Discussion with student - Year 12

My year 12's are struggling to complete the work that they need to do for the 6 credit internal standard "Develop a product design". It has been hard to watch them flailing, and I have tried to be as disconnected from their projects (in terms of me telling them what and how to do things) as possible, BECAUSE it is level two. I hvae realised, that this was a not a good technique, and I have realised this too late. It is hard for them coming from Level One into Level Two. They are still the same students, with the same skills, and I expect them to be Level Two at teh start of the year, straight away.

Aslo, this group have not done a development standard before, and this has been hard for them to adapt to. They have not really ever had to think about materials and constructions and function and use and scale to the extend that they have to think about it here. My bad.

I had a talk to a student just moments ago, and he said "it has been alot nicer to design now that I know that I do not have any restrictions." I asked him where the thought these restrictions came from, as the brief he was given was extremely broad, and had not specifications except that the lamp must be free standing and openly linked to the chosen era that they researched. This student said he did not know, and that he thinks the restrictions came from him blossoming as a designer and as growing as a person and getting more comfortable as a level two.

Good stuff!

So, what I will do next year, is treat the students more like Level Ones, and walk them through the process of development. Maybe we do a week on construction together, and maybe we actually slowly dis-connect from Level one as a group together.

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