Mantle of the Expert at Muritai: The Aumoana

Day 9: Our Presentation to 'Sarah'

2010-06-27T00:26:00.000-07:00

It has taken a while to put this blog post together because as a teacher I was quite overwhelmed by the many golden moments we had last Monday! Delia Baskerville, senior drama lecturer from the school of Education at Victoria University in Wellington, visited us in the role of ‘Sarah’, who in our drama is one of our company’s managers. The children presented their work to her, following the plan they had put together the previous week, and it was a very successful visit. ‘Sarah’ was extremely impressed by the detailed knowledge the team had of their different research areas and their ability to explain and clarify what they meant in response to questions that challenged their understanding.

The first part of our morning was spent putting the finishing touches to our posters and arranging them around the room so they could be presented to ‘Sarah’, when she arrived. We had a run through of how we would welcome her, considering carefully the etiquette of introducing ourselves, making her feel welcome, offering seats, answering questions, guiding her through the presentation, inviting her feedback, and closing the visit and farewelling her at the end. We also had a quick practice at being ‘information buttons’ and some time to think of how best to explain and present the poster work.

‘Sarah’ arrived after morning tea. The welcome was effective with Sally meeting her at the door, introducing herself, welcoming her with a badge and an outline of the presentation (on the company letterhead paper). Mia then invited ‘Sarah’ to look at the first part of the informative foyer design, which was about ‘Life on Board The Aumoana’. The rest of the group were lined up as ‘information buttons’, ready to read aloud excerpts from diaries written by scientists working on board The Aumoana (which they had written earlier). After ‘Sarah’ had activated the different buttons, (and learned a lot about life on board the boat!), she was invited to watch a short film (made by the team) where a number of research scientists (some of the team in role) answered questions about life on the boat. This was a very interactive and effective start to the presentation.

Mia being an 'information button'

'Sarah' is invited to watch some videos, which the team have made to give information about life on board the boat and diving in the Ross Sea.

Julius then introduced himself and offered to guide her through the different poster displays. At each display the group who was responsible for that work, presented their poster and answered ‘Sarah’s’ questions. As well as being guided through the different research posters ‘Sarah’ was also shown another video about diving in the Ross Sea (again made by several team members), given an explanation of the company’s historical timeline by Georgia, and given an explanation of the team’s plan for their next expedition by Lucy and Zoe, which included showing ‘Sarah’ the longitude and latitude points on a map of the Ross Sea where the sampling has been planned to take place. While ‘Sarah’ visited the different areas of the informative foyer design the team also visited each other to learn about the different areas of expertise. The atmosphere was a buzz of information being shared and discussed, filmed and photographed by Max, Louis, Helena, and Tim. Once the presentation was over Rosa and Lucy offered ‘Sarah’ a refreshment and then invited her to a meeting with the whole team where they wanted to invite her to give her feedback.

Julius explains ocean currents to 'Sarah'

Robbie explaining ocean depths around New Zealand

'Sarah' questioning the team about their work

Lucy and Zoe explain the longitude and latitude points where the team plan to do their sampling on their next planned expedition to the Ross Sea

The class atmosphere during the presentation is a buzz of information being shared

‘Sarah’ was encouraging and shared a warm and positive response to the work that had been shared in the presentation, but she was also clear that there was pressure on her from management to withdraw the money for the project and to rent out the foyer space for other uses. This tension lead the children to work collectively to convince her with strong arguments about why they felt the informative foyer design was important. Throughout the meeting the team impressively remained in role. Not one hand was raised in the air, instead every team member listened carefully to each other’s arguments, adding their own ideas at the best time to build on the different arguments being offered. At one moment there were two team members finishing off each other’s sentences, every one was very much in tune with each other judging successfully when it was best to lead with an argument and when to follow and support others.

The meeting: 'Sarah' and the team in role as colleagues

A meeting of thinkers!

'Sarah' begins to be won over by the wonderful arguments!

The team close the meeting and farewell 'Sarah' with the national anthem.

The team showed they were able to think critically about the value of marine scientific research and its importance to society. The team drew on everything they had learned and their own personal experiences to try and convince ‘Sarah’ to support their project. They brought up the oil spill, the fishing industry (including problems of over fishing), pollution, and the larger eco-system of the planet. None of these ideas had been explored yet as a group, all the links just bubbled up as the team developed their arguments. The team showed that they were a confident and capable group as they put forward a number of good strong arguments about the importance of educating people about the scientific work done in the sea around New Zealand and came up with some creative ideas about how the foyer display could make money including charging school groups/visitors or making informative DVDs to sell to people who visited.

It was wonderful to be a part of a discussion where children and adults were sharing ideas, questioning one another, and challenging each other to think critically as equals, all being in role in the drama as colleagues. The children clearly saw themselves, in their roles in the drama, as capable, resourceful, and confident team members.

When Zoe stood up at the end of the meeting to thank ‘Sarah’ for visiting and to invite everyone to stand for the National Anthem, it felt just right after the impressive ‘think tank’ meeting and all their powerful arguments around education and the sustainability of the planet, it was quite moving!

Day 8

2010-06-14T01:40:00.000-07:00

Our finished posters!

Putting the final details on our posters.

FINISHING OUR FOYER DISPLAY WORK:

Today we spent the morning putting together the final copies of our foyer display posters. We finished editing all of our written research and printed it out. We then had to organise all of the writing, along with images we had chosen and photos of our clay models, into a presentable order. We did a lot of cutting, experimenting with different titles and headings, and re-arranging of our work on pieces of card. We did this until we were happy that they looked visually effective and had all the important information on them in the best possible order. When we were happy with our poster layout we glued everything into place and used pastels to add colourful borders, underlines, and bold ‘attention grabbing’ headings. We were a very industrious and busy team until every group finished their research posters! Posters describing life on board The Aumoana and about the diving work done on the boat were also completed. The company logo was also finalised and company letterhead designed, which had the logo, mission statement, and company name on it. A company name tag was also made for’ Sarah’ to wear when she made her visit. These were very effective. The posters all look fantastic and everyone felt very proud seeing all their research presented so effectively. Well done team!

'Sarah's' name badge and our company letterhead showing logo and mission statement.

Once the posters were completed Max and Sally filmed one group that had organised an interview about life on board The Aumoana and another group that had organised a presentation about diving procedures and the equipment needed for diving under ice in Antarctica.

These films have now been made into small movies that will be on display as part of our foyer display design. Actors, film crew, and audience (with their feedback and support) all worked well to get these put together.

SOME MAORI WORDS FOR OUR MISSION STATEMENT:

Mr Chadwick wrote back to us with a couple of Maori proverbs that he thought might go well with our mission statement. After some discussion this is the proverb we chose to go alongside our company’s mission statement:

He taura whiri kotahi mai ana te kopunga tai no i te pu au
From the source to the mouth of the sea all things are joined together as one

PLANNING OUR PRESENTATION TO ‘SARAH’

Our next job was to sit down as a whole team and decide how we were going to present all our work to ‘Sarah’ when she visited.

Ms Gain stepped back and let the team discuss this on their own, this was a big challenge! We had to organise ourselves, listen to each other, negotiate, and make decisions that the whole group were happy with. Rosa was the scribe and everyone shared their ideas.

The team deciding on how they will present their work to 'Sarah'

An order of events was written down, which include:

• a welcome (offering a drink and giving her a name badge),
• a general overview of what the presentation will involve (giving ‘Sarah’ a copy of the programme so she knows what to expect – on our company letterhead!),
• showing the posters about Life on the Boat and the movie of the interview.
• inviting ‘Sarah’ to push ‘information buttons’ where we read out diary entries that have been written about doing research work on a boat,
• someone guiding her around the different research groups and each group presenting their work and talking her through the poster,
• showing her the poster about the next planned research expedition,
• showing the second movie on diving along with the diving poster,
• showing the company historical timeline, including the mission statement and values,
• inviting ‘Sarah’ to join the team at a meeting table so that we can invite her to respond and ask her “what do you think?”
• farewelling with a song: ‘God of Nations’ in Te Reo Maori and English (“because our work is to do with the whole country”).

A TENSION:

In the afternoon we received an email from ‘Sarah’ in management with some worrying news. The news was that senior management are considering renting out parts of the company building in order to help the company financially. The parts of the building that they are considering renting out, and thus removing from NZ COSSA’s useable space, include one of the meeting rooms, some of the carparking space, and the entrance foyer!

This news was met with outcry and disappointment, as this will leave us without a space for all our work. Cries from around the meeting table included:

“They can’t do that, we have worked so hard!”

“Ring Sarah and tell her we don’t like her email”

Georgia reading email from 'Sarah' to the team.

The team then discussed further what this news meant for us. We decided that the decision wasn’t final and there was still a chance of convincing senior management that having an informative foyer display is important for educating the public about our work. Two ideas shared were:

1. To talk to some people in education and get some support from them. It was felt that once educators saw our work they would understand how important it is to educate people about sea science activity around New Zealand.

2. To have a trial for a month and show management how effective the foyer display is in informing and getting interest from the public.

At the end of her email 'Sarah' said that she could no longer make a visit today and suggested that perhaps she put her visit on hold until a more final decision was made about the future of the building. The team thought that Sarah should still visit so that we could have the chance to convince her and show her the quality of the work we have done. Lucy found an old phone in the classroom and Rosa ‘made a call’ to Sarah to respond to the email and ask her to still visit us.

Sarah agreed to visit us next Monday. Let’s hope we can convince her!

Day 7: Foyer Display Design Work and Muritai TV

2010-05-30T21:52:00.000-07:00

Today we worked really hard in our groups to finish our research posters and foyer display design. We worked so hard and were so busy that the day flew by, all the bells for morning tea, lunch, and the end of day rang before we knew it! Ms Gain even forgot to take any photos!

We finished adding information to our posters, chose the images we wanted including maps and diagrams, created titles and headings for our posters, and published our information on keynote and comic life. We also chose some information to present by pretending to be information buttons and film footage. Next time we meet we are going to be visited by a drama specialist in role as our company manager. We are going to have to present all our work to her and walk her through our foyer design ideas.

So far for our foyer display design we have:

• 6 different research posters (1 for each group) with either an ‘information button’ or piece of ‘film footage’ to go with it.

• Clay models of, and information about, the different types of equipment used on board The Aumoana.

• A company timeline and history.

• NZ COSSA’s Mission Statement, Values, and Company Logo.

• A display about diving work including a poster and a small video clip.

• A display about Life on Board the Boat including boat plans, an example of an upcoming planned expedition, photos from on the boat (our freeze frames), details about the equipment that needs to be worn while working on deck, ‘information buttons’ reading some excerpts from diary entries written on the boat, and a small videoed interview with scientists about their experiences working on The Aumoana.

Muritai TV visited us today and spent a long time talking to us about the work we have been doing. We all took turns to tell the interviewers about our fictional company and the work we have been doing to design a new informative foyer display for the company building. There was a lot to talk about as we described our company, (its values, mission statement, history, workspaces), the research we have been doing, and what learning in Mantle of the Expert is all about. Keep an eye out for the link to the documentary here soon!

Day 6: Afternoon: Some Drama

2010-05-25T02:42:00.001-07:00

In the afternoon we practised filming some of our small dramas that we had created last week to be a part of our foyer display. We have one group doing an interview with a number of ‘marine scientists’, which gives information about life on board the boat, and another group doing a diving equipment check and a short informative talk about diving in Antarctica.

Some of us as audience made suggestions to the group about how they could make the information clearer and the people filming also made suggestions, for example how best to stand or sit including not covering faces with paper when reading, and ways to make things clearer such as thanking each person after each interview before moving on to the next person. These suggestions helped polish the performances. Next week we hope to have some finished films of these small dramas to be a part of our final foyer display.

Finally we used drama to reflect on the values and mission statement of our company that we had come up with last week. Going back into role and imagining ourselves as marine scientists working for NZ COSSA, we thought back to a moment that may have led us to working as a marine scientist. We thought about something that could have made us want to work with marine life and investigating marine environments, and in a job that involved practical work on a boat as well as research and lab work. Here are a few of the ‘memories’ that were shared…

I knew I wanted to work in the sea when I caught my first fish, it was a little spotty and I thought it was amazing…I also wanted a job where I could be active and wouldn’t have to just sit at a desk all the time.
Max.

When I first saw a blue whale I decided at that moment that I really really wanted to be a sea scientist…
Zoe.

When I was 8 we went to a place called Green Island and I went snorkelling there and I saw all these corals and turtles and all these animals that I had never seen before and I wanted to protect them…
Mia.

Once my sister dived into the sea and caught a baby shark and I thought ‘I want to work in the sea!’, I wanted to find more sharks!
Lucy.

When I was little me and my parents went diving in the sea except we didn’t have all our equipment we just went beside the beach and saw fish, and I decided I wanted to do proper diving when I grew up…
Robbie.

Once I saw lots of beautiful sea creatures, lots of fish, dolphins, and turtles and I thought I really wanted to work where I could help look after those animals.
Georgia.

When I was little I loved playing games about animals, especially sea animals…
Mia P.

When I was little I loved skipping along the beach, examining the little things on the seaweed that washed up on the shore…
Sally.

Day 6: Mid Morning: Planning A Research Expedition to Antarctica: Maths and Problem Solving.

2010-05-25T02:39:00.001-07:00

Next we planned a research expedition to Antarctica. Each group had a different research project that involved using different sampling equipment, the equipment that we had just modelled using clay.

The team was given a range of information including:

• The expedition was to be 3 weeks long
• Distance from Wellington to Antarctica is about 3000km
• The boat travels 20km an hour
• Antarctica is dark all the time in Winter and light all the time in Summer
• In winter there is a lot of ice in the Ross Sea that would make sampling too hard and also make it more dangerous for the boat to travel through.
• Plankton blooms occur in Spring and Autumn

Using this information we had to choose the best time to travel (we decided late Spring: November), work out the travelling time in hours first (150hours each way) and then days (6 ½ each way), and then work out how many days remained for the research work (8 days).

Each group were then given the longitude and latitude co-ordinates of the sampling sites they needed to visit, a map of the Ross Sea area, and information about the amount of time it takes to get samples using the different pieces of equipment.

Using this information the different groups marked their sampling sites on the map and worked out how many hours work they would need to complete their sampling at each site using their equipment, including deploying the equipment and collecting the samples once back on board. Once every team had done this we came back as a group and negotiated when the work would be done in the remaining 8 research days. This was a challenge as we had to make sure everyone was allocated enough time to get all their sampling done!

The sampling sites that had to be visited by the different research groups.

Working as a team to make sure everyone's research was scheduled in!

Day 6: Morning: Clay Models of Equipment

2010-05-25T02:17:00.000-07:00

This morning we studied photos and diagrams of different types of equipment, which are used on board research vessels to collect samples for studying. Each research group studied a piece of equipment that would be used for their particular area of research. We then used clay to make models of the different pieces of equipment. Some of us found the 3D modelling quite a challenge, and there was a lot of working out how best to use the clay to get it to stand on its own!

We then made labels to go with our piece of equipment that described what they were used for and how they were used. Different groups used different computer programmes to make the labels, some used Comic Life and some used Keynote.

Sedimentary Trap: Lowered into the sea for several months at a time to collect phytoplankton and microscopic zooplankton samples.
Model by: Helena and Georgia.

DTIS: An underwater digital camera that takes photos of the sea floor.
Model by Tim.

Side Scan Sonar: Travels alongside the boat and collects information to make a 3D map of the sea floor.
Model by Max and Tom.

MOCNESS: Multiple opening and closing nets that collect samples from the sea at different depths.
Model by Lucy and Zoe.

CTD: This piece of equipment is lowered into the sea to collect water samples to measure the salinity, temperature, and depth of the water.

CPR: A Continuous Plankton Recorder. This instrument is towed behind the boat to collect plankton samples.
Model by Samantha and Rosa.

A Multicorer: Takes shallow cores, about 30cm deep, from the sea floor.
Model by Mia P. and Sally.

Life Jacket, Steel Cap Boots, and Hard Hat: Safety gear to be worn while working with any equipment on deck.
Model by Mia W.

Day 5: Afternoon: Reflecting on our Learning

2010-05-17T01:00:00.000-07:00

This afternoon we did some preparation for being interviewed by Muritai TV about what we have been doing on Mondays in the Green Room. We reflected on what we had learnt about Mantle of the Expert so far and we discussed the positives/minuses/and interesting things about this type of learning. We also came up with some key sentences about what we have learnt in our research. For homework we are going to have a go at sharing these key sentences with someone in our family.

These are the key sentences that each research group came up with this afternoon:

Group 1
Zooplankton can be different sizes some are microscopic and some are as big as jellyfish.
Plankton means wandering or drifting.
Zooplankton don’t swim very far they mainly float in the sea currents.
Krill is a type of zooplankton.
Krill is very important, nearly everything in the sea eats krill.
Zooplankton is an animal type of plankton, they eat phytoplankton and other plankton.

Group 2
Pythoplankton is a type of microscopic plant that lives in the sea.
Plankton means drifting or floating.
Phytoplankton is moved by the currents, it cannot swim on its own.
Plankton needs nutrients and sunlight to grow, just like plants on earth.
Phytoplankton breathes carbon dioxide and breathes out oxygen.
Phytoplankton make their own food, they are at the bottom of the marine food web.

Group 3
Antarctic Silverfish and the toothfish are part of the notothenioidei fish family.
Silverfish are a type of fish that can live in freezing cold waters, there blood doesn’t freeze.
Silverfish are endangered because they grow under ice sheets and the ice is melting.
Penguins are dying out because the silverfish are dying out.

Group 4
There are volcanoes and sea mountains on the sea floor.
There are different types of muds and clays on the sea floor.
There are fossils on the sea floor like phytoplankton, and zooplankton such as krill.
There are risen bits of land on the sea floor such as the Chatham Rise.

Group 5
Cores are drilled from the sea floor to find different layers.
There are different depths of ocean around New Zealand.
There is a current called the circumpolar current that comes from Antarctica and its cold.
There are currents called the tropical and subtropical current, and these are warmer.
The oceans around NZ are the Atlantic, the South Pacific, and the Tasman Sea.

Group 6
The drill pipes on boats drill into the sea floor and collect tubes of earth to study called cores.
Cores can contain rock, sediments, and fossils.
Cores have a lot of history, different layers can have different fossils.
Fossils can tell you about what was alive in different times.
Cores have different layers from different times.
The layer at the top is the newest.
The deepest layer is the oldest.

Day 5: Mid Morning: Some New Tasks

2010-05-17T00:54:00.000-07:00

After morning tea we went into role and had a team meeting. We received an email from management asking us to include some more things in our new foyer display design. These were to include a history of the NZ COSSA company, some information about the diving work done on board The Aumoana, and finally some information about life on board The Aumoana. We reviewed our progress on our research projects and decided to spend a day focussing on these new jobs. We decided we could only afford to spend one day of time on it though! So we divided into 3 working groups to tackle these new tasks.

One group created a historical timeline for our company. They interviewed everyone about when they joined the company, put together the dates on the newspaper articles, and decided on some key moments in the history of our company. Using drama we agreed to believe that the timeline recorded the history of our fictional company.

Another group worked on researching about diving equipment and procedures for diving in Antarctica. We received another email from management reminding us that we all needed our diving certificates renewed, and that involved proving recent diving experience and having all diving equipment checked. After doing their research, this working group decided to lead the whole team in a diving equipment check and then took us all on an imagined dive in Antarctic waters.

Diving Equipment Checklist.

“Just some advice, when you put your flippers on walk backwards so you don’t trip over….my assistants Julius and Robbie have their equipment on correctly so watch them…” Max talking as he led us on a team dive and diving equipment check.

“Diving in Antarctic is very dangerous because it is below 1 degree Celsius. You need to drill two holes in the ice because a seal sometimes uses one up! There needs to be two people to help one person diving. The rescuers need to be ready in their diving equipment to dive in and rescue if they need to. They need to have an extra layer so that they’re warmer! Not like normal diving!” Write up by Max.

The third working group did some research about life on board a research vessel. They then used drama to put together a ‘filmed’ interview with 3 scientists about the work they did on the boat, the gear they had to wear, what the food was like, and what their favourite thing was about living on the boat. We agreed to believe that we were watching a filmed interview as this group performed their interview to us. Next week we will try to make a real recording of this interview.

Day 5: Morning: Company Mission Statement and Key Values

2010-05-17T00:51:00.000-07:00

This morning we talked as a group about having a mission statement for our company. We talked about Muritai School’s mission statement ‘Muritai Students will be the best that they can be’, and we identified and discussed some of the school’s key values, which included values of working well together, respecting and caring for each other, looking after the environment, and respecting things Maori.

We talked about why the school values things Maori and we had a great discussion!

“It is part of our culture”
“It is important in New Zealand”
“The Maori were here first…and we signed a Treaty”
“If we didn’t use the language in New Zealand it might become extinct”

We learnt that in New Zealand many companies value things Maori to help protect the Maori language and culture, and to honour the Treaty of Waitangi.

We brainstormed ideas for a mission statement as a whole group, worked in small groups to try and put our ideas into one sentence, and then had a small working group to pull everyone’s ideas together to come up with our final mission statement. It was a big job to get all the words just right, but we are all really pleased with what we have come up with.

NZ COSSA’S Mission Statement:

‘We explore and investigate so that the sea world around New Zealand can be protected for the future.’

Key Company Values:
• We work hard to be the best scientists we can be
• We research and give people information about the sea around New Zealand so that is can be protected.
• We do our best to look out for endangered species of fish.
• We work as a team and respect each other.
• We respect things Maori because it is part of New Zealand’s culture and the Treaty of Waitangi.

After talking about valuing things Maori in our company we talked about ways a company could reflect this value. We thought we could use the online Maori dictionary to find Maori words to express some of our key company values. We found a number of Maori words to do with protecting, cherishing, and caring for the sea environment.

Georgia suggested we email Mr Chadwick to see if he could put some of the Maori words we chose (‘tai’ meaning sea, ‘taonga’ meaning treasures/things we cherish, and ‘kaitiaki’ meaning caring and protecting for the future) into a sentence to be a part of our mission statement. We are looking forward to hearing back from him!

Some of us are also going to have a go at designing a logo for our company.

“A logo is a picture or a symbol, which represents what company it is.” Tim.

We are looking forward to seeing some designs next week.

Day 4: Afternoon: Drilling Our Core.

2010-05-12T17:40:00.000-07:00

Adding a New (Holocene) Layer to our Sea Floor Model.

Our Core

'Drilling Our Core'

Next we did a core drilling experiment and agreed to believe that this represented the core we had headed to the Chatham Rise to drill on board The Aumoana. Ms Gain had created a sea floor model that had different layers, made up of cake slices and coloured playdough. Some of us took turns to add/deposit some new, recent layers to our sea floor to help us understand that the top layers in a core are the newest. We then used a long plastic tube to 'drill' a core sample. When the tube was lifted out we could see the different layers of our core. We talked about how the deepest layers of a core are the oldest and the top layers are the newest. We then looked at the Geological Time Scale and talked about how geologists can describe the different time periods the different layers are from. For example a layer of a core that is dated to 160 million years ago (done by testing fossils found in the layer) can be described as coming from the Jurassic period. The most recent material deposited on the sea floor today is described as being in the Holocene period. Some of our group has been researching how cores can tell us stories about the past, including the story of the KT boundary. In cores that have been drilled around the world there is a common layer of ash, which has been dated to 65 million years ago. This layer of ash, which seems to have covered the earth's surface, is thought to be evidence of an asteroid that hit the earth in the Gulf of Mexico 65 million years ago. It is thought that this event led to the extinction of dinosaurs, and in fact many creatures. There are many fossils found in layers below this ash layer that are not found above it.

Day 4: Mid Morning: Diary Writing

2010-05-12T17:20:00.000-07:00

Next we imagined that we were on another scientific venture on board our research vessel The Aumoana. In contrast to our last imagined trip, this trip so far had been smooth sailing. We imagined that this venture was to the Chatham Rise Region where the team had planned to drill a core. There were now experts in our group who could tell us some details about the Chatham Rise and show us the area on a map of the sea floor. Ms Gain gave us the longitude and latitude co-ordinates of where we were heading to drill our core and we all had a go at marking this on a map. This was something new for all of us and a good challenge!

We went and sat in our own spaces on the field to help us get into role for this writing. It was a beautiful day and the flat green field became our sea! For this diary entry we tried to include sea life that we might see on the boat and details of the science work we would be doing. After our writing we shared our favourite sentences to each other as a group. Here is some writing from our diary entries.

'It is a beautiful morning and I am very pleased to say that we are launching our drill pipe tomorrow, very exciting. I hope we find lots of fossils. Our boat has already fished up lot of plankton, silverfish, and phytoplankton […] The best thing about living on a boat is the sunrise. There are no hills in sight so around 7 o’clock the sun goes down and reflects on the water. It is the most wonderful sight in the world, it is awesome'. Mia W.

'Another beautiful morning on the Aumoana. A pod of dolphins are passing us as I write. I named one Splash and another Cloudy. The boat is surrounded by crystal clear waters but the wind is still strong when I’m out on deck. I’ve just seen a pesky seagull eating someone lunch but I left him to it because he was so skinny. He came back for my lunch but that time I didn’t leave him to it! […] The stillness of the water goes blood red from the sunset. The sunrise is just as good!' Sally

'It is just morning and I am the only one up. All of the others are asleep apart from me. It is so quiet being the only one up and I just saw a big whale squirt water out of its spout.' Lucy

'I left Wellington 2 days ago and I am just about at the Chatham Rise to drill a core…I can see no hills so the sun goes down by the water. The colour of the sun is kind of orange and red mixed'. Tom

'Tomorrow I’m going to be in the lab all day. We counted fish and plankton yesterday. Tomorrow we will be measuring things […] We wear warm clothes like overalls and woollen hats.' Zoe

'There is an albatross flying around the boat and a blue whale chasing some krill that we want to catch for our science. Tomorrow we are going to drill a core, which I am excited about.' Mia P.

'The sunrise is amazing. I smell seaweed pulling up the nets, it is hard work.' Julius

'It’s lovely weather. Not there yet. Been doing lots of sampling, which is fun, but I miss my family. I’ve been on the deck lots.' Rosa

'Sunny days, great food, fun games, and amazing discoveries. The weather is great. Last night I saw a shooting star. The boat is quite rocky but I don’t mind.' Tim

'It is a very hot day today. I have been sampling very hard and I am very tired, we have been on our boat for two days.' Samantha

'It’s warmish its about 12 degrees and pretty sunny too […] When we put our clothes on we have to put on lots of layers.' Robbie

'Very smelly because of all that plankton I’ve been allowed to spray my room with perfume because it’s so smelly.' Georgia

Day 4: The Morning: Researching and Poster Design Work

2010-05-12T17:09:00.000-07:00

Today we got stuck straight into researching for our foyer display project. In our teams we continued to find answers to our research questions. We also started to think about how we were going to put our information on our posters. We started to think of some good attention grabbing titles and headings for our poster. In our research teams we had to decide how many headings we were going to have on our poster to show our research clearly. We started to think about what diagrams, images, photos, and pictures we would like to include on our poster. We have also had to start thinking about how we are going to record the references of where we have got our information from. We have all chosen different programs for publishing our posters including Comic Life, Keynote, and Word.

Day Three: The Afternoon

2010-05-03T03:01:00.000-07:00

The team on the trawling deck working in cold and wet weather conditions.

Max feeling unwell at sea

Georgia feeling unwell at sea.

In the afternoon we used drama to step into the shoes of scientists who have been working on a research vessel that has been in stormy weather for a few days. We imagined putting on our warm gear for working on the boat and made a freeze frame of the team working on the trawling deck in cold and wet weather. When we were shoulder tapped by Ms Gain we spoke aloud thoughts that may have been running through our heads as we worked in these conditions.

We then imagined that we were sitting in our cabins after a rough day working at sea and spoke aloud a thought that came to us as we took off our heavy boots to get ready for bed.

Finally we imagined we were sitting in our cabins after a few more rough days working at sea writing in our diaries. Here are some highlights from this writing:

“still at sea, worst of all my trips. Wish I was at home. I have had a bucket through half the trip….hot egg or porridge for breakfast, though my plate or bowl keeps on sliding off the table, luckily they are plastic….sea is really rough, frost bites are horrible…” Georgia.

“The wind is whipping the sea up into small tornados that are crashing against the boat wildly. I’m sitting here in a puffed up jacket with warm clothes on but it isn’t working very well. It’s been too choppy to lower the net into the freezing blue….my lips are blue and my knees are wobbling, its like I can’t stand up.” Sally

“Oh my gosh, I can’t believe it, it has been so so hard. I really want to come home” Helena.

“It has been great working on the sea but I miss my family so terribly” Mia W.

“I really miss my family. Every dinner has been lamb stew. The weather is really bad and the beds are hard. I like my job but I really don’t like being in a storm” Rosa

“Horrible weather. Blizard. Horrible working so hard.” Max

“I have been working 12 hours a day and there’s been a big storm. I saw thunder for the first time in my life…We wear these really heavy boots everyday and woolly hats and really big jackets” Robbie

“The weather is terrible. I don’t know how to eat very well when the boat rocks like that. The work is very hard, nearly impossible to do” Tim

“Life is horrible so far on the boat. I want to go home and order some pizza and chinese food to get me going. I’ve been feeling sick and tired…It was so cold some people got frost on their noses and eyebrows” Julius.

“I feel sick…I wish I was in my bed. My feet and face are so cold” Zoe

“The boat is rocking madly, which I like, but it is hard working 12 hours a day. I’m missing my family heaps.” Mia P.

“It is very rocky…I have to work for 12 hours every day. I wonder if my husband and children are okay. I am very cold. I’ve got lots of amazing photos of the sea.” Samantha.

“I’ve been working pulling up the nets and I caught tonnes of silverfish. The boat was ricking wildly. I felt freezing and I nearly slipped” Tom.

“It has been really hard because it is so rocky. I really like my job but it is really hard when it is so rocky…I hope my mother is not finding it hard looking after my children” Lucy.

Day Three: The Morning

2010-05-03T02:54:00.000-07:00

Today we started with a team meeting. We received an email from Sarah in management responding to our concerns from the last meeting. Everything has been organised to allow us to focus on our new project of designing an informative foyer for our NZ COSSA building. We have been given extensions on our current research deadlines and a budget for equipment and materials we may need, even Georgia’s trip to France is being re-scheduled!

After our morning meeting we quickly settled to finding answers to our research questions that we wrote last week. The projects we are working on in our groups include:
• Phytoplankton and zooplankton in Antarctic waters,
• The decline of silverfish in Antarctic waters,
• Sea floor geography around New Zealand,
• Ocean currents and temperatures in the waters around New Zealand, and
• Reading cores to find out what lies beneath the sea floor.

We have been looking at maps, websites, research articles, photos, newspaper clippings, and books to find answers to our questions. We are starting to become real experts! We have been highlighting, note taking, and questioning as we go, and explaining and sharing our new knowledge with the team. We have been learning to decide on which research questions are the most useful and relevant to our topic, create headings to take notes under, and put things we read and understand into our own words. Today we worked individually, in small groups, and as a whole team.

Day Two: Activity 4: Organising and Planning for the Project

2010-04-25T21:52:00.000-07:00

Out of role we then assigned six different projects that were mentioned in the email to groups of team members. In these groups we read outlines of the projects and wrote some key research questions. We also discussed why we need research questions.

“We need to know what to look for”
Sally

We then began exploring our fictional website, deciding on which links were going to be the most useful starting point for the different projects. As we read we wrote questions we wanted to ask to help us understand what we were reading, and made notes of words, terms, and types of equipment we were unsure of and needed to find out more about.

We also considered how much time we would need to complete the project. We decided on three days with 4 x 45 minute blocks of time available each day. We made project plans in our groups about how many blocks of time we would be likely to spend on the different aspects of the project, which had to include research time, writing time, poster design time, making a clay model to go with the display, and using drama to present the information in an interesting and interactive way. Our plans are flexible but will help guide us and make sure we cover everything. We have time sheets to record what we do in each block as we go.

Next week we will be ready to begin our projects, armed with our own research questions, an idea of where to start looking for some answers, a project plan, and time sheets to help us keep on track. We are going to be busy, Sarah from management will be visiting us at the end of three weeks to see our displays and they will have to be of a high standard!

Day Two: Activity 3: Getting A Commission

2010-04-25T21:50:00.000-07:00

Ms Gain, in role as our team leader Gina, shared an email from Sarah in NZ COSSA management asking the team to consider a new project to redesign the foyer of the NZ COSSA building. The aims of the project were outlined as:

• To make an informative and attractive display about some current research projects, being done on the research vessel The Aumoana, in order to attract more public interest in the work we do.

• To support schools wanting to teach children about science in the waters around New Zealand.

• To help convince funding authorities to continue supporting our work.

As we read through our email from management some of us opened up keynote on the laptops and wrote down some concerns about taking on such a big project. On newsprint others recorded what the key criteria for the foyer displays were. As a team we discussed our concerns, including money to pay for the display and having time to do our own research. In the end however, we decided as a group that it was important that we do this project because people should know about the science work we do and we need to get funding to keep our jobs.

“we need to do this because what would happen to our wives and kids….we’d have no job!”
Louis

This is the email we wrote back to Sarah:

Kia Ora Sarah,

The team has discussed doing the project. We are supportive of the idea but we have some concerns.

We are going to need a budget to pay for equipment. We are also concerned about having time to do our reserach as well. We may have to get an extension on some of our current research deadlines. Georgia may have to re-schedule her trip to France, do you think it would be okay if she went next month instead?

Max has agreed to look at some figures for the budget.

Could you please get back to us for our next meeting about whether you can help us with these things. In the meantime we will start to plan towards starting the project.

Cheers.
Gina and the team.

Day Two: Activity 2: Getting Into Role

2010-04-25T21:44:00.000-07:00

Today we got into role as a team of scientists who work for NZ COSSA and have been doing research on the research vessel, The Aumoana. We pretended we were in a morning meeting in one of the meeting rooms in the NZ COSSA building. We changed our faces, the way we sat, moved, made gestures, and spoke, to show who we were pretending to be. In the photos you can see that our faces and the way we sat showed that we were a table of adult scientists ready for a meeting.

Some of the comments made as we thought about getting into role:

“You might be wearing a suit that is tight”
Mia

“What kind of degree would we have?” (some of the degrees the team decided on: botany, biology, zoology, geology, marine science)
Louis

“We would need a high degree…lots of A+s!”
Lucy

Some of the comments made as we shifted into role:

“As you can see I’ve discovered a new ocean depth…..(showing a colleague some ‘work’ on one of the laptops)”
Max

“This new suit is quite tight and uncomfortable”
Julius

“I’m off to France soon for 2 weeks to study sea animals”
Georgia

Day Two: Activity 1: Continuing to add detail to our imaginary workplace

2010-04-25T21:42:00.000-07:00

Today we continued to add detail to our imaginary workplace by putting drawings around the room, which we agreed to believe represented the real thing. We added computers, vases of flowers, paintings, a fish tank, bowls of chocolate chip cookies, and a coffee machine!

Day One: Photo Of The Team

2010-04-22T20:21:00.001-07:00

Day One: Collective Mapping Of Our Research Vessel

2010-04-21T14:52:00.000-07:00

After we had discovered that we were going to be marine scientists on board a research vessel we had to design our boat. We looked on the website for our fictional company, NZ COSSA, and found a fact sheet for The Aumoana, our research vessel. We also looked at some photos and you tubes of other real research vessels including The Joides Resolution (an international research vessel) and the Tangaroa (the local research vessel of NIWA here in Wellington). This helped us imagine what our research vessel might look like. We learnt about different decks on a boat (including the bridge, tween, upper, trawling, and bottom decks), and different types of equipment such as winching equipment to lower scientific equipment into the water. We had to think about what the people on the boat would need to live on the boat for weeks at a time including cabins, cafeterias, medical rooms and lots more! We divided into groups to read the fact sheet for The Aumoana and then in these groups we chose an area of the boat to map. We all had a go at mapping using a birds eye view, which was a good challenge! Each group then shared back to everyone all the details they had added to our boat.

Day One: Exploring Our Fictional Workplace

2010-04-21T14:43:00.000-07:00

One of our first tasks was to look around the room for clues about our imaginary workplace. We looked for clues about what kind of people we were going to pretend to be, and what kind of work we were going to be doing. We read newspaper articles and looked at photos about marine research in the Southern Ocean, which were on a newsboard. We also looked at renovation plans for our workplace building, folders of classification cards for different types of plankton and other animals in the marine food web, and different types of maps including deep sea maps, world maps and maps of Antarctica.

Day One: Building Belief In Our Fictional Company

2010-04-18T18:22:00.000-07:00

What we ‘saw’ as we walked through our imaginary work place, the NZ COSSA building. We decided that the building was in Days Bay and on Moana Road (because that meant ‘sea’ and was like the name of our boat). We were keen to have it on this side of Wellington Harbour! Together we created a mental picture of our imaginary workplace.

Standing outside the building:
• “I see blue walls with paintings of maps on it.”
• “There’s a sign in block letters…it says NZ COSSA and underneath ‘New Zealand Centre of Scientific Sea Avtivity’…it is in red writing.”
• “There’s security!”
• “The door has a combination lock…an alarm pad…the code is ‘*,*,*,*’.”

In the entranceway to our building:
• “There’s a big tank of fish.”
• “There are waves of dark blue on the walls and then there is light blue…”
• “There’s a map of the depths around New Zealand.”
• “There’s a room for waiting.”
• “There are peachy coloured, sand coloured couches.”
• “I can see a couch that has lots of toys on it like dolphins on it…for children to play with if they visit.”
• “There is a reception. There are two ladies…Amelia and Charlotte!”

In a science lab:
• “We are outside a science room.”
• “There are teeth from a killer whale, seal’s fur, fish teeth, shark bones,”
• “Microscopes...”
• “A film of penguins swimming in Antarctica….”
• “I can see a computer with lots of science things on, fish and sharks and things.”

In a storage room:
• “There are scuba diving suits…and breathing gear”
• “There are life rings”
• “There are underwater cameras”
• “Survival containers and emergency food”
• “And spearguns”
• “There’s first aid”
• “Jars for putting fish in”
• “Life jackets”

Upstairs: (using the lift!)
• “Lots of comfy chairs and desks with computers.”
• “There’s a kitchen. There’s milk and weetbix if you come to work really really early.”
• “There’s a coffee machine.”
• “There are a couple of beers in the fridge.”
• “There is a biscuit tin and lollies for children visiting school children.”
• “A dishwasher”
• “A toilet room…male and female…and they are really really clean….with bunches of flowers in them!”

Looking at carpark out the window:
• “There’s a garden.”
• “There’s a little pond with fish in it.”
• “There’s a motorbike.”
• “There’s a van that you can make your weetbix and eat it in your van”
• “I come to work in a Ferrari”
• “There’s a trailer with lots of storage space on it for the equipment….and my van.”
• “There are things to life heavy boxes and things onto the trailer.”
• “There’s a space to load everything.”
• “There’s a boat room with fishing nets.”

Welcome To Our Blog!

2010-04-15T23:18:00.000-07:00

This blog has been set up to record the learning journey of a group of year 3 and 4 students at Muritai School, learning through Mantle of the Expert. Below is a brief outline of what Mantle of the Expert is and a description of the kind of Mantle of the Expert work we will be doing this term.

What is Mantle of the Expert?
Mantle of the Expert is a unique cross-curricular learning model for teaching inquiry using drama, developed by educationalist Dorothy Heathcote. In a Mantle of the Expert unit of work a class of children are given a collective fictional role; for example, they might be a team of designers, museum curators, or scientists. With the use of drama they develop their roles and fictional enterprise and within this context cover learning objectives from across the curriculum. The fictional world provides a purposeful context to introduce different learning tasks. As part of their work children are empowered to research, take on responsibilities, make decisions, and interrogate many different sources for information, driven by the need to complete tasks in the fictional context. Time is also spent learning researching skills and knowledge required to complete tasks in the fictional world, and to reflect on learning.

Mantle of the Expert is being used in a number of schools in the United Kingdom. Research demonstrating the model’s effectiveness for learning is increasing, leading to more practitioners picking it up internationally. Mantle of the Expert links strongly to the NZ curriculum section on effective pedagogy (NZC p34-36) that includes –

• Creating a supportive learning environment
• Encouraging reflective thought and action
• Enhancing the relevance of new learning
• Facilitating shared learning
• Making connections to prior learning and experience
• Providing opportunities to learn
• Teaching through inquiry

Links to some websites you can visit for further information on Mantle of the Expert can be found on the right hand tool bar of this blog site.

What kind of Mantle of the Expert will we be doing this term?
With a school wide focus on science this term, we are going to be scientists who work on board a fictional scientific research vessel, called the ‘Aumoana’, modelled on the scientific activity of the RV Tangaroa, NIWA’s research vessel. We are going to be looking at different types of scientific activity that takes place on a scientific research vessel such as the RV Tangaroa, with a focus on marine food webs from plankton to large fish. We will look at how human activity can affect these interactions, and how changes that affect the smallest bugs in the sea can have far reaching impacts. The children will be involved in tasks from across the curriculum as they write, research, read, use websites, email, measure, count, complete time sheets, read and draw maps, participate in science experiments, present ideas, improvise, and lots more.

We look forward to sharing our learning journey with you and seeing you as a follower on our blog!