Preparation and Planning
Your students are more than likely already used to the idea of doing “projects” in school, either as part of their homework or within class time. They may be used to doing projects on a given theme both at an individual level or in groups. So it makes a lot of sense to build on this knowledge that they already have.
The big change about doing projects for us and for our children in CEPNET, is that they are in charge of all parts of the project work… of coming up with their theme and topic, how they will research it, who they will do it with, how they will finalise it, shape it and present it. This takes some getting used to, for them and for us.
Teacher
So for Phase 2, we are building on your learning from Phase 1. You have already got to grips with creating a safe space, where the children are running the class, well… up to a point. They are now very familiar with the SDGs and associated themes. They get the idea that these big international ideas are also important in their communities, their school and with their friends.
Their next step is now to make this more concrete. They need to focus on what they want to learn about. They need to think about how they will get from the idea stage to the final product stage and work out all the parts in between. As you are learning, you are very much there once again as the facilitator.
Our teachers felt that it was important to prepare for these CEPNET sessions by making sure that they had read up on the idea of a research process, the types of data collection tools that are appropriate at different ages, all of this in order to ensure that there would be enough resources for their children to access to gather the relevant information.
Our teachers carried out an audit of the types of information sources that they have access to on a regular basis in their classroom. So to be as prepared as you can, you should check on the extent to which your students can make use of the following checklist
- IPads and laptops with access to the Internet
- Child friendly search engines that you already use in your school to ensure safe searching
- Books from your library- are there reference options
- Magazines- do you have access to child friendly bulletins either online or offline
- Paper and Printers- important for when they might need to gather materials to work on as a group
- Local Community Organisation/ Council addresses- these are probably all available online, but do you know where?
- NGOs in local or national area- again there are probably lists online, but do you have any contacts through your parent body in the school
- Local relevant businesses- there may be local businesses very interested in these subjects, but you might need to see if there are networks in place
This type of preparation is simple to do, but might be no harm to create a CEPNET folder or space in the class where any such hard copies or resources can be collated.
The second aspect of this phase of work is the carrying out of research. Once the students have their ideas and questions clarified, they will want to consider how they will go about carrying out the research.
As teachers, you might want to also familiarise with different research tools and methods. A group of teachers and academics produced this overview in an earlier project to help with this. This toolkit has some good guidance on data collection tools and tips in using them.
As part of your planning for the Research phase, it can be useful to consider organising online exchanges between your groups of children and other schools locally, nationally and internationally. There are many resources available that can assist in this work.
Definitely check out the European School Education Platform for ideas. There are no shortage of other teachers and schools out there interested in making contact and having chats about what you are doing with CEPNET.
Have a listen to one of our principals explaining the benefits of this type of engagement.
