The first part of our morning was spent putting the finishing touches to our posters and arranging them around the room so they could be presented to ‘Sarah’, when she arrived. We had a run through of how we would welcome her, considering carefully the etiquette of introducing ourselves, making her feel welcome, offering seats, answering questions, guiding her through the presentation, inviting her feedback, and closing the visit and farewelling her at the end. We also had a quick practice at being ‘information buttons’ and some time to think of how best to explain and present the poster work.
‘Sarah’ arrived after morning tea. The welcome was effective with Sally meeting her at the door, introducing herself, welcoming her with a badge and an outline of the presentation (on the company letterhead paper). Mia then invited ‘Sarah’ to look at the first part of the informative foyer design, which was about ‘Life on Board The Aumoana’. The rest of the group were lined up as ‘information buttons’, ready to read aloud excerpts from diaries written by scientists working on board The Aumoana (which they had written earlier). After ‘Sarah’ had activated the different buttons, (and learned a lot about life on board the boat!), she was invited to watch a short film (made by the team) where a number of research scientists (some of the team in role) answered questions about life on the boat. This was a very interactive and effective start to the presentation.
Mia being an 'information button'
'Sarah' is invited to watch some videos, which the team have made to give information about life on board the boat and diving in the Ross Sea.
Julius then introduced himself and offered to guide her through the different poster displays. At each display the group who was responsible for that work, presented their poster and answered ‘Sarah’s’ questions. As well as being guided through the different research posters ‘Sarah’ was also shown another video about diving in the Ross Sea (again made by several team members), given an explanation of the company’s historical timeline by Georgia, and given an explanation of the team’s plan for their next expedition by Lucy and Zoe, which included showing ‘Sarah’ the longitude and latitude points on a map of the Ross Sea where the sampling has been planned to take place. While ‘Sarah’ visited the different areas of the informative foyer design the team also visited each other to learn about the different areas of expertise. The atmosphere was a buzz of information being shared and discussed, filmed and photographed by Max, Louis, Helena, and Tim. Once the presentation was over Rosa and Lucy offered ‘Sarah’ a refreshment and then invited her to a meeting with the whole team where they wanted to invite her to give her feedback.
Julius explains ocean currents to 'Sarah'
Robbie explaining ocean depths around New Zealand
'Sarah' questioning the team about their work
Lucy and Zoe explain the longitude and latitude points where the team plan to do their sampling on their next planned expedition to the Ross Sea
The class atmosphere during the presentation is a buzz of information being shared
‘Sarah’ was encouraging and shared a warm and positive response to the work that had been shared in the presentation, but she was also clear that there was pressure on her from management to withdraw the money for the project and to rent out the foyer space for other uses. This tension lead the children to work collectively to convince her with strong arguments about why they felt the informative foyer design was important. Throughout the meeting the team impressively remained in role. Not one hand was raised in the air, instead every team member listened carefully to each other’s arguments, adding their own ideas at the best time to build on the different arguments being offered. At one moment there were two team members finishing off each other’s sentences, every one was very much in tune with each other judging successfully when it was best to lead with an argument and when to follow and support others.
The meeting: 'Sarah' and the team in role as colleagues
A meeting of thinkers!
'Sarah' begins to be won over by the wonderful arguments!
The team close the meeting and farewell 'Sarah' with the national anthem.
The team showed they were able to think critically about the value of marine scientific research and its importance to society. The team drew on everything they had learned and their own personal experiences to try and convince ‘Sarah’ to support their project. They brought up the oil spill, the fishing industry (including problems of over fishing), pollution, and the larger eco-system of the planet. None of these ideas had been explored yet as a group, all the links just bubbled up as the team developed their arguments. The team showed that they were a confident and capable group as they put forward a number of good strong arguments about the importance of educating people about the scientific work done in the sea around New Zealand and came up with some creative ideas about how the foyer display could make money including charging school groups/visitors or making informative DVDs to sell to people who visited.
It was wonderful to be a part of a discussion where children and adults were sharing ideas, questioning one another, and challenging each other to think critically as equals, all being in role in the drama as colleagues. The children clearly saw themselves, in their roles in the drama, as capable, resourceful, and confident team members.
When Zoe stood up at the end of the meeting to thank ‘Sarah’ for visiting and to invite everyone to stand for the National Anthem, it felt just right after the impressive ‘think tank’ meeting and all their powerful arguments around education and the sustainability of the planet, it was quite moving!
