Pupil Talk and Questioning in Design and Technology (Primary and Secondary) Friday 23rd April 2004 Seminar Session Jona

1. Pupil Talk and Questioning in Design and Technology (Primary and Secondary) Friday 23rd April 2004 Seminar Session Jonathan Gershon

2. Aims of the session This seminar is not about literacy across the curriculum as such, but is concerned with giving pupils opportunities to explore and access the language and vocabulary needed to succeed in Design and Technology. • To raise awareness of the range of materials available across Key Stages • To consider how literacy skill can help pupils make progress in design and technology. (Is there an Ofsted Core issue here?) • To suggest practical strategies for advisers and consultants to follow up.

3. Principles • Successful learning in design and technology is extended and enriched by interactive language activities. • In design and technology, as in all subjects, pupils’ subject and generic literacy skills need to be planned for, demonstrated and taught.

4. Literacy in design and technology:Introduction Aspects to consider • Aspect One - Word Level • Aspect Two - Speaking and Listening • Aspect Three - Writing • Aspect Four - Reading • Aspect Five - Planning

5. Key Stage 1&2 Materials • Literacy across the curriculum planning materials • Extended Writing across the Curriculum Survey • Recount – how they solved the problem • Instructions – preparing for food preparation • Explanations – how a mechanism works • Persuasive writing • Non-chronological report • DfES / CfBT Planning CD Rom: Julie Steer

6. Speaking and Listening • Sample Video Clip of group activities • Question: • If primary schools are beginning to make use of these processes to access language and share knowledge, understanding and ideas • Can we afford not to?

7. KS3 Strategy Design and Technology: Sample from Thinking Together

8. Objectives • To consider talk as a tool for thinking and learning • To consider how pupils can be helped to talk and reason together most effectively within design and technology • To promote well-informed choices about size and composition of groups, to enhance effective talk within design and technology • To suggest different ways of organising talk within groups

9. What kind of talk do you want? • When you ask pupils to work and talk together, what sort of talk do you wish to take place? • If you had to compile a list of up to five rules that pupils should follow in order to talk together effectively, what would they be?

10. Exploratory talk In exploratory talk: • pupils and teachers engage critically but constructively with each others’ ideas • contributions build on previous comments • relevant information is offered for joint consideration • there is speculation • pupils give reasons for their views and seek them from others • reasoning is evident. It is an effective way of using language to think. The process of education should ensure that every child is aware of its value and be able to use it effectively … However, observational research evidence suggests that very little of it naturally occurs in classrooms when children work together in groups. Mercer, N. (2000)

11. Possible reasons for the lack of exploratory talk • Pupils do not realise that this is the way that teachers expect them to talk in groups. • Pupils are not very aware of how they talk, and do not understand the value of this way of talking when designing and making. • Pupils may not know how to organise a discussion to ensure that everyone makes a useful contribution. • Pupils are not often involved in productive group activities within design and technology where exploratory talk results in an effective outcome.

12. Ground rules for talk Everyone should: • be actively encouraged to contribute • offer opinions and ideas • provide reasons for their opinions and ideas • share all relevant information • feel free to disagree if they have a good reason • ask other people for information and reasons • treat other people’s ideas with respect • try to come to an agreement and … • change their minds if they are persuaded by good reasoning.

13. Key Stage 3 Literacy in Design and Technology • Session Two Speaking and listening

14. Speaking and Listening Aims of the session • To consider the ways in which speaking and listening can support the development of concepts in design and technology. • To identify teaching strategies to supporting that development.

15. Useful phrases for evaluating and analysing a product Speaking and Listening • This shows that • Perhaps I could • To improve this I need • The result is • As a result • Overall I feel • To begin with • At first • Firstly • Initially • There are several reasons why • In order to • I now know that • One problem was • A possible solution would be

16. Useful phrases activity Speaking and Listening • Develop similar phrases for • exploratory talk • hypothetical talk • speculative talk • Consider how this is different for • collaborative problem solving e.g. generating a design proposal • drawing out similarities and differences e.g. in different products • explaining a process e.g. a design proposal

17. Speaking and Listening Using talk to deepen understanding in design and technology • Talk can help us to: • think through ideas • express thoughts, feelings and opinions • influence other people • articulate ideas • share knowledge • feed back and review ideas • adapt and refine ideas • reach closure, accommodation or acceptance of different ideas • negotiate solutions • And much more

18. Strategies for making group discussions purposeful and promoting a range of speaking and listening skills Speaking and Listening • Pair talk • Listening triads • Envoys • Snowball • Rainbow groups • Jigsaw

19. Speaking and Listening Important points • Design and technology lessons offer a productive context for developing speaking and listening skills, but it is not enough just to offer opportunities – these skills need to be taught explicitly and systematically as a planned element of the scheme of work. • Speaking and listening in design and technology contribute to pupils’ development as speakers and as listeners and address whole-school literacy objectives. • Enabling pupils to develop and refine speaking and listening skills is crucial to their learning and progress in design and technology.

20. Evaluating design and technology work Speaking and Listening • and incorporating into lessons: • A way of introducing subject-specific vocabulary • A small-group activity as well as a class activity • A rapid starter activity when introducing a new form or movement • A basis for assessing pupil’s knowledge and understanding • A support for pupils’ written evaluations.

21. Speaking and Listening The rich verbal environment • A glossary of key terms and definitions at the back of workbooks or journals. (or word activities) • Word walls: general or topic-specific key terms are displayed in a visually arresting way around the walls. • Quotations: examples of the best that has been thought and said about design and technology, by pupils as well as by designers and others. • Display boards: recent magazine or newspaper articles about products, historical developments, technological advances, designers or exhibitions. • Questions: a ‘toolkit’ of useful questions pupils can ask about their own work and that of others. • Spoken frameworks: prompts and sentence starters for evaluation activity. iPAC

22. Summary / Ready for More • Concerned with • strategies that support structured & purposeful talk that develop understanding and confidence • access to the Design and Technology curriculum • Advisers and Consultants need to consider how to use tools that address these issues; • KS1&2 Speaking and Listening materials seen as strong in primary, • KS3 Strategy Literacy across the Curriculum, • KS3 Strategy Foundation Subject and Design and Technology Pilot materials, • iPAC and 50+ other KS3 strategies.