Bill Tagg Bursary

Using Digital Panoramas in the Primary Classroom

Adele Hull

ICT Curriculum Adviser

Leicester City LA

To investigate using digital panoramas could help raise attainment in writing of Year 2 pupils

We used a combination of ‘on screen’ 360o panoramas and sound files.

Moon panoramaBeach panorama

Aim of the research project

More panoramas

Rugby Scrum

Inside the mouth

Why?

•Follow on from a very successful project with KS2 using a computer game called ‘Myst’

•Would a similar approach work with KS1?

•Could help LA Literacy focus on writing

•Potential for raising standards in LA schools

What did the project involve?

•Inset for teachers in using the resources to teach writing

•Teaching with new resources targeted at whole class or group

•Target groups of children working just below age expectations

and more able pupils

•Different genres of writing

•Feedback from pupils and teachers before and after the project

Timescale

1. Summer term 2007• Attended NTU training in research methods• Researched literature• Found and created resources• Identified school(s) and teachers• Planned training for teachers

2. Autumn term 2007•Teacher inset session (1Day)•Identified target children, collected initial data.•Teacher and pupil questionnaires•Teachers taught first Literacy Unit, assessed writing for target group

Timescale (contd)

3. Spring Term 2008•Teach Literacy using panorama•Teachers started using resources in their own planning.•Visit to schools to observe lessons•New target group (more able)

4. Summer Term 2008

•Teachers collected final pieces of writing•Interviews with target children •Teacher feedback meeting•Teacher written feedback•Moderation of children’s writing•Final data collection and analysis

The schools

Three LA schools were selected

School Characteristics of area served by the school

% English as a additional language

% Free school meals

A Social housing, high level deprivation

55% 37%

B Private terraced housing

27% 9%

C Private semi-detached and detached

30% 1%

The project began with five Year 2 teachers Four teachers identified a group of pupils working just below expected level for their age, one teacher had a group of more able writers.

What we did

1.Teachers were shown where to find free digital panoramas, how to find music and sound effects and how to edit these to create a sound track to go with the panorama

2.Teachers used the panorama and sound with whole class, and small groups across 3 terms.

3.Children’s writing was analysed to see if the use of the panorama had any effect.

Some Panoramas used :-Underwater Cave

Versailles Dark Forest

Antarctica

Findings

1.More effect on writing of more able pupils Much better use of descriptive vocabulary

2.Little or no effect on less able target group writing but improved spoken vocabulary

3.Creating own panoramas was too time consuming for teachers

4.Panoramas of unfamiliar places seemed to be more effective

5.Panoramas were useful in other curriculum areas

Examples of Children’s writing

Less able child – before

Examples of Children’s writing

Less able child – after

Examples of Children’s writing

More able child – before

Examples of Children’s writing

More able child – after

Quotes from children

“The sound makes it feel more like you are there, in the place.”“It helps give you even more ideas.”

“Sometimes I don’t know what to write about”“It’s difficult to write some stories”“I can’t think what to write sometimes”

Before

After

“I have more ideas, more to write about.”“I use better describing words.”“Sometimes I think of much better words ‘cos I can see what’s there.”

Quotes from teachers

When the panoramas were used alongside music or sound effects they became even more powerful and projecting them onto an interactive whiteboard meant they almost transformed the classroom into another location. Children were completely in awe when I used the first panorama and even came up to the whiteboard and touched it to check if they would be able to 'dive into' the picture on screen. I have found the panoramas have influenced children's descriptive writing and the language the children have used as a result of using the panoramas has been very pleasing. I shall certainly continue to use panoramas as a stimulus to writing as well as in other curriculum areas.

The panoramas really captured their imaginations and the result was very good when they came to write their own story plans and eventually their finished stories. Here are some quotes from stories that the children wrote:"They floated through a dark, dripping hole into a dense, green, damp forest.""They looked on the sandy, bright, mysterious beach.""The rainforest was green, light and mysterious.""The boat was hidden behind an ancient rock in the distance on the sandy, rocky beach."

Teacher A

Teacher B

Quotes from teachers

Recently to support the extended stories unit in literacy we used the Rio carnival panorama to  give us a story start. The panorama needed music and drama added to it, but when used together it opened the flood gates to new and interesting spoken vocabulary. When the children began to plan and eventually write their stories they had a sense of place and occasion that wouldn't have been possible without the panorama.

For me the most successful use of a panorama was the lunar landings. We were doing a topic on space and the children had asked about the moon. We role played a moon mission, when we 'landed' on the moon we used the panorama to explore the lunar surface and what we could see around us. The children then wrote messages back to earth describing their experience. This supported development of vocabulary and linked to science work on dark and light.

Teacher C

Teacher D

Possible further development of the project

One teacher took screen shots from the panorama and used these in Photostory3 for children to record words and phrases.

Children found this highly motivating and there was some early indication that this could be valuable.

Outcomes for the LA

Use of panoramas has now been included in writing CPD by Literacy consultants, particularly at KS2.

A set of panoramas as Quicktime movies and sound files (copyright free) has been made available to teachers on the LA Learning Platform

Where we found resources

Panoramaswww.panoramas.dkwww.arounder.comwww.fullscreenpanos.com http://geoimages.berkeley.edu/wwp/index.html.en

Musicwww.lgfl.audio.org.uk www.findsounds.comSound editing - http://audacity.sourceforge.net Panorama SoftwareSerif Panorama Plus 3