Keeping the spirit of innovation alive
Profiles in Success: Theodore Primary School
Canberra, Australia: Founded in 1991 and taking its name from Edward Granville Theodore - a political and social innovator - Theodore Primary School has kept that spirit of innovation alive. Whilst definitely a young school, Theodore has embraced the learning value of the Apple Mac platform and, to put it mildly, hit the ground running.
100 per cent Mac commitment
In early 2006, the school set out to purchase a fleet of new computers with the aid of a government grant. According to Principal Ms Lyn Woodbury, the initial approach was one of total platform impartiality. Quite simply, the school was after the best computer and software for a learning environment and, not surprisingly, at the best price.
From that point onwards and in only 12 months, the teachers and students at Theodore Primary School have taken the Mac and Apple iLife software into virtually all areas of the curriculum - and with substantial success.
Just one of the many examples of Mac pervasiveness with Theodore is teacher Belinda Taylor's introduction of movie making to Years 5 and 6 students. Taking advantage of the Mac's in-built camera, along with iLife's iMovie and iDVD software, Ms Taylor and her students had a total of 24 movies underway by half-way through the first term of 2007's school year.
At one stage, we had a group of teachers advocating Macs and another advocating PCs. Rather than battle it out, I had the teachers most adamant about using PCs sit down and see just what the Mac delivered. It took only three hours and we had 100 per cent teaching staff commitment to the Mac platform.
— Ms Lyn Woodbury, Principal, Theodore Primary School
"Using the Macs and iLife to create movies means there's a role for absolutely everyone," Ms Taylor says. "Some might be working on preparing backdrops, others preparing the script, doing research, editing the scenes…there's a full list of responsibilities and no-one is excluded."
It's that assurance of all students being involved in the various projects that lends Theodore's Mac-based movie making a definite educational value. Rather than have students learn subject material in a strictly instructionist environment, involvement in the production of a movie means they learn through enthusiastic participation.
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