Mapping Thornton Dale - Thornton Dale CofE (VC) Primary School
Thornton Dale CofE (VC) Primary School are keen to promote enthusiastic, motivated learners who are actively involved in their learning. Part of the school’s development plan is to find ways of reducing barriers to learning to allow progress for all.
The school have found that many of its pupils are effective receivers of learning but lack the desire to seek it out for themselves; they are reluctant questioners and tend towards a passive classroom style. The school therefore sees this project having the potential to rely on them generating ideas, offer and build their expertise and motivate them more generally.
Enquiry Question:
What is the impact an enquiry based learning project can have on pupils' ability to ask questions and take more responsibility for, and recognise, their own learning?
Focusing on a joint year 5/6 class, pupils will work with creative practitioners, Invisible Flock to create a multi-platform treasure trail, partly a factual guide to the area, and partly a guide to an alternate reality and myths as created by pupils. The guide will lead those who follow it to hidden objects and mysteries hidden both in the area and online. An interactive web-guide will present mini-games, maps, back-story, clues and codes to decipher, allowing people to participate remotely as well as physically upon visiting the area. The project will involve a combination of mapping, factual research and story making as well as elements of play and lots of invention, using new technologies, inspired by alternative reality games, geo-caching and other cutting edge forms of play.
The stories themselves will be created by pupils, drawing from their own knowledge of the area and imagination, and the map will take its participants on an adventure that will make them look at their surroundings with fresh eyes, and interact with it in new and exciting ways.
The guide will stop off at key areas, where objects will be hidden and must be sought out in order for the participants to continue on the adventure. These objects will each hold small tasks and puzzles that need solving; that may send them to other places on the map; and that ask them to annotate and alter their maps as they interact with the geography of their surroundings a brand new way.
At the end of the project the guide will take the form of a PDF document that can be downloaded from the project’s website. This will allow for pupils, communities and visitors to engage and participate in the project for a long period of time and in a variety of ways.
This guide may be a plain leaflet about the area, but will also be the way in to a secret reality of myths and stories. As participants follow these guides they will be encouraged to hunt out buried objects, and soon discover that there is a map within the map that will require them to follow the adventure through to the end to solve the mystery of Thornton Dale.
Invisible Flock will also deliver a twilight development session introducing their approach to staff across school, and discussing other new-media approaches accessible to schools.
It is hoped that the project will culminate in a school/community event to learn how to use/celebrate the final trail and try to incorporate the wider community.
Impact
What will be the key impacts on young people's creative skill development?
- Problem finding and solving;
- Developing, refining and communicating new ideas;
- Taking risks;
- Working as co-constructors of learning;
- Reflecting on learning.
What evidence will be collected?
- The website, trail and documentation realised through the project;
- Informal film and photography documentation;
- Work from pupils as the project develops - showing plans, ideas generation, evaluation of ideas;
- Notes from interviews/discussions with the creative agent;
- Teacher and practitioner observation and feedback sheets.
What will be the key impacts on the learning of teachers and other school staff?
- Staff will have extended their teaching practice in terms of both using new media and developing 'real' projects which give a clear purpose for learning;
- They will have new ideas about generating cross curricular topic planning;
- They will have further experience of pupil led delivery - having had the opportunity to participate as equals with (and learn from) pupils, and had the opportunity to have moments to step back and observe pupils without having to be fully responsible for delivery.
