Assessment 2 - Animations and Simulations - Edheads

Animations and simulations incorporates technology so well in the classroom. The teacher needs to be wise in it use and not rely on the technology to facilitate the learning but recognise that the technology is a tool that needs to be well managed in order to be effective. Specifically, I am looking at the program called Edheads. Edheads is a database of online interactive simulation-style games. The way I see something like Edheads being introduced into a classroom lesson is through whole-class participation or through group work activities. I had a look and played around with a couple of the activities and have, below, used de Bono's thinking hats as a structure to analyse the use of something like Edheads in the primary school context. For relevance I will use a specific example of the activity on the Edheads website called The Compound Machine - http://www.edheads.org/activities/odd_machine/index.htm

White - OBJECTIVE

• Uses technology
• Fun
• Multiple Learning Styles are catered for - auditory, visual and kinaesthetic
• Lots of different topics to accommodate different learning subjects

Red - INTUITIVE

• This is fun, interactive and can be used as an extra homework activity or as a collaborative classroom activity facilitated by the teacher.
• Children love to play computer games and/or love watching TV. Edheads interactive animations are like the TV characters or computer game characters are talking and working with the children.
• There is a process and with children being interactive with the game, they feel like they are important to the process and take ownership over their own learning.

Black - NEGATIVE

• Can easily be relied upon for entire learning rather than being used as a tool by teachers to facilitate learning.
• Australian contextual animations and simulations are not as common as American - this could lead to spelling and pronunciation discrepancies.
• Differences between the subtlety of real life and the exaggeration of some online simulations 

Yellow - POSITIVE

• Edheads, as well as other interactive animations, are scaffolded self-directed learning. Based on the choices of the children the final product is created.
• It is fun.
• It caters to all learning styles - visual, auditory, kinaesthetic.
• It enhances the technological skills of the learners
• Relevant and real-life scenarios can be experienced through the technology

Green - CREATIVE

• Edheads interactive animations could be used as a class collaborative task
• They could be group work for in-class tasks
• They could be homework
• They could be used as a fun and exciting way to introduce a topic.
• They could be an interesting form of assessment.
• They could be used as a way of introducing a topic.

Blue - PROCESS

• "Simulations as learning environments have a long history of use in education and training (Grabinger, 1996). Over the past decade simulations have become increasingly popular for creating realistic digital environments that closely replicate the world and the workplace." -- http://ascilite.org.au/conferences/perth04/procs/ferry.html
• Online and technology based learning is the trend of education. Simulations and interactive animations such as Edheads provide relevancy and as close to a real-world situation as can be created using technology.