Science
Updated: Feb 2000
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School Snapshots - Mount Hawthorn Primary School
  Mount Hawthorn Primary School has had a strong focus on Technology & Enterprise for several years. The students participate in Technology & Enterprise projects that are strongly integrated with other subjects across the curriculum including Mathematics, Science, English and Music. The Technology & Enterprise Coordinator is Kylie Godley. Kylie taught Technology & Enterprise in an integrated/thematic way in the United Kingdom and did post graduate courses in Technology in the UK and at the Science and Mathematics Education Centre at Curtin University. Kylie has provided inservice courses on the Technology & Enterprise Learning Area for the staff at Mt Hawthorn and other teachers in the district. The school is moving towards using student outcome statements for assessment. In 1995 Technology & Enterprise became the school priority. Grant money was obtained and a Technology & Enterprise room with a very hands on focus was established. The subject was promoted in this year as a vital learning tool for other learning areas and integration was started. Technology & Enterprise began to branch into Maths, Science, English, The Arts and other learning areas. In 1995 Kylie also inserviced other schools in the district on Technology & Enterprise as a learning area and the technology process. Teachers were encouraged to use Science experiments from Primary Investigations and extend there into Technology & Enterprise projects. Kylie worked with the Year 7's in 1995 to extend into the Enterprise side of the learning area. The Year 4-7's learnt about the cultural value and profit margin of a product. Kylie started doing 6-week Technology & Enterprise workshops for other schools during 1996. Mount Hawthorn Primary School started to concentrate on individual strands of the Technology & Enterprise learning area (materials, information, systems). Integration of Science and Maths and other subjects such as library skills, Art and Language was a big part of looking at the individual strands and the focus was not just on the technology process. During 1997, the school concentrated on the Systems strand of the learning area, which has close links with Mathematics and Science. The importance of Enterprise for the learning area also was being emphasised in 1997. The school participated in professional development using student outcome statements for assessment and Kylie developed a system where each student has a performer that follows them as they go to different year levels. The outcomes are checked as the student demonstrates that they have achieved them. Some Mathematics and Science outcomes are assessed in Technology & Enterprise. For example,Year 5 students' measurement skills were assessed during a bird feeder activity.
Some Year 6 students communicated through the internet with a school in Ireland on an articulated puppet technology project as part of the Education Department's Technology 2000 Project. Year 5 students worked on bird feeders. The students were asked to make a template from which they proceeded to make the structure. This was closely integrated with Mathematics, especially Measurement. Students learned to use a hand drill when they made their bird feeders. Year 7 students designed a logo of their initials. The class utilised a CAD drafting software program on computers available at Perth Modern School to reproduce their initials logo. The students also designed graduation certificates and produced them on Power Point presentation software. The use of tools was emphasised by placing particular focus on specific skills. For example, Year 4 students used hammer and nails and paper materials and learned how to use a rotary cutter.
The Advantages of an Integrated Approach
Difficulties Establishing Technology and an Integrated Approach
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