Shot at dawn - A free activity for Remembrance Day

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Image: Tinelot Wittermans

Many schools will be doing something special this year for Remembrance day - are you? This free activity is designed to honour the men who fought and died for our country, while also engaging students in a deep moral, historical and political debate.

In 2006, the British Defence Secretary, Des Browne, pardoned the soldiers who were executed for cowardice during World War I. The service of these men is now free to be honoured on Remembrance Day along with the many others who died during the fighting.

There are arguments for and against pardoning these men, and the complex and thorny issues surrounding the topic provide a useful opportunity for students to develop their debating skills and to practice writing to persuade/argue.

In this free activity, students use the text provided and their own research to write an argument either for or against pardoning the men who were executed for cowardice during WW1. The activity could also function as a letter-writing exercise, a class debate or a philosophical enquiry using the included text as a stimulus.

Older pupils may well be the same age as some of the executed soldiers, who, at only 15 or 16, lied about their age to join the army. This, along with wide-spread media focus on Remembrance Day, will make for a relevant and thought-provoking discussion.

You can download the activity resource pack for free here. It includes instructions for implementation and also the stimulus text.

This free activity is taken from our cross-curricular project plan, The Great War. You can purchase the rest of this project for £36.

Activities include:

• Plotting the path to war, examining each country's motives for joining in detail
• Identifying the purpose of propaganda and creating a propaganda poster
• Writing a poem about a gas attack in the trenches
• Investigating the impact of the armistice on Germany and the rest of Europe

...And much more!

See here for a full description of the project and its included activities and resources.

The forces of fun! New workshop teaches kids the physics behind park attractions

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Teachers and their children were blown away by Professor Blast’s Learning Lab at a sneak peek of Paultons Park’s unique schools' science experience.

From swings to cogs, weights to wheels, elevation to electricity, they had the chance to get hands on with the science that makes the park run – before going out onto the rides to feel the force of physics in practice.

And they became techies for the day, bringing their own mini ride to life by the power of computer programming.

The industry professionals, heads of science and ICT, headteachers and their families from across Dorset and Hampshire were welcomed to the family attraction in Romsey over the weekend of September 6 and 7 to experience its new interactive workshops.

Professor Blast’s Learning Lab uses the physics behind the park’s attractions to bring science vividly to life for children and is exclusively available for schools and uniformed groups, such as Brownies and Cubs.

With the quirky professor and his research assistant, Peter Petri, overseeing the lab, kids love the exciting mix of UV lighting, bubbling test-tubes, smoke and special effects.

Paultons Park Education Officer, Andy Chapman, said: “It was so much fun for the teachers to see their own children buzzing with excitement when they were doing the activities – and now they can’t wait to come back with their pupils.

“We’re really proud to see Professor Blast’s Learning Lab in action and we’re looking forward to welcoming school groups. 

“What makes it such an exciting ‘edu-tainment’ experience is that children can learn all about the science behind our rides before going into the park to experience them in practice.” 

With the capacity to host 35 children and their leaders, Professor Blast’s hands-on Science Explorer workshop explores forces and energy transfers, allowing children to investigate the dynamics of the park’s attractions.

And the Ride Programming – Control IT workshop offers a new understanding of how rides are technically programmed. The workshop is designed to develop IT skills and provides children the chance to programme their very own motorised Sky Swinger.

Professor Blast's Learning Lab mainly targets key stage 1 and 2. It will be used as a base for a number of school trips and educational workshops, where children will be able to book the interactive lab for a session as part of their school visit.

About Paultons Park
Paultons Park has more than 60 theme park rides and attractions – including the world’s only Peppa Pig World – but education is an important part of its remit, which has earned the park a Learning Outside the Classroom quality badge.

The Park has this year been voted in the top five UK school trips destinations, alongside the National History Museum and Edinburgh Zoo, as voted for by the readers and subscribers of UKedchat magazine.

The amazing mix of rides, birds and animals provides plenty of stimuli for learning on a range of subjects with an experienced education team on hand to guide learners through a full day of curriculum-based workshops. 

A day at Paultons Park
10am: School groups arrive, parking in the large-free car park. Tickets are issued and students head into the park.

10:15am: Head into the park, under the supervision of accompanying teachers. Experience the rides, or visit the many species of birds and animals. Staff can download the free resources from the Paultons Park website to support learning, or use the time for recreational purposes.

11.00am: Attend a pre-booked workshop in Professor Blast’s Learning Lab. Let the education team lead a hands-on exploratory session in its fully-themed lab. All of the interactives are based on rides in the park, allowing clear scientific links to be made between the workstations and the rides. Worksheets are provided to further focus the learning.

12:00pm: Visit the penguins for an informative and fun talk on the Park’s collection of Humboldt penguins.

12:30pm: Lunch in one of its numerous undercover picnic areas.

1:30pm: Continue to explore the park, under the supervision of accompanying teachers. Experience the rides, or visit the many species of birds and animals. Staff can download the free resources from the Paultons Park website to support learning, or use the time for recreational purposes. Alternatively, book another workshop in Professor Blast’s Learning Lab.

Other workshops and presentations
The new Learning Lab activities complement existing schools workshops. In the Feel the Force workshop, children can tour the park to explore the forces acting on their bodies and how they affect the rides. 

For older students, Paultons run a range of presentations looking at different aspects of the business. Marketing covers the main techniques Paultons Park uses to attract customers, and who they market to. Students can also learn about customer service at the park, covering information about its customers, how Paultons meets their needs, measures their satisfaction and communicates with them.

And the Paultons Business Programme includes information on the history of Paultons, its mission statement and core values, management structure, stakeholders, functional areas and responsibilities, customer information, how it communicates with its guests and the marketing mix.

“With all the excitement of a theme park all around them, children love learning how we work – and, of course, they get to enjoy the rides as well,” said Andy Chapman.

“We’re passionate about education, which is why we don’t just offer exciting workshops and experiences for children, but also run inspirational teaching events, giving teachers creative ideas to ignite their pupils’ imaginations.”

Teachers are encouraged to book a pre-visit in advance of a trip, where Andy will give them a tour, answer all of their questions and show them the Learning Lab.

For more information, visit www.paultonspark.co.uk.  If you are a teacher or education blogger and would like to preview Professor Blast's Learning Lab at Paultons Park - please email education@paultons.co.uk. 

Press enquiries to:
Lisa Barry, Liz Lean PR, Tel: 01202 701828, E: lisab@lizleanpr.co.uk

Adding rigour to project-based learning

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Giving constructive critiques is a significant way to ensure PBL projects are academically rigorous - but what is a critique, and how can you teach students to give one? Find out here.

Of the 8 essential elements of project-based learning, it’s 'reflection and review' that really adds rigour to the process. Students need plenty of structured opportunities throughout the project to give and receive feedback about the quality of their work-in-progress in order to make their final product the best it can be.

'Reflection and review' is really made up of two parts – multiple drafting and constructive critiques. Both components are inextricably interlinked. The student creates a draft, the teacher and peers provide a critique; the student then uses that constructive criticism to redraft, and the process continues over and over...

How many drafts your students complete depends on your time-frame. It’s important you schedule enough time when designing your project. At Matthew Moss High School, teachers timetable eight weeks for the cycle of drafting, critique and redrafting of their family tree project, and the result is some pretty spectacular work, as you can see…

Top, middle, bottom © Matthew Moss High School

Personalising assessment through multiple drafts

The Innovation Unit points out how valuable multiple drafting is for personalising assessment, "because they provide you with the means to assess, not only a student’s final product, but also the extent to which they have improved their work since the first draft."

Part of the assessment of the students’ final product should be how well they've used the feedback you and their peers have given to improve and refine it. This is especially beneficial for students with special educational needs and for students whose first language is not English. It’s also a valuable experience for the most able students, who might be less likely to accept criticism and may view it as a failure on their part. They need to see that accepting critiques is part of the process of improving themselves, and part of having a growth mindset.

Teaching students to give critiques

According to Monash University, a critique is not about being negative or derogatory, instead it's "a way of approaching other peoples' ideas - to question, to evaluate, to consider the accuracy and validity of ideas and information."

Image: primas.mathshell.org.uk

It’s a useful learning experience for students to critique each other’s work, rather than just handing it in to the teacher. It’s a good idea to schedule regular ‘critiquing sessions’, which will give pupils the chance to share their work and give feedback to others in a safe environment.

This will require students to be taught how to give a critique. Luckily, that’s not as intimidating as it sounds. The Innovation Unit and PBL expert Ron Berger give these three simple rules:

1. Be kind – Realise that sharing work for critiques puts people in a vulnerable position. It’s easy to get carried away critiquing others’ work, but try and balance out criticisms with positives.
2. Be specific – Describing something as ‘good’ doesn't cut it. Don’t be vague; pick out exactly what is good and why.
3. Be helpful – A critique has to be more than saying what is strong or weak about a piece; it has to include how to go about improving the work.

One Edutopia blogger provides this worksheet which asks students to organise their critique comments according to each of these three rules. Definitely worth using, especially with beginners.

Modelling critiques

A good way to introduce critiquing is to critique a model piece of work as a class. That way, students will know the kinds of questions to ask themselves about a piece of work and the level of specificity they should be aiming for. 

Image: Frank Baron (The Guardian)

Help your class to understand what critiquing means by breaking it down into these simple two questions:

• What is the product's purpose?
• How well does it meet that purpose?

Other important questions to ask include:

• What stands out about this piece?
• What strengths do you see?
• What suggestions would you offer for the next draft?

When evaluating a model piece of work, pick one relevant to the project you’re undertaking that demonstrates the standard you are expecting pupils to meet with their own products. If you don’t have any past students’ work, use a real-life product or piece. Even the professionals’ work can be improved!

Types of peer-assessment sessions

The Innovation Unit’s guide to PBL includes a list of four peer critique activities:

Gallery walk
Students display their drafts around the classroom. The class are then free to wander around the ‘gallery’ for around 20 minutes or so, making notes on post-its and sticking them to the drafts with positive points and suggestions for improvement. Probably better for more advanced critiquers, as students are pretty much left to their own devices here.

Dilemma protocol
Put students in groups of four. As them to share their draft and tell the others one thing they’re struggling with - their 'dilemma'. The rest of the group then discusses possible solutions. The important part of this approach is that the sharer stays silent for 6-7 minutes as the others converse, taking notes but not participating. After the time is up, the sharer rejoins the conversation to talk over suggestions they liked the sound of, taking the opportunity to ask for any clarification. This process is repeated until all group members have had the chance to pose a dilemma.

Workshop-style critique
Put students in groups of three and give them a list of questions about the product in hand. Students then take turns presenting their product to their group and discuss the questions as a way of improving their product. Each presentation plus feedback should last around 10-15 minutes.

Pair critique
Students work in pairs and spend 15-20 minutes really digging into a product and evaluating the work. The PBL guide suggests this type of critique session as a final critique before the product is turned in for final assessment.

Image: oer.educ.cam.ac.uk

For PBL newbies, as the Innovation Unit says, "it’s probably tempting to regard multiple draft [and] peer critique, as ‘advanced’ project methods – stuff to move on to once you’ve got the basics right... But these are the basics." Reflection and review is such a vital part of PBL. In fact, the process of multiple drafting and critiquing makes up a significant portion of that period between the entry event and the final presentation.

But it’s not the only important component of project-based learning. Picking the perfect final product is something you need to do right at the start of a project. You won’t be able to plan anything else until you know what your students are working towards. 

The next article in our PBL series will focus on choosing the best final product for your project and organising that all-important exhibition at the end. Watch this space!

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Just discovered our blog? Catch up on our project-based learning series here:

• The 8 essential elements of project-based learning - What makes a good PBL project? There are 8 components. Find out what they are here.
• Top 4 project-based learning websites - Four of what we think are the best websites to turn to for PBL advice and resources.
• A crash course in writing good driving questions - Everything you need to know about choosing the best possible driving question for your project.
• How to plan for project-based learning - Information on designing your PBL unit and also on the logistics of running a 'big' project.
• Building support for project-based learning - How to get your headteacher, colleagues and pupils' parents on board with PBL.
• Launch your PBL unit with a bang! - A range of ideas for a memorable and exciting PBL entry event.