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This morning I visited Campie Primary School. Campie are hosting a trial of the hand held device the Sony PSP. 

The purpose of this trial is to investigate the potential of the Sony PSP in the context of learning. In December Derek Robertson (from Learning and Teaching Scotland), Karen Robertson Alicia MacFarlane and Steven Wood (Campie) and myself met to discuss the approach that we would adopt for this trial.

Alicia and her P6-7 Class are now into their second week of the trial; and I was very pleased to meet with them today. There are two main components to this trial. Firstly the use of the game Hot Brain and secondly the educational value of the PSP as a form of hardware. The class project is World War 2 (WW2).

Rather than write a lengthy post, I have deceided to re-write my scribbles so I hope they make sense!:

Campie PS Week 2 of the PSP Trial:

• Pupils have been allocated their own PSP and copy of the game ‘Hot Brain’ for the duration of the trial.
• Hot Brain is a game that could potentially enhance many aspects of learning (spelling etc).
• The pupils have filled out questionnaires on ‘Hot Brain’ that Alicia created- I have had a quick flick though and it is fascinating to see how honest (and probably correct) these youngsters are.
• This game is played for 20 minutes every morning.
• Alicia (Class Teacher) has created record tables that each pupil will fill out at the end of their ‘Hot Brain’ Session every morning-Alicia has asked the pupils to record their scores/results of the various learning games that they play during the morning session (this will allow us to correlate at the end of the trial).
• Pupils can play the game solo or link-up wirelessly with fellow pupils to compete (if they wish).

Following this morning practice, Alicia introduced her pupils to the other functions of the PSP (not that they needed much guidance!):

Alicia’s next 30 minutes were to be spent showing the pupils step-by-step how to:

• Take a photo
• Take a photo at different angles (good angles- high, low and neutral).
• Using the PSP’s zoom.
• Browsing the photos taken.
• Using the video mode: Take a small clip just for practicing.

The next part of the lesson was ‘Web-browsing’- something that made me gulp as I heard Alicia say-

‘And if you have a problem, Miss Watson or I will be happy to help you’.

(The DS is my forte, but I am willing to give the PSP and good run).

The pupils then used the PSP’s to connect to the school’s wifi. They proceeded to use Google to look at various pictures of ration books. Some pupils had difficulties in accessing the net. This was not due to their typing (clicking) but the availability of wifi- I am not entirely sure, but when you have 25 machines logging onto a wireless network inevitably the last few may have problems. The two pupils who couldn’t get the browser working then asked their friends to send them from PSP to PSP. It worked! and all individuals were able to complete the tasks before break time.

This project is very exciting and we have only just touched the tip of the iceberg. I would like to thank Miss Mac Farlane and the P6-7’s at Campie Primary School. I am very much looking forward to my next visit!

Well done and keep up the good work!

Miss W