Summary

As a teaching resource, PowerPoint has proved itself not just as a way of presenting information to a group of children but as a multimedia authoring tool which can be used by children to create a reference resource for other children to research from.

It is easy to use for complete beginners, has a good range of templates, design themes and has a sufficient range of sound effects and clipart. It is quick, easy to use and very appealing. We had considered using Illuminatus 3 but found it to be out dated in comparison and the animation was very slow and laborious.

The children were highly motivated throughout all of the sessions. This activity presented no barriers for the less able child. The pupils enjoyed experimenting with text, graphics, animations and sounds. The results were instant which gave them greater satisfaction. IT skills were constantly being practiced when improving the appearance of slides and new IT skills were learnt very quickly. The children have over the past six weeks consistently developed and improved their ideas and skills not only as individuals but as part of a group.

In short we would recommend this learning opportunity for the completion of the Year 6 multimedia authoring task outlined in the QCA scheme of work for ICT. It can also be used as a resource for other subject areas in which there is a natural sequence of events.

Download the presentations
Althought these are zipped PowerPoint presentations they are rich in animation and sound and are unusually large files. To download the finished presentations click the links below, but be prepared for a LONG download time.

	How pollination takes place via insects 3.16Mb
	A presentation about seeds and seed dispersal 7.18Mb