Visual Learning - a whole school approach

Please spend some time reading these notes and looking at the associated Kidspiration files.

A comprehensive collection of ideas and files by Frances Sutherland of St. Joseph's Primary School, Kelty, Fife, Scotland.

Background Information

More about the school

Teaching Strategy

The sample files

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Background

The pages which follow set out, in sequence, the steps followed to develop a whole school approach to using mind mapping techniques in a Fife primary school. It is hoped that teachers will note the progression of activities which:

	is matched to the children's cognitive development
	includes preliminary work with a specialist teaching colleague
	introduces Kidspiration to children in the 5 to 9 age range - Primary 1 to Primary 4 (P1 to P4) in Scotland
	makes the learning process much more interactive and intuitive by incorporating the use of an interactive whiteboard to access the software and ease the arrangement of symbols and text in Kidspiration
	begins using visual learning styles through Kidspiration's Picture view and only develops to include the Writing View when the focus moves to writing. In addition, the spell checker is switched off for the youngest children so as not to deter emergent writers from making their own attempt at writing.
	helps focus on the learning process by reducing the learning curve needed to use Kidspiration by the judicious use of the supergrouper feature and the teacher's reliance on the Activity Wizard to keep choices such as the range of symbols deliberately focussed on the subject being studied
	A chart showing this progression is included at the start of the sample file menu page.

Unlike the other sample files included in this website it is recommended that visitors to these pages should devote time to following the notes in this section in sequence as they develop the use of Kidspiration from simple beginnings to a wider use of the full range of features in direct correlation to the children's acquisition of knowledge and skills and their intellectual development.
In this context it has been decided to provide two files per topic, the first is the opening screen presented to the children and the second is a child's sample file - the finished article!
At first glance, the first file is seemingly bereft of symbols, text and links but how else can you focus on the thinking process than by starting with the Main Idea and taking it from there?

So why include this file?
So that you will look deeper and discover:

	how the screen has been arranged
	whether or not supergroupers have been used
	which symbols were locked in place
	which symbols libraries were pre-set
	was sound on or off
	whether the spell checker is on or off

More about the school

St Joseph's Primary School lies in the village of Kelty in Fife, Scotland.
The school has 120 pupils and a staff complement of one headteacher and 6 class teachers.
In the academic year 2004/2005 a probationer teacher was assigned to the school. Throughout Scotland there is a national programme to assist newly qualified teachers gain practical teaching skills by ensuring that they are placed in a school for one year following graduation. Such teachers are considered to be an additional member of the teaching staff and are allocated 3.5 teaching days and 1.5 non-teaching time within a normal working week - the non-contact time is essential to permit the creation of class activities and to further their own professional development.

The permanent class teacher is therefore relieved of classroom duties for the 3 1/2 days covered by the probationer teacher. Fife schools make full use of the experienced teacher's time to help promote whole-school intiatives.
In St Joseph's Primary, Frances Sutherland was assigned the responsibility to integrate the use of ICT, where appropriate, in the delivery of the curriculum and to seek ways through which ICT could help raise children's attainment and enhance diversity in the teaching pedagogy employed.

Frances was very interested in the growing volume of research related to learning styles and was keen to introduce them in her school. Thus she grasped the chance to use newly introduced copies of Kidspiration and Inspiration with small groups of children in a planned programme timetabled to match her non-class contact time.

Please refer to the companion Inspiration site for more information on the Scotland-wide purchase of licences to schools sanctioned by the Scottish Executive Education Department.

Teaching Strategy

1	Mind Mapping first introduced to staff by the support for learning specialist.
2	Frances worked with a class using the SmartBoard interactive whiteboard to brainstorm ideas.
3	The first few Kidspiration features were introduced to the children using the starter files created by Frances using the Activity Wizard and Supergrouper features.
4	Children worked on different computers to create their own versions which were then saved on the school's server within their own class folder.
5	Demonstration and discussion followed and the children shared ideas.
6	Another class topic was chosen and new Kidspiration features introduced.

	Open the kidspiration file.	Find out more about SETT - the Scottish Learning Festival

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