Tailor-made for use in schools and matched to the new National Curriculum, Twig World resources are suitable for pupils from KS2 to GCSE level.
Their senior school resource, Twig provides thousands of outstanding science, maths and geography resources for pupils aged 11-16.
They also have a resource created specifically for prep schools – helping students to reach scholarship and Common Entrance levels with confidence. Twig Prep combines Twig World’s Primary Science resource Tigtag with new films and the most relevant content from Twig.
Paul McDonald, maths teacher at St Paul’s Girls’ School, uses Twig films with his year 9 GCSE pupils right up to his A-level maths classes.
“We have a very able group of girls at St Paul’s, almost all of whom have the ability to achieve A or A* at GCSE level,” he said. “The challenge for us in teaching maths is twofold – we need to extend the more able mathematicians so they do not get bored with the standard syllabus, but we also need to engage and inspire the less able so they don’t ‘turn off’ in maths lessons.
“Twig films relate maths to the real world, making the material more interesting and relevant. Logarithms are notoriously difficult to teach in a way that makes them seem more than an obscure topic in the pure maths syllabus, but the Twig film on the Richter scale makes pupils do a double-take. They’ve heard of magnitude seven earthquakes, but few have ever questioned how the Richter scale works and hardly any will appreciate that the scale is logarithmic.
“A three-minute film might sound short, but it’s relatively long for teenage pupils and the objective, of course, is to get students asking questions and discussing topics – not passively watching a DVD for half a lesson.”
Robert Havercroft, specialist science teacher at Saint Gabriel’s School, uses Twig World’s primary science resource Tigtag in his classes.
“I was looking around for a new resource that was innovative, interactive, and flexible,” he said. “I could not find anything on the market that came close to meeting my requirements until I came across Tigtag. I was blown away. It was exactly what I had been looking for.
“Tigtag is extremely easy to use. The Mindmap navigation is fantastic. It breaks down science into three main curriculum modules and then into smaller topics, making it easy to find what I need. Different science topics are no longer separate entities as the children can see the connections between them.
“I use Tigtag films in most of my lessons. I do not have to scour the internet looking for a video anymore. I know Tigtag will have an amazing film on the topic I’m teaching and it will be accessible from any device with an internet connection.
“The films themselves are engaging and they manage to explain concepts in a way that children can understand without losing any of the scientific details.
“The lesson prep section contains lesson plans, practical ideas, activity sheets and classroom visuals. It is full of ideas and I pick and choose the ones that are appropriate for the class I am teaching.
“Non-specialist teachers can find some topics difficult as they know very little about them. Tigtag has a topic background section, which enables teachers to get a deeper understanding of topics so they feel confident in teaching them. I am a specialist teacher and I find ideas in here that I have never heard of before. It has become my number one stop when planning lessons. Having all of these resources in one place saves me precious time and energy.”
Twig World are now offering schools who purchase a Sept 2014-2015 subscription (before 30th April) free early access to their chosen Twig World resource over the summer months, allowing you to plan lessons. Students can log in from home to revise and produce homework within a safe digital environment.
If you’d like to take advantage of this offer or to take a free trial, please email Harriet from Twig World (hhoffler@twig-world.com) who will be able to help.
