Aimhigher, Edge Hill University, 2010
The Aimhigher Scheme is directed toward primary school students of various ages and aims to raise awareness of universities and the potential for further education. I taught several standalone courses on works of science fiction film adaptations. I focussed these sessions through the icon of the robot and used I, Robot to open up discussion of the works, and of the idea of the robot in general. I wanted to excite interest in the possibilities university education could offer, and to give an example from my own experience of what it is that students might engage with if they chose to study English at university level.
It was heartening to see how easily many of the thirteen and fourteen year old students took quite naturally to what was esentially philosophilcal speculation about language, consciousness, robotics and science, and it was also rewarding when one primary school tutor transitioned from being obviously exhausted and dozing at the beginning of one session, to being visibly piqued and contributing to the discussion. On the other hand, I hadn't truly appreciated the difference in approach necessary to teach younger children, the impact of a shorter attention span for discussion, and the value of other channels for learning - through drawing and group work on the order of 'design your own robot'. I greatly appreciated the advice of another primary school teacher at the beginning of the week, which allowed me to adapt my teaching strategy in response.
