The Email Detectives

KS2 (Years 3 - 6)

ICT

This product is distributed by Sherston (Tel: 01666 843200)

Email Detectives provides thorough and accessible tutorials on the main skills involved in emailing, without pupils having to send and receive emails. The adventure mode lets pupils use and consolidate these email skills within a ‘real life’ setting. The resource also offers useful teaching ideas on how to go on to use email in the classroom, as well as a link to an Email Detectives mini-website which contains further good quality activities. Email Detectives could be used as a basis for the teaching of the Year 3/4 QCA unit on email, as it covers all the relevant skills progressively. The animation and sound are of good quality, and the context of solving a mystery makes the resource motivating and absorbing.

I used Email Detectives with my Year Six class who have not had any experience of using email in school. All the pupils completed the first tutorial entitled ‘What is Email?’ The pupils where then directed to the tutorials that I expected them to complete before they were able to begin the adventure. The Email Detectives allowed me to successfully fulfil all the learning objectives of the QCA Unit 3E. There was no specific follow-up work required, although the pupils have now used their emailing skills to carry out research in other subjects.