June 9th, 2011

Scratch Game Design LIVE on GlowTV

Brian Clark

Comments: none Tags: Tags: cfe, Consolarium, cpd, curriculum for excellence, gamedesign, gaming, Glow, glowtv, Scratch
 : Categories Consolarium, Curriculum for Excellence, Glow, games design

Many of the CPD opportunities Charlie Love and myself have offered over the last 18 months have been based on using Scratch to engage learners and teachers with some hands on game design activities.  Particularly in primary schools.  However, is difficult to work with ALL the schools we are invited to. Enter GlowTV….

GlowTV

At 11am on Wednesday 22nd June, we will be running an online workshop on game design with Scratch via GlowTV.  This session is an introduction to Scratch for creating games and will take you through the Scratch interface and simple programming. During the broadcast we will make a fully working game.  You will be amazed at what you can do in so little time! Ideally suited for CfE levels 2 and 3 for both staff and pupils. You can watch the broadcast and build the game along with it if you want.

Support materials for the game we will make on the day will be available via the Consolarium glow group for use during and after.  More details on this early next week.

You will also be able to ask questions during the session and we will try and answer them for you.

Get Involved!

1. Sign up for GlowTV

2. Register for the session – make sure to use the hashtag #glowtv3

3. If you want to build the game along with the broadcast, you will need Scratch installed on your computer.  Download Scratch here for free from http://scratch.mit.edu

We are looking forward to seeing you on the 22nd!  Why not check out the other forthcoming GlowTV events and even think about getting involved yourself!

June 7th, 2011

If you build it, they will come…

Brian Clark

Comments: none Tags: Tags: arduino, cfe, Consolarium, hardware, technologies
 : Categories Added Value, Consolarium, Curriculum for Excellence, Design & Tech

Actually, that should be “If they build, they will come….”

Build what though? Enter Arduino.

Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It’s intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments.

I have been playing around with arduino for a while now and on friday 11th March I had the opportunity to attend an arduino work shop for schools, thanks to Steve Bunce at Vital.

What strikes me about Arduino is the opportunities if offers to link up subjects in the context of CfE.  Not only can our learners be offered the opportunity to learn to program, but can get some physical hands on time by building a device, learning about resistors, actuators, transistors, motors and a number of other electrical and mechanical devices.  There are even soft Arduino components (such as the Lilypad) that allow learners to build electronic clothing.  A quick search on Youtube or Vimeo for Arduino will give you a flavour of the types of projects that can be built.

Make Magazine is a great resource to get some Arduino inspiration and starter tips.

The Consolarium have bought some Arduino starter kits and are working with Braeview Academy in Dundee to see how effective it can be within the curriculum.

June 3rd, 2011

Using Hardware Devices with Scratch/BYOB

Brian Clark

Comments: 1 Comment Tags: Tags: byob, cfe, Consolarium, controller, game based learning, games, games design, Kinect, microphone, programming, ps3, Scratch, xbox
 : Categories Added Value, Consolarium, games design

As part of the game design work the Consolarium have been carrying out, we often visit subject leaders meetings and are invited to ISIS days to do some CPD with staff. Recently, I visited a group of computing teachers in Ayr to take them through possible uses of BYOB in their Computing courses as a follow on / extension to Scratch. The session was well received and the teachers seemed quite inspired to take BYOB forward in their schools. However, it was perhaps the use of external devices with Scratch or BYOB that really caught their eye.

Scratch 1.4 and BYOB have the ability to interact with external hardware such as Picoboards through the sensor options. However, it’s not just Picoboards that can interact with Scratch.

Lego Wedo

The Lego Wedo sensors and motors can also be used with the sensors. In particular, the LEGO® WeDo™ Robotics Motion Sensor and the LEGO® WeDo™ Robotics Tilt Sensor can be used to detect the outside world. Note – a Lego Power Functions Extension Wire and Lego USB hub are also required.

What’s really interesting about this in terms of the gaming world is that there is potential for pupils to use these sensors to build their own controller for a game – perhaps linking up with Design and Technology / 3D Modelling courses to design and build their own controllers that could house the lego sensors. I demonstrated about this at a Teachmeet last year.

Kinect

Then we come to the Kinect. Yes, the Microsoft Kinect Motion Sensor can be used with Scratch! Stephen Howell took some time to get the Kinect sensor to interact and work with Scratch as an input device. Watch his demo below:

Scratch and Kinect from Stephen Howell on Vimeo.

Find out how to do this on Stephen’s blog. I have used Stephen’s program and was really engaged and excited by it. I think it would make Game Design with Scratch even more attractive and challenging for our learners.

Console Controllers

If our learners are creating games with Scratch, why not get them to play/control their games with their own console controllers? There are many controller mapping programs available for PC and Mac that will allow users to map their keyboard and mouse presses to a controller. So, if our pupils create a game that uses the arrow keys to move, why not map the arrow keys to the controller allowing the player to use hardware that they are familiar with, that sits within their own cultural domain, to play the game?

Microphone

Finally, what about other modes of control? The sensor blocks in Scratch have a loudness command. Could we challenge our learners to create a game that responds to noise levels? For example, consider this:

Using the loudness sensor we can control the left / right movement of the rocket.

Overall….

While Scratch and BYOB are not specifically deigned to create games, they are often used for this task as they offer a friendly, easy to use environment. However, by using additional gaming hardware, we can create a learning environment that should hopefully resonate with our pupils and encourage them to engage with the game design process further.

May 31st, 2011

4/4 Driving Learning with Mario Kart: Healthy Eating and Grannie changes her mind

Derek Robertson

Comments: none Tags: Tags: cfe, game based learning, games based learning, gaming, Mario Kart
 : Categories Early Years, Renfrewshire

“This is play but it’s educating them!”

Over the years we have worked with so many teachers and seen them use commercial off the shelf games in such a way that they are able to make purposeful, relevant and appealing links to traditional curriculum objectives. This has been the case in nursery, primary and secondary settings. We have found that handing over ownership of initial GBL ideas to teachers empowers them to bring their own idiosyncrasies to the table and to build experiences that can meet the needs of their learners. Here is another example of how teachers have done just that.

How would you use the context of Mario Kart to help P.2 and P.3 children develop a real interest in and understanding off the healthy eating plate? Well. I wonder if there is anything that we can learn from the children at Bargarran PS,  Mario and his gang in Mario Kart?!:

Changing a Gran’s point of view…

This example of how childrens’ learning can be situated within an appealing context sits nicely with the thoughts of one of the children’s grannies that I had the pleasure of chatting with at Bargarran PS’ Mario Kart Open Afternoon. I first met Mrs Fortescue, who has a grandson in P.2, in the corridor just as the afternoon kicked off. Her first words to me were, “It wasn’t like this at school in my day – this isn’t school, they’re just playing!” As a result of this chat I I asked if I could come back and speak to her after she’d seen what has been happening in the class… Have a listen to what Mrs Fortesuce had to say 30 minutes later:

As you can hear Mrs Fortescue was somewhat taken aback by what she saw, by what her grand-daughter had been doing and what she was able to tell her Grannie all about. Some of Mrs Fortescue’s main points about what she had seen include:

• you’d normally associate computer games with playing; I’d never seen them being used like this way in an educational way
• my granddaughter is so full of information, she’s been telling me all about everything in class as we’ve gone along. I can’t believe how much she knows
• I first thought what a waste of money, you’re there to be educated. That’s not education like how I was taught  but when you look at it they’re playing but it’s educating them.

A consensus from the grandparents on the day?

I also spoke with another Grannie to see if this was a lucky or pressured change of heart. Mrs Hall has a grandson at the school as well and her interview was equally as positive as Mrs Fortescue’s:

The main points raised about the positive aspect of what she had seen at the open afternoon included:

• I think it’s marvellous what I’ve seen in class, I didn’t realise they’d done as much
• my grandson is always telling me about what they’ve done with Mario Kart when he comes home from school
• coming in to class to see what’s been happening helps you make sense of the Mario Kart project

If schools can build purposeful learning experiences that can engender such buy in from the children, their parents and their grandparents then maybe we are doing something right? Let’s not lose sight of what some of the parents and grandparents have said – if the resource has appeal than why not put it to good use to help children learn?

Hopefully this series of posts has helped convey some of the industry, life and sense of excitement about learning that I witnessed in my time at Bargarran PS. Thank you to everyone involved with this project and a huge thank you to those who shared their thoughts with us. Do feel free to leave a comment, question or observation on any of these posts.

May 31st, 2011

3/4 Driving learning with Mario Kart: The parents’ perspective

Derek Robertson

Comments: 2 Comments » Tags: Tags: cfe, Consolarium, game based learning, games based learning, Mario Kart, Nintendo
 : Categories Early Years, Renfrewshire

In the early days of the Consolarium a big part of our work in promoting the practice of game based learning involved addressing many of the concerns that teachers had about using such resources and contexts in their schools. Informed reference, we hope, was made to the many folk devils and moral panics associated with games back then but one major concern that was invariably thrown up by schools was – what might parents say about children ‘playing computer games’ in school when they should be learning?! Our experience over the past 5 years of promoting this work has been that parents have been more than pleasantly surprised at how GBL contexts have worked for their child/children. This ‘evidence’ in the parents eyes of good learning experiences may also be complemented by the changing nature of how computer games are now placed in family life. When we first started out the games console was still seen as something that kids did in the shadowy solitude of their bedrooms but haven’t things changed now? How many families do you know that have a console in a main living area and who will use this as part of family play? How many dads out there are red hot at FIFA11, how many mums have a Wii Fit or Zumba game as part of their keep-fit regime and how many grannies have Scrabble on their DS? Times have changed have they not? Are computer games still the folk devil of a few years ago?

At the recent Mario Kart open afternoon at Bargarran PS I saw just how far the practice of game based learning has come in relation to how it is being perceived by children’s parents and guardians. At this event I witnessed a classroom packed with mums and dads, grannies and grandads all buzzing with excitement about what the children had been learning. Some of them were also more than keen to have a go at the game and get their name on the parents’ leaderboard!

I took the chance to chat with some mums and dads at the event to try to get their honest views of the use of a games console in classrooms and what impact the experience of the Mario Kart topic was having on their children.

Have a listen to my chat with Mrs Mavers who has a son is in P.2

The first parent that I interviewed was Mrs Mavers, a mum who was very keen to get the No.1 slot on the Mario Kart Parents’ leaderboard.

As you will have heard Mrs Mavers is of the opinion that this experience has been great for her son. Here are some of the points Mrs Mavers raised:

• my son has been learning about Italy and other cultures which is a good thing.
• my son is not the most enthusiastic about school normally but he has been really enthusiastic about this which is good
• the topic has led to good experience of homework that involved using Google Earth to look at Italian landmarks. This is something we wouldn’t normally have done
• anything that motivates children should be used as a tool for learning…why not pick up on things that children love and bring it into the school environment?

Have a listen to my chat with Mr & Mrs Brown who has son is in P.2

I took the opportunity to chat with the parents of a P.2 boy who were keen to let me know just how good an idea they felt the Mario Kart topic was and how it had had such a positive experience on their son. Have a listen:

As you will have heard Mr & Mrs Brown are also of the opinion that this experience has been great for their son. Here are some of the points Mr & Mrs Brown raised:

• since the school brought in the Mario Kart topic his (their son’s) behaviour has improved dramatically
• it’s had a positive impact at home because he’s doing stuff at home like building cars from junk models to bring in to school
• he can’t wait to get to school when he knows he has topic related work that day
• their son is very very keen to learn about things linked to the Mario Kart topic. He’s even learning Italian words!
• the school has monitored the learning and have managed to crack getting that fine balance between learning and playing the game

In my discussions with the class teachers it was clear that they see links between the school and the home as very important. They set out in the initial stages to ensure that good channels of communication were set-up and maintained and that the opportunity to celebrate and share the children’s learning with their parents was built in to the programme. All of this, coupled with the focused way that the Mario Kart resource has been used has again shown just how good teachers can use good resources to effect good teaching and learning. It’s great to see the parents supporting such practice.

May 26th, 2011

1/4 Driving Learning with Mario Kart: What’s in the box?

Derek Robertson

Comments: 2 Comments » Tags: Tags: cfe, Consolarium, game based learning, games based learning, gaming, GBL, Mario Kart
 : Categories Early Years, Nintendo, Renfrewshire, West Dunbartonshire

At the beginning of 2010 the Consolarium team, in their attempts to sow the seeds of innovative practice in schools,  announced a competition that was to be held at that year’s Scottish Learning Festival. Based around the game Mario Kart for the Nintendo Wii the challenge was to se how fast you pupils could complete a lap of one the Mario Kart tracks. Teacher verified times were then emailed to us to be added to our Scottish Schools Mario Kart leaderboard. We must have loaned out over 20 sets of Mario Karts to schools across Scotland with the expectation that the game play would lead to a range of ways in which curricular activity could grow from the contextual hub ofd this game.

Sometimes when you plant seeds unexpectedly beautiful things can grow…

I was contacted by Wilma Leaburn, a QIO from Renfrewshire, a few months back and invited to a Mario Kart CPD evening at a school in Paisley. Apparently a number of teachers had taken this practice forward and a CPD session to share their experiences had been organised and so oversubscribed that another two evenings were to be delivered. The evening itself was a fantastic example of how creative teachers can be and how, when give the chance, their own idiosyncrasies can lead to wonderful learning experiences that meet the needs of their learners. At this event I met a teacher called Julie Paterson who invited me to Mario Kart open afternoon for parents and carers at her school, Bargarran PS in Erskine. This series of posts will feature my observations at this event.

What’s in the box? Creating the context

The children I met at Bargarran PS were just superb. They welcomed me into their class and were so eager to share with me what had been happening and what they had been learning about. In the middle of our earlier conversations it became clear that the arrival of the Wii into their class had been a bit special. Apparently, a gold box arrived one day and the question being asked was ; What’s inside the box? Lets let the children carry on the story…

The writing activity that arose from this early context creation was featured on the wall. Have a look at some of the children’s writing:

The Teachers’ Perspective

Julie Paterson and Jill Day were the P.2 and P.3 teachers that led this project. I took the opportunity to interview them after the Mario Kart open afternoon had ended.

Some of the strong messages about their observations and experiences with the Mario Kart project are:

“The parents have been incredibly supportive.”

“Sharing information and plans with the parents at the beginning of the project helped build that trust with parents.”

“The initial attention-grabbing context creation captured the children’s imagination and interest.”

‘Some children, who maybe don’t engage as well as the teachers would like in class, showed increased levels of motivation and willingness to engage with learning.”

“The Mario Kart project had a particularly positive impact on boys attitudes to learning.”

“Fun, personalisation and choice should be at the heart of learning experiences within contexts for learning in Curriculum for Excellence.”

Thank you to the teachers, the pupils and parents at Bargarran PS for making us so welcome and for sharing the life of learning with in their classrooms with us,

April 26th, 2011

School of Rock 10/10: Sting with VIP in NYC

Derek Robertson

Comments: 3 Comments » Tags: Tags: apple, cfe, Consolarium, game based learning, games based learning, gaming, Guitar Hero, ilife
 : Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Literacy, MFL, Music, Numeracy, West Dunbartonshire

The band Sting hail from P.7 at Gavinburn PS, Old Kilpatrick in West Dunbartonshire. Their song VIP in NYC  is due for imminent release and will, the band hopes, be featured on playlists on your music player very soon! Have a listen to their song and watch the accompanying video that the band made to go along with it:

Look at what children can do when they are faced with a challenge that is set within a context that resonates with them. Look at what children can do when a school embraces and integrates ICT in such a way that children’s skill levels progress and develop over the years. Look at what children can do when ICTs are embedded in sound teaching and learning experiences. Just look at what our children can do!

The video that you have just watched clearly demonstrates a high level of ICT literacy in the use of video editing software to tell the story of their song. In this case (and in the other nine examples in this series of posts) iMovie, from the iLife suite of software from Apple, has been used and techniques such as green screen, stop-motion animation, time lapse and transitions have been confidently and competently employed by these children in amongst the basic skills of shooting, uploading and editing their movie. A question for us to consider is where do these chidren sit in relation to progress in the Curriculum for Excellence Technology Outcomes. What would you use in order to assess performance and progress here? Your comments in relation to this would be most welcome…

Meet the children behind the band….

I managed to grab some time to chat with the children behind Sting and I asked them a bit about their experience of the Band in a Box project at Gavinburn PS. Have a listen to what they had to say:

The whole idea of the Guitar Hero (Band in a Box) Project was that in keeping with methodologies that Primary teachers have employed for many years, the actual game is used rarely in class but it acts as the source from which a collaborative story can be constructed. This collaborative story acts as the contextual hub around which learning in other curricular areas can be structured in a cohesive, purposeful and relevant fashion. The main thrust of the collaborative story that is created in this project is that the children develop a character that joins a rock band. This character then lives and breathes along with the other band members and is the vehicle through which learning is situated. As a result, associated tasks are directly linked to the developing life of this ‘rock character’ and the suspension of disbelief is continually in play as these older P.7 children get themselves lost in the developing experiences of their character. This kind of activity has the potential, if used thoughtfully, to position the aims of Curriculum for Excellence in purposeful, challenging and appealing ways.

Let’s explore how aspects of curricular learning have been developed in this project by looking at some work done by the pupils in this band:

Curriculum for Excellence: Literacy

Literacy is at the heart of this project and in particular the need to work as an effective member of a team is central to success in this project. The teachers involved in the planning of this topic wanted to focus on developing children’s ability to work effectively in teams and so decided to refer to LIT 2-02a in order to assess this aspect of learning.

The children were also presented with literacy tasks that were challenging but that sat perfectly within the collaborative story that developed as their band took life. Here we can see how the band comes to life in a magazine article that has been written by the children. Look at how they have also demonstrated their ability to use a desktop publishing application in a confident and skilled way.

One of the band members from fellow Gavinburn PS stablemate’s Explosion gets interviewed

The teachers involved in the planning of this topic decided to refer to LIT 2-02a in order to assess this aspect of learning.

This example shows how the children have demonstrated their understanding of functional writing for an audience in the creation of a merchandise ordering form for distribution to parents and other guests at the school’s Band in a Box open evening. Look at how they have also demonstrated their ability to use a desktop publishing application in a confident and skilled way.

Sting’s merchandise ordering form

The teachers involved in the planning of this topic decided to refer to LIT 2-27a in order to assess this aspect of learning.

Our experiences over the past few years in using the Guitar Hero/Band in a Box idea have been that the initial stages of setting up the band and developing a rock alter-ego to partner the pupil on the collaborative learning journey they undertake as their ‘band evolves can be very powerful. Here we meet the band members of Kcor as described by the children in the earlier stages of the project:

Meet Ozzy Pavlova from Sting

Meet Kat Marton from Sting

Meet Mason Alexander from Sting

Meet Sami Forret from Sting

The teachers involved were very interested to ensure that the performance aspects of children’s work over the course of this project and so ensured that the following outcomes were also at the heart of the planning process: Spelling LIT 2-12a, Punctuation and Structure LIT 2-22a, Sense and Purpose LIT 2-23a

Curriculum for Excellence: Numeracy
One of the earlier ideas that came with the beginnings of the Guitar Hero in class project work was the opportunity to include a European Tour. This allowed exploration of European countries but also an opportunity to present purposeful, challenging and appealing tasks involving the use of money. The idea of costing a tour was born. At Gavinburn PS, however, they have taken that a step further… Direct links with learning French are maximised because each of the bands receives a letter from a French music agent who invites them to visit a French city and play a gig there. A budget is in place and the children then have to work out all travel and accommodation costs to fulfil that gig.

Sting’s Lyon trip budget breakdown

The teachers involved in the planning of this topic decided to refer to MNU 2-09a in order to assess this aspect of learning.

Curriculum for Excellence: Music

With the use of Garageband from the iLife suite of tools that comes installed on Mac computers, the group was able to structure and compose an original song.  The music you are listening to was put together using the preset loops available within Garageband. Inspired by contemporary music from the rock and R’n’B world as well as the Guitar Hero tracks, the group decided on the style of song the group wanted to compose.   They auditioned and selected guitar riffs, drum patterns, bass lines and piano fills, as well as textures and other loops from hundreds of samples available.   The group then created the track by arranging and layering their selected loops into verses, choruses and musical breaks.  Once the original backing track was created, they then recorded the vocals.  Looking at the Expressive Arts Music outcomes, it is clear to see that these young learners are displaying evidence of EXA 2-18a and EXA 3-17a.

Curriculum for Excellence: Modern Foreign Languages

Following on from the budget task the children then had to script and record their interview with a French music journalist. It is interesting to note that the Headteacher and the class teachers noting a marked change in attitude to learning French as a result of it being situated within this context. This also came through in discusions with the children.

Sting’s French music journalist interview script

The teachers involved in the planning of this topic decided to refer to M.LAN 2-07b in order to assess this aspect of learning.

Have a listen to Sting’s interview with a French music journalist:

The teachers involved in the planning of this topic decided to refer to M.LAN 2-03b in order to assess this aspect of learning.

Congratulations to all the children involved in the band Sting and to the staff at Gavinburn PS for enabling these pupils to meet the challenge of Band in a Box in such a confident and successful fashion.

Visit the other nine posts as well to see how this work was not a one-off.

April 26th, 2011

School of Rock 9/10: Riot! with The Start of the Beginning

Derek Robertson

Comments: 2 Comments » Tags: Tags: apple, cfe, Consolarium, game based learning, games based learning, gaming, Guitar Hero, ilife
 : Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Literacy, MFL, Music, Numeracy, West Dunbartonshire

The band Riot! hail from P.7 at Gavinburn PS, Old Kilpatrick in West Dunbartonshire. Their song The Start of the Beginning is due for imminent release and will, the band hopes, be featured on playlists on your music player very soon! Have a listen to their song and watch the accompanying video that the band made to go along with it:

Look at what children can do when they are faced with a challenge that is set within a context that resonates with them. Look at what children can do when a school embraces and integrates ICT in such a way that children’s skill levels progress and develop over the years. Look at what children can do when ICTs are embedded in sound teaching and learning experiences. Just look at what our children can do!

The video that you have just watched clearly demonstrates a high level of ICT literacy in the use of video editing software to tell the story of their song. In this case (and in the other nine examples in this series of posts) iMovie, from the iLife suite of software from Apple, has been used and techniques such as green screen, stop-motion animation, time lapse and transitions have been confidently and competently employed by these children in amongst the basic skills of shooting, uploading and editing their movie. A question for us to consider is where do these chidren sit in relation to progress in the Curriculum for Excellence Technology Outcomes. What would you use in order to assess performance and progress here? Your comments in relation to this would be most welcome…

Meet the children behind the band…

I managed to grab some time to chat with the children behind Riot! and I asked them a bit about their experience of the Band in a Box project at Gavinburn PS. Have a listen to what they had to say:

The whole idea of the Guitar Hero (Band in a Box) Project was that in keeping with methodologies that Primary teachers have employed for many years, the actual game is used rarely in class but it acts as the source from which a collaborative story can be constructed. This collaborative story acts as the contextual hub around which learning in other curricular areas can be structured in a cohesive, purposeful and relevant fashion. The main thrust of the collaborative story that is created in this project is that the children develop a character that joins a rock band. This character then lives and breathes along with the other band members and is the vehicle through which learning is situated. As a result, associated tasks are directly linked to the developing life of this ‘rock character’ and the suspension of disbelief is continually in play as these older P.7 children get themselves lost in the developing experiences of their character. This kind of activity has the potential, if used thoughtfully, to position the aims of Curriculum for Excellence in purposeful, challenging and appealing ways.

Let’s explore how aspects of curricular learning have been developed in this project by looking at some work done by the pupils in this band:

Curriculum for Excellence: Literacy

Literacy is at the heart of this project and in particular the need to work as an effective member of a team is central to success in this project. The teachers involved in the planning of this topic wanted to focus on developing children’s ability to work effectively in teams and so decided to refer to LIT 2-02a in order to assess this aspect of learning.

The children were also presented with many literacy tasks that were challenging but that sat perfectly within the collaborative story that developed as their band took life. This example shows how the children have demonstrated their understanding of functional writing for an audience in the creation of a merchandise ordering form for distribution to parents and other guests at the school’s Band in a Box open evening. Look at how they have also demonstrated their ability to use a desktop publishing application in a confident and skilled way.

Riot!’s merchandise ordering form

The teachers involved in the planning of this topic decided to refer to LIT 2-02a in order to assess this aspect of learning.

Our experiences over the past few years in using the Guitar Hero/Band in a Box idea have been that the initial stages of setting up the band and developing a rock alter-ego to partner the pupil on the collaborative learning journey they undertake as their ‘band evolves can be very powerful. Here we meet the band members of Kcor as described by the children in the earlier stages of the project:

Meet Anton Weiss Blue from Riot!

Meet Dax Carmine from Riot!

Meet Frankie from Riot!

The teachers involved were very interested to ensure that the performance aspects of children’s work over the course of this project and so ensured that the following outcomes were also at the heart of the planning process: Spelling LIT 2-12a, Punctuation and Structure LIT 2-22a, Sense and Purpose LIT 2-23a

Curriculum for Excellence: Music

With the use of Garageband from the iLife suite of tools that comes installed on Mac computers, the group was able to structure and compose an original song.  The music you are listening to was put together using the preset loops available within Garageband. Inspired by contemporary music from the rock and R’n’B world as well as the Guitar Hero tracks, the group decided on the style of song the group wanted to compose.   They auditioned and selected guitar riffs, drum patterns, bass lines and piano fills, as well as textures and other loops from hundreds of samples available.   The group then created the track by arranging and layering their selected loops into verses, choruses and musical breaks.  Once the original backing track was created, they then recorded the vocals.  Looking at the Expressive Arts Music outcomes, it is clear to see that these young learners are displaying evidence of EXA 2-18a and EXA 3-17a.

Curriculum for Excellence: Modern Foreign Languages

Following on from the budget task the children then had to script and record their interview with a French music journalist. It is interesting to note that the Headteacher and the class teachers noting a marked change in attitude to learning French as a result of it being situated within this context. This also came through in discusions with the children.

Riot!’s French music journalist interview script

The teachers involved in the planning of this topic decided to refer to M.LAN 2-07b in order to assess this aspect of learning.

Have a listen to Kcor’s interview with a French music journalist:

The teachers involved in the planning of this topic decided to refer to M.LAN 2-03b in order to assess this aspect of learning.

Congratulations to all the children involved in the band Kcor and to the staff at Gavinburn PS for enabling these pupils to meet the challenge of Band in a Box in such a confident and successful fashion.

Visit the other nine posts as well to see how this work was not a one-off.

April 25th, 2011

School of Rock 8/10: Kcor with Party on Our Own

Derek Robertson

Comments: 4 Comments » Tags: Tags: apple, cfe, Consolarium, game based learning, games based learning, gaming, Guitar Hero, ilife
 : Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Literacy, MFL, Music, Numeracy, West Dunbartonshire

The band Kcor hails from P.7 at Gavinburn PS, Old Kilpatrick in West Dunbartonshire. Their song Party On Our Own is due for imminent release and will, the band hopes, be featured on playlists on your music player very soon! Have a listen to their song and watch the accompanying video that the band made to go along with it:

Look at what children can do when they are faced with a challenge that is set within a context that resonates with them. Look at what children can do when a school embraces and integrates ICT in such a way that children’s skill levels progress and develop over the years. Look at what children can do when ICTs are embedded in sound teaching and learning experiences. Just look at what our children can do!

The video that you have just watched clearly demonstrates a high level of ICT literacy in the use of video editing software to tell the story of their song. In this case (and in the other nine examples in this series of posts) iMovie, from the iLife suite of software from Apple, has been used and techniques such as green screen, stop-motion animation, time lapse and transitions have been confidently and competently employed by these children in amongst the basic skills of shooting, uploading and editing their movie. A question for us to consider is where do these chidren sit in relation to progress in the Curriculum for Excellence Technology Outcomes. What would you use in order to assess performance and progress here? Your comments in relation to this would be most welcome…

Meet the children behind the band…

I managed to grab some time to chat with the children behind Kcor (pronounced core and did you notice it is rock backwards?!) and I asked them a bit about their experience of the Band in a Box project at Gavinburn PS. Have a listen to what they had to say:

The whole idea of the Guitar Hero (Band in a Box) Project was that in keeping with methodologies that Primary teachers have employed for many years, the actual game is used rarely in class but it acts as the source from which a collaborative story can be constructed. This collaborative story acts as the contextual hub around which learning in other curricular areas can be structured in a cohesive, purposeful and relevant fashion. The main thrust of the collaborative story that is created in this project is that the children develop a character that joins a rock band. This character then lives and breathes along with the other band members and is the vehicle through which learning is situated. As a result, associated tasks are directly linked to the developing life of this ‘rock character’ and the suspension of disbelief is continually in play as these older P.7 children get themselves lost in the developing experiences of their character. This kind of activity has the potential, if used thoughtfully, to position the aims of Curriculum for Excellence in purposeful, challenging and appealing ways.

Let’s explore how aspects of curricular learning have been developed in this project by looking at some work done by the pupils in this band:

Curriculum for Excellence: Literacy

Literacy is at the heart of this project and in particular the need to work as an effective member of a team is central to success in this project. The teachers involved in the planning of this topic wanted to focus on developing children’s ability to work effectively in teams and so decided to refer to LIT 2-02a in order to assess this aspect of learning.

The children were also presented with many literacy tasks that were challenging but that sat perfectly within the collaborative story that developed as their band took life. This example shows how the children have demonstratedb their understanding of writing in na functional way and for an audience in the creation of a merchandise ordering form for distribution to parents and other guests at the school’s Band in a Box open evening. Look at how they have also demonstrated their ability to use a desktop publishing application in a confident and skilled way.

Kcor’s merchandise ordering form

The teachers involved in the planning of this topic decided to refer to LIT 2-02a in order to assess this aspect of learning.

Our experiences over the past few years in using the Guitar Hero/Band in a Box idea have been that the initial stages of setting up the band and developing a rock alter-ego to partner the pupil on the collaborative learning journey they undertake as their ‘band evolves can be very powerful. Here we meet the band members of Kcor as described by the children in the earlier stages of the project:

Meet Adelye Rose Blue from Kcor

Meet Flip from Kcor

Meet Princess Ame Lee from Kcor

The teachers involved were very interested to ensure that the performance aspects of children’s work over the course of this project and so ensured that the following outcomes were also at the heart of the planning process: Spelling LIT 2-12a, Punctuation and Structure LIT 2-22a, Sense and Purpose LIT 2-23a

Curriculum for Excellence: Music

With the use of Garageband from the iLife suite of tools that comes installed on Mac computers, the group was able to structure and compose an original song.  The music you are listening to was put together using the preset loops available within Garageband. Inspired by contemporary music from the rock and R’n’B world as well as the Guitar Hero tracks, the group decided on the style of song the group wanted to compose.   They auditioned and selected guitar riffs, drum patterns, bass lines and piano fills, as well as textures and other loops from hundreds of samples available.   The group then created the track by arranging and layering their selected loops into verses, choruses and musical breaks.  Once the original backing track was created, they then recorded the vocals.  Looking at the Expressive Arts Music outcomes, it is clear to see that these young learners are displaying evidence of EXA 2-18a and EXA 3-17a.

Curriculum for Excellence: Modern Foreign Languages

Following on from the budget task the children then had to script and record their interview with a French music journalist. It is interesting to note that the Headteacher and the class teachers noting a marked change in attitude to learning French as a result of it being situated within this context. This also came through in discusions with the children.

Kcor’s French music interview script

The teachers involved in the planning of this topic decided to refer to M.LAN 2-07b in order to assess this aspect of learning.

Have a listen to Kcor’s interview with a French music journalist:

The teachers involved in the planning of this topic decided to refer to M.LAN 2-03b in order to assess this aspect of learning.

Congratulations to all the children involved in the band Kcor and to the staff at Gavinburn PS for enabling these pupils to meet the challenge of Band in a Box in such a confident and successful fashion.

Visit the other nine posts as well to see how this work was not a one-off.

April 25th, 2011

School of Rock 7/10: Starstruck with High School Boy

Derek Robertson

Comments: 2 Comments » Tags: Tags: apple, cfe, Consolarium, game based learning, games based learning, gaming, Guitar Hero, ilfe
 : Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Literacy, MFL, Music, Numeracy, West Dunbartonshire

The band Starstruck hails from P.7 at Gavinburn PS, Old Kilpatrick in West Dunbartonshire. Their song  is due for imminent release and will, the band hopes, be featured on playlists on your music player very soon! Have a listen to their song and watch the accompanying video that the band made to go along with it:

Look at what children can do when they are faced with a challenge that is set within a context that resonates with them. Look at what children can do when a school embraces and integrates ICT in such a way that children’s skill levels progress and develop over the years. Look at what children can do when ICTs are embedded in sound teaching and learning experiences. Just look at what our children can do!

The video that you have just watched clearly demonstrates a high level of ICT literacy in the use of video editing software to tell the story of their song. In this case (and in the other nine examples in this series of posts) iMovie, from the iLife suite of software from Apple, has been used and techniques such as green screen, stop-motion animation, time lapse and transitions have been confidently and competently employed by these children in amongst the basic skills of shooting, uploading and editing their movie. A question for us to consider is where do these chidren sit in relation to progress in the Curriculum for Excellence Technology Outcomes. What would you use in order to assess performance and progress here? Your comments in relation to this would be most welcome…

Meet the children behind the band…

I managed to grab some time to chat with the children behind Starstruck and I asked them a bit about their experience of the Band in a Box project at Gavinburn PS. Have a listen to what they had to say:

The whole idea of the Guitar Hero (Band in a Box) Project was that in keeping with methodologies that Primary teachers have employed for many years, the actual game is used rarely in class but it acts as the source from which a collaborative story can be constructed. This collaborative story acts as the contextual hub around which learning in other curricular areas can be structured in a cohesive, purposeful and relevant fashion. The main thrust of the collaborative story that is created in this project is that the children develop a character that joins a rock band. This character then lives and breathes along with the other band members and is the vehicle through which learning is situated. As a result, associated tasks are directly linked to the developing life of this ‘rock character’ and the suspension of disbelief is continually in play as these older P.7 children get themselves lost in the developing experiences of their character. This kind of activity has the potential, if used thoughtfully, to position the aims of Curriculum for Excellence in purposeful, challenging and appealing ways.

Let’s explore how aspects of curricular learning have been developed in this project by looking at some work done by the pupils in this band:

Curriculum for Excellence: Literacy

Literacy is at the heart of this project and in particular the need to work as an effective member of a team is central to success in this project. The teachers involved in the planning of this topic wanted to focus on developing children’s ability to work effectively in teams and so decided to refer to LIT 2-02a in order to assess this aspect of learning.

The children were also presented with many literacy tasks that were challenging but that sat perfectly within the collaborative story that developed as their band took life. This example shows how the children have demonstratedb their understanding of writing in na functional way and for an audience in the creation of a merchandise ordering form for distribution to parents and other guests at the school’s Band in a Box open evening. Look at how they have also demonstrated their ability to use a desktop publishing application in a confident and skilled way.

Starstruck’s merchandise ordering form

The teachers involved in the planning of this topic decided to refer to LIT 2-02a in order to assess this aspect of learning.

Our experiences over the past few years in using the Guitar Hero/Band in a Box idea have been that the initial stages of setting up the band and developing a rock alter-ego to partner the pupil on the collaborative learning journey they undertake as their ‘band evolves can be very powerful. Here we meet the band members of Starstruck as described by the children in the earlier stages of the project:

Meet Thor from Starstruck

Meet Lacie Dewinter from Starstruck

Meet Marlyn Rose Taylor from Starstruck

Meet Olivia Rose from Starstruck

The teachers involved were very interested to ensure that the performance aspects of children’s work over the course of this project and so ensured that the following outcomes were also at the heart of the planning process: Spelling LIT 2-12a, Punctuation and Structure LIT 2-22a, Sense and Purpose LIT 2-23a

Curriculum for Excellence: Numeracy
One of the earlier ideas that came with the beginnings of the Guitar Hero in class project work was the opportunity to include a European Tour. This allowed exploration of European countries but also an opportunity to present purposeful, challenging and appealing tasks involving the use of money. The idea of costing a tour was born. At Gavinburn PS, however, they have taken that a step further… Direct links with learning French are maximised because each of the bands receives a letter from a French music agent who invites them to visit a French city and play a gig there. A budget is in place and the children then have to work out all travel and accommodation costs to fulfil that gig.

Starstruck’s Bordeaux trip itinerary and budget breakdown

The teachers involved in the planning of this topic decided to refer to MNU 2-09a in order to assess this aspect of learning.

Curriculum for Excellence: Music

With the use of Garageband from the iLife suite of tools that comes installed on Mac computers, the group was able to structure and compose an original song.  The music you are listening to was put together using the preset loops available within Garageband. Inspired by contemporary music from the rock and R’n’B world as well as the Guitar Hero tracks, the group decided on the style of song the group wanted to compose.   They auditioned and selected guitar riffs, drum patterns, bass lines and piano fills, as well as textures and other loops from hundreds of samples available.   The group then created the track by arranging and layering their selected loops into verses, choruses and musical breaks.  Once the original backing track was created, they then recorded the vocals.  Looking at the Expressive Arts Music outcomes, it is clear to see that these young learners are displaying evidence of EXA 2-18a and EXA 3-17a.

Curriculum for Excellence: Modern Foreign Languages

Following on from the budget task the children then had to script and record their interview with a French music journalist. It is interesting to note that the Headteacher and the class teachers noting a marked change in attitude to learning French as a result of it being situated within this context. This also came through in discusions with the children.

Starstruck’s French music interview script

The teachers involved in the planning of this topic decided to refer to M.LAN 2-07b in order to assess this aspect of learning.

Have a listen to Starstruck’s interview with a French music journalist:

The teachers involved in the planning of this topic decided to refer to M.LAN 2-03b in order to assess this aspect of learning.

Congratulations to all the children involved in the band Starstruck and to the staff at Gavinburn PS for enabling these pupils to meet the challenge of Band in a Box in such a confident and successful fashion.

Visit the other nine posts as well to see how this work was not a one-off.