Grammar Gazette- Issue 2, 2013

/ 20

THE QUEST FOR COLLABORATIVE LEARNING MS EMMA JONES, TECHNOLOGY STUDIES FACULTY

ARTICLE

AUTHOR

Bringing together over 500 Year 8 students from two schools for a collaborative, technology-based activity spanning two days and two campuses is an annual undertaking for Brisbane Girls Grammar School and Brisbane Grammar School. In August each year, we unite for The Quest — a learning activity developed by experienced teaching staff that engages students from the two single-sex schools in peer- level problem-solving design tasks. The Year 8 cohorts unite to find a marketing solution to a fictional brief: Java Jake’s, a new company marketing only fair-trade coffee, has just been established. They require an innovative advertising campaign that will convince the Australian public that they should drink their new line of fair-trade coffee named ‘FairBeans’, even though it may be a little more expensive than other brands on the market. The effective marketing of coffee and its products is a valuable trade, especially as Australians are a nation of coffee drinkers. Java Jake’s feel confident that by delving into the treasure chest of young minds not yet exposed to coffee advertising, they will be able to produce original and convincing ideas to encourage consumers to buy their product. Using their technological and communication skills to solve open-ended complex problems, cross-school teams of seven students design, produce and present a new product. Each team is overseen by an elected student Project Manager. Students create a corporate identity for the imaginary new range of fair-trade coffee being launched onto the market, including a new logo design, packaging to contain coffee beans and a presentation of the new brand. A key focus of The Quest is to nurture communication and conflict-resolution skills in a team environment, while immersing students in a problem-solving activity. Over time, various contexts and design situations have been used. The Java Jake’s brief further expands upon a new set of digital and design technological capabilities. Each group is required to use and integrate various Microsoft and Adobe software packages as they develop their logo and packaging designs. The teams encounter many constructive challenges throughout The Quest. By taking on their individual roles, and their team members’ perspectives and personalities, students’ social and emotional skills are developed. The most challenging aspects are working to tight timelines and communicating effectively under pressure.

Throughout the two-day activity, the boys and girls present a wide repertoire of multiple intelligences (Gardner, 1993), as they collectively reason with the challenges of The Quest. Interestingly, the girls tend to have more sophisticated communication skills, displaying a greater

level of verbal reasoning and diplomacy. As born out by research (Gurian, 2001), the boys tend to be better with the physical and spatial elements of the activity. The students utilise higher-order thinking skills to collaborate and discuss their ideas and engage their emotional intelligence (Boyatzis, 2007). The experience encourages them to be confident within the group and experiment with new technologies, while drawing upon skills sets of their peers. The Quest is an education activity that caters for the developmental and social needs of young adolescents in the vital middle years of schooling. The collaboration between the Year 8 girls and boys employs their cognitive, creative and interpersonal skills; and, while doing so, they have a lot of fun. REFERENCES Boyatzis, R. (2007). The creation of the emotional and social competency inventory (ESCI) . Boston: Hay Group. Gardner, H. (1993). Multiple intelligences. The theory in practice (10th- anniversary ed.). New York: Basic Books. Gurian, M. (2001). Boys and girls learn differently. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

GRAMMAR GAZETTE