Saturday 11 December 2010

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.

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