ICT Tools for primary science & maths

Spring is in the air and our school is taking part in the Greenwave project. As part of this project pupils record different signs of spring and upload them to the website. Pupils should take pictures of primroses, frog spawn, the Horse Chestnut tree, the Ash tree and the swallow. Videos and fact files are available on the site. CLICK HERE.

As well as taking digital photos of the different items pupils should upload records of wind speed, rain fall and temperature. The site gives excellent instructions on how to create an anemometer so that pupils can record wind speed. Also, there are great instructions ion how to create a rain gauge and record the rain fall. When the pupils have uploaded their data to the site it is automatically entered into a graph. This allows pupils to analyse the data and compare it with the readings from your local weather station.

For taking the temperature one can use a normal temperature and upload the data as above, or they could use the Vernier Let’s Go Digital Thermometer. The digital thermometer comes with simple graphing software and is a cheap and excellent resource that all schools should have. The thermometer can be connected via a USB connection to a laptop and brought outside to record the temperature of the frog pond, the air temperature or the soil temperature. The data is graphed instantly and on returning to the classroom the teacher can connect the laptop to the IWB/projector and pupils can analyse the data. This is really a very simple ICT tool that enhances science and maths.

There are a list of investigations that can be used within the classroom listed on their website. All the lesson plans are listed out for the teacher. I would highly recommend all schools investigating in this simple ICT tool. The European base for Vernier is located in Longford and they can be contacted at  venglish@ vernier-europe.com