Introduction

The assessment criteria for “The Enquiring Mind: Creative Approaches” is a reflective journal on five of the key areas studied throughout the module; the journal will be submitted in blog format. As well as exploring each of the key areas in depth, this blog will also discuss their relevance to 21^st Century Learning; how do they link to the pupil’s enquiry and learning? The five areas, chosen by myself, to research further are:

• The Art vs Science Debate which discusses the connection between the two subject and how the two should be taught linearly in order to exhort the greatest potential from our learners.
• The Leonardo Effect a curriculum design that focuses on a pupil lead learning experience derived from the child like methodology of Leonardo da Vinci.
• Mantle of the Expert a method created by Dorothy Heathcote that encourages children to combine drama with their learning by becoming 'experts' in fields relating to their topic.
• Creative Partnerships are participatory education projects that bring together school children and creative agents to encourage expression through the arts.
• Creative Play develops a child's imagination through the arts to develop confidence and self-esteem.

For ease while pursuing this blog each of the five key areas has been hyperlinked above; or for an over view of the blog please use the labels “Laura” or “The Enquiring Mind”.

Arts vs Science Debate

The first half of this blog will explore the benefits of combining the arts and sciences to maximise learning in the 21^st century; as well as how schools are already using methods like the Leonardo Effect and Mantle of the Expert (MoE) that incorporate the two to engage each child. Art and Science are often seen as separate entities within the curriculum although evidence suggests that the most successful people have the ability to explore the two simultaneously, thus gaining the most effective learning experience (Jamison, 2010).

Previously there has been a huge emphasis on ‘the left and the right brain’; “left brained” people tend to be academic and logical whereas those whom are “right brained” are said to be more creative and intuitive. Why not both? In fact it has been argued that people are not as dichotomous as first thought and although the brain, at times, can become lateralised, on the whole, both sides work together (Cherry, 2014).

Science provides an understanding of universal experience and arts provide a universal understanding of personal experience (Jamison, 2010).

 

The combination of the arts and science can promote creative development through expression and play, which leads to new found knowledge and a greater understanding of a subject. When creating a piece of art, an artist considers materials and the suitability for purpose, for the integrity of the piece they will consider the form that it is taking. Therefore as well as using their imagination to create the piece, they are also using their logic (Oliver, 2006).  Leonardo da Vinci for example, had an eye for detail, when looking at his works of art you are able to see his sound knowledge of the human anatomy, everything is in proportion and in scale, this is explored further in The Leonardo Effect (BBC Science and Nature, 2014)).  Also in the MoE curriculum design, children are using their imagination when taking on the role of the ‘expert’ and at the same time they using scientific deduction to complete the task at hand, as you will see in further posts, it is the combination of the two that increases the pupils interest and in turn their knowledge of the subject (Heathcoate & Herbet, 1985).

If we do not start to see the arts and sciences as complimenting subjects rather than binaries the future looks bleak, we must be using the creative and the analytical together to revolutionise the years to come, as it is what we do now that will determine the quality of life in the future. It is now we are seeing the benefits of the ideas people had in the fifties and sixties, so if we are unable to modernise our way of educating our children now then we will see no change in the future, we need to be accessing all aspects of the child’s brain and their interests in order to develop their knowledge and understanding of the world, thus providing them with the tools to improve it (Jamison, 2010).

Leonardo Effect

Hickey and Robson (2013) explain the Leonardo Effect as a creative approach that empowers children with the freedom to construct their own learning. This is through investigation of a topic using a complementary curriculum design which incorporates the collaboration of science and the arts; through their experiential learning, other subjects such as literacy and numeracy are also visited, therefore enhancing the knowledge of the pupil. Whilst using the Leonardo Effect in the classroom the teacher’s role is purely as a facilitator, guiding the learning using their knowledge and skills. When children are taught in a traditional teacher-led setting it is suggested that a number of pupils will become disengaged, thus limiting their attainment and damaging their desire to learn (Hickey & Robson, 2013).

The curriculum design stems from the works of Leonardo da Vinci, which are a perfect example of how art and science are not separate entities. You only have to look at the Vitruvian Man below to see that da Vinci had a sound scientific understanding of the proportions of the human body, which has been meticulously recreated to scale using his artic skills (BBC Science and Nature, 2014).

(Vinci, 1490)

Leonardo da Vinci believed that in order to develop ideas pupils must gain first-hand experience; feed their curiosity by exploring the subject. In turn this will re-ignite their passion for learning and expand their potential to learn. The theory is, by encouraging our leaners to think and involve themselves actively in a task the meaning and relevance of the subject will become more apparent to the leaner (The Leonardo Effect, 2013).

The curriculum design is practiced in many schools throughout Scotland and Wales and has been proclaimed an innovative approach that enables children to “become more confident collaborators…rising to learning challenges” (The Leonardo Effect, 2013).

As a course of exploring the benefits of the Leonardo effect in practice we conducted an activity using the principles of the method. This process is explained below:

Step One: As the facilitator of the session our lecturer, Laura Philips, gave four tables a sheet of paper and asked us each to write down our assigned element. Our table was given Water. From here we were asked to record any words that related to this element in two minutes; once our time came to an end we would move clockwise to each of the tables and spend an additional two minutes adding to the documents. As you can see from the image below, the end product visited avenues that may not have been explored had there not been input from all of the pupils in the classroom, or if the lesson had been planned ahead of time by the teacher for a structured session.

 

Step Two: We were asked to prepare a five minute presentation as a group, based on one of the words, to present back to the class. As a group we decided upon the Bermuda Triangle; a topic that, had we not used The Leonardo Effect curriculum design, we may never have explored. It was fascinating that from the four original elements we ended up with such a variety of interesting presentations that fully engaged each member of the class.

The activity was not only interesting and engaging, it was also challenging. Once the third and fourth table was reached, two to three groups had already visited them and it was becoming increasingly difficult to think of words without being influenced by other groups’ suggestions. Once the obvious words had been documented we began to think in abstract manner; thinking about the periodic table (H2O), the different states of the element (ice, snow), current and past events around the world (the Tsunami or the Bostcastle flooding) as well as tapping into our geographical knowledge (The Bermuda Triangle). The presentation itself accessed additional areas of the curriculum.  We created a PowerPoint presentation before presenting back to the class, so Information Technology and Communication Skills were also key areas that the method encouraged the groups to visit. With this said it is not difficult to see how children are surpassing ceilings and excelling using the method as they are gaining a richer and more varied learning experience, covering a multitude of subjects simultaneously.

Mantle of the Expert

Another curriculum design that is based upon the combination of the arts and science is the Mantle of the Expert (MoE), a method designed by Dorothy Heathcote.  Studying the arts and science linearly is said to allow learning to take place at a conceptual, personal and social level.  The MoE, like The Leonardo Effect, is a child led learning experience that places the teacher in the role of the facilitator, it is the responsibility of the child to extract information from the teacher, thus reversing the traditional style of learning (Heathcote & Herbert, 1985).  The syllabus is derived from a drama enterprise approach which draws its structure from societal matrixes (Grimley & Holt C of E Primary School, 2014).  Grimley and Holt C of E Primary School (2014) state that there are four key elements to the MoE method:

Ø  Expert roles are created and each child assumes one of the positions

Ø  A fictional organisation is created based on the subject area they will be studying

Ø  Client’s assign tasks to the experts which interlink with various areas of the curriculum

Ø  Through collective imagination and pupil inquiry the children develop the ability to solve challenges that they are faced with throughout the activity

Piaget stated that children, as constructivists, learn through experimentation and play.  The subject must become an extension of their environment in order for the knowledge to become a concrete schema (Gruber & Voneche, 1977).  It could be argued that through Heathcotes MoE method, the child is using all of the aforementioned skills to construct their own knowledge of the subject.  Therefore the emotional involvement in the activity will become embedded thus create a greater understanding and improved recall of the information; by creating a life like situation they are able to make ‘human-sense’ of the subject matter (Donaldson, 1978).

To explore the curriculum design further we were tasked with an activity based upon the MoE framework, enabling the group to gain first-hand experience.  The task consisted of building a bridge to replace the existing River Tawe Bridge in Swansea.  Using the aforementioned process each member of the group was given a role in which they would become the expert; Architect, Buyer and Estimator, Director, Project Manager and Structural Engineer.  The client required the bridge to be built using the following specifications:

Ø  Must cover a gap of 50cm’s

Ø  Must hold the weight of one average sized tangerine

Ø  Must be made from lollipop sticks and masking tape (although this was later amended to include the use of a hot glue gun due to the poor quality of the masking tape)

Ø  Each stick would cost fifty pence

Ø  Two inches of masking tape cost twenty five pence (each press of the glue gun trigger would also equate to two inches of masking tape)

Each group then designed, evaluated and built their bridge.   

Although there is evidence that the Mantle of the Expert curriculum design is effective in a primary education setting; Avenue Primary School, Norwich have dubbed MoE a “revolutionary approach to education (Burrell, 2007); I would argue the effectiveness of the method in older children and adults.  Throughout the experimental MoE task, assigned to myself and fellow second year university students, it was evident that the imagination aspect of the task in which the student would take on the role of an ‘expert’ was difficult to access.  However on the whole I found MoE to be effective in a primary setting, the way the children reacted to the method in the video indicated that young children have a greater access to their imagination and thus the ability to learn through role play.

 

 

Creative Partnerships

Another way that schools are encouraging enquiry in learners is through Creative Partnerships between creative professionals and schools (PwC, 2010).  LOCWS Schools is a participatory education project running in Swansea that brings together school children and creative agents to encourage expression through the arts. Throughout the experience pupils are exposed to Swansea’s culture, architecture and heritage from which they create pieces of artwork for public exhibition (Haste, 2014).  In a report commissioned by the Creativity, Culture and Education Board (2010) it was suggested that some of the benefits from creative partnerships include; increased comprehension of the curriculum, increased motivation, higher attainment at GCSE level with more pupils progressing to further and higher education, as well as increased parental engagement.

To gain experience of Creative Partnerships our group attended an excursion to The Grand Theatre in Swansea where we were able to see the final product of the most recent LOCWS school collaboration and also speak with the Director of Art in the City, David Haste. Haste (2014) explained the process of Art in the City as a 3 day workshop where the children would, along with the assigned creative professional, go through a four step process on their journey to creating a final piece. First of all they would look around the city by taking their learning outside of the classroom and encouraging the pupils to observe, document and then reflect upon what they had seen during their excursion. In the next part of the process they would be asked to discuss what they had seen and what their thoughts and feelings were from the trip, this would be transformed into a mind-mapped plan, and at the end of this session the children would have an idea of what they were going to create for their final piece. Depending on the speciality of the creative professional collaborating with the group, this final piece could be anything from a painting or sculpture to a poem, story or song. The third step in the process would be the creation of the final piece, the creative professional assuming the role of facilitator and the pupils leading the activity. Finally, the piece would be presented or displayed in a way that would, according to Haste (Haste, 2014), bring the children sense of pride and achievement thus encouraging them to continue on a creative path.

 

From the information gained during the visit to The Grand Theatre as well as the information presented from research I would conclude that Creative Partnerships appear to be of benefit for pupils, parents and teachers alike. The output from the workshops not only increases the attainment of the child as well as improving personal attributes, self-confidence, for example; the relationships between student and teacher is also improved as the pupil is gaining a richer experience than in a traditional teaching setting. With regards to learning and creativity in the twenty first century it is evident that the creative partnerships provided by LOCWS are including varied enquiry methods due to the child led nature of the workshops, as well as incorporating modern technology to plan, document and present their pieces.

Creative Play

(PlayProject.org, 2014)

Creative play is key to the development of a child’s imagination and focuses on individual personalities; how they express their thoughts and feelings (WAG, 2008).  It does this by encouraging the child to look differently at the world, this could be in the form of dance, art, music or role play; all of which boost self-esteem and increase confidence.  This blog post looks at the forms of creative play and how it can enhance pupil learning in the early years ( (Wilson, 2009).

One theorist to discuss the importance of learning through experience and play was Jean Piaget.  While in their sensory motor stage children will seek to learn, as they are not in a structured learning environment this learning, in the most part, will come from their play.  Once they reach their pre-operational stage children are starting nursery or school and in these settings it is important to maintain the role play and experiential learning as when their learning comes from a memorable experience, it is more likely that this information will be retained (Gruber & Voneche, 1977).  Gardner (1991) also expressed his strong belief in how imaginative play increases the understanding of children as; even if a child’s imagination was a distorted form of reality, it would in some way to relate to truth.  For example if a child can imagine the solar system, even though it may not be astronomically accurate, they would be able to readily assimilate objects like the sun, moon and planets. 

There are different types of play that can enhance a child’s learning:

Motor/Physical – Types of play that promote the development of muscles and motor skills.  Running, Climbing, Catching, etc..

Social – Types of play that involves two or more people.  Board games, team sports etc…

Constructive – This involves the manipulation of a child’s environment for example den building.

Fantasy – Imaginative play in which the child assumes the role or responsibility of another.

Games with Rules – This style of play enables the child to develop an understanding of social constraints.  These games could involve anything from a team sport to a solitary game of cards (WAG, 2008).



 

Whilst on placement I have gained exposure to the children using fantasy play within the role play area as a method of learning, which in Clydach Infants School was a Café.  It encouraged them to practice a variety of skills covering a multitude of areas of the Foundation Phase Curriculum.  Language, Literacy and Communication Skills are developed as the children are taking on roles that they would not normally assume, they are therefore thinking about the type of language they would hear from a waitress or a customer and they are using words and phrases that may exceed their years when communicating with their peers.  They are also encouraged to take on the full role within the role play area, so they would be expected to read the menu, write down order, the children would also charge or pay for the meals they ‘ate’ using money, this would link into Mathematical Development.  Finally, Creative Development is accessed as soon as they enter the Café; their imagination takes over and they assume their role.  Although fantasy play is only one aspect of creative play from what I have experienced and observed I am a strong believer in the benefits of creative play within the curriculum and the benefits on the child’s learning.

Conclusion

I would conclude that from the topics discussed throughout this blog that creativity and inquiry are key to the curriculum in the twenty first century.  The enhancement of the imagination at a young age gives pupils the ability to retain information; they are able to relate what they are learning to their lives.  Child lead learning involves the child and encourages them to gain knowledge in the subjects that they are interested in, and in turn they will also excel in the areas that they may have previously struggled in.  With regards to the art vs science debate, it is easy for me to conclude that they are not separate entities and should not be treated as such; if we are expecting the children of today to be the innovators of tomorrow we must ignite all of their senses and interest to maximise the quality of their future ideas.  With the curriculums designs discussed in this blog, The Leonardo Effect and Mantle of the Expert, the marriage of art and science becomes a reality within the primary setting, and under these frameworks it is possible for our children to achieve maximum attainment.

Reference List
 

BBC Science and Nature, 2014. Vitruvian Man. [Online]
Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/leonardo/gallery/vitruvian.shtml
[Accessed 10 December 2014].

Blackley and Broadene - The Shoe Factory Part 1. 1980. [Film] Directed by BBC. North East, England: BBC North East.

Burrell, J., 2007. Mantle of the Expert - The Sea Company. National Union of Teachers Magazine.

Cherry, K., 2014. Left Brain vs Right Brain: Understanding the Myth of Left Brain and Right Brain Dominance. [Online]
Available at: http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivepsychology/a/left-brain-right-brain.htm
[Accessed 10 December 2014].

ChildcareCentre, 2014. ChildcareCentre. [Online]
Available at: http://www.childcarecenterinc.com/images/prekroom/creative_large.jpg
[Accessed 10 December 2014].

Donaldson, M., 1978. Children's Minds. London: Routledge.

Gardner, H., 1991. The Unschooled Mind. London: Fontana.

Grimley & Holt C of E Primary School, 2014. Manle of the Expert. [Online]
Available at: https://www.edulink.networcs.net/schools/Grimley_and_Holt/Pages/WhatisMantleoftheExpert.aspx
[Accessed 10 December 2014].

Gruber, H. E. & Voneche, J. J., 1977. The Essential Piaget: An Interpretive Reference Guide. London: Routlege & Kegan Paul Ltd.

Haste, D., 2014. Art Across the City. [Online]
Available at: http://www.locwsinternational.com/?page_id=7486&langswitch_lang=en
[Accessed 10 December 2014].

Haste, D., 2014. Art Across the City: Grand Theatre Interview [Interview] (10 October 2014).

Heathcote, D. & Herbert, 1985. Drama of Learning: Mantle of the Expert. Theory into Practice, 3(24), pp. 173-180.

Hickey, I. & Robson, D., 2013. The Leonardo Effect: Motivating Children To Achieve Through Interdisciplinary Learning. 1 ed. Oxon: Routledge.

Jamison, M., 2010. Teaching Art and Science Together [Interview] (14 April 2010).

Oliver, A., 2006. Creative Teaching: Science in the Early Years & Primary Classroom. London: David Fulton Publishers.

PlayProject.org, 2014. Creative Play. [Online]
Available at: http://www.playproject.org/assets/creative-play.jpg
[Accessed 10 December 2014].

PwC, 2010. Creativity, Culture and Education: The Cost and Benefits of Creative Partnerships, GB: PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP..

The Leonardo Effect, 2013. Interdiciplinary Education. [Online]
Available at: http://leonardoeffect.com/
[Accessed 10 December 2014].

Vinci, L. d., 1490. The Vitruvian Man. [Art] (Gallerie dell'Accademia).

WAG, 2008. Creative Development, s.l.: Welsh Assembly Government.

Wilson, B., 2009. Creativity in Primary Education. 2 ed. London: Learning Matters.

 

 

 

Introduction to Visual Communication Blog

Throughout this module one of the goals we have been working towards is completing an e-portfolio made up of a series of fifteen blog posts. There were five compulsory blogs that we would be marked on as well as an additional ten that could be made up of what we liked, within reason. The five blog posts that we were asked to complete were as follows:

1. Photostory using 7 pictures
2. Review of a TED video clip that was related to education
3. Review of an Educational Blog
4. Pro's and Con's of Web 2
5. Testing of a Web 2 Application

Following the completion of the assessed criteria I have blogged about various other educational based topics for my e-portfolio. These can be found using the labels Mandy or Project within the label cloud or via the hyperlinks.

Glogster Review

This post is a review of the website Glogster, how it works, what it looks like and what you can do with it.  The image below shows the layout of a pinboard glog mid production during the editing stages before publishing.

A glog is an interactive blog that has live feeds to videos and pictures making the layout more aesthetically pleasing.  I like the idea of a glog and I have used one to demonstrate Instagram as an app in my web 2 review for this assignment.  I enjoyed using glogster, however it is not the easiest to get to grips with if computers are not your strong point.  I struggled using the site although I feel the final result was more effective than just words on a page.  This is definitely something I will use again in the future, although a lot of practise will be required to enable me to manoeuvre around the different features more efficiently.  Even though the finish article was better than in a written format I hadn't quite grasped the 'adding post-it notes' or 'frames' that were available to complete the glog to the intended finish.

I believe that this could be a fantastic tool, if used in the right way, to replace presentations in appropriate situations.  Especially when presenting to children and teenagers it could involve them more rather than just blindly staring at a PowerPoint.  They would be able to go into different areas of the glog to expand the information, so they are more involved in the learning process.

Blogger Review

Throughout this semester we have been using blogger.com for the presentation of our assessments.  This is the first occasion that I have used blogger.com; in fact, it's the first time I have blogged full stop.  I have found the blogging aspect of the assessments challenging and for educational purposes I am not entirely convinced that it has a place within the assessment criteria, nevertheless I have found the experience interesting and I have learnt a lot about blogs. 

In our first couple of sessions we set up our blog, designed it and learnt to manoeuvre our way around the site enabling us to create posts and view our blog.  Further seminars enabled us to complete more complex tasks like adding gadgets and making our blogs more personal to us.

 

 

When completing the assignment for Caroline using blogger I noticed that some of my work had been shared publicly, as I mentioned before this is not suitable for the assessment scenarios as you are making your work readily available for people to copy.  Fellow students are 'following you' so they are able to see a live feed of all of your work as it is being posted and it is being sent directly to their news feed.  Going forward to make the assessments less accessible it could be suggested that maybe students shouldn't be told to follow each other.

 

 

With regards to using blogger.com again; I like the site and the idea of blogging, however it is not something that I find enjoyable, having not used it for anything other than the work requested of me, and I cannot see myself wanting to blog in the future, if I were to use blogger.com again it would either be for educational or professional reasons; not personal.

Educational Blog Review

For my blog review I have focused on the Education - Telegraph Blogs.  I found this blog particularly useful when keeping up to date with current education news as the posts are based on the hot topics in the news today, with a focus on what is going on in schools if not with a strong political underpin.

Initially, when sourcing 'educational blogs' on the internet searches I found myself struggling, I had come across a few blogs that took my fancy, although they were not solely based on education, they would only have the odd post weekly based on the topic but they would also cover a wide variety of news stories.  My favourite blog of all is The Parentdish found in my blog list, many of the education based stories are controversial but also focus on what is happening within our schools today. 

Back on topic, I chose the Education blog from the Telegraph for my review as the information is being communicated by a newspaper and therefore I believed that it was a more trustworthy source to use for academic purposes.  Although I found the blog informative I also noticed that the author(s) were very left wing and their view were extremely pro David Cameron and Michael Gove never questioning them, and even though I sit on the fence with Cameron as a Prime Minister, Gove has a lot of view with regards to education that I disagree with.  With this in mind I did find some of the blog posts irritating and bias towards the Tory party.

Overall the blog is useful and informative and I would use it in the future to keep up with current affairs in the education sector.

University through the eyes of a student

So what does university today look like? Are students using their time effectively and where do they really spend most of their time? The short video below will show you just what our students are doing and how some of their tuition is being used, and where it could be used more effectively.

It is evident from the video that a large proportion of a student’s time is spent socialising and partaking in activities that don't involve learning or studying. So is this right, shouldn't they be focusing on learning? Let's think about this logically, the majority of these students are in their late teens to early twenties, it is their rite of passage to experience all of the aspects of university life; a degree is the end game but these young people are also learning to live by themselves, look after themselves and build friendships with other likeminded people, to put it simply these students are not only there to better themselves educationally they are also in university to gain essential life skills.

To other students like myself, these figures may be completely off and the university experience completely different.  At twenty seven I have feel I have gained my stripes from the 'University of Life' and I have returned to education to better myself and the future of my family. With this in mind the majority of my time is spent in the library or studying at home, when my child is in bed. There is someone else relying on me to pass my degree and that reflects in the university experience that I lead. Similarly, if the question was posed to many other 'mature students' I am sure the answers would mirror mine.

Visual Communication

This is a reflective post, based on what I have learnt since starting the IT based module for Visual Communication: Culture and Creativity in October 2013.  The module mainly focused on blogging although there were other areas that were covered too.

In this module I feel that I have learnt a vast amount of useful tips when it comes to the technological side of assessments, whether it be more professional ways of presenting work and thinking more creatively in the presentation or learning to add citations and references to essays using word. 

Throughout this blog the different techniques we have been taught are demonstrated; embedding videos, creating animations, creating videos from images and making a mind map online to name just a few; as well as things that I didn't even know existed like glogs which, if used correctly are fantastically powerful visual tools.

I have gained a great insight to IT and Visual Communication during the semester which will no doubt enrich my future academic career.

Web 2 Review

This web 2 review will be looking at Instagram, a photo sharing application.  The glogster below will give you an insight to what Instagram actually is.



So now you have an idea about, is it any good?  Well let's look at the pros and con's of the application.  Firstly let's look at what it is doing right; the few effects that you are able to format your photos with are great and varied.  The site as a whole, whether on your mobile or on the desktop site is very easy to use, the layout is fantastic so it's easy to find your way around and when it comes to editing and sharing pictures it is very simple with step by step instructions.  Personally, I love Instagram, it is a fantastic way to be able to see what your friends are up to and what is going on in their lives when they may not live close to you; they can keep up to date with you too!  It is a great app for sharing the beauty of the world around you with a couple of click of a button.  Also a vast majority of celebrities are on Instagram too and you are able to follow them, enabling you to do a little celeb stalking in your spare time... what could be better?  If you want a little more privacy then you simply go to your setting and set user to private and instead of people automatically following you they will send a request that you can authorise or decline.

So, that's what is good about the site, when are the con's then?  There are a few, the application isn't quite perfect.  It is a basic application designed for sharing pictures so it differs from other social networking sites as you cannot message people or update a status, so for this you would need an alternative social networking like Facebook or Twitter.  The notifications could also do with some refinement; when you comment on someones picture they must then tag you in their reply or you will not get a notification of it, and you may miss whatever they have to say to you.  Finally with regards to the editing side of things, as I said before, it's great, if not a little basic, other applications such as Line Camera have a wider variety of editing options to create a more advanced filter on images like airbrushing.

Overall Instagram is a fantastic application and as I said previously, I love it and use it daily to connect with people!

Making a Human

The purpose of this exercise was to tell a story using only 7 pictures.  I have titled my clip 'Making a Human' which shows the story of my son so far.  over the past 2 years my life has mainly been focused on raising my son and making him into a person of his own.  He is my world and you will see from the pictures why; he is brilliant!

 

TED Review - Logan Laplante on Hack Schooling





Logan Laplante is a 13 year old boy whose mother withdrew him from mainstream school when he was 9, against the recommendations of her peers; his story is a truly inspiring outlook on modern education.

The key principles of Logan's talk is that when kids grow up we shouldn't be concerned per say with what they will do for a job, we should be focusing our children's education to focus on happiness and healthiness as if we can get these things right then they will surely follow the right career path for them and most importantly will have a happy, healthy life.

Logan has been studying the science of happiness and health and from this, the classes he takes in his 'school envirnoment' can be broken down into 8 key areas.

 

What he is saying is that creativity is one of the most important skills a person can have, from creativity and interest in something will innovate ways of learning.  Children will find ways to learn, if they link the learning to their passions and interests.  Within his home school environment he still studies the things that children in mainstream school learn, but in a way that interests him; as he states in the clip, rather than writing a short story about butterflies in English class, he is instead writing creatively about his passion; skiing. 

 

Logan has developed this further into a theory called 'Hack Schooling'.  This is not a school that teaches people to hack computers, well, not if that is not what they want to do.  The theory is there is always a way to 'hack' education; find a better easier way to complete a task, find a short cut, add one way of doing things to another way creating a mash up of methods and thus creating a simpler, better way of doing things.  It is about always taking advantage of opportunities to learn and moulding this situations to your personality so you gain more from the experience.

 

 

 

I would suggest that we remember the name Logan Laplante as I believe we will be hearing more from him in the future with his innovative Hack Schooling theory.

My return to education...

In September 2013, after years of making excuses, I made the decision to return to full time education.  Following the birth of my son I found that the previous jobs I had held were not stimulating me and the future career prospects were dismal.  The most recent job that I held was as a Store Trainer in Sainsbury's, teaching hundreds of adults key skills for their jobs on a daily basis, although I thoroughly enjoyed the training element of my role, I found that the people I was training believed that the content was irrelevant and they did not need the skills to enable them to simply 'stack shelves in supermarket'.  I found this frustrating and wanted a career that focused on teaching young children a Primary Education that I would gain greater enjoyment from.  There is nothing worse than trying to teach someone who simply refuses to learn.  As well as the daily frustrations of the role, I also found myself working dramatic hours for a low wage.  Although I understand that I will never be a millionaire as a teacher, I will however be more financially stable.

I chose this course particularly as I felt that the content of the individual modules would benefit in my future career, the university is also close to my home and my sons nursery making the experience possible.

So has my education journey so far been what I expected?  On the whole, yes.  I attend lectures, seminars, workshops and I learn a wealth of interesting information.  Although it may surprise some, I have also enjoyed writing assignment, in the various different formats, as well as the recent exams. The last time I completed an exam was in 2003 for my GCSEs so I am taking each experience with the view that I can learn from then and improve.

One of the struggles that I have faced as a 'mature' student is that I am surrounded mainly by people of a different mind set than myself and I have to remind myself that they are young and they are looking to gain a different student experience than myself.  My idea of a good Wednesday night is curling up with a cup of tea and a film, not Student night on Wind Street.  This has caused some friction when it comes to group work, although I try to motivate others instead of letting it frustrate me.

I am enjoying this course immensely despite some of the struggles I face and I am looking forward to completing the degree and following it with the PGCE before embarking on my career as a primary school teacher.

Referencing 21/11/2013

I found the Visual Communication: Culture and Creativity session on Thursday extremely insightful.  I learnt how to use the referencing tool on Windows 7.  It is a fantastic tool that will inevitably save me time when writing assignments in the future.  By being able to create a database of readings, that with one click on completion of the assignment turns into the bibliography / References section, I will save a great deal of time and prevent error when compiling the list.

Although I have used MS Office throughout my professional career, my educational career is revealing my shortfalls with the programmes as the aspects we are required to use are very different.  With this in mind Mandy's sessions have become invaluable to me as I am learning vast amounts about programmes that I would have previously deemed myself experienced in, it turns out I actually am not as versed in the programmes as I thought.

Introduction to Contexts of Learning 'Reflective Blog'

This reflective blog will explore contexts of learning that have been studied by the Education Studies, first year students at Swansea Metropolitan University (SMU) between September and December 2013.  The four contexts that these reflective posts will focus on are the Montessori method pioneered by Maria Montessori in the early 1900's, Summerhill 'free' Schools established by A.S. Neill, Forest Schools which encourage outdoor learning in the Early Years and finally philosophical thinking in children.  Throughout this assignment the following labels have been used to guide the reader through the posts with ease: Assignment, Caroline, Contexts of Learning and Reflective Blog.
 

Summerhill School

Summerhill School, as documented in the YouTube clip above, is unlike any other school in the world.  In 1921, Suffolk England, A.S. Neill created a school where children are in charge of their own learning. Whether they want to play outside, attend a lesson, sit in the library and read or even write on the graffiti wall, it is their choice.  There are lessons available for pupils to attend should they so wish.  Likewise at school leavers age it is the pupils decision as to whether they sit final examinations.  Many students opt to take GCSEs at this point (Summerhill, 2012)

As pupil, James Friis-Lawrence said in the documentary; of course children want to play, however at some point they all realise that something is missing.  That missing element is learning, reading and writing, all of which can be just as exciting as playing outside.

Pupils of Summerhill live at the school during term times, they do not have anyone to tidy up after them, this is their responsibility, although they are not forced to do so (Neill, 1960).  Although it is a ‘free school’ it is not without rules; there are over 150 rules at the school derived collaboratively from what pupils, teachers and parents believe the school should look like (Summerhill, 2012).  Following the death of A.S. Neill in 1973 his daughter, Zoe Redhead became Principal of the school enabling her to continue her father’s work, started over 80 years ago.

Over the years the school has received its fair share of negative press for being ‘too free’ and for their non-conformation to the way society views education.  The most high profile incident taking place in 2000 when the Labour government and Ofsted fought for the closure of the school; the legal dispute was resolved in the schools favour following a High Court ruling (BBC News, 2000).

All things considered, Summerhill School clearly works as a context of learning.  Looking at the school’s alumni it is evident that they have produced a multitude of brilliant minds who have proved successful in their various fields over the years.  Professors, doctors, actresses, artists and authors are amongst the esteemed graduates.

References

Neill, A., 1960. Summerhill: A Radical Approach to Child Rearing. New York: Hart Publishing Co..

Summerhill. 2012. [Film] Directed by Arvind Gupta. s.l.: YouTube.

The Independent, 2011. Summerhill Alumni: 'What we learnt at the school for scandal'. [Online]
Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/schools/summerhill-alumni-what-we-learnt-at-the-school-for-scandal-2373066.html [Accessed 08 January 2014].

Google Images, 2014.  Rebecca De Mornay. [Online] Available at: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=rebecca+de+mornay&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=_cTPUpWkEMaRhQeP_4C4DA&sqi=2&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=673#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=T2L9GcTZ2GmvyM%253A%3BAaKLPN7T1-qCpM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.palzoo.net%252Ffile%252Fpic%252Fuser%252FRebeccaDeMornay.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.palzoo.net%252FRebeccaDeMornay%3B399%3B610  [Accessed 10 January 2014]

Google Images, 2014.  Storm Thorgerson. [Online] Available at: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=rebecca+de+mornay&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=_cTPUpWkEMaRhQeP_4C4DA&sqi=2&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=673#q=storm+thorgerson&tbm=isch&facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=rpDjsSa4eZcTDM%253A%3ByLYhSFQq3hNixM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fshockthebadger.co.uk%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252F2013%252F04%252FStorm-Thorgerson.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fshockthebadger.co.uk%252Fstorm-thorgerson-1944-2013%252F%3B470%3B312 [Accessed 10 January 2014]

Google Images, 2014.  John Burningham. [Online] Available at: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=John+Burningham%E3%80%80&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=McfPUqK0MJTB7AaB_oD4DA&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=673#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=i2Eb3CfNkt4krM%253A%3B49ANa8jNPnkZDM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.walker.co.uk%252Fwalkerdam%252Fgetimage.aspx%25253Fclass%25253Dperson%252526id%25253D1656%252526size%25253Dpowerpoint%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.walker.co.uk%252Fcontributors%252FJohn-Burningham-1656.aspx%3B268%3B380 [Accessed 10 January 2014]

BBC News, 2000. Summerhill closure threat lifted. [Online] Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/688152.stm [Accessed 10 January 2014]