PODCAST ASSIGNMENT

Scientific and Crestive Learning: An out of classroom learning environment

For the group podcast I was in a group with Sarah-Jayne Beynon, Rosie Holt and Sheridan wood. Once we had decided on the group members we had to decide on a place that is an efficient out of classroom environment for children to develop children's scientific enquiry and innovation skills. We all decided that we would focus on the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea. The opening statement of the National Waterfront Museum States that,

‘The national  waterfront museum tells the story of industry and innovation in Wales, now and over the last 300 years’ – (National Waterfront Museum)

The next stage was to decide when we can all go as a group on a tour of the museum to see what materials and learning techniques it offers the children, this was our biggest implication due to our busy time tables. However, we all attended a trip to the museum and walked around to see all of the figures and displays they had to offer for out of classroom learning. We used Sheridan’s mobile device to video the evidence of the visual learning aids, we also took many images of the displays. I got involved with the educational games and puzzles that they had to offer to show what the children interact with whilst at the museum, Sheridan also recorded this to add into our podcast. I helped Sheridan record some of the videos for our podcast. Once we had seen all that the museum had to offer we went to the reception and I asked if there was anyway we could interview someone on their thoughts and ideas towards the museum being a place of out of classroom learning, but there was no available at that time. Sheridan then took the phone number and rang back to arrange a meeting with a member of staff.
After attending the museum we all went to Sheridan’s house to begin our research on how museums supply children with innovation skills within science. I found information and statistics that we could use within our podcast from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) where I found that 26% of school teachers take their pupils to museums to develop their science knowledge (Inspiration, Identity Learning, 2004). Once the videos and images that we had taken was uploaded on to Microsoft Movie Maker we each decided on who was going to narrate each part and we also created a script to work along-side with. I carried on researching museums and out of class room learning environments so that I was able to contribute to our podcast. We then took it in turn to film ourselves and add it in to the podcast at relevant points. We had to make sure that every part of he podcast would flow in to one another and was also relevant to the last point made. I then created references for the information that I had put in to the Podcast so that they could be entreated in to the end of the podcast.

Here is the link to our Podcast:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTZb9rD0AgI&feature=youtu.be




REFERENCES

2004. Inspiration, identity, Learning: The Value of Museums. [Retrieved February 2015] Available at:
     https://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/museumstudies/rcmg/projects/inspiration-identity-learning-1/Inspiration-%20Identity-%20Learning-The%20value%20of%20museums.pdf 


National Waterfront Museum [Retrieved February 2015] Available at:
     http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/about/

What is a learning environment?

 

 

A learning environment is an interactive space, where a set of skills are acquired through multiple sensory experiences. It is a setting where you learn to communicate and socialise with others whilst at the same time stimulating an individuals mind. There are no specific settings in which learining can take place, it is not confined to schools, colleges or university.

 

"Learning environment refers to the diverse physical locations, contexts, and cultures in which students learn. Since students may learn in a wide variety of settings, such as outside-of-school locations and outdoor environments." - (http://edglossary.org/learning-environment/)

 

A learning environment should be a place where every individual involved feels comfortable being in,in order to recieve a positive education. It is also essential that everyones learning requirements are met.

Sian's Assignment

Sian’s Assignment: Learning In Other Contexts

                Every young person should experience the world outside of the classroom as a vital contribution to learning and growing up. Learning in other contexts, outside of the classroom can be the most memorable experiences of a child’s education and can be an outstanding memory throughout an individual’s life – (Learning outside the classroom manifesto). Sue Waite (2011) cited that “nature and community can contribute to children’s lives now and in the future” – (Waite, S 2011) There are a many places in which children can receive an education other than in the classroom for example Techniquest Cardiff and the Egyptian centre Swansea.

                Techniquest Cardiff was established in 1986, it is a place of learning for children of all ages. It is mainly based around Science and has now expanded to more than 120 exhibits which is a big comparison to when they first opened when they only had 48. The exhibitions are all on show for the children to all engage with and understand to gain more knowledge on the sciences. Techniquest also offers shows and programmes and has a science theatre, planetarium and a discovery centre for everyone to indulge in and take full advantage of. It is a place where children learn without realising because at the same time their having fun, this makes it memorable for all individuals. Even adults can learn new things at Techniquest experiencing new exhibitions. Techniquest allows children to be hands on and enables the mind to explore using models and materials and not learning from books. It motivates and encourages children towards science and question how science works. Techniquest have aimed to make science related areas fun for children to learn such as maths, engineering and technology. Techniquest offers many opportunities every day for all primary and secondary schools to arrange trips to visit the learning centre, many of the trips can be themed trips on a range of topics.

                                            

Above is an image of just one of the exhibitions showing the flow of electricity, that you can find at Techniquest Cardiff.

The Egypt Centre Swansea is another place of learning outside of the classroom for young individuals. They concentrate on three main functions, the first is Preservation of the collection, the second is Education and the third is widening participation. The Egypt Centre consists of two rooms, the house of life and the house of death. The house of life shows the day to day life of Egyptians such as what they wore and their culture and the house of death offers tombs and explanations of mummification and the god’s that they worship however there are no human mummies on display at the centre. The Egypt centre also offers school trips for all ages to gain knowledge on the culture, norms and values of Egyptians, like Techniquest they also have themed workshops and activities that allows children to be hands on with the exhibits and lets them ask questions and find out how people and places are linked together. It gives individuals a chance to explore and appreciate different cultures.

                                     

References

Learning outside the classroom manifesto. Nottingham: DfES publications

Waite, S,. 2011. Children learning outside the classroom: from birth to eleven. London; Sage

Sian's Assignment

Sian’s Assignment: Learning through Play

                A child’s first experience of learning is through play, whether it is an individual child playing alone or a group of children and every child needs an adult to help with them develop their play. Play is important throughout the world and has a lot of influence from the cultural settings and atmosphere. Everyone can remember the times when you played as a child and what you felt, we can also remember what we see when we watch children play. We remember having fun and using our imaginations and we can see other children socialising and interacting with others, being creative and taking control, these are the first steps of learning for children. There are many characteristics which make learning through play different to learning in a class room for example play is unstructured and more imaginative and involves actions between a group of children or just one individual, children also make their own rules within play whereas learning within a class room is structured and there is an adult leading the class so the children aren’t learning things for themselves. Ward S (2013) states that “Play is an integrating mechanism that helps children to consolidate, coordinate and get together what they know, feel and understand in ways which give them a sense of control over what is happening to them” – (Ward S 2013 P174) Play contributes to many development stages such as firstly cognitive development which improves children’s language, communication skills and logical thinking , secondly physical development which has an impact on co-ordination, team work, balance and special awareness. Thirdly, social development which includes building children’s confidence, social boundaries and trust and lastly cultural development which allows children to accept other children with different ethnic minorities also they gain more knowledge on cultures and learn what is expected of them in their culture such as the norms and values.

                The Link below show’s children learning literacy, with a  treasure map, through play outdoors, it shows the children making their own rules within play, we can see this when one child is telling another child “you’re not supposed to run” and also telling another child that he has to start again. It also shows the children using their imagination when they are telling the adult that the steps they are climbing is a mountain, this shows that the children are being creative and being imaginative and making use out of the materials they have in order to learn and understand literacy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYLrDiPH9sk

REFERNECES

                Ward, S 2013., 3^rd Ed. A Student’s Guide To Education Studies. Abingdon: Routledge