Student+Forum+2+ideas

**Overall outline:**
As we start on the research journey, it might be useful to think about what we could present at the 'half way' student forum on May 30. Here are some ideas:


 * 1. Presentations of research done:** Rather than have each school stand up and do a powerpoint or something similar about their research, I'd suggest we do something more //interactive// and //investigative//. One approach we've used in the past is to ask each school to bring a poster or two that summarises their research. For example, we could ask each of the schools to bring **two sheets**, one with a summary of the //process// of the research (what the students did - the research they carried out - questions, numbers asked etc), and the other with a summary of the //outcomes// of that research: the **topic** they chose and what they found out about it. They would need to include //reasons// and //evidence// ie "We chose to work on .... because ....; in our school/community, we see this is an issue as .... (evidence for it)". We'd then prepare a **bingo-style quiz sheet** that required students at the forum to look at each others' sheets and work out answers to some questions such as : "how many students/parents/teachers were surveyed/interviewed...?" "which school developed an interesting way of getting information?" "what topics were most important at all schools...?" and so on. Maybe we'd say: "We have to write a report on this project: we'd like you to nominate which school/s we should highlight in the report, and why..."


 * 2. We then need to engage students in thinking about what action to take.** In the past, when I've done that 'intellectually', students have been able to trot out the 'correct' answers, but not really engage passionately with the concerns. So I started doing some meditation-style 'dreamings', in which students are guided through some 'visualisations' - a) of being powerful to make changes, b) of the way things are now, then c) of the way things //could// be in a world they powerfully changed. In each case they capture their 'visions' (drawings, words, poems etc) on paper. Then in school groups, they share some of this to develop a shared **Vision** statement: a poster of what it could be like. That in turn leads to another poster about **Changes** that need to be made to achieve that Vision, then a third poster about **Actions** that they can take to achieve those Changes. These are shared.


 * 3. Finally, I think we need to talk about what we mean by action:** maybe brainstorming possible sorts of actions, grouping these, and laying out the //**Engineering/Enforcement/Encouragement/Education**// rubric - which then leads to a session in which they have to come up with some possible actions under each of those headings. We also need to do something around that time about **Action Planning** (steps involved etc) though this could be left to follow-up in-class activities with Kate?

//Roger//