“This kit is full of interesting ideas, activities and teaching points. I, along with another two teachers who had also booked this kit, linked it in with our Y7 Flight project and used it in the last week of term as a treat.
Fortunately, we teachers had taken a lot of time to 'unpack' the kit a few weeks beforehand. In fact, it took the three of us almost two hours to fully understand how to use the kit with the class. It was a lot of fun, but I would suggest the instructions at least, need modifying for future use.
Problems:
* All three boxes had something missing from them - this is OK when you can download paper copies, but one box had no motors!
*The instructions were not broken down clearly enough to explain in a logical fashion what needed prepared.
*There was a lot of prior-learning required, even for Y7. Again, that's fine, but it would help if that were indicated in the instructions.
*Some clues were very easy, others much harder - these needed to be clearly identified and given a 'trail' so you knew how to differentiate for each carefully constructed group. Also meant some groups had a bit of waiting around to do - be prepared with extra tasks for them!
* Some resources needed prior set-up and this wasn't clear. eg toothbrushes needed cut; motors needed (extremely thin!) wire stripped - these could not be done by students as they were flimsy and broke very easily (I advise to melt the coating off with a match beforehand)
Positives:
*Prior learning took us in directions I wouldn't normally have gone with my class - lots of fun extra learning
*The variety of the clues and activities kept most people focused and involved
*They loved the balloons and will always remember being allowed to pop them in class - though we should perhaps warned neighbouring rooms!
*The practical work has 'sparked' a huge interest in electricity & engineering for my class, so I will be moving forward with this next term
*They loved the idea of collecting the medal pieces and were very serious in choosing (I had to give my opinion a lot!) the 'most suitable' badge for them - this had them asking if they were adventurous or which quality suited them
I would recommend this kit to older students - Y6 & 7 and teachers who have enough time to thoroughly understand the process and work through it themselves first. Thank-you for the opportunity!”
“I found the teacher resource quite ambiguous and hard to follow. I also found it easier to get ideas and support when the format was over Facebook rather than the website format which I don’t find overly user friendly. The students did enjoy the hands on approach but when comparing it to the kit we did last year (Tuia 250) they enjoyed that much for and felt that they got a lot more out of it.”
“The resources were awesome - I loved the way everything was provided (the box, the map, the pins, etc.) I personally found there weren't quite enough instructions in regards to the order of sequence and cracking the codes. I found myself reading and re-reading the instructions in the booklet and online several times and still remained unclear (my own inability to crack codes perhaps). Overall, I thought the content was great - my class had been learning about resilience, so teaching a unit on Jean Batten was a fabulous historical lesson in just that - resilience! Ka pai!”
“My students have been very interested in this topic. They have enjoyed researching and find out new information. We are still work with this kit and will continue to use it in term 3.”
“The Jean Batten kit was extremely motivating and exciting for my Year 5 class. As a teacher, the kit was originally a bit difficult to follow, but several teachers at my school got together to plan out each lesson, so that we could 'run with it' in class. Our school-wide unit for the term was Flight and so I made the kit the base for the whole unit, which allowed for authentic integration. The different activities were highly engaging for the students, allowing for different abilities and interests. The resources were of an extremely high standard and added to the excitement of each day's challenge. I would highly recommend this kit for anybody who is looking at Flight or Famous New Zealanders.”
“This kit was only my first one but it was certainly amazing! After remembering to unravel and unlock all the key bits I set to work incorporating Jean Batten into my literacy and social science programme. After a four weeks and a few hours preparation after school one night I was ready to surprise my students and lead them on an incredible journey which lasted a day a half. The activities were brilliant, fun, challenging and my students had a ball, thank you!!”
