Running a Balloon Debate – via Glow Meet
Overview:
Graham Hill teaches a P7 class at Knoxland Primary School in West Dunbartonshire. He has recently begun using Glow, initially exploring the national Glow Groups and assessing the potential of these for communicating and collaborating with other schools.
As part of work on a Great Scots project, Graham decided to use Glow Meet to hold a balloon debate. He was keen to explore how Glow Meet could enhance his pupils’ learning.
Context:
As part of the P7’s work on Great Scots, pupils worked collaboratively in groups to research the life and achievements of a current Great Scot. They used a range of sources to find information and then created a Power Point presentation on their life and achievements. The Great Scots who had been the focus of the children’s research each then agreed to visit the school to hear the children deliver their presentation. A question and answer session followed this. The Great Scots who visited included Jack McConnell and Graeme Obree.
The class had also been learning debating skills and had held Balloon Debates to develop these skills. Balloon debates are a well-known activity in many classrooms. In the debate a number of speakers attempt to win the approval of an audience. The audience are asked to imagine that the speakers are flying in a hot air balloon – which is slowly sinking – and that one of the passengers must be thrown out in order that the others can survive. Each speaker has to convince the audience that they should not be the one to be thrown out.
After hearing about the Greatest Scot Competition hosted by STV, Graham’s pupils suggested holding a Great Scots Balloon debate. They decided that the fairest way to choose the debate candidates was for a number of categories to be chosen and a vote held to select a representative for each. The class chose categories of Music, History, Drama, Sport, Science and Literature and the candidates selected to represent them were: Dame Evelyn Glennie, Robert the Bruce, David Tennant, Andy Murray, Alexander Fleming and Robert Burns.
Video – Graham talks about the background to the project
With the Great Scots balloon debate all arranged, all that was needed was an audience! Having used Glow to collaborate with staff in other schools, Graham could see the potential of using Glow Meet to enable his pupils to communicate with a wider audience than usual, and more importantly, to try to win over an impartial audience who would vote according to the strength of the arguments conveyed.
Through colleagues in the Developing Global Citizens Working Group, Graham found a number of schools who were interested in being part of the audience for the balloon debate. Graham decided to use a Glow Meet room already set up in the national ‘Developing Global Citizens’ Glow Group, rather than to create his own Glow Group specifically for the event. Using a Glow Meet room in a national Glow Group provides a quick route for an off-the-cuff meeting, but you can’t guarantee that the room will be free when you need it. For this reason, the ‘Watch me!’ videos in the ’Recipe’ section of this cookbook explain both how to join an existing Glow Meet room, and also show how to add Glow Meet to your own Glow Group, if you wish to ensure that you can use the Glow Meet room as and when you wish.
On the day of the Balloon Debate, only one school – Iochdar Primary School in the Western Isles – was available to participate. Once the schools were both in the Glow Meet room, Knoxland pupils introduced the event, explaining the format and the voting rules. The six pupils representing the famous Scots then started to give their reasons for remaining in the balloon. In each 30-second round they had to select a different argument to persuade the audience of their importance. The pupils showed good understanding of the research they had done, impressive communication skills, and a noticeable gain in confidence with each round.
Video – an extract from the Glow Meet recording
The pupils of Iochdar Primary proved to be an attentive audience, voting thoughtfully at the end of each round. The final result was a decisive win for Alexander Fleming!
The Balloon Debate contributed to pupils’ development of the following CfE outcomes and experiences:
For pupils participating in the debate:
LIT 2-02a When I engage with others, I can respond in ways appropriate to my role, show that I value others’ contributions and use these to build on thinking.
LIT 2-14a Using what I know about the features of different types of texts, I can find, select and sort information from a variety of sources and use this for different purposes.
LIT 2-15a I can make notes, organise them under suitable headings and use them to understand information, develop my thinking, explore problems and create new texts, using my own words as appropriate.
SOC 2-01a I can use primary and secondary sources selectively to research events in the past.
SOC 2-03a I can investigate a Scottish historical theme to discover how past events or the actions of individuals or groups have shaped Scottish society.
SOC 2-06a I can discuss why people and events from a particular time in the past were important, placing them within a historical sequence.
For pupils watching and listening to the debate:
LIT 2-07a I can show my understanding of what I listen to or watch by responding to literal, inferential, evaluative and other types of questions, and by asking different kinds of questions of my own.
LIT 2-08a To help me develop an informed view, I can distinguish fact from opinion, and I am learning to recognise when my sources try to influence me and how useful these are.
Ingredients:
In order to run the Glow Meet balloon debate, Graham had to:
- attach a web cam, microphone and speakers to his classroom PC
- arrange a link-up with another school
- find a Glow Meet room in a national Glow Group which all the schools could access
Recipe:
If you’re interesting in replicating or adapting some of Graham’s ideas, the screen-capture videos below show:
Making a link with another school through Glow
Using an existing Glow Meet room in a national Glow Group
Launching Glow Meet and using the basic features
Creating a Glow Group
Adding Glow Meet to a Glow Group
Impact:
In preparing for, organising and running the balloon debate, the Knoxland P7 pupils very much took ownership of the event and led their own learning. The class relished the opportunity to communicate directly with pupils in another school and to share their learning.
Since the balloon debate Graham and his class have continued to use Glow Meet regularly. They have participated in a number of events open to schools across Scotland, such as the recent Mary, Queen of Scots session, and have also continued to forge links with individual schools.
Video – Graham describes the impact of the Balloon Debate
Video – feedback from the pupils
