CDTlog

For the past twelve weeks, one of our S1 classes have had the opportunity to embark on a Personal Project. The aim was to give pupils the opportunity to devise a practical project, that they could realistically complete, and would give them a sense of ownership over their direction of learning. They would be assisted by their class teacher but the onus would be on them to plan and complete their work. Early on pupils were advised that it was OK if their project didn’t work out – the focus was on the experience and the ability to make mistakes and learn from them. The learning experience forced pupils to become real decision makers, and although there have been a few ‘failures’ along the way, it is clear that at the end of our projects the pupils have developed a phenomenal degree of confidence, a much wider range of practical skills (wood turning, wood bending, routing, forging, brazing to name a few), and a real ability to recognise the importance and application of skills such as working with others,  problem solving, and planning.

Video Project

Daniel Cringean, decided early on that he wanted to make a video or animation for his project, simply because he had had interest in this area but had never had a shot of it before. The video below gives a taste of what the pupils were up to – it was shot and edited entirely by Daniel. I only helped him to source the free video editing software he used – JayCut, which was excellent and simple to use.

Assessment

The pupils assessed the success of their own project throughout and at the end. Using Blooms Taxonomy as a structure to base our reflections on, the pupils had to recall at speed ’30 things they learned’ during their project. This varied from ‘sanding’ to ‘knowing that I need to understand the bigger picure’. They then had to outline what they did using a ‘flow diagram’ type structure. This made them highlight the critical stages of their work, when they had to make decisions and understand the connections between tasks. Finally they were asked to apply what they experienced to other contexts. All pupils reached their own conclusions about their work, every pupil valued their ability to work things out for themselves and work with others rather than discreet skills such as ‘sanding’ or ‘cutting’.

Teacher Reflections

Overall, I felt the project was a success. I was interested to see that if handing over the reins to the pupils and allow them to drive their own projects would create a much deeper learning experience than if the usual ‘I show and you copy’ approach of CDT in S1. The experience was very similar to S4 Craft and Design without all the folio requirement. Initially I asked the pupils to reflect weekly on their learning but it became apparent that the pupils were absorbed in the ‘doing’ any attempt to pause and reflect seemed tokenistic. Perhaps an area to develop for the future.

Logistically it wasn’t as difficult as first imagined. The initial set up of each project was a fair degree of work but, like Craft and Design, after a few weeks pupils got into the flow of what they were doing. I found myself becoming much more of a facilitator who had to keep a watchful eye on the safety of pupils in the workshop.  I also had an S6 prefect, Andrew Peach, who was superb at helping out. Without Andrew, I would have felt a lot more pressure at keeping everyone busy.

Out of the 20 pupils, around 5 struggled with their projects, lacking focus, direction and drive. Despite this, I can confidently say that they have each understood where they struggled and are at a stage that they would change things for the future.

On a positive note, I have been amazed at the enthusiasm and skill of some of the pupils. Many arrived early for the class and returned for extra work at lunch times. Taking away the usual restrictions has allowed some pupils to really flourish.

From a teachers point of view, the biggest learning curve, has been being able to ask good questions. Finding the balance of producing a solution for pupil (which would be easy to do) or asking the right questions to allow them to figure it out for themselves has been difficult.

The future

If we were to repeat this project with future classes, there are many things that could be changed – but that could be said for almost type of school experience. Fundamentally it has been a great experience for the class and I can’t wait to see what they choose to get up to in S2.

I would really welcome your comments.