Applied Learning Programme (ALP)

Toy Story – A Toy design project

Introduction

To encourage our students to use their knowledge and skills imaginatively and with daring innovation, Greendale Primary School has developed our distinctive Applied Learning Programme (ALP) known as ‘Toy Story’. The primary objective of this programme is to develop critical and creative thinking skills through the process of toy design and creation. Students will be taught creative thinking tools such as Edward de Bono’s 6 Thinking Hats (Primary 1 to 3) and SCAMPER by Bob Eberle (Primary 4 to 6). They will also be introduced to selected Visible Thinking Routines with the purpose of inspiring our students to constantly think of new and creative ways of solving problems and inculcating in them an innovative approach to their studies and life.

Approach

This theme, ‘Toys’, is used as it creates much interest among all levels of students, who will have lots of fun creating and designing their favourite toys using recycled items and concepts they have learnt in their daily lessons. We also believe that by getting the students to draw links between Science and the other subjects as well as to apply knowledge and skills from the academic curriculum into the project, this helps to spark their interest and develop them to be better problem-solvers in real world situations.

Besides piquing their sense of creativity and interest, students have the opportunity to contribute actively to group decisions and develop their confidence by sharing their ideas at group and class level. The project will also require them to be self-directed in doing research and looking for ideas and information. With the collaborative nature of this project, students will be able to further hone their competencies in self-management, relationship management and social awareness through their interactions with their peers.

Finally, the culmination of their learning is showcased via the Toy Carnival in which the students have to present their projects to their classmates, teachers and parents, and this helps to build their confidence in public speaking as well.

Programme Outline

Level	Brief Description
Primary 1	Based on Jack and the Beanstalk, students have to design a toy animal, Jack’s pet, which can climb up the beanstalk to follow him on his adventure.
Primary 2	Based on the stories covered under English Stellar, students have to design and make puppets using a diversity of materials, followed by staging a Readers' Theatre performance using the puppets to narrate parts of the stories. Besides learning about the diversity of materials around them, students get to hone their public-speaking skills and Readers’ Theatre skills.
Primary 3	Based on the Piped Piper story, students have to design musical toys that can play 3-tones. Students will also create imaginary animals and their habitats using various concepts (Materials, Diversity of Animals) learnt in the academic year.
Primary 4	Based on Stellar reading “Magnetic Max Playground”, students will design a toy which works on the concept of Magnets for the playground. They will also put up a shadow puppet play by harnessing concepts of different degrees of transparency of materials.
Primary 5	Imagine Humpty Dumpty and his friends have gone on a road trip. The pupils will design an accommodation for them using Electrical System concepts. They will also design a parachute and an automobile for their road trip using Electrical system concepts.
Primary 6	Students have to design toys/games, for Greendale Arcade, which work on the principle of energy conversion and forces that they have learnt.