Penwortham Primary School, Wandsworth - Imagine Logo Case Study

Thanks to Louise Siaw

Introduction

Louise’s enthusiasm for ICT and the potential of Imagine Logo within her school is obvious. On being shown Imagine Logo, Louise’s response was “Great! I can’t wait to take it home and have a play!” Immediately Louise had ideas for how she would use Imagine Logo in school.

Louise’s approach has been interesting and comprehensive. She has used Imagine Logo in a variety of contexts, with pupils from different year groups, working at different levels.  Pupils have been motivated and keen to develop their skills using the software. Imagine Logo has proved to be an accessible piece of software, which is easy, motivating and fun to use. Moreover, it has proved to be wonderful medium for creativity in ICT.

Imagine Logo is being used dynamically across the Year groups. At Year 4, the software has been used primarily for Logo control. Pupils have imported backgrounds and changed the shape of the turtles, which has immediately made logo programming more exciting.  Traditionally, as Louise puts it, “logo is so boring!”  With Imagine Logo, the scope for making logo fun and interesting is wide and varied.

At Years 5 and 6, Imagine Logo has been used for its multi-media facilities. The software has been used by pupils in the Gifted and Talented club, to create talking books for younger pupils. This use of Imagine Logo to create resources for a wider audience demonstrates how well the software opens up ICT in terms of developing creativity, utility and a sense of audience.

Curriculum Areas

At Penwortham Primary School, Imagine Logo has been recognised as having seamless application across the curriculum. Louise has used Imagine for the delivery of ICT, Maths and Literacy. She recognises that with the potential for multi-media projects, there is excellent scope for using Imagine in such subjects as History, Geography and RE.

Year 4

In her use of Imagine Logo with Yr 4 pupils, Louise has concentrated on the facility to deliver ICT Control and Modelling and focused Maths investigations.

Pupils in Yr 4 at Penwortham Primary have learned to import backgrounds (Imagine Logo enables the user to import backgrounds and draw directly on the page with standard direct-drive painting tools) and to change the shape of a turtle. With a host of interesting backgrounds and a variety of animated graphics in to which turtles can be changed, the pupils are able to be imaginative and creative in their logo investigations.

Louise has brought logo to life, with such activities as a Pool game and road navigation. In the Pool game, a Pool table is loaded as a background and the turtles are changed in to Pool balls. Pupils use logo control to pot the balls! With the road navigation activity, the background of a road network is loaded and pupils control a vehicle around the roads. Again, logo control is contextualised and made more motivating for pupils. For maths applications, measure, shape and space are investigated in activities such as these.

Years 5 & 6

Louise will be using Imagine Logo in ICT lessons and across various areas of the wider curriculum. In assessing the potential and scope of Imagine Logo, she has been using it effectively with Gifted and Talented pupils at Yrs 5 and 6.

The objective of these Gifted and Talented pupils has been to use Imagine Logo to create multi-page Talking Books for pupils lower down the school. In a club run outside of school hours, these pupils have worked hard to learn the principles of Imagine and to understand its multi-media capabilities. With such a broad creative remit, the pupils have proved that Imagine Logo is a fantastic tool in helping pupils explore their creativity and reach their imaginative potential. Talking books with titles such as 'The Bird That Lost Her Voice', 'Jungle Competition' and 'Monkey Man Goes to Town' testify the rich depths of imagination expressed through pupils’ use of Imagine Logo.

Pupils have used the multi-media facilities within Imagine Logo to a high standard. Different pupils show different areas of interest. Some have enjoyed importing animations on to colourful backgrounds, others have shown a strong interest in composing music; or have worked at linking multiple pages, importing sounds, utilising video clips and creating animations. The level of ICT competence and imaginative application has been impressive.

Imagine Logo provides an environment that enables pupils to express their creativity and to build on their strengths and their interests:

• Alice and Mariam
  Working together, Alice and Mariam created a multi-page talking book, utilising the speech synthesiser in Imagine. Bringing in a variety of backgrounds, animations and text, their project involves the user clicking on characters to hear the story spoken aloud.

• Jonathan
  In “Johnno’s Space Adventure”, Jonathan has created a lively book with text, backgrounds, multiple pages and animated turtles. Most impressive, was Jonathan’s interest in recording his own voice, in order that the story was spoken with sufficient expression. Jonathan also showed some interest in using the animation facility of Logo motion.

• George and David
  George and David were interested in the logo potential of Imagine, rather than its multi-media potential. They have used Imagine to create interactive, logo-based projects.

• James
  James used Imagine Logo to create a multi-page narrative based in a jungle. James expressed an enthusiasm for the ease of use and the creative potential of Imagine:  “I love to play on the computer. This is the sort of program that lets you do something for your own good and you can have fun at the same time.”

• Stan
  Stan used Imagine’s facility to compose music on screen. He created interesting, complex melodies, which he dropped in to his talking book to add atmosphere.

Ease of Use

Louise has found Imagine Logo quick to familiarise with and easy to use. However, she is learning all the time!

In introducing the software to the class, she has projected Imagine on to a whiteboard and has talked her pupils through the various aspects of Imagine. Having shown one or two aspects, the pupils then have time to play with the software to familiarise themselves with what they have learned. One pupil commented on this approach:  “We are fed a little bit at a time and it is easy.”

Thus, both teacher and pupils have found Imagine Logo easy to use.

Differentiation

According to Louise, it is important to differentiate when using Imagine with pupils. Higher ability pupils find it easy and intuitive to use; lower ability pupils need some support. In Louise’s opinion, one of the best ways to offer support to lower ability pupils is to provide clear worksheets, or to create frameworks within Imagine that can be used by the pupils within a lesson

Method of Teaching / Learning

Louise tends to demonstrate the software on a whiteboard, with the use of a projector. This allows for whole-class teaching, and for questions and issues to be raised and shared directly. Pupils working with the software tend to work on an individual basis or in small groups. Both are effective, and the software lends itself to either approach.

For purposes of differentiation, or to level classroom dynamics, Louise has considered the possibility of pairing less able pupils with more able counterparts.

The use of a whiteboard and projector is embraced in Louise’s use of Imagine Logo. In particular, pupils like to use the “big screen” offered by the whiteboard, to show their work to the class. This is effective and adds to pupil motivation within the classroom.

Future Use

Having used Imagine with her Gifted and Talented pupils, for its multi-media facilities, Louise is now keen to use it in class at Yrs 5 and 6. She feels that it will be easy enough for pupils to use and that she will be able to use it for literacy, among other areas of the curriculum.

She will continue to use Imagine Logo for logo control in Yr 4, and hopes to develop this further.

One of the things Louise is interested in doing, is using Imagine Logo to create templates and writing frames for effective use in literacy and other areas of the curriculum.

Summary

Louise clearly enjoyed using Imagine Logo and has used it to a high level with her pupils. By giving her pupils an open remit as to what they might do with the software (enabled by the fact she has used it in an out-of-school club), she has allowed her pupils to demonstrate what they can do with it and thus, what it can do.

The pupils have taken to Imagine Logo very well. They have enjoyed using it and have found it easy and intuitive to use. They have been empowered by the way in which Imagine Logo facilitates creative investigation. This is a situation in which ICT has been used as a tool to express, but also to explore the imagination of each individual pupil.

Quotes

Some of the pupils’ comments testify the use of Imagine across a wide range of interests.