Georges River College - Penshurst Girls' Campus

Year 9 science teacher Sally Pankhurst and science head teacher Perry Rosewall were interested to teach a unit of classwork using the tablet technology. An existing unit of work about issues in the local environment was adopted as the basis of the project at this school.

Project organization

The project was introduced to the students who were then divided into groups. Students had two training sessions where they used the tablet PC and digital camera to gain familiarity with their capabilities. Students were then involved in two field days: one held at the top of the catchment; the other at the end of the catchment. After this rich input students were required to use class time over three weeks to prepare their presentations.

Fieldwork

There were two main fieldwork days involving extensive input: the class and two teachers, lecturer from the University of Sydney, Streamwatch coordinator (two days) Environment Officer, Kogarah Council (two days); geologist from the University of Sydney (one day); 5 members of the Oatley Flora and Fauna Society (one day). Equipment included 7 tablet PCs, 8 digital cameras, Streamwatch water monitoring kit, 8 field binoculars and 4 binocular microscopes.

• Student brief and assessment task
• Field Work Timetables
• Field Work Gallery
• Student work samples
• Field record from tablet pc
• Summary of Catchment Issues
• Group database