Name: Saltash.net Community School, Cornwall
Evaluator: Dan Roberts, Assistant Headteacher ( blog | twitter )
No. on roll: 1400
Key Stages: 3-4 (Yr7-11, ages 11-16)
Introduction
Dan Roberts evaluated BrainPOP UK specifically as a Science and Homework tool. He ran the evaluation across his school, looking for both teacher and student feedback. Dan also blogged about the process “Do your students like to BrainPOP?”
About Saltash.net Community School
An 11 to 18 mixed comprehensive school currently with 8 form entry. We have specialist status in Science and Mathematics and Computing with a Rural Dimension. Our aim is to ensure that all members of the school are able to:
- be healthy
- stay safe
- enjoy and achieve
- make a positive contribution
- achieve economic well-being within the school, local and wider communities.
The School is a mixed 11 to 18 comprehensive school established in its present form in 1968. The school is maintained by the Cornwall Education Authority. Situated in an area of outstanding natural beauty, it occupies a 13 acre site overlooking Plymouth Sound and the Tamar, Tavy and Lynher rivers.
The Catchment Area includes Brunel Community Primary School, Burraton Community Primary School, Bishop Cornish School, St Stephens School, Landulph School, Sir Robert Geffrey’s School, Landrake and St Germans School. An increasing number of pupils are now joining the school from outside the immediate catchment area in both Year 7 and Year 12. The school is regularly oversubscribed.
The Facilities in our Community School are enjoyed by many people, though of course our pupils are the first to benefit. The school is well equipped with excellent teaching facilities to meet the requirements of the National Curriculum. We have 12 laboratories, a whole school computer network with over 300 machines, 78 teaching rooms, a gymnasium and sports hall. Specialist rooms are also available for music, art and drama.
Our Technology Department was one of the first in the country to be awarded £250,000 which has enabled us to provide an outstanding range of equipment and facilities. We have a well stocked Library/Resource Centre where pupils can research and access information from a wide variety of resources. Our extensive sports fields, including an all weather pitch, are amongst the best in the county enabling us to offer 15 different sports to our pupils.
Introduction:
Over a couple of months we carried out action research using BrainPOP UK as a learning tool within lessons and as an extension at home. We did this with five different classes from Key Stages 3-4.
Objectives:
- To help students understand new knowledge in Science at Key Stage 3 and 4.
- To allow students to use the movies and quizzes for independent revision and to improve the completion of homework.
Methodology:
There were several different methods used to enhance the learning of all students, some of which evolved as the research commenced:
- Students watched the BrainPOP UK movies and then completed the POPquiz associated with the movie as part of the lesson when the teacher introduced a new topic or learning objective.
- Students watched the BrainPOP UK movies and then completed the POPquiz associated with the movie as part of homework. Students were given the URL for specific movies and quizzes to allow them to use them independently as part of their review, reflection and revision for each module.
- Students watched the BrainPOP UK movies and then completed the POPquiz associated with the movie. Students then requested to extend these activities by demonstrating the knowledge they had learnt through the BrainPOP UK resources to develop their own online quizzes through web 2.0 tools such as Quizlet , Proprofs and Photopeach .
- Students watched the BrainPOP UK movies and then completed the POPquiz associated with the movie. Students then requested to extend these activities by demonstrating their knowledge they had learnt through the BrainPOP UK resources by students creating their own online story boards of potential future BrainPOP UK movies that have not been created yet by BrainPOP UK.
Outcomes:
- Students have really been impressed and already love watching the movies.
- Many have said that they make concepts really easy to understand often easier than the teachers can.
- They have also really enjoyed completing some of the online quizzes to test their knowledge from watching the movies.
- The older students at Key Stage 4 really valued the movies which did surprise me. They found them extremely easy to understand and helped them on certain topics that they found difficult within Science.
- Many students were involved in using the resources and using them independently at home and outside of lessons in school.
- Some students suggested to teachers in their other subjects to use a particular movie during a lesson (this was reported several times).
- Many students often watched other movies and completed the quizzes in other subjects at home.
- It allowed students to become more independent and creative through creating their own quizzes and designing and planning out potential future BrainPOP UK movies.
Feedback from students:
“I loved watching the Tim & Moby movies they were entertaining but also helped you understand the Science behind it.”
Year 8 Student
“I have used the BrainPOP UK movies and quizzes lots at home, I have used in many of my other subjects too when I have got stuck and didn’t understand something. It helped me to move on with my learning.”
Year 9 Student
“I found the BrainPOP UK movies really easy to understand some of the more difficult Science concepts at GCSE. The way the movies explained it made sense and helped me understand the parts I didn’t understand in lesson.”
Year 10 Student
Multimedia:
“Hi, I’m Charlotte”
“And I’m Lauren”
“And we’re from Saltash.net Community school.”
“And we like BrainPOP because it’s fun and it gives you a lot of information”
“…and we like the quizzes after the videos ’cause it makes us understand more about what we were learning about.”
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“Hi, I’m Lauren from Saltash.net Community school. I like using BrainPOP beacause it’s fun and not boring like reading out of a text book”.
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“Hi, my names Brandon”
“And I’m James. And we’re from Saltash.net Community school.”
“We like BrainPOP ’cause it told us what we needed to know in a fun way. We used it to do homework in Science to find out the functions of our body”
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