ABC Splash: Where Learning Can Move Seamlessly from School to Home and Back Again
Welcome back to school. I hope that everyone is feeling relaxed after a great three week break and relieved to be back at school and into the routine that comes with that.
Sometimes at home, interesting questions are raised by our boys around the table or even in the car driving somewhere. As adults, we may not have the correct answer and it is ok to let them know that at that point you don’t know. It’s important to let our boys know that we don’t know the answers to everything. It opens up a learning experience for the whole family and can be a really powerful experience for our boys to see adults learning the exact same things as they are. This is where ABC Splash comes in. This resource can help with your investigations and open up a learning experience at home with the use of videos, educational game play, age appropriate websites and interactive quizzes to test the whole family.
http://splash.abc.net.au/home#!/home can be accessed on any device and houses the most amazing resources. These resources spread across all learning areas including STEAM. Already this term I have used this tool with a Year 2 class investigating money. With a quick search we were able to find an age appropriate collection of videos on the history of money in Australia and also the significance of the little 5 cent coin that actually costs around 6 cents to make.
If you are really wanting to have the answers on the go all the time, you can download the free ABC Splash application from the App store. The app contains 50 of the most popular videos from the website. It also houses interactive quizzes and games that assist the learning process. At this point in time, the App is only available on iPads, though it also has a secondary school application to assist the older students in your family.
Next time you are stuck for that correct answer to a tricky question, why not head to ABC Splash and engage in the learning as a family? Just remember to not get too carried away and check it out whilst driving!
As always, if you have any questions about this please do not hesitate to contact me or pop in to see me at school.
Tony Cross
eLearning – Wyvern House and Lindfield Preparatory School