All schools have recently received a letter inviting them to apply for Curriculum for Excellence funding to support projects with a focus on Scottish history, culture and heritage.
Margaret O’Connor has identified the following contacts who can provide advice on project bids and practical support in delivering your project.
Education theory and practice go head to head when Professor Dylan Wiliam takes over one Year 8 class to test simple ideas that he believes could improve the quality of education.
Over the last 6 weeks the P6/7 class have been creating and producing crossing the road safety animations to encourage children to be safer crossing the road and while they are outside playing. The videos are to be shown at an assembly and uploaded to JRSO website and School website.
In what ways does this practice relate to Curriculum for Excellence?
This project was fully interdisciplinary with overreaching aspects of Health and Wellbeing and Technology. Numeracy, Writing and Expressive Arts aspects were also covered as part of the learning experience. Planning sheets are available with evaluation to be completed.
What were the reasons for doing this?
The School has 2 JRSO Reps and it was suggested that an effective way to grab the attention of all the pupils was to produce a multimedia presentation using equipment and materials from the school. The audience was Nursery-Primary pupils. The message was to be explicit in regards Road Safety. Pupils had free choice over how their story developed.
What has happened as a result?
The impact is to be measured by the response we gain from the audience regarding the videos. Initial audience results show a significant permutation of the message. The educational impact for the pupils involved has been significant with a great deal of out of school learning and development work being noted. The children worked in groups of 2 or three and had to carry out all types of roles. Writer/ Story boarder/ Designer/Editor/ Director/Sound producer/ Titles. They also had to learn the technology of digital animation using Ican Animate and Windows Movie Maker. Pupils also know how to upload to internet and add music to their animations to create effect.
What would you do differently next time?
The project deserves more time and could also incorporate tighter restrictions on story development and working to a tighter brief.
