Progression in electronics and communications technology

The paper is based on the Marconi Electronics and Communications Technology Project. The project aims to interest and educate a significantly larger number of young people in England and Wales in Electronics and Communications technology. The Marconi ECT Project aims to support high quality work in schools up to GCSE level. The paper describes the criteria on which the project has selected content, and how that content has been organised at the levels of ‘Starter’ ‘Intermediate’ and ‘Advanced’. In developing ideas for pupil practical activities, the approach that has been adopted is what we call a ‘layered’ approach. The intention is that, depending on experience and confidence, teachers need only look at ideas for pupil activities to the depth of ‘layer’ that they require. A questionnaire-based survey of pupils in eight schools has been conducted to gauge their interest in a wide variety of possible projects

ECT: Electronics, Creativity and Technology?

There is small-scale research evidence (Spendlove, 2003) that Electronics and Communications Technology (ECT) is perceived by pupils as allowing little scope for creativity when compared with other focus areas of design and technology. This paper reports a preliminary, small scale, investigation into the extent to which Spendlove’s findings are replicated in a study of schools where ECT has a substantial presence in the D&T Schemes of work and GCSE syllabuses. Based on a combination of qualitative and quantitative data, coupled with scrutiny of schemes of work, the paper investigates the relationship between the teaching approaches adopted in ECT classes and the extent to which pupils feel they are able to engage creatively with the subject matter. In particular, we examine the extent to, and ways in, which the use of: • a ‘components and circuits’ approach; • a ‘systems’ approach; • a programmable microcontroller (‘PIC’) based approach; supports or hinders pupils’ perceptions of creativity. The small sample doesn’t allow definitive conclusions to de drawn, but the data do indicate that, at least in some settings, pupils rate work in ECT as providing a great deal of opportunity for creativity and that the underlying ECT technology used is not the only factor affecting pupils’ creativity. This raises intriguing possibilities for further investigation

PICs, CAD & creativity

This action research project grew out of a concern that electronics in schools does not generally foster creativity. Earlier work by the authors has suggested that incorporating microcontrollers (‘PICs’) – small, low cost, programmable integrated circuits – in electronic products developed by pupils in design and technology could increase opportunities for pupils to make creative design decisions, because they enable pupils to make more decisions about the ways in which their design will act and respond. Three schools have carried out a radical reappraisal of one unit of work, developing new units that foster greater opportunities for (and recognition of) pupil creativity by incorporating modern technology. The research question that all three schools sought to address was: Does the use of programmable microcontrollers (‘PIC technology’) and computer aided design (CAD) enable teachers to arrange electronics project work so that pupils are better able to make creative design decisions, as compared to pupils’ design decisions in previous electronics projects? The preliminary analysis of the data presented here indicates that programmable technologies can help enhance the degree to which pupils make design decisions, but that other factors in the approach taken to reaching that decision are also important

Elegy written in a country church-yard : with versions in the Greek, Latin, German, Italian, and French languages.

One stanza per leaf, with English and translations on facing leaves.Prefatory note signed: John Martin.Mode of access: Internet

Best-fitting models of resighted banded ibis assessed using the robust design within Program MARK.

<p>Surveys were conducted (a) fortnightly (<i>n</i> = 32) over 15-months.</p

Resighting rate of colour-banded male (solid, n = 34) and female (dash, n = 59) ibis over 4-years from pooled quarterly 3-day surveys.

<p>Resighting rate of colour-banded male (solid, n = 34) and female (dash, n = 59) ibis over 4-years from pooled quarterly 3-day surveys.</p

Residency of male (black, n = 34) and female (white, n = 59) ibis over 15-months from pooled fortnightly 3-day surveys (n = 32).

<p>Residency of male (black, n = 34) and female (white, n = 59) ibis over 15-months from pooled fortnightly 3-day surveys (n = 32).</p

Ibis within Centennial Park showing the annual fluctuations associated with the breeding cycle for adults (long-dash), juveniles (solid) and nests (dash).

<p>Ibis within Centennial Park showing the annual fluctuations associated with the breeding cycle for adults (long-dash), juveniles (solid) and nests (dash).</p

Rain drives foraging decisions of an urban exploiter - Fig 4

<p>Mean (±SE) abundance of earthworms within a 1-m² quadrat at four Sydney parks measured on three ‘dry’ (no rain) and three ‘wet’ (during rainfall) days at each site: (a) worm abundance in different weather conditions; (b) worm abundance in different sites. Tukey’s HSD significance indicated by letters above each site; sites not sharing the same letter are significantly different.</p

Mean (±SE) consumption rates of natural food items by ibis in four parks in the Sydney central business district.

<p>Each park was surveyed on 10 ‘dry’ (no rain) and 10 ‘wet’ (during rainfall) days.</p