Outcomes
Addressing specific curriculum outcomes was major focus of planning and process. This involved students working to a brief, developing that brief as a project unfolds, using planning tools and developing an outcome, using ongoing evaluation. Students used specialist knowledge and understanding of the nature of technological activity in the context of the stakeholder communities.
Most groups achieved good quality research. Effective evaluation of each group's work by the whole class led to improvements in the depth and presentation of this research. The use of an assessment schedule in this process was valuable, Chris says, and was well received by the students. Most came to appreciate the need for project planning. Use of the whole-class Gantt chart and having the students plan their required steps, supported this understanding, as did watching and discussing documentaries about film production, including the documentary about the original 1933 King Kong, and a number of other 'special features' documentaries.
Assessment was transparent and frequently involved the whole class, peer, and self-assessment. Students were required to evaluate their learning and outcomes and identify their next learning steps on an ongoing basis.
Student engagement in hands-on experiments was "generally very good". Student work was often innovative and self-motivated. Chris thinks the inherent interest of the project helped – robots fascinate most people, as does the process of film-making, and Year 10 students are no exception.
Student engagement was also helped by the use of group rather than individual activities. While this was the case for most students, Chris points out that it wasn't true for all: "Some people just don't work so well in a group situation, but are still able to collaborate by working on tasks on an individual basis."
The complexity of the project allowed Chris the flexibility to change groups to suit the changing demands of the developing project and to find areas of interest to engage and motivate students. However, as is generally the case with a group of 30 or so people, some students didn't 'buy in' to their role within a group and did not contribute fully.
Chris found that some groups were too large and, as a result, there were communication and group dynamics problems. To better manage students who, for whatever reason, were failing to perform, Chris took a flexible approach to the make-up of the groups, creating smaller ones as the situation demanded to undertake specific tasks identified earlier. For example, a splinter group was charged with the planning and production of the film's title sequence.
Separate groups prepared the script and developed the film's storyboard, while other groups were engaged in research and experimentation. Download a movie file of the storyboard (3.8Mb, .wmv).
The storyboard was created from the script and, as it developed, guided the work of the props and backdrops groups. The completed storyboards were filmed with the correct timing of scenes so that the music could be composed while the filming progressed. The animation and lighting groups worked together on short test sequences using an early, partly-built puppet and experimental props and backdrops prepared by the relevant groups.
The opportunity to contribute to a project much larger than they could individually achieve, as well as to present their work to younger students, generated considerable enthusiasm among students, Chris says.
The opportunity to present the work at Parliament was an added bonus, when this event was planned towards the end of the year.
St Pat's has emphasised differentiated learning for some time and Chris believes his project sat neatly with this teaching ethos, providing opportunities for students with varied learning styles to work in ways they otherwise might not. At the same time collaboration was also a strong feature of the project. Learning occurred within an environment of social interaction. Some Year 12 and 13 Technology and Graphics students designed and built the animation puppets and vehicles used in the films, others designed posters and other promotional material. These students had valid and accessible clients to work for, while junior students had the experience of designers working for them to fulfil their requirements. Collective ownership of outcomes was a feature of the project.
Another outcome Chris was pleased to observe was the change in student perceptions of what technology is. This broadened from the artefact-based perception held by many students at the beginning of the project to a richer, deeper appreciation for the field.
Similarly, the level of understanding of Technology as a subject was raised within the College. Staff from a wide range of subject areas gained a greater understanding of what the subject entails.
Chris had group representatives present a project outline to key stakeholders. Information gleaned at the presentations was fed back into the class Gantt chart.
From a personal point of view, Chris says the project gave him experience in the teaching of collaborative, creative projects, this being different in nature to the individual nature of most of the work we normally do at school. He sees the success of the unit in the wider context of having his students obtain a wider view of the world in terms of opportunities available to them both now and in the future. Some students identified specialised areas of interest within the project as work progressed, and new aspects were added to the projects as a result. Several of these students continued with these areas of interest in their Year 11 Technology studies. These interests relate to student's potential career choices.
