT in a Primary school education at Northbridge A few weeks ago, our Grade 5 students successfully presented to the Northbridge International School Cambodia community the culmination of their Primary school learning through the PYP exhibition.

A few weeks ago, our Grade 5 students successfully presented to the Northbridge International School Cambodia community the culmination of their Primary school learning through the PYP exhibition. 

In the IBO publication, Exhibition Guidelines, it states:

"ICT can provide an environment in which students record, organize, analyse and reflect on their learning during the exhibition (by using appropriate software, virtual learning environments, school intranet).

"For example, a class, group or individual blog can be an effective tool for recording the exhibition process and a way of communicating this process with peers, teachers, mentors, parents and the wider community.

"ICT also provides different opportunities for staging and presenting the exhibition, for instance, the use of digital images and videos, audio, digital portfolios, websites, data projectors, and commercially produced publishing software." (PYP Exhibition Guidelines page 7).

So, how did the use of ICT supported the Grade 5 students in their PYP Exhibition?

The students...

• used digital tools to locate, retrieve, manipulate, analyze, synthesize and evaluate information for specific topics

• used word processing skills to produce their opinion writing and for documentation (Google docs, Padlet)

• created videos or used graphics to support their presentation (Stop motion, virtual reality)

• used Google forms/survey monkey to collect, record and analyze data

• used ICT as a collaboration tool and to communicate knowledge in a variety of forms and media, for different purposes and for a wide-ranging audiences

• demonstrated their knowledge of citing sources appropriately  

• demonstrated respect for copyrighted materials

• included google documents and forms to encourage people to sign up to participate in various campaigns

• shared short tutorial videos they created, infographics, and virtual reality.

We have also integrated technology into our younger grades. Our Grade 1 students have recently worked with the green screen to create videos to promote destinations to tourists. Please watch the video below.

Below is more information about this from our Grade 1 teacher, Ms Hannah:

“In Grade 1, we have been focused on our Unit of Inquiry into ‘Where We are in Place and Time’. We have been thinking about how the way we live is affected by where we live in the world and looking into different countries and comparing the ways of life and the reasons behind them.

"We did a lot of research into different countries and then decided to get into small groups to show our research of one specific country. To do this, we decided to create tourism videos which would try and educate others on the country of our choice, but also try and convince others to visit these countries. We wrote scripts during our Literacy lessons and iPads to find pictures related to what we had written.

"When we had completed this and rehearsed our parts, we went to the Makerspace to work with Mr Jack in the studio. We used the Green Screen to display the pictures we had chosen and then performed the information that we had written in our scripts. We recorded this using an iPad.

"The Green Screen was so important as it made our tourism videos look professional and engaging. By choosing to use the Green Screen as part of our project, it meant that we had to learn different skills such as how to use Google images to find the pictures we needed, we learned how to be principled and honest by only using pictures that we had permission to use and we also learned how to crop and save pictures into folders so that we had easy access to them.

"These approaches to the use of IT in the Primary are effective as they allow students to make informed choices when deciding on which tools to use to articulate their messages. Amongst other things, the exhibition also allows us to see the effectiveness of our Bring Your Own Device policy for Grade 4 and 5, 1-to-1 iPad provision in Grade 2 and 3, and integration of technology in the younger grades.

"It is exciting to see how all of our students are given the chance to develop their IT communication skills and apply them in meaningful contexts."