School Visit

15th June 2017 - Preparing for school visit

Hannah, Lauren, Dave and I worked together to plan our lesson.  We had to consider which processes would need most time and the order they would need to happen.  We cut a former/mould each and laminated card to make the upright shape of the lamp.

We each took materials home to prepare an example lamp: LED, LED holder, battery pack, coloured wires, cable ties etc.

Laminate former.jpg

   

19th June 2017 - School Visit

Observations from working with 15 year 8 children.

There were no behaviour issues.  All were engaged and all completed a lamp, to varying levels of their own satisfaction.

We misjudged the length of time we would have before and after break – there was plenty of time for working on the three elements – the laminated upright, the base and the electrics – but there was a rush to assemble them in the hour after break.

The children enjoyed using the hot wire cutter to cut the blue foam and create their former.  Dividing into 3 groups worked well so that no one was waiting around for too long.
The children were confident using the hand tools and machine sanders to shape their MDF bases.
Their prior understanding of electrics meant that the group I was with made working circuits quickly and identified that a switch would be a good addition.  They worked out that a paperclip or similar would be a way to make a switch.  Unfortunately, very few had time after the break when assembling their lamps to build in a switch.

A big problem with the speed that we could work at was a shortage of tools, especially small screwdrivers for fitting junction blocks.  We would also have benefitted from a few more bradawls being available to make holes during assembly, and more batteries for testing circuits.

If planning the lesson again, it would be useful to know in advance when the break would fall because I think we would have moved those who were ready onto assembly more quickly.  The children could have achieved a greater level of finesse and added technical components (like switches) if they had had just a little more time.

Talking to a few children as they finished, I was able to help them evaluate their work a little.  One boy was not satisfied with the shape that his lamp had turned out and agreed that if he were to make a laminating former again he would now have a better idea of how to get a shape he wanted.  Others had come up with ingenious ways to take the wire up to the bulb but thought their lamps were “messy” because time had been short and they weren't able to get a good level of finish using the available tools.

Some of the ideas the children generated were really novel and imaginative (dragon, “stitching” with the different coloured wires) in the context.  Given more materials to cover or collage or pattern or add to the basic elements, we may have seen more variety in “themes” of lamp, but I think limiting the elements meant the children made more of the basic parts, making more careful choices about where to position the battery case, junction block, etc.  Perhaps a further development as part of a project would lead to exploring adding other elements.

This was a great exercise in modelling something and achieving a fairly quick result, so the next steps in a longer project would be to develop more accurate designs and find ways to get cleaner finishes.

We seemed to work well as a team of teachers.  We fell into roles fairly naturally and that worked out.  There was a little confusion about whether to use the groups or not (or the other classroom) to demonstrate the electronics part, but muddling through was OK – although a better plan (and Dave not getting stuck in traffic) would have been preferable.

I really enjoyed being in the classroom situation.  Others seemed to get pre-lesson nerves, but it didn't occur to me that there was anything to be nervous about!  I think my experience of running informal workshops is that there's always a bit of unpredictability but adapting to the participants needs and skill-level, and embracing their ideas to help them to take them forward is what it's all about.  I like having to improvise and collaborate in a making situation because it means we're probably going to end up with something I wasn't expecting.  I also felt that with four of us in the room there was no need to panic – it was a very relaxed ratio.

(Competencies: C.7, C.9, C.13, C.15, E.K.3.1, M.M.3.1, M.M.3.3, M.M.3.4, M.M.3.5)