something different for next year

After another year of the three day learning around project 72 - get lost! I have found it pretty hard this year which resetting up and doing the development work again.
Although the students feedback has been positive, I am after another challenge. I think I have the beginnings of a challenge that will be somewhat different and go along the lines of the initial project guidelines.

The design principles

• Projects should provide interactive, engaging learning activities which strengthen 'learning to learn' capabilities.
• Projects should help students to make authentic, relevant connections between their learning and the world they live in.
• Outcomes should conclude with an evaluation, using learner-derived indicators of successful learning and opportunities to celebrate achievements.

The following concepts also guided the design of projects:

• opportunities for curriculum coherence by making links within and across learning areas
• timetable suspension, allowing for increased scope and choice for learning
• students and staff learning collaboratively
• opportunities to nurture creativity and innovation
• enhancing staff collaboration and collegiality
• creating opportunities to connect with the needs and interests of junior students
• multi-literacies in a knowledge age and opportunities to consider new approaches to assessment.

(Also the following adapted from Claxton, 2006)

• problem solving tasks that encouraged reflective thought and action
• actively questioning the learning, including traditional and less familiar types of questions
• making links to real life contexts where outcomes and solutions genuinely matter
• designing challenging and authentic tasks that provided multiple opportunities for students to learn.

This is an idea I last looked at a couple of years ago and have been thinking about as an extension project, possibly for a holiday programme or for a media/solutions class. Though I think the year 9 and 10 programme would be a good introduction for the students. We can look at the technology curriculum and use the development of the project. .

The more I start looking at teaching as inquiry through the http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz the more I start to wonder why we are using these terms at school when we don't fully understand them, the development that is required to start meeting these outcomes requires reflection.