Conference formats

One-day conferences
Month-long conferences
Long projects
Special events and maths days

All our conferences have certain elements in common:

• we always start with all participants briefly introducing themselves - including interesting things about your school and perhaps a photo of your school or your area is good
• short activities, experiments or discussions for students to do in their own groups and then report back on to everyone else
• periods when students need to listen in a focused way to the speaker or to other students - we feel that this is as important as the times when they are being more obviously active
• opportunities for students to ask questions of the speaker
• opportunities for students to ask questions of other participating schools
• project work for students to work on away from the camera
• an opportunity make a short presentation on this project work

Introductions: mean that students take an active part in the VC right from the start, and everyone knows who else is participating.
Activities: these help students to stay focused on the topic and give them an opportunity to discuss things with each other. For younger children, activities also give them a chance to move around. The breaks for activities also provide an opportunity for the teacher with the students to clarify things with them or for the students to raise questions with their teacher. These questions can then be fed back into the VC during the feedback immediately after the activity.
Listening to the speaker: our conferences contain material not familiar to students (and often not familiar to teachers either). If they are to find out about the topic, they need to listen carefully to the speaker - and worthwhile content generally requires more than a sound-bite. Teachers should prepare students for this and encourage them to stay focused. However, we do try to make sure that students aren't expected to listen without doing anything for too long!
Presentations: we ask each participating school to make a short presentation on the project(s) they have done. This gives a real purpose to the project work and it is good for students to have an audience from outside their own class/school. It is better for students to do something interesting with a small area of the project work than to try to cover a wide range of projects in a very superficial way.
Questions to the speaker: we try to ensure that there is time for students to ask questions about the content of the conference and, where appropriate, what is it like to do the job that the speaker does or how you might prepare for such a job.
Listening to the other schools: students should also listen to what other students have to say when they are feeding back on activities or giving presentations on their work - in the same way that they wish to be listened to by the other participants.
Questions / comments to other schools: we also encourage schools to ask questions on each other's presentations. Just saying you have no questions is very discouraging to those who have just presented - it's good if teachers help students to think of sensible questions or comments. It goes without saying that any criticism should be constructive - especially if your students have done their presentation and already received their questions and comments!

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One-day conferences

All our sixth-from conferences are held over one day (usually 10am - 3pm) and some conferences for younger students also follow this format.

A preliminary short task may be set to get students thinking about the topic before the start of the videoconference. The day starts with introductions, and then the speaker will talk for a while about the topic - this period will normally include activities for the students also. There will then be longer tasks set on our website for students to do away from the camera for a period of 45 mins or an hour, and these will be followed by feedback to camera from all participants. The speaker will then move the topic on again. During the afternoon, there will be another period when students work on longer tasks. These will be followed by short presentations from each school on work they have done over the day. Presenting students will then answer questions from the other schools and receive feedback and questions from the speaker.

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Month-long conferences

Most of our conferences for students under 16 follow this format.

A preliminary short task may be set to get students thinking about the topic before the start of the videoconference. The first VC consists of introductions, then input from the speaker interspersed with activities for the students. After this VC, schools work on projects set on our website. At the second VC, about a month later, each participating school gives a short presentation on what they have done, answers questions from the other schools, and receives feedback and questions from the speaker.

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Long projects

We also run long projects over a period of two or three terms. Generally these consist of an initial teacher briefing by VC, then two VCs per term for students which follow the pattern of the month-long conferences. Project work is set on our website to be done during VCs.

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Special maths days / sessions for schools

We are happy to provide VC days or sessions for schools by special arrangement. Format and content are agreed with the participating school(s). We also sometimes have special events which we can offer to schools, such as free Science Week conferences. These are offered first to schools participating in our long projects and then to others on our mailing lists. To be included in our mailing lists (primary, secondary or sixth-form) pleae email Jenny Gage.

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