To begin with, we had various problems setting up the hardware as the other group were using the main screens in our classroom. We were then moved to another room for an hour, which another class then required the use of. We finally ended up in a third room, by which point we only had around 20 minutes left. Although it was a hassle to keep moving around, it gave us the chance to set up the Wii using a variety of different resources. Each of us now have the skills to set up the Wii on a Smartboard, DVD player and projector - or so we hope!
We started with "Dance On Broadway" - busting a move to the 'Timewarp', 'Hairspray' and 'The Lion King'! We felt this would be a great dance lesson for the whole class to participate in as, although only four people can control the on screen characters with remotes, the other members of the class can just follow the actions without being scored. This would benefit the quieter members of the class who would like to join in, but would not usually participate were it to be in front of the whole class. Those who wanted to use the remote at the front could then take turns. This would need a lot of space in a gym hall which would also need to have a projector to ensure the whole class could follow the moves. This would be a great stimulus for a P.E. lesson as it has the ability to engage those who may not otherwise enjoy other gym lessons. However, one factor we thought may be an issue in the classroom would be engaging boys in the dance lesson. We would overcome this by initially using more male-orientated games such as "Michael Jackson: The Experience" or "Just Dance". The latter has a male and female character dancing on every song, and is filled with up to date songs that the children will have heard of.
We didn't have so much fun with "Samba de Amigo". Our initial excitement at using the big, colourful maracas quickly wore off when we discovered their design fault - no hole for the sensor. Each of the Wii's remotes have a sensor on top which transmits information to the main device. Most of the remotes accessories have a hole at the top so as not to cover the sensor but these maracas didn't. Sharon suggested we take the maraca apart and try and make a hole in the top which Gillian was very eager to try....
This wasn't successful as the beads that make the shaking sound were at the top of the maraca! If this problem were to arise in the classroom, we thought that, instead of giving up on the idea, we could use this as part of the learning experience. This would make a good problem solving activity in technology for the class, and we could ask each of them to design and make their own maracas.
We then went out to test the game using just the remotes. We did not have much success at this stage either as neither of the three of us could sync the remotes to the game! Aaarrrgh..... We spent the last 20 minutes of our lesson trying to get this to work but to no joy. When we went back to the classroom to report our problem back to Sharon, the whole class then had to use their problem solving skills to work out a solution. Finally, we worked out that the remote needed to feel your wrist twisting in order to pick up the direction you were trying to shake your maracas in. We felt that this would, again, make a good P.E. warm up that the whole class could be involved in, as it would make a good upper body workout. We also felt this would transfer over to other curricular areas such as music. All of the songs on the game have been chosen for their good beats so this would make a good lesson on practising rhythm in music.
Although we didn't get much of a chance to test out the games educational qualities, this experience has again shown me that you should always be well prepared when using ICT in the classroom. You need to test all of the equipment before use to ensure it is all working correctly and you have a sound knowledge of how it works, in order to help any of the children who are struggling. However, I do also feel that a lot of the children would probably do a better job teaching the teacher within some games based learning scenarios. They have grown up using technology such as games consoles and, on the most part, will think nothing of setting up a device and getting stuck in. As stated by Nolan (1995): "Teachers must respect students if they are truly to listen to their ideas, and if students are to respect the teacher's." (page 205) This backs up the idea that respect between teacher and pupils can be gained if the teacher is willing to take on the pupil's ideas, and they will, therefore, be more inclined to listen to their teacher's ideas too. This gives children more of an ownership of their learning, if they are to take an active role in setting up their activities and allowing the teacher and pupils to learn from each other.
Nolan, S.B. (1995) Teaching for Autonomous Learning, in C. Deforges, (Ed.) An Introduction to Teaching. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd.
You have some interesting ideas. Giving the pupils more ownership of their learning is very much a child centred approach. Besides getting the children to set up devices you would also encourage them to think about what they would be learning by using the resource. Listening to children's ideas and responding to them gives children a voice.
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