Chalkboards are making way for electronic Smart Boards, bringing improved skills to teachers and enhancing the educational environments for improved teaching and learning.
Responding to a request from Loeriesfontein Primary school and Loeriesfontein High School, Khobab Wind Farm funded seven Smart Boards. This forms part of the Loeriesfontein Wind Farm and Khobab Wind Farm’s focus on education, which includes the funding of foundation phase and maths and science teachers, skills training, literacy, and a maths numeracy programme.
The Smart Boards have been found to be particularly helpful for teaching maths in Grades 4 – 7 within the primary school, whilst the high school has installed the boards in classrooms to teach Geography, Languages, Life Science, Natural Science, Maths and Technology.
A Smart Board is an interactive whiteboard that can project images by connecting to a computer. It allows teachers to show subjects in a way that learners can understand easier as the technology is more engaging, additionally the boards are touch screens, so you can use your fingers to move things around on it and come with different coloured pens that you write with on the board.
The benefits are numerous including students that learn with their hands can touch the board and work out the problem themselves, Students do better when they are fully engaged, and hands-on learning is the best way to do it. Furthermore, because it’s a touchscreen, multiple students can use the board at once.
“Studies have shown that using this technology in classrooms actually improves learning, enhances literacy, boosts attentiveness, and increases comprehension,” explained Vanessa Fredericks, Economic Development Manager for Loeriesfontein Wind Farm and Khobab Wind Farm.
