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A
project in reducing the technology gap that
exists between middle and
high school in Design and Technology |
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School: Cowes High School |
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Fellow: Mike Cargill |
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Email: mikealicargill@hotmail.com |
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Final report |
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The policy of moving students
on in line with age rather than ability or
enthusiasm appears to be rigid when students
are at the age of progressing from one school
into another. My project has focussed on trying
to remove this barrier to progression through
running a series of classes for Middle School
(years 5-8) students when they are on the
verge of moving up into High School (year
9-13). The use of IT within Design and Technology
is an area where there are vast differences
between middle and high school experiences
and it was in this field that my work has
been based. |
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Funding provided by the
fellowship allowed me to run a series of ‘masterclasses’
for small groups of students. Having discussed
and won the approval of our feeder middle
schools I invited their Design and Technology
co-ordinators to put forward students who
they felt would benefit from these classes.
Students where not selected for their academic
records, but for their potential and enthusiasm
in Design and Technology. |
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Three classes were proposed,
each class running over 7-8 weeks at 2 hours
per week. Saturday mornings were used, 9.30-11.30am.
Different finishing times and travelling complications
made after schools sessions problematic. Hardware
and software problems prevented the classes
from starting until January 2002 but finally
the first cohort finally started on the first
weekend in January. |
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I knew what I was proposing
made good sense but I expected an unenthusiastic
response from the students – I thought
they would not enjoy attending voluntary school
on Saturdays. I was completely wrong. I was
delighted when one student wrote in her comments
at the end of the 8 weeks “Yes I enjoyed
the work I have never enjoyed work before
this has shown me the fun side of work”
(Charlotte) and another commented “Yes
I thought the work was great fun and educational
the best thing about it was the fact that
you aren’t pushed to do any thing.”
(Rozanne). A middle school colleague reported
to me that “Tom is completely changed
about school since he came up for your classes”. |
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I am really looking forward
to tracking the progress of the students when
they come up to Cowes High. Will they continue
to be absorbed by their work? I am hoping
that this special interest in them will pay
dividends. The work I have carried out has
been supported by my staff, my management
team and in the next few weeks I will be presenting
my project to the IoW Design and Technology
curriculum steering group. |
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Have I had any disappointments?
Only one minor issue; I felt that not all
schools were encouraging their students to
take part and I felt that this was denying
an opportunity to some children. |
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Science and mathematics
master classes have run for two or three years
at Cowes High. The running of similar classes
in Design and Technology made enormous sense
to me. They have been popular with the pupils,
their parents and my middle school colleagues
and they have raised the profile of our subject
within the community. It would be of great
benefit to run it for a second year, it would
be an opportunity to build on the successful
format established this year. |
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