Team

KirstyEndeavour Primary School, Western Australia, Australia

RebeccaEndeavour Primary School, Western Australia, Australia

CharlieEndeavour Primary School, Western Australia, Australia

Age Range

12 & under

Coaches

Karla GillettEndeavour Primary School, Western Australia, Australia

Category

Geography & Travel > Australia & Oceania

Audience

All ages

Language

English

Team Collaboration

At the start of the project Endeavour1 immediately came together to agree on a topic. Charlie had a prior knowledge of resources so the initial choice by the group was to do the resources topic and divide the natural resources among the members. Each member agreed on this decision until soon realising it wasn't the best topic to allow for creativity and original artwork etc.

The members of Endeavour1 discussed a few options before agreeing on the chosen topic. From then on, they gave up their recess times to discuss and divide tasks and work on the project. They each had an area to research such as Rebecca looking at accommodation, Kirsty researching entertainment and Charlie writing and introduction. Each member had their own sections to work on but they each contributed to each other's through ideas, person experiences, research and assistance writing and editing the information.

A major problem overcome by the team was when our school was broken into and our computers were destroyed. With already limited resources the students had to handwrite what they could and go to Rebecca's house when possible to post the information. This was a big hurdle they overcame.

Although each student had his/her own area of focus, they collaborated and worked as a team on certain areas rather than leaving it to one member. The first example of this was taking the photos for the project. Endeavour1 agreed they needed original photos so Rebecca organised for her Mum to drive all of them around on the weekend. The team collaborated to decide on where to go, what to take photos of and how to take the most effective photo, e.g. standing on the roof of the car for the beach scenery shot. Another example is when emailing our local and state politicians. The three students all sat at the one computer to ensure the email was worded correctly and included the relevant information. These are just some of the examples of when tasks were done together instead of being divided to ensure everyone felt confident and the results could be of a higher standard.

Endeavour1 completed their own tasks independently but always checked and edited each other's work. When changes needed to be made this was done with maturity and collaboration. For example Charlie originally had an extra section in the project with random facts. The group later decided this wasn't relevant to the topic. They discussed this maturely and he was more than happy to delete it. This is an example of how Endeavour1 members listened to each other, valued each other's opinions and worked towards a common goal.

Team Diversity

Endeavour1 is a culturally diverse team. Kirsty's family is Australian and she has grown up in the area, Rebecca's family only moved to Australia recently from England and Charlie's Mum is from Thailand and he therefore has a different family culture. Each student thus has a different perspective on our local community as Kirsty has the loyalty and attachment of growing up here while the others have a larger basis for comparison. Charlie and Rebecca have a greater appreciation for aspects such as Port Kennedy's beautiful beaches and bring a different perspective to the project. Both Charlie and Rebecca both had relatives visit from overseas during the writing of the project and could therefore see the community from a tourists point of view.

Coming from different socio-economic backgrounds, the group members had different personal experiences in relation to local attractions. Rebecca had stayed at more hotels and done things that the other two had not due to finances but they had more experiences with less expensive outings such as Kings Park. Due to differences in socio-economic circumstances, not all group members could access resources such as the Internet and scanners from home so they went to each other's houses and gave up their play time at school to overcome these difficulties.

Endeavour1 was comprised of students with different educational strengths. Charlie excels at reading and writing, Kirsty is more creative and has leadership and social strengths and Rebecca has great organisational skills as well as music and performance abilities. This mixture of strengths allowed the students to stay organised and on task while collaborating effectively and producing a good quality project.

Although the students were aware of each group members' individual skills they were not restricted by these. For example the team could have left the editing to Charlie knowing this is a strength of his, but instead they each had a go and just got him to double check where possible. They all enjoy art and even though it may not be a major strength, each created and posted one piece of artwork because they realise it is important to have a go and push yourself to do new things.

Endeavour1 utilised their diversity and overcame challenges during their time working on the narrative project. They learnt from each other's strengths and were not afraid to 'have a go' at anything that may benefit the team. Throughout the project, the students were always focused on the 'group' and the end results rather than on the individual.