WeDo Stories From Scratch at Alford Academy
As part of the primary to secondary transition programme, Alford Academy hosted a P7 STEM Challenge for 120 primary pupils on 10th May 2013. The event had at its core the tradition of Storytelling but through the idea of construction, construction, construction! The day was organised to provide a set of seamlessly integrated activities that involved building 3D Lego characters, constructing storyboards, coding computer programs with interface and control to the Lego objects; all to tell ‘living’ stories. The Games Hall was transformed into a hive of workstations equipped with writing materials, storyboards, display boards, laptops and lego kits at which groups of up to 7 pupils could work together on the construction of their living stories. As pupils got to grips with the task, 14 of our S3 pupils dressed in Disney themed costumes took charge and taught the youngsters how to create simple animations in Scratch, use of the school laptops and ways of interfacing and controlling the lego characters. S5/6 pupils also came along to assist Mrs Lees and Guidance staff with school tours. The WeDo storytelling event was planned and coordinated by Mrs Holt, PT Faculty Business Education and Computing, who was joined by an interdisciplinary team from Business Education (Mrs Taylor), Computing Science (Mr Scott), Modern Languages (Mrs Barclay), Mathematics (Mr Kerr), Physical Education (Mr Cruickshank), English (Mrs Shearer) and Drama and Media Studies (Mr Coston). Mrs Shearer and Mr Coston led the storyboarding activity and provided opportunities for pupils to talk about and share their ideas with all involved. Final animations were judged and pupils received awards according to how well they had worked as a team, the quality of story design and construction and the animated control of the lego WeDo; all of which mapped to core skills in literacy, numeracy and health and well being. Feedback has been very positive and the organising team are delighted with the outcome. Our P7 pupils can pat themselves on the back for their excellent participation and say with pride: Didn’t WeDo well!