AS you step into the Grade 6 class at Chelsea Preparatory School it immediately becomes clear that these students are eager to learn.
Not only that, but they are actually having fun while working through what most would consider to be tedious calculations, grammar rules and scientific facts.
What is their secret, you may ask? It is something that one would find in most homes – technology, or more precisely, tablet computers.
After months of in-depth research the staff at the Durban North school have taken the plunge, and have incorporated technology into their classrooms.
This year the 140 Grade 6 pupils have traded their traditional textbooks for mobile tablet computers.
However, deputy principal, Sandy Williams, insists that the new programme is more than simply providing their pupils with the hardware.
“We wanted the programme to be innovative, so we made sure to holistically use the technology to its full potential. By pushing additional content to the tablets it can aid the learning process, making it fun and exciting,” she explained.
Instead of blackboards and projectors the pupils are taught using a television connected to the teacher’s tablet. From there the teacher can access the downloaded textbook and quickly access the internet for additional multimedia content and display it on the television screen for the class.
In order to ensure that a culture of research using technology among the rest of the pupils is inculcated, the school’s Media Centre has also been equipped with tablets for research purposes, together with a research area with laptops. Research lessons have been timetabled, to ensure all pupils are given the opportunity to learn the skills children need to live in a world of technology.
The new system will also be rolled out into Grade 7 in 2016 and, once the success of the system is evaluated, a decision will be made as to whether tablets will be introduced into the entire senior primary school.
“Technology is the way of the future and the vision of the school is to be a leader, therefore we have embraced the technological developments,” said Williams.
