Group 4 Project
Timing of the project
We used one whole day from 08:00 until 17:30 plus an hour and a half the day before.
Before start of project
Teachers met to discuss the changes in the new subject guide, then met again to choose topics. We decided on 6 different topics:
Energy content of liquid fuels
Food Mileage
Survival
Paper and glue construction
Can our school be an Eco Village?
Temperature Map
The main difference is that students no longer need to work within their own science so we down played the idea of biologists physicists and chemists working in a team and concentrated on teamwork in general. The topics chosen were general so that it didn't favour students from a particular discipline.
Assessment
We decided to get the students to do peer and self assessment at the end of the day. The final grade would be awarded by the supervising teacher but would be heavily influenced by the students assessment of each other. Each student was given a self/peer assessment form, these were collected by the supervisor who then finalised the grade. The grades were then collected centrally and redistributed to the individual science teachers.
Introduction
The day before the students were introduced to the concepts of teamwork by way of a power point presentation. This also included details of how they would be assessed. After the 15min intro they were able to choose which of the projects they wished to join (the possibility for the students to chooses was a vital element in the success of the project). This was done fairly chaotically by students standing in a hall next to a the sign representing the project they wanted. The teachers had already decided to be flexible so that if too many students chose one option the the group could be split. Everything worked out fine and the names were taken so a list could be made making sure that each team hand a gender and subject mix.
The day
Groups met at 08:00 and after a brief intro by the supervisor got into groups. The group sized depended on the task (paper building 3 survival 4 eco village 5). Students started by planning the day and then got on with it.
During the day the teachers observed and were available to ask questions and organise equipment.
At the end of the day each group gave a presentation to the rest of the group.