Research Ewloe Castle

Links to AOLEs

History

Break down the historical elements of the castle, looking at who built it, why they built it, the events of the past and the role the castle played. What would the area have looked like when the castle was built, what would life have been like in the area?

Geography

Learners can look for reasons for why the castle was built where it is, what features would have been part of that decision?

Design Technology

What design features did the castle have? What was it made from, where would the stone have come from? What other aspects would have been considered when choosing where to build the castle?

Languages, Literacy and Communication

When researching their chosen area, learners can make bullet point notes. This will ensure that they need to understand what they have found. This also means that they are less able to 'copy and paste' when creating their final piece of work.

If learners are creating videos within their final pieces of work, learners can write a script to aid them through the process. This can also support them in including all the aspects of the success criteria for the piece of work. 

Tip. In some instances, it may be easier for learners to create their script first, including all the elements from the success criteria and create their video to reflect their script. 

Maths and Numeracy

Include elements like timelines, discuss the age of significant people of the time and discuss the length of time it would have taken to create the buildings of the past.

Expressive Arts

Using digital apps, learners can be creative in how they choose to create their work. They can choose the medium of the work, analyse and reflect on their work then make improvements.

Assessment of understanding

Success Criteria

This should be based on the school's curriculum or what has been covered in class.

As learners progress through school they can be given more autonomy in producing work demonstrating their understanding. They can be involved in deciding what the success criteria should include, but the teacher should guide this process to include everything expected.

Learners then use the success criteria to decide on how to create their piece of work, they should have the ability to choose from several formats. They will also need to understand that not all formats will work for each task.

Once they have created their work they can self-assess against the success criteria and complete peer assessment. This will benefit the learners' understanding by having to gauge their understanding by discussing the work with their peers.

Teacher assessment can then take place on the final work.

Presentations

These can be Microsoft PowerPoints or Sway, Google Slides, Adobe presentations, or several others available to them. 

Learners need to develop an understanding of what a presentation should include, the visual elements of an effective presentation and the order in which information is shared. 

Presentations should be created to be presented, learners should progress to writing scripts and have their presentation being a support for the information being shared. These can then be recorded using a screen recorder or presented to the class.

Infographics

These could be created using PowerPoint, Google Slides or Drawings, Adobe or Canva.

An infographic is a visual representation of information, data or knowledge that is presented quickly and clearly.

Learners can plan and create their infographics based on the expectations of their success criteria. They can plan the sequence of information for their design. Making use of their bullet point notes to add their detail.

Videos

There are several options available to all learners through Hwb, videos can be created using Microsoft Stream or Flip within Teams, and Adobe Video can also be used to make videos. If schools have Chromebooks they can use the screen record feature or if they have iPads iMovie can be used by learners.

Starting with their success criteria, learners can write a script to cover all elements. From their script, they can then add pictures or videos to support what will be said. 

Learners will then be able to create their videos and adapt the timings of images to support the narrative they want to share.

Podcasts

These can be created using Adobe Podcast, the audio option within Flip in Teams, or the microphone in J2e.

Podcasts are pieces of audio, in which the speakers discuss a specific topic. It is a conversation between participants where they cover the elements of the success criteria.

To begin with, learners could become familiar with making audio recordings. These could be retelling stories, or talking to their classmates about a topic.

In this example, learners would discuss Ewloe Castle, they could plan out the areas they will discuss. Learners should avoid scripting their podcasts, but they can be assigned roles within the activity. For example, one person could be the 'host' of the podcast and lead the conversation, however, it is important that the host still contributes to the conversation. 

Web pages/sites

These can be made using Google Sites, or Adobe Express.

Learners can create Web pages/sites to share their understanding of the Success Criteria. These should cover all elements of the success criteria. 

Individual pages can be made using Adobe Express, where learners can include different elements in their webpage. Alternatively, using Google Sites a website which has several pages can be created. This means that learners can collaborate on creating their Website, allowing them to discuss the need for consistency in design elements.