Background
Screenshot from Katie's 'Polar atoms' game (Click image to enlarge)
Hillcrest High School in Hamilton is a decile 8 co-ed secondary school with a roll of nearly 1,600 students. Its five-member ICT department headed by Jenny Baker is part of the school's Business and Information Technology Faculty.
Jenny came to teaching after graduating from Canterbury University School of Fine Arts in 1970. After teaching Art at Katikati College and Fairfield College for five years, she took a break to start a family. When she returned to the classroom, it was to teach Maths and Computing at Te Aroha College, Te Aroha. In 1990 Jenny joined the staff at Hillcrest High School where she has been responsible for the growth of the ICT Department and the school's computer network.
Jenny's capability and enthusiasm have been recognised at both regional and national levels. In 2002 she was a finalist in the National Excellence in Teaching Awards (EiTA), and in 2004 received a Royal Society of New Zealand Teacher Fellowship to research technological practice in commercial and tertiary ICT. Jenny has also been involved in NCEA external assessment in Technology, and tutors trainee teachers at the University of Waikato.
At Hillcrest, ICT is a Technology choice at Year 9, and then an option subject in the Years 10-13 Technology programmes. The school offers three parallel streams of ICT study from Years 10 to 13:
ICT Programming – which emphasises problem-solving and technological design using a variety of ICT software and programming languages. Students are assessed against Computing Unit Standards and ICT Achievement Standards at Years 11, 12 and 13 and in addition, the Waikato University Computer Science Scholarship exam at Year 13. This class is the subject of this case study.
ICT Applications – which emphasises technological design using a variety of ICT software, and is assessed against a combination of Computing Unit Standards and ICT Achievement Standards, at Years 11, 12, and 13.
ICT Unit Studies – which enables students to work at their own pace, and is assessed using only Computing Unit Standards at Years 11, 12 and 13.
From 2005 to 2007, Jenny and fellow Hillcrest Technology teacher Karllie Clifton were part of a Beacon Practice cluster with two members of the Katikati College ICT department.
