About our project: Wants, Needs and Water
Our main curriculum focus for this Creative Schools project may have been HASS, but the deeper learnings for our 26 Year 7 students centred on opportunities for increased concentration, collaboration outside of friendship groups and ongoing self-reflection, with a goal of improving attendance and behaviour through curiosity and engagement. Transition to Year 7 can be difficult, resulting in disruptive behaviour which impacts young people’s ability cognitively to process more than one or two things, and affects information recall. The goal was always to facilitate a deeper knowledge, awareness and understanding of content through a range of exploratory, creative and reflective activities.
What happened?
Teacher Boru Badolicha and visual artist Miles Openshaw began Term 2 by inviting students to explore ideas around ‘wants and needs’ within the school and identify what could benefit from changes and upgrades. We introduced students to some design process principles and tasked them with conceiving, developing, designing and prototyping ideas to ‘sell’. Five sessions in, visual artist Jodie Davidson took over from Miles and, due to their collaborative professional relationship this was a smooth transition for everyone. The switch enabled students and staff to share progress to date while reflecting on successes and challenges.
In Term 3, we focused on the use and sustainability of water around the world, with students exploring construction methods and ideas through the creation of a water transport/transfer system. The initial hook related to a true story about a walk across three countries by 20,000 boys searching for food, water and safety. Although it wasn’t their experience, this story seemed to resonate with our students. They worked in groups, sometimes wrestling with persistence and discipline and also exploring ways to improve. Some students were familiar with making a filtration system but struggled with selecting materials to make it work. For example, water running though a cardboard cylinder will cause leaks, and the structure will eventually collapse.
It’s made it easier to learn stuff… making the water system and the filter means that if I ever get stuck in the desert, I know how to get clean water.
- Student
Because we made it, it is easier to understand how it works and now we can do it.
- Student
However, engagement gradually increased with the majority articulating when something didn’t work and why. Some groups worked well together while others didn’t, however as time and the projects progressed, so did the use of creative skills. Disruptive behaviour, although distracting, would sometimes result in those disruptive students becoming focused.
I would say today was quite successful.
- Student
This has been much better than normal classes.
- Student
How did we use the Five Creative Habits of Learning?
We increased collaboration by rotating groups, particularly for warm-ups. Students began to listen to one another, share perspectives without judgement and work together beyond their previously established friendship groups. They demonstrated persistence as they stuck with tasks and difficulties, working for extended periods of time, listening to each other’s suggestions and feedback. This was evident with groups reconfiguring their water systems, week after week, to enable them to be more effective. They continued to experiment, trying ideas and often experiencing failure which made the successes more rewarding. They began to set their own challenges, trialling ideas and making changes and became curious enough about what we would be doing next to return each week.
Inquisitive … I did some thinking myself.
- Student
Persistent and Imaginative. Coming up with a new plan.
- Student
In one session, no adults spoke (deliberately), and some students stopped speaking too. Rather than direct instruction, we presented challenges, and students sought solutions using industrial offcuts and tools that, although unfamiliar, prompted curiosity, imagination and experimentation. What began with less than half of the class partaking, over time, increased to above 80% participation. Group interaction involved less verbal communication. Students relied on their own capabilities. Some who had been working on their own joined with other smaller groups, others talked loudly to us as if we were hard of hearing but instead of asking questions, they relied on each other. Taking a risk letting the students make all of the decisions looked messy, chaotic and loud but there were glimmers of success and an increased use of creative habits replacing some of the previous poor behaviour.
Miss, can we get more materials for next week? More containers, more pipes and more cylinders? Student
It was very engaging with everyone participating. I think they all used the five habits. Everything was used. Some of them tried so many, many times but didn’t come up with anything but across the board there was a great effort. Teacher
The warm-ups, coming up with physical answers combined with the absence of pressure to achieve engaged our students and importantly, increased their ability to recall and offer explanations. They could meet challenges rather than expectations. They collaborated, giving and receiving feedback, explaining to each other how something worked. They tolerated uncertainty without realising that in doing so they were demonstrating persistence. We saw evidence of sticking with difficulty when something didn’t work, being inquisitive by wondering and questioning why, reflecting and then improving their creation (discipline), striving for success.
What did we discover?
Disruptions, poor behaviour, low attentiveness and punctuality meant information had to be concise, simple and delivered relatively quickly. Each week was different depending on the number of students, time of day and who was present. Although we used the curriculum as a ‘theme’, it was more important to work out which activities and methods increased student engagement while providing opportunities for them to collaborate and share thoughts and ideas.
If we weren’t all occupied, we’d probably be slapping each other.
- Student
Attempting various warm-ups and reflections for critical and creative thinking resulted in combining activities—using warm-ups for reflections and reflections for warm-ups—and switching the order. This helps redirect focus from getting ready to leave to concentrating on the activity: effective in short high school sessions with students being able to problem-solve through until the end.
We gave students free access to the white board:
As soon as they came up with an idea, they could ‘steal’ the marker and add it to the board. Although it started with only two people, by the end there were five at a time. Initially they were drawing ideas and ways they would like to learn, however when they seemed to struggle, we added ways they didn’t want to learn. A common response was not having someone stand and shout at them.
- Creative Practitioner
This practice became a quick and effective way of sharing observations and connections. The student who generally didn’t participate in groups decided to take on a leadership role, devising a system on the board for the class to vote on what size groups they wanted to work in. It took about 15 minutes, but they did it on their own. They chose their own groups and in an apparently completely dysfunctional way, managed to come up with a semblance of a plan for future sessions.
This is the first time I have had an idea and it has actually worked.
- Student
I spent my today’s brain cells doing this so that’s it for the day. No math, no Science, no English…I’m done.
- Student
Students began to adjust to the structure of the sessions, getting better at dealing with the uncertainty of what came next. The class could still be chaotic, loud and made up of students who would and some who wouldn’t. The difference was, by the final session, the few students who didn’t want to participate asked if they could continue constructing while the others were happy to watch. The gauge had shifted.
I think the warm-up was good because most of them were engaged fast. Some naturally say ‘no’. The second warm up had everyone participate even though to start with some refused. Their curiosity got the better of them. One student was the most reluctant but ended up being the strongest participant.
- Teacher
This is so much better than doing worksheets.
- Student
One of the students, who usually wants to work with the EA, was happy to work on his own which was a positive. Even those who weren’t actively participating were still giving answers. Most students participated and came up with some good answers.
- Teacher
This has been fun.
- Student
Main Curriculum Focus: Humanities and Social Sciences
Key skills involve Questioning & Researching, Analysing, Evaluating, Communicating & Reflecting.
Economics & Business: producing and consuming, wants and needs, entrepreneurship
Geography: water in the world, place and liveability, renewable and non-renewable resources, water scarcity, accessibility, environmental quality of liveability
Cross-curricular Links
• Sustainability
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