“Bring Movement into the Classroom”… with Hopspots By Trine Askjær-Jørgensen Studies show that active pupils learn better and more because movement significantly increases learning. Thus, pupils who are more active “exhibit better focus, faster cognitive processing and more successful memory retention” compared to children who spend the entire school day sitting still (Abdelbary 2017). The reason for this is that keeping the body active through movement increases the blood and oxygen flow to the brain, which promotes mental clarity and positively affects cognitive development as well as physical and neurological health (Abdelbary 2017). Several studies have shown “a significant positive relationship between PA [physical activity] in general and cognition in children”, and “positive effects of regular PA on the structures and functions of the brain” (Have et al. 2016). Among other things, physical activity increases information processing and helps children build the foundations of their social skills (Abdelbary 2017). Although children must learn how to work while sitting still, it is also important that we understand that “play and movement give kids the chance to release stress and take breaks from the rigor of schoolwork” (Abdelbary 2017). The challenges of today’s teachers and [...]

Hopspots challenges children’s competencies At Bagterpskolen in Hjørring and Herningvej Skole in Aalborg the teachers and pupils love Hopspots. We talked to Anja Godtliebsen, teacher and IT-advisor at Bagterpskolen, and Henrik Bundgaard, after school care worker and head of pre-preparatory classes at Herningvej Skole, about their experiences with Hopspots. At Bagterpskolen Anja has borrowed Hopspots for 4 months in total during the past year. She particularly took Hopspots in, in her role as IT-advisor because as she says, “she knows what’s good” and thus she books ahead in order to make Hopspots available at her school. At Bagterpskolen everyone from the first grade and all the way up to the 6th grade have tried Hopspots and Anja says, “they are all equally eager to use it and even the older children find The Chase and Mix’n’Match fun”. According to Anja, Hopspots is ideal for getting children to move while learning, because it does not take a lot of preparation time to use it during class, and she says “it’s nice to be able to bring Hopspots into the classroom and it is something that the children think is fun and when they even learn something [...]

“The child comes out in us” – HOPSPOTS IS FOR EVERYONE Today Hopspots is used in several other places than the Danish primary school, namely also in SENs, in child therapy and now also at health centres. Based on a demand for using Hopspots in other places than schools, which have so far been our primary target group, we have the past couple of months examined what Hopspots can contribute with to an older target group and we got great feedback. Our examination among other things consisted of user tests with the elderly and interviews of professionals who have also tried Hopspots. Among other places Hopspots have been implemented at Hjørring Sundhedscenter to great amusement for younger as well as older people in Hjørring. Hopspots is here used for both interactive training for people with brain damages and dementia, for groups of children, and for people in rehabilitation. We interviewed Lene Ellgaard from Hjørring Sundhedscenter about her experiences with using Hopspots for an elderly target group. The experiences in Hjørring together with our own tests show that also elderly people can benefit from using Hopspots, particularly when it comes to physical training, mental training and social skills. [...]

BETT show in London In week 4 Hopspots attended the BETT-show in London. BETT is short for British Educational Training and Technology show, which is held in January every year. BETT is a great chance for everyone within the educational field to get new ideas and inspiration for new ways of using technology in teaching. At the show we met both giant companies such as: LEGO, INTEL; MICROSOFT; as well as small and newly established companies. We were located together with all the newly established companies and it was a great experience! There were so many new ideas present in that one room, and it was vibrating with activity. It was quite the adventure examining the BETT FUTURE area, our area. Even teachers, headmaster and distributors from all over the world found the place extremely inspiring. The whole world was there! We talked to people from all over Europe, South America, South Korea, and even New Zealand. What an experience! We have been jumping and laughing a lot. Hopspots’ target audience is children between the age of 2 and 10, and children with disabilities, but the teachers also saw potential in using Hopspots for older [...]