Main Curriculum Focus:
HASS/Geography
Context
Campbell Primary School is situated in the suburb of Canningvale. It was opened in 2002 and has a student population of around 570 pupils and 39 individuals on the teaching staff. Its Principals are Lynnett Bates and Paige Goodsell who are supported by Deputy Principal Amanda Slee. Campbell has an ICSEA rating of 1076 with over half of its pupils above the upper middle socio-economic level and a range of diverse cultural backgrounds. It ranks well in NAPLAN assessments, ranking above like schools and has shown a keen interest in improving the creative and critical thinking skills of its students by becoming part of the Creative Schools program in 2021. Our class of 25 year four and five students are from a range of cultural backgrounds and are generally capable and motivated students. Graham Nowell is one of the teachers participating in the Creative Schools program this year. He has been employed by Campbell Primary School since its inception and is an experienced and highly respected teacher at the school by staff and students alike. Shona McGregor, the Creative Schools Creative Practitioner, is a former teacher and professional visual artist who has combined her love of education and the arts to promote creative thinking and learning in Western Australian schools.
WHAT WE DID
Our project began with an environmental focus to compliment the year 4/5 cross-curricular topic of Australian animals. Graham wanted to use the HASS focus to examine global warming and the effects our actions are having on climate change. We began with a research task putting ourselves in the shoes of time lords (Doctor Who is a major feature in the classroom) and travelling into a future where the population has done nothing to change its calamitous behaviours towards the planet. What would it look like? How would we live?
We used various software and technology to explore the ways in which we are negatively affecting our environment.
While facts are necessary, we were very aware that this was a distressing state of affairs and would not necessarily motivate our young students to spring to action seeking change. We needed a way of inspiring the students to realise that they could be part of the solution.
After stumbling across a Ted Talk by Zahra Biabani, an environmental studies college student, we felt that we had found a catalyst for creative thinking and finding a way to make HASS relevant and connected to the issues that are affecting the students, both now and into the future. The Ted Talk discussed the feeling of ‘climate doomism’ that is afflicting younger generations as they ingest an endless stream of bad climate news on social media. Biabani and her likeminded friends began creating TikTok videos relaying positive climate news during lock down as a way of combating the negativity they were feeling about the planet’s future.
We thought this was a perfect way to not only ask the kids to hone their research skills and knowledge of climate change but also create something that could be a positive force for change and motivate them to want to do something to help themselves and the community at large.
In term 4 we took this a step further and looked at the local environmental issues that may need to be addressed. The class was asked to explore their own school and think about ways they could improve any sustainability or climate concerns. They then had the opportunity to put together a considered campaign in small interest led groups using keynote before presenting their ideas to a neighbouring class and Campbell’s admin team in the hopes of their project being put into action in 2023.
How did we make the curriculum come alive?
We motivated the students by connecting with their interests and their love of technology. It was important to find out not only what the students knew about the topics but also what they were interested in so we could tap into anything that would create a sense of intrinsic motivation and a love of learning. Using iMovie and TikTok style (EcoToks) video production provoked their curiosity and gave them a reason to find out about what is happening in the world around them. While focusing on local issues within the school was also a great way to make meaningful connections and see themselves as innovators with the ability to incite change within a space they may not feel they have a lot of control over.
While the students loved the technology aspect of the program, in term 4 we also made sure that brainstorming sessions were a more hands on affair with white boards and large pieces of paper in easy access. We had noticed that sometimes the iPads could be more of a distraction or even discourage idea creation and encouraging the kids to just talk to each other with a scribe was also a very productive option and got the creative flow happening.
How did we make the Creative Habits come alive?
The Creative Habits have been a constant focus in every session we undertake from the warm ups right through to the main activities and reflection sessions. The Creative Habits boards are always visible and referred to often to reinforce not only the main habits but also their sub habits. The reflection activities ask the students to place coloured stickers on their strongest habits and most challenging for the session, which reinforces the student’s opinions of their strengths and weaknesses and also gave us an idea of where to place emphasis for future planning.
How did we activate student voice and learner agency?
We gave the students choices about which topics to research and the option of presenting their work in whatever way was meaningful to them. Whether posters, keynote slides or iMovie’s they were able to find the best way to represent their learning. We also placed a lot of emphasis on student feedback and critical thinking by encouraging self and group analysis of their chosen techniques within the projects and the outcomes that occur.
There is a definite growth in personal confidence as the students are spending less time waiting to be told what to do and getting used to us telling them to ‘go figure it out’. We were reinforcing the concept that they are capable of facing challenges, and are acquiring the skills to be responsible for their own learning.
WHAT WAS THE IMPACT?
Student
The students are very aware of the Creative Habits of Learning now, and how they are utilising them. They are able to be specific and use the language of the sub habits to really hone in on how they are learning during the sessions. Collaboration and group work with students of different abilities and ages has also helped them to get to know their classmates better, improve their social skills and communicate their learning on a deeper level. In addition, connecting research and presentations to social media which is deeply entrenched in youth culture and allowing them the opportunity to present environmental campaigns has helped them to see that they could be a force for positive change in their community or the world at large and there are many ways to be heard by the people around them.
Teacher
Graham has found that it has given him permission to step back and allow the students to make their own decisions and problem solve independently. Pressure to assess, cover curriculum content and stick to timelines and specialist schedules has become the norm in many WA schools today; which often does not allow students to have the time to inquire and explore freely in the classroom or teachers the time to spend connecting with their students. Many teachers are finding this internal pressure as well as external pressure from issues such as Covid very difficult to manage. The Creative Schools program has encouraged Graham to become a facilitator of learning, which puts the onus back onto the students as they investigate topics that hold meaning for them, and relate to real world issues.
Creative Practitioner
As a Creative Practitioner and educator, being in the classroom with Graham and the year four and fives allows me to be part of a program trying to effect change and create an environment catering to the learning needs of students. I can see firsthand the positive effects teaching the Creative Habits of Learning has on students, and the growing confidence that they have in themselves when they can experience success in the classroom. They have the time and space to learn from their mistakes. I am constantly improving on my own communication and collaboration skills with staff and students and see myself in a constant cycle of learning as we react and plan each week for the changes we are seeing in the class.
School
The school is in their second year of the Creative Schools program and has a very real interest in bringing creative learning into classrooms across the school.
Parents
The parents of our students were very interested in what their children had been doing during our Creative Schools program and were able to see the weekly keynote reflections of the class during a recent learning journey evening at the school.
“Creative Schools is life changing. It allows me to collaborate with my class and meet new people that I don’t usually collaborate with. It allows us to create new friendship.” (Student)
“I notice people are happier throughout the day because they feel useful in the classroom. They are talking to other people during Creative Schools, people that they don’t usually talk to.” (Student)
“It’s really fun to have a teacher that creates fun stuff to do. It has a purpose so that when we grow up we would know some important lessons. Creative Practitioners talk in a different way and get us to do very different things. It’s like recess but we are working. It’s great to have a Creative Practitioner working with our main teacher to help us to achieve our mission.” (Student)
"I think all learning could be like this. It will make school more fun, and people will enjoy school more." (Student)
"We use five habits at the same time, which is different to other lessons. In other lessons we only use one. We use collaborative or disciplined most in other lessons. You don't use a lot of imagination in other lessons. You have to do things “the right way”, “the school way”. In Creative Schools we get to develop our own ideas, not just do things “the right way”, “the programmed way”. (Student)
"The open-ended nature of Creative Schools lessons is how we used to teach. It is the total antithesis to the current way of teaching I find it refreshing. We haven't done it for a while. Teaching has just become all about the data: pre-test, post-test, repeat, repeat, repeat. It is a good way to integrate learning, which we have to do in order to make things fit in. They are developing several subjects understanding here. They are developing understanding of number, technology, science, literacy...” (Teacher)
"The fear is that we may drop our results when we introduce more of this creative learning. But we won't. We will still keep the rigour and add the creative learning to develop the skills that students need for the future." (Teacher)
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