Meet David Wicks, he’s a computer science teacher at Kineton High School, Warwickshire.
Refreshing resources for both students and teachers
“I get fed up watching the same old videos over and over again for a lesson. My teaching is contained, but too narrow. The internet, on the other hand, is far too big. Wizeup creates a middle ground, it’s contained but big enough to make independent learning possible.”
A future-proof, independent learning tool
David used Wizeup to introduce the concept of gravity. He set an assignment to design an interactive museum display about gravity. Previously David would supplement his worksheets with information that he would write on the board, and show some videos that he selected. Now David supplements his worksheets with Wizeup.
“I can say to my class, I’m not going to teach you about the forces of gravity. You are going to research them yourself. You are going to find out by yourself what this is all about.”
“Sir, Why doesn’t the moon crash into the earth?” (or Creating a cornerstone for conversation)
“I enjoyed it. It allowed me to have a more varied discussion with the pupils at their level where they used the information they had found to support these discussions. I could easily just let them read a passage of the textbook, but when they take hold of their own learning, they start questioning. For example, a student asked, ‘Why doesn’t the moon crash into the earth?’ Last year, when I did the same assignment with a group, they didn’t come up with such interesting questions.”
Bringing new energy to the classroom
“The energy in the classroom was brilliant. The students loved it, because I stepped back as a teacher. They felt more free. In terms of the educational framework it was a good lesson. The majority of the class were able to move forward with the assignment with quite a pace, which allowed me to sit with the students that were struggling. By the end of the lesson we had met our objectives."
