Monster in the Mersey

Handheld learning project Liverpool Schools Pilot

Overview

In preparation for the ICT Conference on the 27^th November 2010 two schools in the authority will be working with John Davitt, Brenda Mooney and Nicky Reckless to pilot the use of handheld technologies for teaching and learning.

One primary school - St Christopher’s and one Secondary School – Notre Dame will spend one day each in the field with completing a learning task that is fully delivered through mobile technologies. The day’s field work will go to forming the backdrop to a keynote speech to be given by John at the conference but equally as important it will hopefully inspire and engage schools to continue working with new technologies to promote learning outside the classroom.

Theme

Investigating monsters that might exist in the Mersey.

Key Skills

Communication (to peers and also for different audiences and in different genres); investigation; data collection; presentation; reflection; ICT

Outcomes

For pupils - Learning to learn skills, writing styles and development of communication and team work skills

For teachers – developing the use of technologies for out of class learning. Increase awareness of technologies, adaptation of work for further dissemination in school throughout the year.

For the authority – Launch of handheld projects to be developed and enhanced over the coming academic year across more schools and with wider learning outcomes for both learners and teachers.

Field work Itinerary

Location - Albert Docks including Confernece areans, Bug Museum, Ferry, and ferry terminals and surround buildings and local area.

Day will run from approximately 9.15am with students back to school for approximately 4.30pm at the latest. There will be 10 students on each of the 2 days with a minimum of 4 adults at all times, the adult quota may rise with the addition of PGCE students from each school attending on the day.

· Arrive on site and be briefed with the first task Task one, pupils will be told that they are going to make a promotional news report to publicise the conference that they will be attending on the 27^th November. They will be given a day to get the film made, but should look out for Logos (QR CODES) all day as these will give them new tasks to complete. On arrival at the convention centre there will be a large QR CODE waiting, once scanned this will show them a video clip of a monster escaping from the Mersey and heading into town. At this point the teacher swill suggest that perhaps this makes a better news story, so lets go an investigate if there is a monster, where it lives, where it may have come from and what it might be surviving on etc....Task two - the students will be split into pairs and over the course of the day each pair will be given responsibility to investigate different pieces of information at different sites, so that towards the end of the day they can bring all their work together for a full news report to be made. At this point there can be differentiation for the older students who will not only be asked to collect the evidence and think about the report, but they will also be asked to consider blogging or tweeting the day as they go through the tasks, and then think about how different media streams will require different styles of reporting. QR code to lead to the tall ship

· First location to visit will be the Glacier Tall ship - Task three the students will be able to interview the man who raised the boat to see if he noticed anything odd or that may be related to the monster. At the end of this interview he will give the students another QR code that will lead them to the Bug museum.

· Second Location The bug museum. Students will complete the tour Task four and be asked to think about what kind of animal might be hiding in the docks, what it might look like, what it might eat and how it may have adapted to live both in the water and on land. Looking at the creatures in the exhibit the students might start to draw or design the creature they think they are chasing. At the end of the bug tour the students will see another QR code that will give them GIS coordinates on their handhelds to lead them to the ferry terminal

· Students will take a ride on the ferry, and also use this time to have their lunch. The ferry will also give them the opportunity to Task five interviews the captain in case he has seen or experienced anything that he thinks might be monster like in the Mersey. Task six The students will also be encouraged to look at and examine the cityscape to think about how the monster might be able to move around the city unnoticed, ie which routes and building would give it the best camouflage - how long can it stay out of the water for etc.

· After lunch and the cityscape the students will complete the final task of the day Task seven interviewing people around the terminal and in the Albert Docks to gain local witness statements. These short vox pops will form part of their final news item. On the wish list for the day would be to try to get Fred the weatherman to come down and do a report on the children doing this type of learning experience and also to help them with hints and tips for making short snappy news articles for slots on the local nightly news programme.

· The last location will be an indoor base somewhere at the docks where the students will have minimum of an hour to bring all their collected information together (perhaps using Bluetooth to share the information between the handheld devices) to then edit and produce a short news item on the monster in the Mersey. On completion of this task the students will return to school having completed all their learning (the delivery from the teachers, their collection and presentation and the final presentation) on handheld mobile devices.

To do list:

· Find and organise a base at the docks where the students can begin the day and then complete the final hours work bring all the information together to present a news item as their final presentation

· Risk Assessments

· Letter home for parents

· Transportation

· Preparation of the laminated QR codes at each site

· Speak with the people who may be interviewed

· Book the bug tour

· Book if needed the tall ship

· Pre load handhelds with any information that might be needed

· Make the first movie clip that will show the monster on the loose in the city

· Create blog and twitter accounts for use on the day

· Ensure enough handheld devices

· Applications needed – btag;geocaching; ipedio...........

· Possibly locate and use Flip videos?

· Invite Fred the Weatherman

· Install Crazy talk software in both schools for use once back in the classroom to extend the project if teacher wants

· Permissions slips to ensure the students can be used for the Conference key note

· Liase with John Davitt (Mon – Wed 5-7^th October)

Need to complete a prep day – Friday 16^th October

Need to organise cover costs for the half day planning (Friday 2^nd October) rece 16^th October and then the field days either the 21^st or 22^nd October plus sort out cost of transportation, museum entrance and ferry tickets for all group.