1990 School Magazine

The task orcollating and evaluating the feedback from the questionnaires was a mammoth one, but also an exciting one. Staff were clearly ready and willing to be involved, to contribute constructive criticism. to 'have their say'. 'and express their hopes and reservations'. TITe Committee again was engaged in lengthy sessions I'elating to the above As Co- ordinalor of the Committee. Mi's Colwill researched independently and circulated the In OSI useful of currentjournal ai. ticles and otlier documents relating to language in learning in educational. lingtiistic. psychological and philosophic areas. to Senior Staff and Members of the Committee. The outcome of tile discussion of these, and the results of the carefully considered evaluation of the staff and surveys questionnaires by the Committee, formed the basis of the first draft of the emerging School Language Policy. Much infornial discussion was undertaken with the various Departments The final draft of the Rationale and Policy were then developed by the Committee, utilising the detailed feedback and input of all Departinents in the School These documents were then recirculated to all Staff foi' further comment before the documents were established as official School Policy. At every stage. intelligent and constructive input was readily accepted. incorporated or otherwise acted upon by ille Committee The birth of the Policy, although a protracted process. was one in whicli all Staff could feel that they had 'played a part', and 'had a say' - the document was a professional product of genuine inter-Faculty co-operation. communication, and Intel'action, and its implementation represents a now forInalised and important development in English language teaching and learning within the School. The Sustained Silent Reading Program. in which all Year Eight students and staff from all Departments participate each week, forIris another strand of tlie active implementation of English Language Development Across the Curriculum

rather than associating computers only willI compute I. litei'acy. Subject areas actively using computers include: Accounting. French. Geography. Gel'Inari. Japanese, Matliematics. Inti. oductoiy Humanities, English. Science and Compute I. Literarcy. B. G. G. S. also Ginphasises an Independent 1110bleiii solving approacli to the Lise of computers. Students are assisted to find their own solutions to PIOblems they Inay encountei' WITen usintr coinputei's. As a itsult. Year Eight students have become particulai'Iy competeiit computeI. usei's. often able to help o1hei' school 111ellibels witli PIOblems they encountei' TITere ale a numbei' o1'computer associated projects being impleitiented will11n the school. These include a) leijing Chinese/Japanese Woi. dprocessor. This is part of a developing package whiclI provides tlielanguage staffwitli more flexibility in teaching these langtiages The school IIOPes to use this package to communicate witli other schools ovei'seas (particularly native speakers). CUI'rently. a variety of classes are becoming proficient Lisers. capable of pi'oducing a lange of Japanese and Chinese documents b) Lego/Logo is stai'ting to cause ripples at B. G. G. S. asits potential begins to be I'Galised. Based on the consti'uctionalist appi'oach. Lego/Logo pi'ovides students witli tile opportunity for three dimensional. real-time problem solving. Lego/Logo is applicable to Science and Man's pal'ticularly. with extensions into otlTei' subject aleas. including Alt and ComputeI' Studies

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c) The Satellite Committee has convened and is 111 the process of setting Lip its first data receiving station This exciting project allows students to track satellites, recoi'd and decode inforittation from satellites and display this information lit a Lisable tornT (e. g. satellite weather maps. landuse pictures, infra-red mapping of watei' currents, animal migration. communications) As well. foreign language bioadcasts to the Pacific Region can be recorded on video and used in foreign language studies. Students on the committee are responsible for the implementation, building and running of tile satellite receiving station. With the generous support of parents and staff, the project should be underway by the end of the year d) Tile school's philosophyisjointroduce the students to as wide a range as possible of equipment that they may encounter during their education or vocation. This means that equipment such as the scanner (which allows any picture to be recorded on computer), modem (which allows computer information to be sent down telephone lines), and CD-ROM which can store vast amounts of information on a compact disk,

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

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1990 has seen dramatic changes in the acceptance and use of computers at Brisbane Girls' Grammar. As the value of compute i's as Inotivational and education tools becomes more apparent. the demand for access to computers by both staff and students increases. The school's philosophy of using computers to educate, rather than educating about computers, that students become means accustomed to using computersin a wide range of subjects,

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