"Mantle of the Expert involves the creation of a fictional world where students assume the roles of experts in a designated field.Mantle Of the Expert is based on the premise that treating children as responsible experts increases their engagement and confidence. They can perceive a real purpose for learning and discovering together in an interactive and proactive way – providing them with skills and knowledge they can apply to their everyday lives. Mantle Of the Expert encourages creativity, improves teamwork, communication skills, critical thought and decision-making" (www.dramaresource.com/strategies/mantle-of-the-expert).
Today we has the opportunity to take part and experience the Mantle Of the Expert to be able to know how the teaching method works and for us to see if it is an effective method of learning and also teaching.
Our Task:
Design and make a bridge for our local council. The bridge will be situated in the SA1 area of Swansea town. We have four locations to choose from. We need to be specific and have time, costs, materials etc to inform the council in a meeting where they will decide whether or not our design will be chosen for the job.Within our group we then came up with.........
RACK LTD (Rebekah, Andrea, Chariss and Keyleigh).
Family run bridge company since 1909. We make functional but fabulous bridges. Our strapline: Functional yet fabulous. Our Great Great Grandfather's company initially, has been passed down. We are now four sisters running the business. We took over in 2011 and have re-branded.
Our first built bridge was the Clifton Suspension bridge in Bristol.
Designer - Chariss
Director - Rebekah
Constructor - Keyleigh and myself.
Within our meetings we aim to achieve the following:- Brainstorming, Collaborate ideas, Catch up, Gossip and Feedback. We will then research- find out what is needed to be done and achieved and talk to local community to find out any specific needs. We would then delegate jobs and do what is needed then report back. All to keep a log of everything and keep in filing system.
We then had a meeting with the Council. All went well and we established the councils time frame and budget. We then got the go ahead. As a group we worked brilliantly together. We were able to research on the I-Pad's anything we needed to know regarding bridges etc. For our design we agreed on a wave like road instead of your regular straight road from one side to the other. We all worked on the design in the end and it was great fun.
From having the opportunity to experience The Mantle of The Expert for ourselves I think it is a brilliant teaching method that should be used within classrooms more often. It was fun and we really did learn an awful lot about bridges which is usually a subject that if given the topic and told we were needed to learn about it, I am sure most people would find it slightly boring. I can see though that maybe quieter pupils within the class may be too shy to get 'stuck in' and may feel slightly embarrassed acting out their given role. If this was the scenario in a classroom or group it would be a wise idea to possibly give the less willing pupils the job of researcher to research the given topic. All in all this was a great subject and I would thoroughly enjoy using this a teaching method when I become a teacher myself.
Here is a video of a class exploring Vikings through Mantle of the expert.
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