Design thinking & Project Based Learning in action in Scotland's
Curriculum for Excellence "This is nothing like school. In
school everything runs quite smoothly… You learn a lot more
[this way]. I never knew how hard it would be to fight for your
own job." These are students talking about a student-driven
project around the theme of a soap opera, whereby they had to
create a non-scripted soap opera production, with the story of a
paper plant about to go bust. It was initiated by the art
teacher, but encompassed much of the business, language and
creative side of the curriculum. It's fleshed out in the video
above. The genius part is that their art lesson, rather than
being a prep for recording the soap opera, became the "art club"
of the bust company that in which they were playing their roles.
Their choice, not that of their teacher (and, I'd argue, not
something that a teacher would come up with in isolation were
(s)he to be forward planning like crazy). Alison Ferguson, the
teacher, puts it like this: "Yo