</aI always start my history topics by getting the children to make a visual timeline of key events. First they discuss each picture then sort way they think is the correct timeline. I normally print big colour pictures for them to look at but decided to try using Dropbox and the IPads. I collected a series of key pictures and saved them into the class Dropbox. My iPads are distributed one between three so each group.
Each group opened the Dropbox app and accessed the pictures. They then were able to slide through them, pinch and pull them at their leisure and discuss what they could see before moving onto the sorting task.
I found that the pictures took time to come through on all the IPads and am not sure if this was down to the school network.
When the pictures were open the children really engaged with the pads focusing in on the areas that interested them and looking for clues. Each child wanted their moment with iPad so they were really willing to share their ideas more freely in a bid to get hands on.
In the end it stimulated great self-initiated discussion and high levels of thinking and observation. It also saved time and money as I didn’t have to print and laminate large pictures. The loading was a bit of a problem but I will try pre-loading them next time.
greg western 