Students examined Guy Fawkes’ motives in the historical context of the time and drew parallels between his drivers and actions and those of more recent figures in history e.g. Nelson Mandela, in order to examine and challenge common perceptions of Guy Fawkes as simply a would-be terrorist. Gemma Jones, Berlin Bilingual School, Berlin.
Outline of the Class
The teacher began the lesson by referring back to the model eBook that she had shared with students in a previous lesson. Students were asked to consider how she had presented images of herself and her family so that the appropriate links between cells, variation and inheritance were demonstrated.
Next, the students edited and updated the existing image materials in the relevant section of their eBooks to demonstrate their understanding of the connection between previous classwork and genetic and environmental influences on their own lives and development.
LoiLoNote's Application
LoiLoNote was used to prompt paired discussion by showing an image of Guy Fawkes on the SMART board. Students were given free use of LoiLoNote to access the internet for further research and sharing relevant images or texts with each other via Tunnels. The teacher also shared a Note containing a series of questions as a starting point for students to consider and research further in pairs.
Using the iPads gave the students immediate access to online information that they needed to fill in the gaps in their knowledge or experiences relating to an unfamiliar concept. Using LoiLoNote gave them a quick and easy way to collate and share their findings with one another, and the visual prompts collected during the pair research section significantly improved the flow of the subsequent whole-group discussion.
*The tunnelling feature enables sharing contents and data between users via wifi in real time.
A Voice from the Classroom
“The students enjoyed the multimedia possibilities that LoiLoNote offered and the ability to share materials with one another. They were much more willing to share useful resources with their peers than they normally are, and did so without prompting,” said Gemma Jones, “The use of webcards as a starting point, coupled with key questions, is a powerful way of allowing students to either move in a direction of their own choosing, or to stick to the safer option of trying to answer the questions presented to them by the teacher.”
Her comments show how LoiLoNote is flexibly suited to the needs of a range of students, allowing more timid students to stay within the parameters of the task set by the teacher while at the same time allowing more adventurous or able students to stretch themselves and push the boundaries of their knowledge and learning.