New ICT initiative offers pupils the wonder of science at their fingertips

PUPILS nation-wide are revelling in the wonders of Science through yTeach.ie, a new, Irish, classroom-focused service which is taking schools across the country by storm.

It’s the perfect resource for teachers anxious to boost take-up of Science and Maths and also the ideal software tool for schools anxious make the most of the Government plan to invest €150m in classroom ICT over the next three years, its promoters say.

Primary and second level pupils who have already invested in the plan are exploring the wonders of science while enjoying quizzes and video experiments through yTeach. They are also engaging in visually stimulating class and homework through the revolutionary, web-based service now available to Irish schools.

yTeach has been designed primarily for use by teachers and consists of a wide range of high-quality educational resources aimed at pupils in the final years of primary school, Junior and Leaving Certificate levels. It includes thousands of maths and science resources for primary school pupils as well as visually-stimulating, practical and informative assistance to second level pupils and teachers in Biology, Chemistry, Maths and Physics at Junior Cycle and Senior Cycle levels.

“Our aim is to provide attractive and stimulating ways of enhancing lessons for pupils and teachers alike,” maintains yTeach’s Eilis Doyle. Already close to 100 Irish schools have signed up and are buying credits on line to improve the quality and quantity of work covered in the classroom.

“Teachers tell us that yTeach has completely revolutionised the way they approach each lesson and how their pupils learn. They can create interactive presentations for each individual class – mixing ready-to-use lessons and dropping and dragging in bits and pieces to create their own personalised lessons or assign homework or project work.

“Each ready-to-use e-lesson consists of a selection of interactive activities,simulations, animations, videos, as well as assessment tools offering meaningful feedback to teachers and students,” she added.

yTeach offers thousands of interactive resources which can be used in either teacher mode or student mode. ‘Class activities are designed to promote group work during class time while student activities allow teachers to allocate self-directed work to students online outside class time. These activities allow for the development of problem solving skills and detailed feedback of every assignment is sent directly to the teacher once the student logs off. Whiteboard presentations meanwhile are fully editable, prepared lessons specifically designed for classroom use.’

Teachers have given Yteach a definite thumbs up, saying the classroom resource is high quality and very stimulating. ‘The animations are critical for my students' understanding content and yTeach understands the heavy demands placed on the teacher’, others say.  The service is exclusively distributed in Ireland by Prim-Ed Publishing, a Wexford-based company which has been closely linked with education in Ireland for over a decade.

Pupils, too, are very impressed, saying yTeach is really good and a fun way to do science.  One pupil said the site, which features thousands of on-line resources, has “the best maths software I’ve seen.” Others loved the Physics resources, saying they provided them with a fun, enjoyable way to learn Physics and particularly commended the helpful animations which showed and explained Maths and Science problems as they apply to real life.

For further details about yTeach visit www.yTeach.ie