2Simple Infant Video Toolkit is designed
for Foundation and KS1. The set includes six programs and over 50
video examples to support the teacher. The videos show you how to
create simple folding books, borders, envelopes, letters, pictures,
pictograms, graphs and branching databases. They also suggest curriculum
applications.
The programs are designed to support
independent use by young children. Large icons for New, Print and
Exit are consistently used. The teacher can control which icons are
available. For example, Save and Open can be included on the button
bar if you wish. The preset font can also be changed. Press Shift-Control-O
for teacher options.
2Paint
is a very simple paint program for early mark making, with coloured
'pens' in two sizes.
(ICT QCA Unit 2B)
2Publish
has templates for making folding books, envelopes, greetings cards
and notices. Click 'New' to choose the format. The templates each
have separate writing and painting areas. A popular feature is the
border design. Click on the border, paint in the large magnifying
glass, then click on the border again to see the effects.
(ICT QCA Unit 2A)
2Count
makes pictograms. Click on 'New' to see the picture sets. It's possible
to change features such as maximum number: Press Shift-Control-O for
teacher options.
(ICT QCA Units 1E and 2E)
On the 2simple site (www.2simple.com)
there's a free download Picture Editor for 2Count. This means that
children can create pictograms with your own choice of pictures.
2Go
has a control panel for moving objects around the screen. This is
the one program that we're uncertain about. Because directions are
fixed, not relative, 2Go does not fit with Logo control principles.
When children control a robot (e.g. Pixie), they learn that a command
such as 'right' will turn the robot to face a new direction relative
to its current heading. The Pixie turns to its right. However,
in 2Go, 'right' always turns the object to face the right of the screen,
whichever way it is heading. We think this is confusing. 2simple have
promised to change in the next release!
(ICT QCA Units 1F and 2D)
2Graph:
children make block graphs, bar charts, pie charts and line graphs.
Teacher o0ptions allow any of these formats to be turned off, for
simplicity - a useful feature.
(ICT QCA Units 2D and 4D)
2Question:
we strongly recommend this for ICT Unit 2E, where children are introduced
to classifying by 'Yes' and 'No' questions. There are 3 options, to
make binary trees with four, eight or sixteen objects. The video clips
are particularly helpful here in getting you started. The videos suggest
applications, although the classification in the 'materials' example
is questionable.
(ICT QCA Units 2E and 4C)
It's most important to begin with
real objects which the children can sort by asking questions with
yes/no answers. My collection comprised an orange, an apple, a carrot,
a pod of peas, a green ball, an orange ball, an orange pair of scissors,
a green CD cover. We could classify the collection by asking the questions:
such as "Is it round, like a ball?" "Is it green?"
"Can you eat it?"
Despite my reservation about the
video example, this is an excellent tool for the purpose of introducing
branching databases and binary classification.
