All posts tagged with ‘games based learning’
- May 26th, 2011
Addressing Health & Well-Being in the Nursery setting with Kinectimals
- Derek Robertson
- Comments: none Tags: Tags: game based learning, games based learning, gaming, GBL, health & well-being, kinectimals, xbox
: Categories Dundee City, Early Years
*Second guest post from Judi Regan and Dawn Calder at Menzieshill Nursery School, Dundee who are involved with our Kinectimals initiative. Read their first post too.
The children at Menzieshill Nursery School in Dundee are continuing to explore and investigate Kinectimals and extend and develop through games based learning. This blog update, we are focussing on some Health and Well-being experiences and outcomes and these will be highlighted throughout.
Kinectimals offers a fantastic opportunity for physical movement and skill development within an ICT context. A favourite mini game is using a football with the cub, providing ways to manage and control body movements (HWB 0-21a and HWB 0-22a). Children learn to move themselves to the left or to the right, depending on where the ball is kicked back to them, and are frequently left puffing and commenting “I’m sweating!” This allows investigation into raised heart rates – “Put your hand on your chest and feel your heart beating faster” – “why do you think that is?” (HWB 0-28a)
Turn-taking and co-operation skills are enhanced by Kinectimals (HWB 0-23a) and children are independently working out ways to take turns by themselves. We have been using a 5 minute sand timer as a visual aid, however some children are choosing to swap turns depending on the game or toy the cub chooses to bring to play with.
This style of learning really suits our young digital natives and we have seen many occasions where children are encouraging and sharing tips with their peers. (HWB 0-11a) It’s clear the children love the animated characters in this game, which each group has named. (A challenge in itself, given the noise in the nursery!) The children refer to the cubs by name – “I’m scooting Blacky with the water pistol!” and “I like stroking Spot” giving ownership and different ways to express feelings. (HWB 0-01a)
We made fluffy animal tabards for the children to re-create some of the inside games outside, for example, throwing small balls at targets, and some of the driving games. These have been very popular so much so, we are in the process of making more!
As we have progressed, the staff have become more confident in the start-up sequence and navigating their way around the game.
Now the better weather is with us, as with all nursery schools, the curriculum and just about all the activities move outdoors and we have not been using the game quite as regularly as before, however, as mentioned earlier, the animal costumes have been popular. We intend to use our Beebot (outdoors on a mat) to extend and develop the concept of Kinectimals by dressing up the beebot as one of the cubs and designing a Beebot mat along the lines of some of the games within Kinectimals, for example, when Beebot cub lands on a particular square, the directions may say, “throw the beanbag at the targets” – similar to the gameplay. Our aim is to continue the link with Kinectimals in an outdoor environment.
Check back again later for further updates on our journey into the wonderful world of the Kinectimals!
More- 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 Mason Alexander 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.
More- 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!
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.
More- 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 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.
More- 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 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.
More- April 25th, 2011
School of Rock 6/10: Explosion with Poison
- 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 Explosion hails from P.7 at Gavinburn PS, Old Kilpatrick in West Dunbartonshire. Their song Poison 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 Explosion 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.
Explosion’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 Explosion as described by the children in the earlier dtages fo the project:
Meet Ruby Ramone from Explosion
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.
Explosion’s Marseille 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.
Explosion’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 Explosion’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 Explosion 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.
More- April 25th, 2011
School of Rock 5/10: Skulls and Rockbones with Fear
- 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 Skulls and Rockbones hail from P.7 at Gavinburn PS, Old Kilpatrick in West Dunbartonshire. Their song Fear 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 Skulls and Rockbones 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.
Skulls and Rockbones Magazine Article
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 some of the band members of Skulls and Rockbones as described by the children in these biographies (ENG 2-31a) written in the early stages of the project:
Meet Ash Rock from Skulls and Rockbones part1, part (2),
Meet Ace Wilde from Skulls and Rockbones
Meet Ashton De Lorean from Skulls and Rockbones
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.
Skulls and Rockbones’ Bordeaux trip itinerary
Skulls and Rockbones’ Bordeaux 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.
Skulls and Rockbones’ 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 Skulls and Rockbone’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 Skulls and Rockbones 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.
More- April 25th, 2011
School of Rock 4/10: Red Hot Ice with Burning Love
- 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 Red Hot Ice hail from P.7 at Gavinburn PS, Old Kilpatrick in West Dunbartonshire. Their song Burning Love 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, 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 Red Hot Ice 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.
Red Hot Ice’s Magazine Article
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 some of the band members of Red Hot Ice as described by the children in these biographies (ENG 2-31a) written in the early stages of the project:
Meet Rachel Burns from Red Hot Ice part1, part (2),
Meet Dexter Sting Wilde from Red Hot Ice
Meet Ksomi Kasati from Red Hot Ice
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.
Red Hot Ice Lyon trip itinerary
Red Hot Ice’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.
Have a listen to Red Hot Ice’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 Red Hot Ice 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.
More- April 25th, 2011
School of Rock 3/10: Peas On Earth with Timeout
- Derek Robertson
- Comments: 2 Comments » Tags: Tags: apple, cfe, game based learning, games based learning, gaming, Guitar Hero, ilife
: Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Literacy, MFL, Music, Numeracy, West Dunbartonshire
The band Peas On Earth hail from P.7 at Gavinburn PS, Old Kilpatrick in West Dunbartonshire. Their song Timeout 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, 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…
I managed to grab some time to chat with the children behind Peas On Earth 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:
Meet the children behind the band…
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.
Peas On Earth’s Magazine Article
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 some of the band members of Peas on Earth as described by the children in these biographies (ENG 2-31a) written in the early stages of the project:
Meet Jenny Bloom from Peas On Earth part1, part (2), part (3)
Meet William Rockfire from Peas On Earth
Meet Avril Star Rose from Peas On Earth
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.
Peas On Earth Marseille trip itinerary
Peas On Earth’s Marseille 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.
Have a listen to Peas On Earth’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 Peas On Earth 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.
More- April 25th, 2011
School of Rock 2/10: Papercut with Just be Yourself
- Derek Robertson
- Comments: 4 Comments » Tags: Tags: apple, cfe, game based learning, games based learning, gaming, garageband, GBL, Guitar Hero, ilife, imovie
: Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Literacy, MFL, Music, Numeracy, West Dunbartonshire
The band Papercut hail from P.7 at Gavinburn PS, Old Kilpatrick in West Dunbartonshire. Their song Just Be Youself 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 Papercut 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.
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 some of the band members of Papercut as described by the children in these biographies (ENG 2-31a) written in the early stages of the project:
Meet Jennifer Heart from Papercut
Meet Rafael Shade from Papercut
Meet Ricardo Lopez from Papercut
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.
Papercut’s Lyon trip itinerary
Papercut’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.
Papercut’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 Papercut’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 Papercut 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.
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