Play, Practice, Learn...and get SMART
August 2011
Comox District students were the big beneficiaries of the prize draw at last year's BC School Superintendent's conference. Assistant Superintendent Sheila Shanahan had the winning ticket for a SMART Table provided through ERAC.
The SMART Table arrived in the Comox School District in January and was then moved to Miracle Beach Elementary School. When the table arrived, Principal Erica Black said she was reminded of a TED Talk that showed what happened when a computer was plunked down in rural India. Young children who didn't speak English were quickly drawn to it and, on their own, discovered many of its features. Black was confident that the students at Miracle Beach would be able to figure out how it worked if they were allowed to explore and play.
"One day, I went into the library and turned it on," Black said. "Immediately four children sidled over to see what was going on. I knew nothing about how it operated, so we experimented together. We learned so much and had a lot of fun discovering the programs that were already loaded."
It's a natural tool for primary activities like matching and sorting. However, teachers at the school also saw other applications right away. Like other SMART products, teachers can create their own lesson plans or modify existing modules on their own computers and then transfer them on a memory stick to the table.
Just like SMART Boards, simple hand movements allow objects to be moved and resized. Black said, "We were delighted to see how the SMART Table was able to count up and down as fingers were added and removed. We could imagine asking a student, 'How many will we have if you add two fingers and I add one finger?' We could see the potential for partitioning, social thinking, inclusion and just general excitement.
"One teacher said she loved seeing how the wheels were turning in her students. Her group has mixed ability and all were successful."
Black doesn't see the SMART Table replacing manipulatives in primary classrooms. "It's something you offer in addition." The fact that there's no cleanup "is a bonus and a half!"
