|
Value and Values: Evaluating the effects of ideas - Citizenship Year 8 Overview A Year 8 project with a gifted and talented class producing a website that explored the nature of value from different perspectives, discussing the concepts and asking challenging questions of their audience. Learning Objectives · To discuss abstract and complex ideas Project description This project took place entirely in Highwire over two days with a group of Year 8 ‘gifted and talented’ pupils drawn from across the year group in one Hackney school. On the first day, pupils were given an object that would be valuable to someone or a group of people. Working in groups of between 4-6 they were asked to consider what kind of value the object had, what made it valuable and to whom. The objects reflected a range of different kinds of value – financial value, aesthetic value, knowledge value, religious value and emotional value. In their groups they were asked to film the object and to provide a voice over of their reflections on both the object and its value – almost like a segment on a shopping channel. These short videos and voiceovers were then used as part of a web page about that object which also included pupils’ text and images.
On the second day of the project pupils were asked to think about what kind of values underpinned ideas of value (e.g. loyalty creating emotional value). In the same groups they were asked to create an online catalogue – a web page featuring their scanned drawings, links and text – showcasing a number of objects that they felt had value according to their category. For example, a bible having religious value. The online catalogue listed each of the objects, provided an image, described the object, gave its value and then added an additional bit of sales information about why that object was valuable – e.g. ‘It has the world’s greatest stories in it’ (the Bible). They then had to come up with a question about that object as a way of making their audience think a bit more about the kind of values that underpin that object e.g. ‘Is jewelery worth more or less than what it cost?’ (popular value).
Pupils’ creative thinking and behaviour: evaluating the effects of ideas This project was designed to engage pupils in considering ideas around what has value and then exploring what effect these ideas might have on what is valuable, to whom and why. The project aimed to extend the thinking skills of a group of gifted and talented pupils through a concrete process of collaboration, production and publication. The structure of the publication as a catalogue really concentrated pupils on representing how and why things are sold and to whom. For example, the group looking at financial value had to consider the effect and impact of ideas around money and wealth. In particular they were concerned with the way that brands and celebrity create financial value that does not seem to have anything to do with the material or use-value of that object – e.g. their comment that they would find it more entertaining to watch an old woman playing football than an over-paid football star. In this way, pupils were engaging in quite complex abstract and philosophical arguments but they were doing it in a purposeful and structured way. The use of ICT to produce a publication gave them a framework for exploring these ideas but it also gave them a means to explore and challenge the effects of some of the ideas they were considering. Key features of ICT Interactivity: In this project the process of publishing and creating meaning involved interactivity on a number of levels. The students were interacting with each other through discussion and questioning. They were then brining that process to interact with the technology to use web authoring, video and image-editing applications to express their ideas. In this way, the technology enabled further interaction between the students – they had to negotiate, discuss and make decisions about, for example, where to place a particular picture on a page for maximum effect. This decision-making process also involved the students in interacting with their imagined audience – considering things like how to make their text clear and engaging. The final pages that they published also involve audience interaction – on the most basic level, through choosing where to click, but also through posing questions and using different media to question and challenge ideas the audience are interacting with the pupils’ ideas. |
|
