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Managing Creative Projects and Activities

DEFINING CREATIVITY:

"Characteristics of creativity involve imaginative thinking that leads to a purposeful activity to achieve an objective, resulting in something original and of value in relation to the objective sought..."

HISTORY/BACKGROUND:

The National Advisory Committee's report (DfEE, 1999) states that we are all, or can be, creative to a lesser or greater degree if we are given the opportunity.

In 2002 Ofsted reported that in 'some schools, there is insufficient attention to the processes of designing, particularly in Key Stage 3 where pupils' experience of design and technology is merely a sequence of short focused practical tasks with no opportunity to apply their own ideas in a longer design task'. The National Strategies set about to rebalance this in schools.

The 2008 National Curriculum now emphasises the need for more open-ended project setting; where creative working is developed through encouraging personal learning & thinking and more autonomous working (either individual, paired or group).

TEACHERS ARE "KEY" TO PROVIDING CREATIVE OPPORTUNITIES:

"Creativity is not an easy phenomenon to define and hence understand. Perhaps this is partly the reason why there seems to be ‘issues’ in creativity and design and technology education...The teacher, it is argued, has an important role to play within this system. Firstly, teachers of D&T must attempt to understand, value and have positive attitudes towards creativity. Only then, it is argued, can pupils access and eventually become part of the creative D&T domain, as it is the teachers who ‘sanction’ creative work."

Bill Nicholl, University of Cambridge, England - DATA research Conference 2004 "Creativity and Innovation"
following a three year GATSBY funded research and development project focusing on aspects of creativity and innovation in Design & Technology at KS3 (11-14 years).

Developing creativity and problem solving skills
In 1999 the government in England invited Professor Kenneth Robinson of Warwick University to chair a working party concerned with creativity in education... The report 'All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education' (Robinson, 1999) argues that a national strategy for creative and cultural education is essential to unlock the potential of every young person. It saw creativity in terms of the task in hand as having four features:

• using imagination;
• pursuing purposes;
• being original;
• being of value.

It is not difficult to relate these four features to the central activity of design & technology: pupils designing what they are going to make and then making what they have designed. This is stated in the opening sentence of the importance statement for design & technology (quoted above) and then reinforced strongly with an additional reference to problem solving as follows:
They (pupils) learn to think creatively and intervene to improve the quality of life, solving problems as individuals and members of a team.
There are implications for classroom practice in meeting the creativity and problem solving agenda. The activities that pupils undertake must be sufficiently open to interpretation by the pupils that they can be creative and that genuine problems for them to solve will emerge as they move forward in the activities.

David Barlex, Nuffield Curriculum Centre
"Modernising design & technology - promoting design & technology in a reconfigured curriculum"

How Project Tools Supports Creative Activities

To begin, the Project Tools' "Acorn" tasks and interractive tutorials build the necessary skills, knowledge and understanding through its short focused hands-on activities. Learners can then more confidently go on to generate ideas for original design and make projects.The Project Tools (SmartStart) software can be used to develop up to 1000 different system designs based on the single generic Fasttrack PCB. For every developed system, Project Tools generates 2-page assembly guides showing: block diagrams, pictorial circuit views, component tables, making & testing info. After printing, these essential guides help to ensure more successful practical outcomes as the projects can be undertaken more independently. Teachers also find it easier to manage, as these making activities only need one ready-to-use PCB layout needed for all the projects.

Project Units for Yr.7(159KB) , Yr8(144KB) and Yr9(149KB) from DFES Standards Site

Visit the www.standards.dfes.gov.uk

Project Examples from Years 8 and 9 that have been made using the generic FastTrack pcb and Project Tools (SmartStart) software.


Supporting younger students devise & make their own electronic circuits is a difficult challenge for many teachers. As a result, project design work in some schools is often restricted to the product's case and the making to a "kit" electronic circuit provided by the teacher. This is often seen as uninspiring by the students and repetitive by the teacher, as they see the same project reappear year after year...

 

creative project idea

Cam-Operated
Automatic Pouring Aid


creative electronic project 2

Heat-Operated
Automatic Cooling Fan

creative electronic project 4

Damp-Detecting
Moisture Indicator


paired learning

Time-Up
Game Timer.

 

 

 

 

 

Getting Started:

Who/What would
benefit:-

Decide who/what will use your product.

People

Toddlers or young children

Teenagers

Grown-ups

Things

Products that are moved about

Products that remain fixed

Environment

Man-made world urban/towns

Natural world rural/countryside

Plant life

Resources

Pollution

Animals

Birds

Wildlife

Pets

Protected species

 

 

1 PCB 1000 Systems

Project Tools resources now provide schools and colleges with a solution to this: allowing younger students to be more creative and independent in their working as teachers are fully-supported managing and resourcing these activities.

creative electronic project 1

Light-Sensitive
Child's Night Mobile



Take your students to a higher level

creative electronic project 6

Smart-Wire-Operated Target Scorer



(Students generate & follow SmartStart's pictorial views).

 

Getting Started:

Some Aims Of
Control Systems:-

Consider why a control system could help.

To keep comfortable

Assist with special needs

Keep healthy

Keep operating or working

Prevent damage

Prevent losing

Avoid accidents

Make tasks easier

Keep/make safer

Keep cleaner

Keep in the correct conditions

Keep fed and/or watered

Assist with learning

To develop a skill

Record an event

Save energy

Protect

Entertain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The teacher plays a pivotal role in allowing/supporting creative activities in the classroom.
Motivation in students often comes from their interest in the subject or teacher and from the resources that they are using. A carefully chosen project allowing students to take "ownership" and make their own decisions about its outcome will also provide an enormous boost to their desire to succeed and ultimately progress.
When students successfully make and test their own designs; a greater sense of achievement, purpose and confidence is gained.

hands on learning
Membrane Pad
Cupboard Alarm


creative electronic project 3

Dark-Detecting
Die Spinner

creative electronic project 5

No Wires PIC
Skill Tester
(with levels)

project ideas

Touch-Sensitive
Intruder Alarm.

 

 


 

Getting Started:

Project Ideas:-


Select an area of interest


Aiming at targets

Looking after animals

Helping to recycle

Displays to:

Inform or warn

Entertain

Instruct or guide

Games to:

Pass the time

Improve a skill

Show ability

Help raise money

Assist with your hobby

Make keeping fit fun

Warn of danger

Help learn to ride

Time an event

Intruder Alarms

Protection Systems

Help put on make-up
Point of Sale Display
Frost Alarm
Weather Monitoring





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