Useful ICT Tools
1. Kahoot!
Kahoot! is an online quiz tool that has a focus on competition and having some fun. It allows the teacher to create their own quizzes for revision, or they can select one that has been pre-made by someone else.
Pros:
- Relatively quick to set up.
- Easy and free to use.
- Many different quizzes to choose from.
- Accessible from most devices.
Cons:
- Has a tendency to stop working for some users.
- Some students dislike the stress and competitive nature of the quiz.
- Requires stable internet connection.
​
Kahoot! is appropriate for all year levels and can be used for almost any topic when teaching Science. It is highly effective as a formative assessment tool used at the end of a lesson or topic to assess learning. The results of the quiz can also be exported to your email, so that you can get feedback and plan for future lessons. An example would be a Kahoot! activity at the start of a year 8 science lesson which has questions on the previous lesson on 'chemical and physical changes' (ACSSU152). Some good alternative revision tools are Quizizz and Socrative.
​
ICT integration model:
Using the SAMR model of ICT integration, this example of using Kahoot! as a quiz/revision tool would fall under the 'Augmentation' category. This is because the Kahoot! replaces the traditional MCQ quiz paper with an ICT equivalent, but with functional improvements including the instant feedback per question and the competitive standings.
​
​
2. Padlet
Padlet is an online tool that allows you to create a platform in which students can collaborate and share ideas. There are a variety of blank and pre-made templates that you can choose from.
Pros:
- Free to use (can save up to 3 Padlets at a time for the free version)
- Quick and easy to set up.
- Student contributions are updated in real-time.
- Results are saved for later review.
- Accessible from most devices.
- Options allow for profanity filtering and
Cons:
- Doesn't have much use outside of collaborative activities.
- The shared weblink is usually too long and needs to be shortened via other methods.
​
Padlet is a simple tool that is appropriate for all year levels. It is especially useful for collaborative activities such as sharing opinions, thoughts and what they already know about the topic. An example of how we can integrate this tool is by doing a KWL activity during a year 10 biology class on 'genetics' and getting the students to write their responses on the Padlet (ACSSU184).
​
ICT integration model:
Looking at this specific example of using a Padlet for a KWL, we can see that this is also an example of an 'augmentation' activity using ICT. This is because the Padlet directly substitutes the traditional KWL activity done on a 3 columned worksheet with a digital version that can collect all students' answers on one page. We could go one step further an change the KWL Padlet into a 'modification' level activity by allowing the students to pose questions in the "What do I want to know?" column and then getting the students themselves to revisit the online KWL and answer each other's questions in a collaborative activity.
​
3. Spiderscribe
​
SpiderScribe is an online brainstorming tool that allows you to branch off ideas from a main idea/concept and continuously expand on these ideas moving forward.
​
Pros:
- Easy and free to use.
- Can upload images and files to the brainstorm.
- Stays logged in, which allows you to easily return and add new links.
Cons:
- User interface (UI) is poorly designed and cluttered.
- Stylistically bland compared to other brainstorming tools (subjective).
​
SpiderScribe is a handy tool appropriate for all year levels. An example of its integration into the year 9 Science curriculum is to use this tool as a brainstorming activity at the start of a new topic such as sustainability (ACSSU176). Students would brainstorm individually or as a group - what they already know about sustainability and then add to this at the end of the lesson/topic. An alternative to SpiderScribe would Popplet which is another online brainstorming tool but with a more modern aesthetic.
​
ICT integration model:
Again using the SAMR model, this type of activity would fall under the 'augmentation' level of ICT integration mainly because it directly substitutes the traditional activity of brainstorming on a piece of paper and adds additional functional improvements including the ability to branch off ideas as far as the server limit allows. You could even change this activity to be a 'modification' level activity by getting the students to set up their brainstorm into a few key sections/main ideas and then getting the students to rotate around the room and add one thing to the brainstorm.
​
4. PowToon
PowToon is an online presentation tool that allows you to create animations, short films and video presentations.
​
Pros:
- There is a good range of templates available to get you started.
- Can add/upload your own voice recordings to complement your presentations.
Cons:
- The free version only allows you to record 3 minutes maximum.
- Requires the user to view the tutorials before getting started.
- Heavy advertisement throughout the website.
​
PowToon is a powerful tool that requires time and resources at the start to make it useful for student use. Therefore, an example of its use would be in the year 10 science curriuculum where they can create a short animation/presentation on the process of mitosis (ACSSU184). Other free alternatives to PowToon include Canva, Moovly and Piktochart.
​
ICT integration model:
Using the TPACK model, it is evident that this example of PowToon integration falls somewhere between technological and content knowledge i.e TCK. This is because the activity integrates content knowledge on mitosis with the technological knowledge of how to use PowToon as an ICT tool. In order to integrate the third category of pedagogical knowledge into TPACK, we could modify the activity to be an animation/storytelling activity along with an oral presentation of their final product. This would reflect the idea of Vygotsky's social constructivism as well as the idea of learning through schema's and relating information to previous experiences.
​
5. QRstuff
QRstuff is an online tool that allows you to generate QR codes that link to a specified website/link. By copy and pasting the required information, the site will automatically generate a unique QR code which you can then save as an image and provide to other users. The QR codes can also be linked to other useful things apart from your typical websites including twitter profiles, uploaded images or pdfs (require subscription fee) and google map locations etc.
​
Pros:
- Simple and easy to use.
- Free to use.
- Many different 'data type' options.
- Can use the 'dynamic' encoding option to shorten the URL yourself.
- Can stylise your QR code.
Cons:
- Requires subscription for the image and pdf data types.
​
QRstuff is a handy tool that can be used universally across all year levels and curriculum areas. An example of integrating this kind of tool is in a year 7 Biology class that requires the use of Dichotomous keys to identify an organism. We can link a bunch of QR codes to individual organisms and have the students identify them using their dichotomous keys (ACSSU111). There are many alternatives to this type of tool which include QR Code Generator and QRCode Monkey.
​
ICT integration model:
Using the TIMS model of ICT integration, we can see that this example of QR codes in the classroom is an example of active adaptation, entry level collaboration, constructive adoption, authentic adoption and goal directed adoption. This shows that there is room in this example for more effective learning in the classroom using QR codes. An example would be to differentiate the QR codes into organisms that require more or less steps in the dichotomous key classification and giving students the option to search up an organism, create a QR code for the organism and then giving that to another student to classify using dichotomous keys.
