FDG 202 - Session 5

• Experience role play software designed for Foundation Stage along with other ICT resources for role play
• Explore the web for information sources which could be used for problem solving exercises
• Explore the use of Turtle Graphics in problem solving

Tutorials - 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

Starter - At the Cafe - whole class (published by Granada Learning).

At the Toyshop - 2 player strategy game (off-line)

• Time problems
  • A day out in Blackpool - solve some problems involving time
  • for longer journeys: National Rail Enquiries or National Express Coaches
  • or for something more exotic - flight timetables from Manchester Airport
  • ...and Manchester Airport / NWLG Interactive Zone - 24 hour clock
  
  Could any of the above be adapted for use with younger children (12 hour clock instead of 24 hr); simplified journeys - but using real, local information?
  
• Area - explore home much furniture you can fit in a room or garden - use these catalogues to find product dimensions:
  • Argos
  • MFI
  • Ikea
  
  Could you make room plans, using an vector graphics package (or Word, PowerPoint, IWB software) and scale drawings of furniture?
  
• Buying new books for the school library from Amazon

Sometimes problems crop up during question and answer sessions with children - for example, whilst working on symmetry with Y4 - discussing a star, one pupil asked if the shape could be built up from 5 kites. I suggested that drawing a kite using turtle graphics, then drawing four more, rotating between each one, would be one way of finding an answer. We worked out the internal angle of the corner of the kite which would be at the centre of the star - but then it was break time. A different pupil spent two break times, working methodically, but by trial and improvement, to produce a kite. The next lesson we copied and rotated it, to produce a star. Can you use turtle graphics to draw a star by putting 5 kites together?