Engage
Engage your Learners
sciPAD Online interactive lessons work alongside the topics in each sciPAD workbook, and are aligned to the New Zealand Curriculum and the new Level 1 NCEA standards. They are full of New Zealand contexts, images and videos, specially tailored to the curricular needs of the classroom.
Each lesson features several engagement and assessment activities, including videos, interactives, summative questions (text, multi-choice and cloze activities), as well as general multi-choice and sorting activities. Student work in these activities is saved, and completion rates can be viewed online by teachers with the ability to provide live feedback.
Some key ways in which sciPAD Online supports our sciPAD Workbooks:
- sciPAD Online offers on-demand access. Students can access the online lessons anytime, before or after working in their sciPAD. This flexibility allows students to review content as needed to complete sciPAD exercises.
- sciPAD Online reinforces content covered in sciPAD workbooks. The online lessons can revisit and expand upon concepts after students have practiced them in the workbook. This repetition in a different medium further cements the concepts in students’ minds.
- sciPAD Online engages visual and auditory learners. The multimedia nature of online lessons, with videos and animations, helps visual and auditory learners understand concepts that may be more difficult to grasp from static workbook pages.
Extend the Printed Workbook
sciPAD Online is designed to complement sciPAD workbooks, not replace them, and works on any device. Students will find that their sciPAD Online subscription will allow them to complete key parts of their sciPAD workbook. Students can work through the sciPAD at their own pace, either moving faster or slower than the online content. This caters to different learning styles, and allows students to spend more time on challenging topics.
Formative Testing
Small interactives and text questions embedded throughout lessons provide instant feedback to the student in the form of hints, prompts and ‘next steps’, as well as working as a tool to prepare them for online assessment. Formative tests have been developed to be taken at any time by students to check their content knowledge. Each question is designed to assess key ideas from the New Zealand Science Curriculum at the appropriate level.
Text-to-speech Technology
sciPAD Online's embedded text-to-speech technology provides auditory input for students. Some students, especially those with dyslexia or other reading disorders, learn best through listening. Text-to-speech reads text aloud, allowing these students to access written material in an auditory format that is easier for them to process. It also provides for repetition and review. Students can have text-to-speech read material multiple times, allowing them to hear information in repeated exposures that reinforce learning.
Full Teacher Control
Teachers now have the ability to manage and regulate access to specific topics, lessons and responses, fostering a more structured and focused learning environment. This allows for a tailored educational experience, ensuring that students engage with material that is most relevant and beneficial to their individual learning journey. Teachers can set due dates and closing times for lessons, promoting time management and organisational skills among students. In addition, students receive immediate notifications, ensuring they are always informed and up-to-date with their learning schedule.
Video
Over 500 videos throughout lessons offer engaging and informative content that enhances student understanding and retention of content. Many scientific concepts are difficult for students to visualise based solely on descriptions in the sciPAD workbooks. Short videos use animations, simulations, diagrams and experiments to illustrate concepts in a way that is easy for students to understand.
Games
Our embedded games make learning fun and engaging. Games use elements of challenge, competition and reward that motivate students and keep them engaged. Many of the games are designed to teach problem-solving and critical thinking. They present students with puzzles and challenges that require applying scientific knowledge to solve.
Simulation Activities
Each simulation activity allows students to interact with, and experiment on, virtual models that would be difficult, expensive or impossible to access in real life. This includes things like molecular models, ecosystems, chemical reactions and physical systems. Students can test hypotheses, observe changes and gain life-like experience through these simulations.
Designed for Devices used in NZ Classrooms
sciPad Online has been designed to run seamlessly on any device commonly used in schools, including laptops, tablets and Chromebooks. This ensures that all students have equal access to its interactive science lessons and simulations. (sciPAD Online is not compatible with phones).