Making Faces

http://www.btbetterworld.com/developing_skills/free_resources/Making_Faces/home.ikml

KS1 - KS2 (Years 1 - 6)

Citizenship & PSHE

The BT Education website was easily accessible on all the occasions I used it, both at home and in the classroom. The access speed was fast and the website loaded quickly and was ready to use straight away. The pictures used on the website also loaded immediately and changed as soon as the children made their choices. The children's attention was focused as the website responded immediately to their ideas. I didn't change the screen resolution as the website ran perfectly when using the 800 x 600 resolution. From the Making Faces page there are links to other resources BT Education has to offer. These are easily accessible from the activity page.

What This Product Offers

Making Faces offers children the opportunity to create faces which show different emotions and they can immediately see what that face looks like. Prior to using this website I have asked children to draw pictures of faces which are happy, sad or angry. The Making Faces website enabled children to understand what a variety of different emotions look like, such as ashamed, surprised and embarassed. Making Faces provides an original way of learning what different emotions look like on people's faces and enabled pupils to develop a good awareness of emotions.

Purpose of Using This Product

The focus of our PSHCE lesson was to improve playground behaviour. As part of this, children needed to be aware of how those around them were feeling. I used the Making Faces webpage to encourage children to identify how people's faces can tell us how they are feeling. Making Faces also developed the children's awareness of how they can control change through ICT by making decisions which are reflected on the screen.

The key questions I used to support the Making Faces title were based on the children making an angry/sad/happy face then recreating this on the screen. I asked the children how this awareness of the emotions of others could help them make our playground a happier place.

I discussed the activity with the whole class then the children used the program independently, without teacher intervention.

Differentiation

All the pupils in my class were able to operate the website independently. Many of the children read the onscreen instructions then played the game. A few children in my class couldn't read all the instructions; instead they watched the introduction which talks children through what they will be required to do while demonstrating how to do it. The web page can be viewed on a full screen so children can see the faces, words and movable parts more clearly. These options enabled children with learning difficulties such as dyslexia to access the program fully and easily.

Classroom Organisation

I used the Making Faces web page as part of my PSHCE lesson on recognising the emotions of others. The children worked on the class computer in mixed ability partners. They had a set of headphones each in case they needed to listen to the onscreen instructions. Later in the week I took the children to the ICT suite and demonstrated Making Faces using an interactive whiteboard. The children then worked in their mixed ability pairs making faces which represented a variety of different emotions.

Context of Use

Before the children used Making Faces we discussed how we could improve playground behaviour. We talked about how behaviour could be improved by children developing awareness of each other's emotions. I asked children to use their faces to show different emotions and as a class we guessed what emotion they were trying to show. I introduced Making Faces as a game which can help us to recognise how those around us are feeling. The children had previous experience of using different websites which I built on to enable them to understand how to use the Making Faces page. During our next PSHCE lesson we discussed how Making Faces had helped us to recognise how others were feeling. The children then performed short dramatic pieces showing how they could recognise how others were feeling and how they reacted to these emotions.

Ease of Use - Design & Navigation

All the pupils in my class could use Making Faces with a partner or independently. Those who found reading the instructions difficult could listen and watch the introduction. The introductory sequence was easily accessible by the children and enabled them to understand what they had to do and how to do it. The graphics and instructions were clear and fun to watch and use. The web page is designed so that children can move easily through the activity. All the icons are clear and easily selected using a mouse. There isn't a save option but this isn't necessary for the children's learning or enjoyment.

Making Faces has a tip facility constantly accessible so that children can be helped if they are unsure what they have to do following the introduction. Making Faces has one level which children can work within, although some of the emotions are more difficult for children to visualise than others. The emotions which the children are asked to represent are random, so children may be faced with difficult and simple emotions one after the other.

Monitoring & Assessment

I observed the children as they used Making Faces and noted how well they could represent different emotions facially. In addition, and more interestingly, I listened to the discussions the children had while using Making Faces. They discussed how emotions felt to them and why different expressions represented different emotions. I used the resulting dramatic performances to assess how much children had learnt about how we can treat others in a more educated manner when we know how they are feeling.

Feedback from Pupils and Other Staff

Year 4 pupil comments: 'It is funny and can show you how to pull funny faces.''It is easy and hard but can help you know if someone is feeling angry then you know how to talk to them.' 'It can help you know what mood people are in.'

Ease of Use

Making Faces was easily accessible for all children and contained links to other games provided by BT Education. On opening the program children could use their headphones to listen to the instructions, which were illustrated onscreen. The icons were clear and easily manipulated by Year 4 children. All the pupils in my class could understand what they had to do. Some of the emotions were more obscure, but they discussed these with their ICT partner and were capable of thinking how to represent these emotions facially. The children enjoyed using Making Faces and found it an easy but informative program to use and navigate.

Classroom Experience

I introduced Making Faces through a PSHCE lesson. We discussed how understanding how other people are feeling could improve playground behaviour. The children recognised why understanding how others are feeling is important when deciding how to react to different situations. All children took part in using Making Faces to create different emotions on a variety of faces. They discussed how the emotions made you feel. The children really enjoyed the activity, finding all the different faces they could use very amusing! Making Faces developed the children's ability to recognise how those around them were feeling and how they could react to these emotions. The children learnt how to describe how others were feeling, developing their emotional literacy. I followed up the activity with some drama work during which children dealt with playground disputes. My class thoroughly enjoyed using Making Faces and now demand to be able to use the website on a regular basis!

Read KS2 Content evaluation...

Product Overview

This product is published by BT Better World Campaign (Tel: 0870 3330373)