The Gadget Show
'The Gadget Show' took place in 2009/10 at Kings Oak Primary Learning Centre as part of the Creative Partnerships Change programme.
The school wanted to investigate risk-taking and its effects via the delivery of a creative curriculum, whilst including literacy and numeracy in the project.
Digital media company ‘Fowler and Sumner’ worked in partnership with the year 3 and 4 team. Creative activities were designed encouraging the children to think differently and devise different topic ideas. These were scored according to level of interest/risk and from this ‘The Gadget Show’ theme emerged.
Children formed their own companies and were made responsible for their own success. They had to work as a team to allocate roles, devise a name, logo and catchphrase for the company and design their gadgets. Products also had to be marketed, with podcasts, TV adverts, t-shirts, business cards and one-minute lift pitches.
‘Thunks’ (questions with no right or wrong answer - Ian Gilbert) were introduced in class to get the children thinking more creatively and seeing things in a different light, these were even used at the beginning of staff meetings to stimulate discussion.
The project culminated in a Gadget Show at the school; each company had their own stand to pitch to parents, members of the community and governors. The guests were given a fictional currency to invest in the company they thought had the best product and pitch.
In 2010/11 the school will be working with all staff to develop the approach across the whole teaching staff.
Project objectives
What is the impact of risk-taking on the staff’s confidence in delivering a creative curriculum and on personal, learning and thinking skills in children?
Who was involved?
Years 3 and 4
Results
Key Outcomes
- A more creative approach to lesson planning and delivery;
- Increased pupil confidence and motivation.
Teacher Comments
"It was good to be out of our comfort zones altogether; by that I mean the teachers, teaching assistants, creative practitioners and the children. It was a learning curve that we all went through together and we all learnt a lot from each other. I learnt that that sometimes the children have a better idea than you and that you don’t always have the answers."
"I have taken risks my delivering sessions in ways I would usually be unsure about."
"I am now aware of techniques I can use to encourage pupil thinking."
"Facilitating a lesson can be as powerful as teaching a lesson."
"Children are approaching tasks with increasing confidence even when they don’t know what the answer or outcome is."
"Children are more confident in sharing their ideas with the class."
"The children learnt to value each other’s comments and realise that is wasn’t just the teacher that they were learning from."
"The children’s attitude to learning has changed dramatically, particularly that of our less engaged children."
"The less academically able children discovered that they could participate more easily."
