Author: Mrs Clark

Here is a list of other projects tackled in 2013 to give an idea of the range of areas tackled.

SCOTT
HOW TO BUILD A HOUSE
My uncle is building a house and I decided to find out more about the process  involved in building a house.  I researched architectural design, writing to a local architect, as well as plumbing, joinery and electrical fittings, and elarned how to draw plans.  I designed my own house using Google Sketch up and even built a model.

ELINOR
WHALE AND DOLPHIN MAGAZINE
I researched potential threats to the habitats of whales and dolphins on the west coast of Scotland, with help from SNH, HWDT and by visiting the Islay Wildlife Centre.  I  created and edited a magazine and learned how to work to a deadline, and sent copies of my final magazine to the HWBT.

 

 

ALICIA
FOOTBALL COACHING
I found out how to become an excellent footballer, researching how top footballers learn how to play.  I found out how to improve my own skills, then planned a series of coaching sessions to improve the skills of others.  I had advice from a coach from the SFA and our active schools co-ordinator to help, and I set up a football skills club in school.

ROBBIE
VIDEO GAME DESIGN
I designed and created my own video game using programming skills and the software Kodu.  I  managed my time, planned my game using storyboards and learned how to deal with problems.  At the end I had a full game people got to play and I entered the Kodu cup.

 

ELLEN
RELAXATION TECHNIQUES
I was interested in finding out about different ways that can be used to help people relax when they are stressed.  I needed to research how the body works when stressed, and how effective different methods of relaxation are.  At the end of my project I created a CD of relaxing sounds recorded on Islay along with a presentation and leaflet.

JASON
ELECTRONICS
I was interested in finding out how different electronic gadgets are made and work, and wanted to make my own remote controlled vehicle using my own electronic circuits.  I researched and investigated the workings of electronic items, and learned how to solder my own simple circuits that do things like make noises and light lights.  I had a video conference with a nuclear engineer about my project and in the end built my own remote control tank.

JAMES
WHISKY DISTILLING AT LAPHROAIG DISTILLERY
I visited the distillery and interviewed the workers and the manager to find out about whiskey distilling at Laphroaig.  I needed to manage my time, plan and organise, find out about whisky distilling and I then created a leaflet from my research.

CALUM
HOW A ENGINE WORKS
I learned how an internal combustion engine works and created several diagrams to explain the process.  I built a working model combustion engine and visited the local garage to find out how a real engine works.

 

Music was a popular theme in the first year of Endeavour.  Three girls worked on different projects that built on existing skills they had in learning musical instruments, but increased the level of challenge.  They were all keen on careers in the music industry.  These projects exemplify the different levels of success that can occur with Endeavour, and highlights some of the challenge children face.

A P7 girl who played the tin whistle and piano wanted to write and record her own song as a music video.  She successfully researched different types of music and styles and along with the other two performers contacted the High School music teacher who kindly came in on several weeks during his free periods to support them in their Endeavours.  However she struggled to compose the music she wanted because her level of understanding of music was not high enough.  She instead focused more on improving her skills at the piano and composing a simple tune, and was happy at the end with what she achieved.

A P6 girl who was learning to play the piano decided she would compose, play and record her own piece of Scottish piano music. She learned the different types of tune and learned to play examples of each before composing a simple tune of her own.  She was more successful as her Endeavour was less ambitious and in line with her skill set.

Another P7 girl who was learning the accordion and was an accomplished Highland Dancer wanted to compose a piece of Scottish music for her accordion which she would record and then invent her own dance to go with the music which she would then video.  She was able to learn a suitable tune, but composing and creating a new dance were more challenging.  In the end she used an existing tune which she then learned to play and created a dance with steps to fit the tune before recording it as a video, dancing and playing-although not simultaneously!  She was applying new skills of combining her talents and videoing them, and you can see the finished video below.

A Scottish Performance By Emily Logan from Jo Clark on Vimeo.

 

Another one of the projects from 2013 was carried out by a Primary 6 boy who was interested in wilderness survival and wanted to take up Kayaking, as there is a local club on Islay.  He planned to carry out a kayaking expedition to Jura, the neighbouring Island, with his dad.

There were a lot of challenging skills to be learned for this project which involved careful planning.  After he organised a meeting with a local coastguard he encountered his first problem; the currents between Islay and Jura are too strong to safely Kayak.  He then altered his plans to make the trip to one of the small uninhabited islands off the coast of Islay.  Attending Kayak club weekly with his father he built up his skills, and in school he used maps to prepare his route, learning about tides and prevailing winds.  Using examples from his father’s work he made his own risk assessments that included detailed plans of what to do in an emergency.  He finally took the trip to Texa island, camping overnight and successfully concluded his Endeavour.  Motivated by his interest in the project, this learner was successfully able to apply new skills in a meaningful context, and although the project was not directly related to a future career, the skills he developed would be useful in any career path he might choose.  He even recorded his endeavours in a blog: http://1kidskayakingadventer.blogspot.co.uk/

In the first year of Endeavour there was some trepidation as to whether the project could work.  To me the key to the success of Endeavour was children working independently and being challenged.   This meant support of planning and monitoring of progress but not having adults do the project for the children; support from home was purely in providing opportunities and resources.  I did not want children coming in to school with lovely posters or models that their parents had spent hours preparing for them.  I also needed children to take on tasks that challenged them suitably through developing new skills and knowledge- they had to come across problems and find solutions and if that wasn’t happening then the project was not challenging enough.

SHEEP

In the first year of Endeavour one of the outstanding projects was a documentary on sheep farming which was made my a primary 7 girl who lived on a farm.  In order to make the project challenging she had to do more than present what she already knew about farming in a powerpoint.   She decided to create a documentary on a year in the life of a sheep farmer, and her key new skills were learning how to make a documentary film.  After analyzing some David Attenborough documentaries she was able to plan how her film would look using a storyboard.

At each stage in the sheep farming cycle she would film the process on the farm and then bring the video into school to edit and add narration.  She recorded every stage of the process; from her lambing a sheep to selling her own sheep at the local auction mart, for which she was given the morning out of school.  She even organised a visit to the abattoir with the local Vet, and filmed the final stage of the process, with the vet showing her the anatomy of the sheep.  This part of the filming process was not included in the final cut for viewing audiences however!  She also identified key areas of knowledge she would need as a sheep farmer, such as diseases and official record keeping, and researched these often challenging areas very successfully.  The final film was a big hit at the Endeavour presentation to parents and was a true reflection of the hard work and independent learning involved.  Although supported by her parents in accessing resources, the work was all her own, and an excellent example of how Endeavour can work well.

You can see the video below:

SHEEPS YEAR from Jo Clark on Vimeo.

 

ENDEAVOUR: Verb   try hard to do or achieve something.  Noun  an attempt to achieve a goal.

The online dictionary definition of the word Endeavour neatly sums up the ethos behind this learning project, begun in 2012.  As a teacher I want to challenge and motivate my students in their learning and help them deal with setbacks and problems whilst allowing them ownership of their learning.  Students now have so many opportunities available to them that allow them to take their learning in new directions.  School projects in my day involved trawling through the limited information available in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Ladybird books or the teacher’s general knowledge, and then copying images neatly into a jotter and summarising the key facts.  Today I can remember very little of the different breeds of dogs or the Kings and Queens of Britain…

The students who have worked on the Endeavour projects in the three years since it began will hopefully have a much clearer recollection of their learning in the future, and may even be able to relate the skills they began to develop in primary school to those required in their future careers.  The personalisation and choice of developing your own project, the usefulness of transferable skills development and the satisfaction of solving problems independently will surely have a more significant impact on their future selves.

One of the first Endeavour participants in primary 7.  Keen to be a fisherman like his father this boy wanted to use Endeavour to develop his own lobster fishing business.  He wrote to the business teacher at the High School to find out how to do accounts correctly and received a wealth of information, from which he set up spreadsheets to record the lobsters he sold to his father.  Then he researched the costs of buying fishing boats online and looked into finance, calculating how much he would need to save up for a deposit.  He also researched the life cycle of a lobster and the importance of ethical fishing practices to maintain lobster numbers for the future and created a photo diary explaining the process behind lobster fishing.  In the final Endeavour showcase he bought into school lobsters which he sold for a good profit to teachers and parents- they were extremely tasty!

In his Endeavour project he was able to develop the skills for work and possible future career that were relevant to him, and was far more motivated than in other areas of his learning as a consequence.  Endeavour projects are a great way to develop skills for life, learning and work in school.