Workshops
Schools - Book your 1-Day, 2-Day or 3-Day extension workshops for 2012 now!
Our charges represent cost recovery only as this initiative is organised under the auspices of a non profit making Charitable Trust.
HOW TO BOOK ...
You choose your week and then ...
Select the workshops that you would like for your students. All listed workshops are whole day seminars. The workshops can be combined as desired and are offered as 1, 2 or 3 day packages. Scroll down the list of workshops for juniors, workshops that can be adapted for either junior or senior level, and workshops for seniors.
WORKSHOPS FOR YOUNG JUNIORS 2012 (Years 1-4)
Planning is underway for a pilot scheme for students in years 1 - 4 at primary level.
Watch this space.
SENIOR WORKSHOPS (years 9-10)
Arrangements for Gifted Seminars at Secondary School level are made on an individual basis through negotiation.
Contact Elaine or Jean to discuss your requirements and we will do our best to meet your needs.
JUNIOR WORKSHOPS
(years 5-8)
SHIPWRECKED Elaine le Sueur
Have you ever thought about what it would be like to be a castaway on an island where survival depends on working together? What role would you take? What rules would you make? What skills do you have to contribute to the other shipwreck survivors? This seminar will examine issues of leadership and getting along with others where survival depends on teamwork and the unexpected is a likely opportunity for your talents to shine.
JUSTICE UNDER SCRUTINY Elaine le Sueur
The law is not always black and white. Sometimes it is not easy to see a clear distinction between right and wrong. Over the day, as each character tells their side of the story the waters will get muddier and muddier. There’s a good deal to argue about in this course and some interesting outcomes are forecast!
DYNAMIC DETECTION Elaine le Sueur
Our Dynamic Detectives will use a mixture of science and deduction as they meet the challenges of following clues to a satisfactory conclusion. The event is a fund raising dinner for the Twist Foundation – a charitable trust dedicated to helping the poor and destitute, run by Oliver Twist. The gathering descends into chaos as Mr Twist is found murdered. It seems that many had a possible motive, but it’s up to the course participants to determine who committed the crime. Will they get it right?
FUTURES THINKING Sonia White
Critical Thinking coupled with Creativity is needed in this workshop where high ability students examine a futuristic scenario and explore the positive possibilities as well as the potential challenges.
DEBATING THE ISSUES Sonia White
Debating the issues is for students who enjoy a lively argument and are anxious to get their point across. Learn how to argue effectively without offending your opponent. Learn the rules of debate as you do so.
HUMAN CALCULATORS Ken Ring
Make the stage magician’s art of instant calculation work for you with a new range of challenges to tax conventional thinking. Learn super fast strategies to always reach the right answer without the aid of technology. A decidedly useful tool for keen young mathematicians.
TOY MANIA Richard Lees
All new toys to examine and then to actually make in this course that introduces you to a range of amusements on offer long before the birth of the Ipad, the Ipod, the home computer or even the Hornby Train! Understand how children of long ago amused themselves, making their own playthings and games out of the odds and ends in their immediate environment. Why can’t you do the same? Well in this workshop you can!
PLATO’S CAVE Tom McGuire Have you ever wondered what is real? Are you sure the sun will rise tomorrow? This one day seminar is for imaginative kids who like to ask questions. You will have the opportunity to explore ideas of Dreams and Dreaming, Truth and Reality through a combination of discussion, writing, art, games and physical activities. This seminar will help to build critical thinking and philosophical skills.
REACH FOR THE STARS Gloria Witheford
A feast for keen young astronomers. Invite Starlab into the classroom together with a wide range of activities to stimulate learning and consolidate experience relating to the mysteries of our planetary system. (4.5m ceiling height needed at venue)
KEEPING YOUR WITS ABOUT YOU Nicholas Oram
This medico-scientific seminar will take you into new territory as you make a tour of the brain. You will learn that your brain operates in a very special way allowing you to think, experience, move, and communicate. Focus in on how the brain allows you to see the world around you – and learn some visual magic tricks. Find out what might happen if parts of your brain were missing, removed or lost. This exploration of an amazing organ would have been totally impossible 100 years ago.
MATHEMATICAL MANIPULATIONS Nicholas Oram
An excellent training ground for young mathematicians. Compete in teams to solve perplexing puzzles and problems.
The students will:
1. Work in groups
2. Choose the challenges they attempt
3. Can get help if they 'pay' for it by losing points on
their final score.
MATHS WITH THE ANCIENTS Nick Oram
In this totally unique workshop we take a whirlwind visit into our ancient past and explore some measurement challenges that the ancient mathematicians had to solve. Imagine having to make the first ruler. This ruler needs to be exact but you cannot measure without having a ruler. How can this problem be solved? What about making a circular clock ? These and other challenges will be explored while also learning about how number and geometry were used in Ancient Babylon, Egypt, Greece and the Roman Empire.
WORD WIZARDRY Russell Greenwood
Lots of lively linguistics in this fun filled fast moving course for kids who love words. Young language lovers will be launched onto a direct route towards understanding the structure of the English language – from ADJECTIVES to ACRONYMS and from CLICHES to COLLECTIVE NOUNS. Find out about MALAPROPISMS and METAPHORS as well as what a `slumgudgeon’ is and why too much `codswallop’ might not be good for you.
EYEWITNESS HISTORY Russell Greenwood
Will you keep a diary in the future? Maybe you already have one. What do you record? Eyewitness History is a series of snapshots of past events through the eyes of those who lived it. Listen to, read first hand accounts of what actually happened and imagine what it must have been like during
• The Destruction of Pompeii..
• the Salem Witch Trials….
• the Great Fire of London…
• the hiding of schoolgirl Anne Frank and her family ….
• the London Blitz…
• the Assassination of JFK.
Letters, diaries and accounts written at the time of momentous events bring the past sharply into focus and give curious children of today a depth of understanding not easily attainable in a study of history.
AN ASSEMBLY OF CAESARS Russell Greenwood A day in the company of an elite group! Was Julius actually captured by pirates? Did Augustus really consider having his daughter executed? Was Caligula as bad as he is painted? Was Nero even worse? To become better acquainted with these Greats of the ancient world, join in and find out. This examination of the past will inspire and stimulate young historians.
UNLEASH THE COMPOSER IN YOU Avon Hansen Beale
Have you ever wondered how to go about composing a completely original piece of music?
Well this is the workshop for you.We'll have a look at creating a melody then chords to support it and even some harmony lines to make it interesting.
You'll need to have at least level 1 theory and then we're on our way.Bring a xylophone or a set of chimebars
Meet our tutors for 2012.
ELAINE LE SUEUR is a consultant in gifted education. (www.giftededucationservices.co.nz) She is the author of a number of books for teachers on strategies to meet the learning needs of able students. She worked for a number of years as an Advisor in Auckland University's school support services, and as an Associate Principal in a large urban school. She is an experienced practitioner and a trustee of The Holiday Seminars Trust. She is co-convenor of the 20th World Council Conference on Gifted and Talented Children (WCGTC) to be held in Auckland, August 5 - 9, 2013.
SONIA WHITE is also a consultant in gifted education, working primarily with secondary schools. During her eight years as gifted education advisor to schools, Sonia’s time was spent in teacher professional development, working with school management, gifted education coordinators and teachers. She facilitated workshops, seminars, keynotes and provided one to one support in gifted education pedagogy, including an overview of giftedness, establishing a school vision for gifted learners, defining high ability, identification procedures and good practice, writing policies, acceleration and provisions for high level learners. Her byline is `unleashing potential’ – and she is passionate about it!
KEN RING
Ken is a man of many parts. As a writer of over forty books his name is familiar in a number of areas including education, fishing and weather forecasting. As a mathematician he has toured New Zealand schools with his Flying Mathman programme, preaching the somewhat subversive message that maths is more than marvelous! He is a world renowned long range weather forecaster and now appears regularly on radio and television programmes in New Zealand, Australia and Europe. But that’s not all! Ken is also a magician and entertainer and his conjuring shows have enthralled children for many years.
NICHOLAS ORAM
Nicholas has a PhD in experimental psychology. He is also a trained teacher, a cub leader for 31 years, and a performance poet and playwright. In gifted and talented education, Nicholas aims to foster rich and complex thinking through the co-construction of knowledge, skills and understanding via carefully scaffolded challenges and investigations.
RICHARD LEES
Richard has worked as Education Co-ordinator for Howick Historical Village, New Zealand's leading Living History Museum. He has also for many years taken his own programme into schools bringing curriculum based social studies and technology presentations to students. His extensive area of authority is the development of toys through hundreds of years of history and this is enthusiastically received by students of all ages. His presentations are often costumed.
RUSSELL GREENWOOD
Russell is a Literature and Classics teacher with many years experience working with students of high ability. His prime focus of expertise is the English language, its development and proliferation throughout the world. But he is also a historian with vast knowledge and understanding of how those who peopled the past profoundly influence the future. His spare time is spent on environmental conservation.
GLORIA WITHEFORD
Gloria is the Director of Astronomical Services and has worked in education for over twenty five years, developing curriculum based programmes for students of all ages. Her traveling Planetarium, STARLAB, is a truly innovative enterprise which can be taken directly into schools in order to give every child a better understanding of common astronomical concepts: night and day, star recognition, constellation positions, space exploration, together with a peep into the myths and legends of time and space.
TOM McGUIRE
Tom is a member of our philosophy team. He works as a researcher and tutor at the University of Auckland's Department of Philosophy.
AVON HANSEN BEALE
Avon has been teaching The Arts,especially music for the last 15years. She currently teaches at Auckland University part time with their beginner teacher programme and also runs a private Arts consultancy service "Professional development Services The Arts " which provides mentoring to Primary and Intermediate schools in Auckland . She is a presenter at Mana
Education in Wellington running Music, Dance and Drama workshops.
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