Background
Katie created a computer game that would help her younger sister improve her recall of basic facts in year 7 mathematics.
As the player advances through the game, the random mathematical questions get harder, the operators are more varied, and the speed of the vehicle carrying the questions gets faster.
The program encourages the player to play the game again and again to try and beat their own, and others, scores.
Hillcrest High School in Hamilton is a decile 9 co-ed secondary school with a roll of nearly 1,600 students. Its five-member ICT department is part of the school's Business and Information Technology Faculty and is headed by Jenny Baker.
Jenny Baker came to teaching after graduating from the Canterbury University School of Fine Arts in 1970. In 1990 Jenny joined the staff at Hillcrest High School where she has been responsible for the growth of the ICT department and school computer network.
Jenny's capability and enthusiasm have been recognised at both the regional and national level: in 2002 she was a finalist in the National Excellence in Teaching Awards (EiTA), and in 2004 received a Royal Society of New Zealand Teacher Fellowship to research technological practice in commercial and tertiary ICT. Jenny has also been involved in NCEA external assessment in Technology, and tutors trainee teachers at the University of Waikato.
At Hillcrest, ICT is a Technology choice at Year 9, and then an option subject in the Year 10-13 ICT programmes. The school offers three parallel streams of ICT study from Years 10 to 13:
- "ICT Programming"- which emphasises problem solving and technological design using a variety of ICT skills. Students are assessed against ICT achievement standards at Years 11, 12 and 13 and in addition, the Waikato University Computer Science Scholarship exam. at Year 13.
- "ICT Applications" - which emphasizes technological design using a variety of ICT skills, and is assessed against a combination of Computing unit standards and ICT achievement standards, at years 11, 12 and 13.
- "ICT Unit Studies" - which enables students to work at their own pace, and is assessed using Computing unit standards at years 11, 12 and 13.
Students in Jenny's Year 11 ICT course normally have completed the full-year Information Technology option at Year 10.
The Year 11 programme involves students researching and developing a computer program that addresses a real-life issue. Students learn programming principles, interface design, coding animations and interactivity. They learn that ICT (or any other type of technology) projects don't happen in a vacuum and are exposed to some of the social issues that come to bear on ICT projects.
