Category Archives: Subjects

Big Hairy Hamish – The Monster Who Cared (Scottish Opera)

ABOUT

Scottish Opera developed this project as a genuine interdisciplinary learning experience. The project began with preliminary CPD sessions designed to assist teachers with the delivery of the teaching pack and to ensure that ‘Big Hairy Hamish’ provided a context for exploring environmental issues. Teachers could elect to work as broadly and/or deeply with the topic as they chose, but its design ensured that even minimum involvement resulted in making links across the curriculum prior to the performance.

Draigton Primary p2
The recycling journey begins

Accompanying the CPD was a teaching pack, vocal CD giude and full colour storybook. These were created to help young children build up familiarity with the characters and consequently good interaction with the four artists who delivered the eco-friendly tale of Big Hairy Hamish (the monster who cared).

The project involved:

  • – 960 primary school pupils
  • – c.35 teachers
  • – 32 separate performances
  • – 27 schools in Perth and Kinross
  • – c.35 teachers accessed CDP
  • – 4 professional artists from Scottish Opera

 

In addition to using vocal and instrumental music to tell the story and explore environmental issues, maths and English were integral to the project resulting in a rich learning experience for all the pupils.

 

PURPOSE

Scottish Opera developed the project to support the Scottish educational drive to develop stronger connections between literacy and learning for early years pupils.  The format promotes active learning and enables participation, exploration and creativity via themes and issues specifically relevant to this young age group.

Through the project, Scottish Opera aimed to raise awareness of key issues in the story – Healthy Eating & Recycling. It also set out to examine aspects of social development such as making friends, not always going by appearances and the importance of active citizenship in the community. Children were provided with opportunities to discuss and debate the issues, learn the songs, develop healthy eating plans and create visual and aural responses to the characters in the storybook.

Scottish Opera developed Big Hairy Hamish by planning activity around some of the experiences and outcomes within Health and wellbeing at Early Stages and First Level including:

I can expect my learning environment to support me to:

  • – develop my self-awareness, self-worth and respect for others
  • – understand and develop my physical, mental, spiritual well being and social skills
  • – learn about where to find help and resources to inform choices
  • – acknowledge diversity and understand that it is everyone’s responsibility to challenge discrimination
  • – understand how what they eat, how active they are and how decisions they make about their behaviour & relationships affect my physical & mental wellbeing.

 

IMPACTS

Schools used the experience of participating in Big Hairy Hamish as the context for exploring healthy eating and re-cycling over extended periods post performance. Because the children are very young evidence of the impacts is best described through pictures.

Characters from the opera (p6)
made from recycled junk

 

OTHER

Partners:

  • Scottish Opera
  • Perth and Kinross Council
  • 27 primary schools

     

Levels and Stages:

  • Early stage
  • First level
  • Pre-school to P4

 

Funding:

  • In Perth and Kinross the project was funded by The Gannochy Trust (local to the Perth area). The funding was secured by Scottish Opera.

 

For more information contact:

Jane Davidson, Director of Outreach and Education on 0141 332 9559 or email jane.davidson@scottishopera.org.uk

Visit Scottish Opera learning at:

http://www.scottishopera.org.uk/schools

Pitcairn Primary

Darwin – Talbot Rice Art Gallery

ABOUT

This gallery based education project was developed to complement exhibitions at the Talbot Rice Art Gallery, celebrating the Darwin anniversaries in 2009.

Inter-disciplinary workshops were devised and delivered at the Talbot Rice Gallery, enabled Art and Biology students to work together in groups. The gallery’s exhibition of contemporary art formed the starting point for discussions about Charles Darwin and evolutionary thinking. The exhibition had 2 strands:

 – exploring Darwin’s time in Edinburgh and his enduring influence on the world today

 – showcasing 5 contemporary art projects inspired by Darwinian thought

Darwin conversations

During the initial workshop, students focused on the artworks and led by the Gallery Education Curator analysed artworks by contemporary artists and examined the science that inspired them. The science behind the artworks was then placed in an evolutionary context by a Science Communicator at Edinburgh University and a researcher from the Institute of Evolutionary Biology.

There was also a practical session where the students got involved in physically exploring where creativity, evolution and design collide. Students worked in groups to ‘evolve’ species using art materials, making adaptive changes in response to a series of environmental changes. A further session examined how these species have just evolved and compare this process to that proposed by the theory of evolution through natural selection. The aim was to embed student’s understanding of the topic.

creativity and evolution

The project involved:

 – 39 Higher and Advanced  Higher biology and art students

 – 3 teachers

 – 1 gallery educator

 – 1 science communicator

 – 2 phd students (1 art history and 1 biological sciences)

 – 5 professional artists exhibiting in the gallery

PURPOSE

The Talbot Rice Gallery devised this education project to simultaneously cover objectives from the Biology and Art higher and Advanced higher courses. Developed in response Curriculum for Excellence, it enabled the gallery to connect with and broaden a science based schools project Think Darwin, Think Evolution, Think Now, which has continued to build and grow.

The project aimed to bring together art and biology students to explore evolutionary thinking, at the same time as bringing together disciplines within the university and providing a training opportunity for postgraduate students.

A further aim of the project was to encourage peer learning between subject areas for pupils and staff alike.

Curriculum links were made in both Biology and Art. (eg Genetics, Adaptation and Selection, Environmental Biology and Molecular Biology)

The sessions also illustrated through expressive enquiry how contemporary artists use developments and theories in science as a theme for their work. The gallery sessions allowed pupils to engage in active research and investigation into the visual arts with the emphasis on contemporary contexts in modern culture.

 

evolving creatures     students working together     art and science collide

IMPACTS

The project initiated collaborative relationships with the intention that the partnership between the Talbot Rice Gallery and schools could build upon.

For the Talbot Rice Gallery the main impact of this successful project, is a commitment to developing more interdisciplinary project for schools aimed at supporting the new curriculum. Additionally the gallery has a better understanding of its role in promoting interdisciplinary and cross sector relationships and can draw on previous success.

In feedback from the participating schools 100% of pupils said their experience would help to in some way with their studies at school.

 

inter-disciplinary learning

OTHER

Partners:

  • – Talbot Rice Gallery, University of Edinburgh
  • – Think Darwin, Think Evolution, Think Now
  • – Beeslack Community High School
  • – Drummond Community High School
  • – Boroughmuir School

           

Levels and Stages:

  • – Senior Phase
  • – S5 and S6

 

Funding:

The project was funded from the University of Edinburgh

 

For more information Contact:

Zoe Fothergill, Curator for Education and Development on 0131 650 2085 or email zoe.fothergill@ed.ac.uk

Or visit http://www.trg.ed.ac.uk/

contemporary art

Music Factory and Masterworks – Scottish Chamber Orchestra

ABOUT

66 Advanced Higher Music pupils from 22 schools across six local authorities participated in Music Factory. Students worked on the creation of individual compositions inspired by musical concepts from the ‘Masterworks’ repertoire. The students composed new work for a trio of Scottish Chamber Orchestra musicians with support and guidance from a professional composer. The composers lead workshops in schools over a 3 month period and at the final session, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra made an informal recording of the work. Each student and their teacher received a copy of the recording.

aberdeenshire-musos aberdeenshire-pupil aberdeenshire-pupils

Music Factory involved:

  • – 66 Advanced Higher music students
  • – 6 local authority areas
  • – 10 teachers
  • – 2 professional composers
  • – 10 Scottish Chamber Orchestra musicians

The project schedule is available through Glow.

Masterworks schools workshop

PURPOSE

SCO Connect’s flagship ‘Masterworks’ project for standard and higher grade students has reached many hundreds of pupils and has proved incredibly popular. Masterworks was so successful that it raised the question ‘what can you do for us now’?’ from teachers, pupils and parents, resulting in the development of Music Factory.

Music Factory was developed to support teachers in an aspect of the music curriculum often cited as being one in which they feel least comfortable. It also offers young composers the chance to engage with professional players and composers, thus understanding the reality of composing new music for players.

The project was designed to offer senior pupils and the more advanced ‘Masterworks’ participants an opportunity to further hone their grasp of the musical concepts and techniques they had been studying, by putting them into practice.

The purpose of Music Factory is:

  • – To support and complement composition in Advanced Higher Music
  • – To offer teachers and pupils the opportunity to engage with professional musicians and composers
  • – To inspire young musicians through the work of contemporary orchestral masterpieces
  • – To nurture young composers’ skills and confidence
  • – To develop young composers’ understanding of musical techniques and concepts by putting them into practice

moray moray-clea-with-pupils

CHALLENGES

Teachers were strongly encouraged to attend sessions along with their pupils, in order to understand the process and be able to support the young composers as they worked on pieces in school between workshops sessions.

In practice it proved difficult for many staff to get themselves released from timetable to do so, however the design of the project enabled teachers to use the material produced by the composer with lower level classes.

“I have used the material with a lower level higher class. The results have been excellent.” (teacher)

Those teachers who did attend found the experience useful as good CPD and have gone on to apply the experience with other classes.

“It was good to ‘force’ the pupils to compose without their instruments or a computer programme. As a teacher, I also found the sessions extremely valuable as it reminded me that there is more than one way to approach composition. Thank you.” (teacher)

Funding agreements were reached with each of the local authorities involved in order to ensure schools could participate.

moray-janet-with-pupils moray-janet-with-pupils

IMPACTS

Young composers reported that they had been challenged and encouraged to expand their creative thinking and practice:

“I used to hate composition, but the workshops showed me I can actually do it, they game me much more confidence and more enthusiasm to compose more music. Thanks!” (Young composer)

“I liked getting to work with professional orchestral players and communicate with other musicians” (Young composer)

Teachers responded positively:

“Would love to have this opportunity again – really inspiring and refreshing’ (teacher)

“It was interesting to observe the pupils being taken out of their comfort zone and getting to work with instruments they were not familiar with.” (teacher)

OTHER

Partners:

  • – Scottish Chamber Orchestra Connect
  • – 6 local authorities

Levels and Stages:

  • – Senior phase
  • – S6

Funding:

  • – SCO core budget (via Scottish Government)
  • – Participating local authorities
  • – SCO ‘250’ Society
  • – Scott Davidson Charitable Trust
  • – Educational Institute of Scotland

Experiences and Outcomes:

The project specifically linked to the experiences and outcomes as follows:

EXA 4 71a, 17b, 18a and 19a

For More information contact:

Lucy Lowe, SCO Connect Director on 0131 478 8355 or email lucy.lowe@sco.org.uk

or visit http://www.sco.org.uk/education-home

Operation Blackboard – Bringing WWII to Life

ABOUT

A normal school day was transformed into a World War II army boot camp using actors in role, activities, 1940s film footage and military vehicles. Over 1,000 pupils met Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill taking part in training exercises during curriculum time. Led by actors in character, French Resistance members, boffins from Militray Intelligence and Sergeant majors screaming orders, pupils participated in drill, cartography, sciences and code-breaking.

Pupils were ‘conscripted’ into the infantry, organised into sections, platoons and companies and were  issued with identity cards. They were taken through the rigours of military discipline – some were granted ranks of Corporal and Lance Corporal with responsibility for their section of troops. The rank system allowed many pupils, normally perceived as disruptive, to seize responsibility and gain confidence.WWII vehicles

Operation Blackboard involved:

  • – over 1,000 pupils
  • – from 3 academies (S1 and S2)
  • – and 13 primary schools (P6 and P7)
  • – nearly 100 teachers
  • – up to 6 artists per day of delivery

Interdisciplinary working through the arts, made coherent several curriculum areas all within the context of  Operation Blackboard. Examples include a Sergeant taking the privates through code breaking exercises, both de-cyphering and encrypting messages of their own. In costume, US paratrooper experts took a 1940 Jeep and troop carrier used in the D-Day operation to schools, explaining how the vehicles would have been used. A miliarty boffin demonstrated the workings and purpose of gas masks, discussed escape techniques and communication tools if captured. All of this and more, provided a context for developing linguistic and mathematical understanding, integtated with history, geography, PE and sciences, in ways that clearly engaged pupils:

“Doing this project made me feel more interested in World War 2 and think more about what happened back then.” (pupil)

“I learnt that the World War 2 was much more interesting that I thought.” (pupil)

English Semaphore Science

PURPOSE

The development of Operation Blackboard grew from the idea of  integrating the arts into the very heart of an educational topic. It was also an opportunity to explore an under used element of drama in learning and teaching.

One intention was that pupils became extremely familiar with historical figures (they had the opportunity to actually meet Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill) and learn through word of mouth, by sharing and through experiencial learning, a broad range of historical  facts and ideas.

It was intended that pupils would develop an increased interest in learning about the topic and for school life in general. Pupils were required to apply their learning in practice throughout the project.

IMPACTS

“It gives me an excellent basis for teaching the World War II topic which we are due to start next year.” (Primary Class Teacher)

“I found the decoding quite hard but I managed to solve it.” (pupil)

There was a clear sense of appropriate challenge throughout the project:

I am proud of what I did because some of it was hard.” (pupil)

And worth the effort of working differently:

“They probably learn more from this one day of hands on experience than they do from a whole year in the classroom.” (Deputy Head Teacher)

“It made me feel more confident about things I will do in the future.” (pupil)

“They remember more, and learn more if they enjoy the learning – they’ll remember this alright.” (teacher)

Teaching staff reported that the project engaged many pupils who otherwise might not have shown interest in the topic and improved attitudes towards learning generally.

Physical Training

Features of good practice: Active and experiential learning

Operation Blackboard is one of a range of interactive experiential drama and curriculum days developed by the Cultural Co-ordinator Team. It is a transition topic delivered in primary and secondary and was instrumental in the Council receiving a COSLA Bronze Excellence Award for advancing community wellbeing.

Operation Blackboard takes primary seven pupils on a World War II evacuation experience. At the same time, entire S1 year groups are taken through an army boot camp in role by actors playing Winston Churchill, Neville Chamberlain, naval officers, military intelligence officers and stereotypical sergeant majors. Pupils experienced inter-disciplinary learning within a ‘real world’ context. For example, they decipher codes and plot enemy presence on D-Day landing maps. These activities use and develop their literacy and numeracy skills. Throughout the whole experience, pupils actively learn how decisions can affect situations.

More detailed information is available at www.hmie.gov.uk

CHALLENGES and LEARNING

Ambitious partnership projects are never without challenges, cnd challenges bring learning for everyone. Below are some examples of things think about when undertaking this type of work.

Press

The local paper took great delight in having the children point the original WWII weaponry straight at the camera and then placed the image on the front page above a headline about a gun crime. When dealing with sensitive subjects, such as war and weapons, it is important to keep a very tight control on the images the press get to take. We now insist that a senior member of the team is on hand whenever the press turn up. It is important to be firm as the press will still try to get the picture they want!

Engaging staff

Different personalities will engage with the fictional world being created to different degrees, and can have an important effect on the success of the day. We used two tools to make the most of this opportunity. We provided notional costume pieces for the staff, such as a hat or a jacket, that allowed staff to look the part without needing to fully ‘dress up’. Most were more than happy to do this – one DHT even made her own costume! Secondly the pupils were instructed to address the teaching staff as Sir or Ma’am and the staff were given Officer level ranks whilst the pupils could only advance as far as Corporal. This maintained the school hierarchy (the HT was the General, staff were Captains and Colonels) which is important to discipline, and kept staff within their comfort zone by not actually changing their power relationship with the pupils.

Space

Obviously space is always an issue for these kinds of events. We engineered activities to fit into a classroom where possible, relying upon the actors to make things different. Whole group activities such as meeting Neville Chamberlain or watching the Movietone film footage allowed us to bookend the days in the assembly hall saving on spaces. The need to clear away for the lunch break was something we always had to be aware of, sometimes having to move projection equipment only to move it back. It is vital that the physical needs of the project are made clear right from the start and continually communicated – otherwise you can end up with a running activity being moved to a classroom by staff who don’t understand what is required.

OTHER

Partners

  • – Cultural Services
  • – Schools
  • – Local WWII re-creation groups
  • – Clydebank Blitz Survivors (volunteers)
  • – Clydebank Museum
  • – Loch Lomond and Trossachs national Park
  • – Their past Your Future

Levels and Stages

  • – second, third and fourth levels
  • – P6 – S2

Funding

Their Past Your Future and various lottery strands successfully applied for by Cultural Services

For more information contact:

http://www.creativelinks-wdc.org.uk/

or:

Maeve Dixon
Learning Development Officer
Clydebank Museum
Culture Section
49 Dumbarton Road
Clydebank
G81 1UE

T: 0141 562 2401/01389772148
E: maeve.dixon@west-dunbarton.gov.uk
W: http://www.wdcweb.info/arts-culture-and-libraries/cultural-services/clydebank-museum/

DanceWise, Scottish Ballet

ABOUT

DanceWise is a programme of illustrated talks for aimed at young people from P5 through to sixth year, delivered to groups of around 25 pupils focusing on a particular production or piece of repertoire. The talks are highly interactive and encourage questions from pupils. Combining the use of costume, props, image, video and a power point presentation, DanceWise is delivered by Scottish Ballet‘s highly experienced Education Officers.  The talks also include an insight into the history of Scottish Ballet and in particular on the transition Scotland’s national dance company has undergone to emerge as the contemporary and dynamic dance performance producer it is today.

The DanceWise programme is an entirely new departure for Scottish Ballet and therefore a new experience for schools.   By tageting pupils though different curricular areas such as English and various expressive arts disciplines, the majority of the talks reach young people who would not otherwise access dance or ballet.

DanceWise was also tailored to suit the more specialised needs of the relatively small, but growing, number of pupils studying Higher Dance within the curriculum.

Geometry and Grace
Photo by Andrew Ross

PURPOSE

This project aims to place education at the heart of and integral to, the work of the Scottish Ballet. Dance Wise has two purposes – for schools and for the company.

For Schools:

  • – To give pupils a greater understanding and appreciation of the work of a performing company
  • – To give pupils an insight into some of the skills required within both the art form and the company
  • – To lay the foundations for a lifelong engagement with dance
  • – To give pupils and teachers the confidence to attend a dance performance and to appreciate the experience
  • – To provide teachers with ideas for different approachs to the new curriculum
  • – To allow pupils to gain more knowledge into the production values of the work by referencing the technical, stage craft and practicalities of touring and creating a production/season
  • – To appreciate and understandthe diversity of Ballet as a choreographic language and a collaborative art form

For the company:

  • – To extend the Company’s work into secondary schools
  • – To extend the Company’s work to ensure truly national coverage
  • – To diversify the points of entry that Scottish Ballet offers schools and young people

Through DanceWise, Scottish Ballet aims to give pupils and teachers greater confidence and the ability to discuss openly the work and to express their own opinions and ideas. The project aims to develop the skills to examine how to approach certain aspects of a production and to be able to recognise and understand the various artistic elements that make up and bring alive narrative structure. Above all, DanceWise aims to give young people a more enjoyable experience as a result of a deeper understanding.

DanceWise

The project aims to develop thinking around how pupils would approach certain aspects of a production, enabling them to recognise and understand the different artistic elements that make up and bring alive narrative structure. Scottish Ballet’s focus was to enable pupils to apprecite and understand:

  • – the stylistic progressions of Scottish Ballet as both a company and as an artform
  • – the diversity of ballet as a choreographic language and as a collaborative art form, drawing in their own area of study ie. Art and design, English (finding and looking at the narrative in the productions).

DanceWise is also designed to enable pupils gain more knowledge and a deeper understanding of the production values of the work, by referencing the technical, stage craft and practicalities of touring and creating a production/season.

FEEDBACK

‘[the] Talk caught the pupil’s imagination.  Glad we had this opportunity before seeing the show.  Good use of ICT (Information & Communication Technology) to elaborate on the actual ballet.  These are the types of activities there should be much more of in the school, so that we become involved with what’s happening in our community and throughout Scotland.

‘Pupils were given the chance to respond to ideas and felt relaxed enough to ask questions – a real credit to [the Scottish Ballet staff’s] professionalism.  There is scope to continue work within English (looking at aspects of performance in particular).   We are very keen to continue our association with the Company.

The Royal High School, Edinburgh

In 3 years, 49 DanceWise talks reached 1,523 pupils across Scotland and a further 3 DanceWise talks were shared live GLOW with at least 19 schools participating in teh Glow events. Recordings are accessible through GLOW for others to download and use as a resource.

The level of engagement has been sustained, in line with Scottish Ballet’s targets, and 87% of evaluation respondents said they and their pupils had a changed perception of ballet; 71% of teachers said that they recognised an increased understanding of ballet by their students and 100% of teachers responding said they would like their school to be involved in future Scottish Ballet activities.

OTHER

Discussing Costumes

Partners:

  • – Local Authorities
  • – Cultural Co-ordinators

Levels and Stages:

  • – Third and fourth levels
  • – Senior phase
  • – P5 – S6

Funding:

For more information contact:

Catherine Cassidy, Associate Director (Education) on 0141 331 2931 or email catherine.cassidy@scottishballet.co.uk

or visit:

http://www.scottishballet.co.uk/