Australian ICT with a Difference:
Engaging Students in the Making
of Good New Ideas

Enjoy a day of PD devoted to the concepts of originality,
synthesis, invention, imagination and novelty.
How can teachers best nurture the capacity
of students to make up their own minds
and come up with good decisions and ideas?

Participants will bring their own wireless laptops as these activities will be hands-on and no laptops will be provided.

9:00 AM  -  10:30 AM Laying the Groundwork What are major curriculum documents calling for in the way of originality in Australia and in other countries? How does that challenge compare with old fashioned topical research and copy-and-paste thinking? What do we mean by synthesis? invention? novelty? imagination? originality? inquiry? How do questions and questioning support inquiry? What kinds of issues, challenges and concepts lend themselves most powerfully to inquiry by various age groups? How will we know when they have moved from knowledge to understanding? When is inquiry worthy of student time and when is it mere ritual? How does a teacher orchestrate inquiry?

The design of the Sydney Opera House by architect Jorn Utzon is a dramatic example of synthesis and originality as demonstrated by this plaque that stands in front of the building. Readings.











10:30 AM - 11:00 AM
Morning Tea

10:45 - 11:45 AM  Synthesis and Puzzling Meaningful inquiry involves students in wrestling with mysteries, puzzles, conundrums and difficult questions and issues that deserve thought and consideration. We expect students to weigh the thinking of experts and elders but then come up with their own positions, decisions and suggestions. Research should take students beyond the mere gathering of information to the construction of new understandings. They will need a firm grounding in synthesis skills in order to combine the information in ways that may resolve puzzles and mysteries.

11:45 - 1:00 PM
Lunch (Lunch is not provided except in Sydney)

1:00-2:00 PM 
A Half Dozen Synthesis Strategies
Back in the 1950s, Osborne and others came up with a synthesis strategy called SCAMPER, the first of a dozen strategies the seminar will cover during the afternoon. Mixing presentation, demonstration and hands-on activities, Jamie will lead the group through the toolkit of strategies and provide a rich collection of resources for follow up after the seminar.

Module Six - - SCAMPER

Module Seven - - Slice-and-Dice

Module Eight - - Idea Box

Module Nine - - The Phoenix Checklist

Module Ten - - The Six Traits of Effective Writing

Module Eleven - - Brutethink

2:00-3:00 PM 
Another Half Dozen Synthesis Strategies

Module Twelve - - Hall of Fame

Module Thirteen - - Analogies - Rattlesnakes & Roses

Module Fourteen - - Just Suppose - What if?

Module Fifteen - - Dream On

Module Sixteen - - Play, Experimentation & Improvisation

Module Seventeen - - PMI

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Registration Costs

The early registration cost is $75 USD with payment required no later than 31 March, 2009 at http://fnopress.stores.yahoo.net//. Cost is $90 USD in both Adelaide and Sydney because of venue.

The full registration cost is $100 USD per person. Lunch is not included in the cost of the day, but there will be morning tea mid morning. Cost is $120 USD in both Adelaide and Sydney because of venue.

You may pay with credit card.