PDHPE Project The aim of our project was to deepen student understanding of a self chosen area of interest.

They are asked to contemplate all of their previous studies in PDHPE and select an area that intrigued and interested them and a topic they wanted to explore more deeply. It is inspired by the idea that given a choice of content, a student will develop an enhanced love of pedagogy and seek a deeper understanding with heightened levels of motivation. The project has therefore been named, I Spy Health. Teachers will support students in refining their area of interest, although it is the group of students themselves that inspire the development of an open ended driving question to explore. The question should allow for real inquiry, discovery and meaningful, higher order learning. The process of the project has followed the principles of Project Based Learning, using the Buck Institute guide to support its development. At the core of the projects, students will develop their skills in research, group work, critical thinking and presentation skills. Primary and secondary research should be evident amongst all projects, students will complete peer and self evaluations and with their peers, they will decide on the product/s they will use to present their findings to their cohort. Student voice was used as part of the process in developing I Spy Health. As a unit of work with similarities had been offered the year before, that cohort of students were offered to complete a questionnaire about their experience and involvement in the unit. 78 students responded to questions about their overall enjoyment, the structure, the learning gains and their suggested improvements. Additionally, 3 focus groups of approx 8 students each were conducted with questions that focused around similar ideas to the questionnaire however allowed for further discussion and elaboration. The findings from the students outlined a few key points that have been used to shape I Spy Health; Overwhelming, students were passionate about being able to work with their peers in a group. This will remain in I Spy Health. They were equally enthusiastic about studying an area they were interested in. This is at the core of I Spy Health where students choose the topic they will research and therefore we support this feedback. They enjoyed the researching and they mostly enjoyed the concepts around presenting however 2 suggestions were prominent in the findings. In the previous unit, students had to bust or prove a health myth however they were disappointed when they had a myth they couldnt actually test. They therefore defaulted to google and similar searches, diminishing the value of opportunities for authentic research. Students themselves could recognize this as superficial learning with some saying they wanted it to be more challenging. It was this reason that the concept of a myth was replaced with an area of interest. Students could therefore explore their concept around a driving question, and not be compelled to a myth that may not deepen their understanding. Secondly, they wanted to see the final products of all students work. Timing has not allowed us to introduce having each group presenting separately, however the structure will now be that all groups will display their findings in an exhibit that allows the students to move around the hall, wandering from one display to the next and see all of the tasks. Students can therefore present their findings through video/film/oral creations displayed on ipads, use images and poster boards, design pieces, website development or any additional information they choose to display. This also provides them with an opportunity to display the process path they took to reach their findings. Students wanted more time which has been our biggest constraint. We have allowed for some more and will review this at the completion of the unit.

Teachers will also work more closely with particular groups, acting as mentors as they progress through the unit. Some students wanted some more structure in understanding the task. A weebly has therefore been created to hold all their relevant information that they will need to engage with their learning. It will include a blog section for group members to communicate.

I Spy Health will commence in Week 7 of this term and thorough evaluations of student experiences will help to shape what it looks like in 2014.