Nintendo DS in Schools
Using DS Lites in School
At St. James’ CE Primary, we have been using the DS Lites with the Braintraining exercises on a regular basis. We have used these in addition to regular paper exercises taken from a range of Braintraining resources. We have incorporated the DS Braintraining with our Guided Reading as an independent activity. Each child initially took the test to get a baseline score and to identify areas for improvement. Children with one of these at home had the advantage of knowing how to complete the activities but once they had all become familiar with the tasks this did not appear to give them any added bonuses as we tracked their progress.
We did keep a record of the baseline score and gave children areas to work on based on these results. After 2 or 3 sessions working on this aspect they would then be asked to re-do the test and these results were recorded. The progress made has been quite varied according to the individuals. Some children do not appear to have made much progress according to the numbers and grades given for their scores, while others have made significant advances with their grades. However, as a teacher it was not the numbers and grades I was too concerned about, I was more interested in observing their attitudes and behaviours to this new style of independent task. The following are the positive points I observed during the trial:
- The improvement in numbers and grades helped children to gain in self-confidence and be prepared to persevere with the activities
- The children who had mastered a task were willing to communicate with others and share their knowledge, doing this in an effective manner.
- Children’s concentration skills generally improved.
- Initially children wanted to re-do activities that they were good at and confident with but after time were more prepared to challenge themselves.
- The children enjoyed the sessions and looked forward to guided reading time, especially if it was their time to complete the independent DS activity. This had knock on effect for classroom management as both teacher and TA could focus on the groups that were reading without having to keep one eye on the behaviour of the rest of the class!
Comments we have had from the children include:
“I think the DS’s were a very good idea. It’s improved my mental maths and I got faster at completing things as I went along. They were very beneficial and I would recommend them to next year’s Y6. I was very bad at pathfinder but the more I did it the better I got. Overall I think the DS’s were a great success.”
Jess Y6
“I think the DS’s have been very useful. In Spetember I used to get 12 or 13 out of 20 and now I get 19 out of 20 in my mental maths. I can now concentrate better. I really think having them in school is a great idea and the next year 6 would love it!”
Tom Y6
“I liked the memorizing game because I’m good at memorizing.”
Danielle Y6
“My favourite game was Heavyweight and Boneyard as they really made me think. I really think my concentration has rapidly improved.”
Abigail Y6
“At first I was really slow on the games but I’ve got faster over the year. My favourite game now is Pathfinder but I couldn’t do before.”
Liam Y6
Overall, the response has been very positive. While I am not sure how beneficial the activities have been from a point of view of developing the brain, I am confident that the children feel it has helped them. I have also noticed that behaviourally towards work they are much more prepared to concentrate and stick at tasks that they find difficult. Budget allowing, it is something I would consider recommending the school tries to add to its inventory in the future!
Julia Strickland
(Y6/Deputy Headteacher)
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