Calder High School

This is a project that is entirely determined and managed by you.

Think about your own lives and experiences and choose an issue that interests you, and you are curious about. Then ask a difficult related question.

You are going to learn how to work in teams to answer the questions you choose. You will learn how to research your answers and how to use appropriate technology to raise awareness of your issue and communicate your conclusions to the class, and hopefully to audiences beyond school as well.

You will learn to evaluate your own and other people’s success in this, as both a team member and as an individual.

By thinking about this process you will develop your understanding of how you can become better at communicating, better at learning on your own, a more creative thinker, more reflective and a better team worker.

These are critical skills for KS3+4 and for life and work.

Good luck!

Mr Sylge

The findings of the Gilbert Review among employers. These are the Skills and Attitudes required by the world of work, the "2020 vision":

being able to communicate orally at a high level
reliability, punctuality & perseverance
knowing how to work with others in a team
knowing how to evaluate information critically
taking responsibility for own learning and developing the habits of effective learning
knowing how to work without close supervision
being confident and able to investigate problems and find solutions
being resilient in the face of difficulties
being creative, inventive, enterprising & entrepreneurial

Download your own copy of the TASC wheel here.

Click here to link to the TASC website - developing problem solving and thinking skills.

The final piece should be one of, or a combination of the following:

A website – using Frog
A wiki – using Frog
A video documentary – using Windows Movie Maker (for example)
A podcast – using Audacity (for example)
A report & presentation – using PowerPoint

Click on the picture to watch a short PowerPoint presentation to help with some ideas.

These are issues students have researched before.

Agree ground rules for your team;
Agree the exact question you wish to answer, e.g. "Should..."
Decide the format of your final piece (webpage? film? podcast? PowerPoint? wiki? combination of all these?);
Allocate roles & agree timelines & deadlines;
Research and work out answers to your question;
Share your findings with the team;

Write the text/script – check spellings and grammar within the team;
Take or download the pictures/video footage and practise using the software/technology you will use to communicate;
Create the site, wiki, presentation, film, broadcast;
Decide and rehearse how you will present your findings to the class;
Give and receive feedback as you rehearse;
Ensure you have a contingency plan (a plan B).