This blog has been set up to record the learning journey of a group of year 3 and 4 students at Muritai School, learning through Mantle of the Expert. Below is a brief outline of what Mantle of the Expert is and a description of the kind of Mantle of the Expert work we will be doing this term.
What is Mantle of the Expert?
Mantle of the Expert is a unique cross-curricular learning model for teaching inquiry using drama, developed by educationalist Dorothy Heathcote. In a Mantle of the Expert unit of work a class of children are given a collective fictional role; for example, they might be a team of designers, museum curators, or scientists. With the use of drama they develop their roles and fictional enterprise and within this context cover learning objectives from across the curriculum. The fictional world provides a purposeful context to introduce different learning tasks. As part of their work children are empowered to research, take on responsibilities, make decisions, and interrogate many different sources for information, driven by the need to complete tasks in the fictional context. Time is also spent learning researching skills and knowledge required to complete tasks in the fictional world, and to reflect on learning.
Mantle of the Expert is being used in a number of schools in the United Kingdom. Research demonstrating the model’s effectiveness for learning is increasing, leading to more practitioners picking it up internationally. Mantle of the Expert links strongly to the NZ curriculum section on effective pedagogy (NZC p34-36) that includes –
• Creating a supportive learning environment
• Encouraging reflective thought and action
• Enhancing the relevance of new learning
• Facilitating shared learning
• Making connections to prior learning and experience
• Providing opportunities to learn
• Teaching through inquiry
Links to some websites you can visit for further information on Mantle of the Expert can be found on the right hand tool bar of this blog site.
What kind of Mantle of the Expert will we be doing this term?
With a school wide focus on science this term, we are going to be scientists who work on board a fictional scientific research vessel, called the ‘Aumoana’, modelled on the scientific activity of the RV Tangaroa, NIWA’s research vessel. We are going to be looking at different types of scientific activity that takes place on a scientific research vessel such as the RV Tangaroa, with a focus on marine food webs from plankton to large fish. We will look at how human activity can affect these interactions, and how changes that affect the smallest bugs in the sea can have far reaching impacts. The children will be involved in tasks from across the curriculum as they write, research, read, use websites, email, measure, count, complete time sheets, read and draw maps, participate in science experiments, present ideas, improvise, and lots more.
We look forward to sharing our learning journey with you and seeing you as a follower on our blog!
