Consolarium

Ollie Bray, depute headteacher of Musselbrough Grammar School, East Lothian, took first place in the Innovation in Community section for his presentation of ‘Thinking out of the XBOX’ at the Innovative Teachers Forum 2009 in Vienna. He is currently on secondment to Learning and Teaching Scotland as a National Adviser for Emerging Technologies in Learning.

Inspired by a project initiated by Learning and Teaching Scotland’s Consolarium initiative he organised an extension of this innovative idea and organised a transition project for the associate Primary schools of Musselburgh GS using Guitar Hero. This approach proved to be a great success and the Guitar Hero transition project will now be rolled out across East Lothian schools within weeks. Schools all over Scotland are already using this resource. Schools in England and even as far afield as Hong Kong and Australia, are interested in the project. Mr Bray devised a three-step process of ‘learning, social interaction and reflection and moving on’ as children change.

The Scotsman article: Teacher who inspires pupils with rock ‘n’ roll wins top award

Merlin John’s blog: Ollie Bray takes gaming to international stage

Ollie Bray’s blog: Microsoft 2009 European Innovative Teachers Forum

Some time ago I received a very interesting proposal from the team in Aberdeenshire for a games-based-learning project that we could undertake in a couple of P.2 classrooms. The idea was to use the popular Nintendogs game for the Nintendo DS as a the context through which a cross-curricular project could be developed. What is Nintendogs I hear you ask? It’s a virtual pet that grows from being a puppy to a well-trained dog that you can take to virtual dog shows. I can assure they are great fun and disarmingly therapeutic when you scratch them behind the ear or tickle them under the belly! Have a look:

I was really interested in this and when I saw how the teachers had planned to use the resource I immediatley bought in to the idea.

The Consolarium has loaned some DSs and games to the schools and the local authority have also purchased resources to support the project. The children are working in pairs to support the nurturing and dvelopment of their virtual pets and the teachers are using the context created by the game to dive in to a range of rich tasks that open up the curriculum in a connected and meaningful fashion.

Lots of ideas for writing and number, design and technology is being looked at as the children have ben given a design brief to create a kennel that will keep a real dog dry and warm. There has also been evidence of entreupeneurship as some of the children have decided to open a dog-walking service that ocurs on a Friday afternoon (safety concerns taken acount of and parents heavily involved). The children have also established a system called Top Dogs in the class. To be a top dog you will probably have Nintendogs at home and will most likely be a more experienced player. These chiuldren are then acting as mentors to help and advise peers as they look after their dogs!

The project has a class blog, called Top Dogs, that hopes to detail the progress of the Nintendog puppies and the teaching and learning that is ongoing.

Looking forward to reporting more about this in the near future.

Forget the Rolling Stones, who needs Radiohead and as for Metallica…get out of here, because you’ve got to get ready for the new rock gods of the 21st Century: Full Moon. They are just about to release their new CD called Pure Black Magic and a European Tour is about to begin! Get your tickets as soon as you can because this outfit are the real deal…

…well really they’re not. Full Moon are a virtual band created by the children of P.7 in Oldmeldrum PS in Aberdeenshire. The band members are Tasha Hooch, Charlie Andrews, Lavender Dorset, Scrambled Egg Sam and Carmen Jackal. These characters came to life through a fantastic project that happened in a P.7 class in Oldmeldrum PS.

This project arose as a result of Aberdeenshire Council’s engagement with the Consolarium. It involved the use of a game for the Sony PS2 (and Xbox 360) called Guitar Hero II. This game allows you to engage with the world of rock and roll by using a plastic guitar that lets you pretend to be a rock star performing on stage! You’ve got to see, and play, this in order to appreciate what a tremendous game it is.

However, the fact that this is a great game is neither here nor there if it can’t be applied in teaching and learning contexts. Well, Kim Applin (the P.7 teacher), saw potential in this as a cross-curricular tool and she came up with an array of rich tasks that really exemplify how a Curriculum for Excellence can occur in the classroom. A detailed case study of the project can be found via this link so have a look to find out more about what happened.

The reason for this post is to commend the presentation about this project at the Scottish Learning Festival ‘07. Anna Rossvoll (or should that be Anna ‘Rocks’voll by the look of this picture) delivered an inspiring and innovative presentation that beautifully captured the essence of what the teacher called an unbelievably high quality learning experience for the children. This is a presentation that needs to be shared with a wider and larger audience.

She actually brought the PS2 and the Guitar Hero game so that two willing players could have a go in the session. Now, I love this game and have become quite good at rattling up the combos and hitting the high scores but I have an understudy who is fast becoming my main rival for the crown of best guitar hero player in Scottish Education…Margaret Cassidy from Stirling Council.

We had a go at the game and lo and behold, when we paused it , in order not to take up too much of Anna’s time, it just so happened that I was in the lead. better luck next time Margaret! The delegates were on their feet as they were so enthralled in the musical masterclass that they were witnessing but sadly, we had to call it a day. However, we are available for birthdays, retirements and bar mitzvahs.;-)

To finish, what a session this was! Bursting with life, energy, innovation and fun. It goes to show what can be done when teachers are given the opportunity to develop and lead learning contexts that they believe will work with their class. Very well done to pupils, teachers and ICT staff involved in making this happen.