CLIPBOARDS and thermometers are becoming a thing of the past in Malmesbury School science lessons.

Thanks to a £36,000 grant from the Wolfson Foundation for science equipment, the school have being able to buy the 30 Einstein data loggers, which are seven inch tablets that have eight built in sensors that can measure things like temperature, speed and velocity.

Huw Rees, a science teacher at the school said the aim of purchasing the equipment, which was designed by Faurier Education is to enhance science lessons at the school.

He said: “The Einstein is useful as collecting data often slows things down. The new equipment speeds things along.

“You can just plug them in and use them right away. It is quite easy to learn how to use it.”

He explained that the children have been using them to record data in experiments such as those looking at Newton’s Second Law, which defines the relationship between force, mass, and acceleration.

Students at the school have given the tablets, which are also being used in PE lessons, glowing reports.

Year 8 student, Immie Wall said: “It is more accurate to use and it is quick to set them up.

“It is quite easy to learn how to use it.”

Hannah Brown, another Year 8 student said: “It is so accurate – it lets you get all the little details.”

The school is one of the very first schools in the country to decide to switch data logging entirely to Einstein, which is being distributed in the UK by Oxford form Oxford Educational Supplies.

Clever Touch TV screens for the science laboratories have also been bought with the cash from the grant to compliment the tablets.

The tablets are also going to be loaned to primary schools in the area for use.

Gabrielle Peers-Dent, head of science at the school, said: “We spent quite a lot of money so we can loan them out to the primary schools. They prepare them (for learning science at secondary school) and makes their science learning easier.”