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Introduction to Skwirk Skwirk.com.au is an educational website that features syllabus-aligned content for the core subjects from years 1-10 nationwide. Skwirk is proudly Australian and is a product of Redapple Education, which was founded in 2005. At Skwirk, our goal is to provide students with an engaging online learning environment whilst also providing parents with a secure and reliable online resource which they can use to assist and monitor their children s development. Skwirk is also an invaluable supplementary tool for teachers as it caters to a variety of learning styles. At Skwirk, we see the site in its current format as a dynamic framework on which we are building with an increasingly educational focus. In order for us to create a product that meets your needs and requirements, your feedback is essential to us. Any feedback that you provide will be highly valued. Please note In order to gain the maximum benefit from Skwirk, it is necessary to have version 8 or later of Flash installed on your machine. This is available via free download online. 1.
Navigating the site The following pages outline the layout of Skwirk and include tips for navigating the site. Year and State subject page Stage 1 This page currently links to HSIE and Science subjects for stage 1. It also includes links to a number of relevant Learning Federation learning objects. 2.
Subject/unit page Stage 1 subjects pop up in a new window. You may need to allow pop-ups in your internet browser to view these subjects. From this page, you can select the relevant unit. Chapter page This page lists the chapters covered in a chosen unit. Each chapter has three options: animation, read along and game. Select a chapter and the options will appear alongside the chapter names. Select an option by clicking on the icon. Animation Each animation provides a visual representation of the text that appears in the read along. The text does is read aloud it does not appear on the screen. One the animation has finished, there is an option to play the game. It is possible to return to the chapter page at any point during the animation. Read along The text featured in the animation can be viewed in written format in the read along option. The text is accompanied by animated images. Game Students can play a game related to the chapter. The games are designed to promote hand-eye coordination and the use of motor skills whilst learning about a specific subject. 3.
Stage 2 Year and State subject page This page gives an overview of the subjects and units available for each stage. You can navigate either to a subject by clicking on the coloured subject header, or directly to a unit by clicking on the unit title. The top of the page provides information about a user s stage, user type, school and number of points earned. 4.
Unit page Selecting a unit from the year and state page will take you to the unit page. Here, you can see the unit broken down into its topic and chapters, much like the contents page of a text book. You can navigate to either a topic overview or directly to a chapter. From this page, you can also navigate directly to the multimedia and interactive content featured in each chapter using the box with the yellow header. 5.
Chapter page Selecting a chapter from the unit page will take you to the chapter page. There are three elements to each chapter: textual content, multimedia content and interactive activities. The textual content is broken down into headings and subheadings which allows for easy consolidation of key ideas and concepts. The multimedia element includes images, animations and videos. These features build upon the textual content and ensure that each chapter caters to a variety of learning styles. The interactive activities allow a student (or parent or teacher) to evaluate his or her understanding of a chapter. Spelling activities are scaffolded into three levels of difficulty. 6.
The toolbar across the top of the chapter allows you to navigate easily around the site. To the top right of each chapter page is a toolbox which includes the option to save or print the page and increase the text size (especially useful when using Skwirk on an interactive whiteboard). Skwirk s unique highlighter tool can also be found in the toolbox. This allows students to highlight up to 10 points in each chapter which can be saved and printed. See Using Skwirk in class for ideas for using the highlighter tool in your lessons. Other chapters within the same topic can be accessed through the Other Chapters box to the right of the text. To return to the topic overview, click the Topic Home icon in the toolbar. Similarly, to return to the unit overview, click the Unit Home icon in the toolbar. To return to the Year and State subject page, click the Subjects tab just beneath the Skwirk logo at the top of the page. 7.
Stage 3 As stage 2 but with bulleted topic summaries: 8.
Stages 4 & 5 Stages 4 and 5 have all of the features of the above units but with the addition of audio summaries for each unit. The summaries can be accessed in written format or played or downloaded as an audio pod cast. The units in the following subjects have pod casts. Stage 4 Science History Geography Stage 5 Science History Geography Commerce The pod casts can be found in the topic summary box at the unit page level. 9.
How do I get to the website? Type www.skwirk.com.au into your web browser. Where do I log in? The log-in box for your username and password is on the top right-hand corner of the website homepage. My username/password won t work what can I do? Your username and password are case sensitive, so make sure your caps lock button is off! Also, make sure you haven t ticked the I am a parent box. I have forgotten my username and/or password. Email us on info@skwirk.com.au with your full name and school and we can help you out. Why is there a pop-up telling me to sign-up to Premium Membership when I am already a member? As security measure, you will be automatically logged out of your account if it is left open and not used. This is why the sign-up animation plays. All you have to do is go to the homepage and log in again. I can t play any of the animations or videos what is wrong? Your computer may be blocking pop-ups or it may not have the most up to date software. Ask your teacher or ICT coordinator to help you. What software do I need to watch the videos and animations on the site? You will need Flash v8 or later to view the animations and videos. You can download the latest version of Flash free online. I think you are missing some important information or you have made a mistake what do I do? Each chapter page has a section called Have we missed something?. If you feel that we have forgotten something, or there is a mistake then please leave us a message. How do I earn points? You can earn points by completing pop quizzes and activities and by watching animations and videos. You can earn up to 5 points in pop quizzes and up to 10 in activities. Watching animations and videos will give you 2 points. 10.
Where are the quizzes and activities? You can find the pop quizzes at the bottom of the chapter page. The activities can be found in the Activities and Exams box on the right-hand side of each chapter page. The activities are vocabulary tests, spelling tests and cloze passage tests. Why are there no quizzes or activities in this unit? Years 1 & 2 have an interactive activity at the end of every animation. There are no quizzes for these years. Years 3 & 4 have activities in every chapter of the HSIE and Science units. There are no quizzes for these years yet. Years 5 & 6 have quizzes in every chapter of the Maths, HSIE and Science units. There are also activities for every chapter of the HSIE units. Why am I not getting any points? You need to achieve a minimum score to earn points - the more you get right the more you earn! You will, however, only score points for the first three times you try something. After 3 attempts at a quiz or activity, or 3 viewings of an animation or video, you will not score any more points. Why won t the highlighter pen work? The highlighter pen only highlights normal text. It won t highlight headings or bullet points. You can highlight up to 10 sections of text per chapter. How do I remove highlights from a chapter? Open your list of highlights (below the highlighter pen tool) and click delete next to the ones you want to remove. When you close the list of highlights, refresh the chapter page and the highlights will disappear. Please note: Any points earned by school users are not valid for redemption in the Skwirk store. 11.
Using Skwirk in class Suggestions and ideas Animations Use animations as a starting point for a class discussion Use animation to complete an empathy task Assume the characters of an animation to role play an event Create their own cartoon strip based on an animation Use words from the chapter to create their own findaword Are given nouns/ verbs etc by the teacher to create their own findaword Images Describe and compare images Use images as a starting point for creative writing e.g. write a story and select an appropriate image to accompany it Write a newspaper report on an issue or event and select an appropriate image to accompany it Write a caption for an image/s Make a sketch drawing of an image from a different perspective Use images from the chapter to create a day-in-the-life journal Create a collage of images from the unit Select an image to be the cover of a book; create a title and a blurb for this book Use an image as the basis of a poster or pamphlet Give a speech to the class explaining a diagram eg. the water cycle Videos Use videos as a starting point for class discussion Write their own script for the voice over of a video Use videos to complete empathy tasks Use a video to create a tourism advertisement for a particular place Use a video to create a news report of a particular event 12.
Content Are assigned reading tasks to prepare for forthcoming lessons Use content as a reference for assignments/ projects Draw a map of key locations discussed in the chapter Research a character in the chapter and create a profile Research a place in the chapter and create a profile on it Create flashcards for unfamiliar vocabulary or concepts Create a timeline based on events in the chapter Write a speech based on the chapter Give a factual recount of one of the events discussed in the chapter Discuss different points of view in texts Conduct further research of a issue in the unit Collect data in a chapter to create a graph/ table/ chart Create a PowerPoint presentation based on a chapter/ topic/ unit Write a letter to an MP discussing an issue addressed in the chapter Chapter/topic summary Use the summary to review for tests etc. Create a mind map using the summaries Activities Complete the activities as a part of homework Make flash cards for vocabulary and spelling words Use flash cards to play a memory game Use spelling words to hold a class spelling bee Create their own cloze activity based on the chapter Worksheets Read the chapter and complete the higher-order thinking activity on the worksheet 13.
Quiz questions Complete the quiz questions as a part of a homework task Select some of the quiz questions from a unit and use them in a class game show Use the quiz questions to create a board game in which they can only move forward if they can answer the question correctly Exams Complete the exam as a part of homework Are required to answer exam questions without multiple choice answers Select one question from the exam and write a couple of paragraphs explaining why the other answers are incorrect Highlighter tool Use the highlighter tool to take notes for study Highlight unfamiliar vocabulary or concepts Highlight the parts of the text that are fact/ opinion Highlight the parts of the text that support/ oppose an argument Use highlighted text to write a speech (debate) 14.