Debate Cake
A thinking through eating, drinking and making
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An overview:
Innovation can often come in very subtle forms. Sharing cake and drinking tea is not ground breaking, but within the secondary school context, which is exam driven and target based, sharing ideas over tea and cake can challenge what is the assumed the educational norm for where learning takes place.
By shifting the traditional structure of the debate from a classroom to a café style space, opens-up new possibilities, it alters the expectation and makes engagement less intimidating. The very act of sitting down to share drinks and cake creates different opportunities to interact with fellow students/teachers/lecturers and artists. Entwining this with non-verbal and creative forms of communication, further supports conversations around what can often be difficult or uncomfortable conversations.
Removing the ridged structures of the curriculum to support an organic narrative, one that is not pre-formed in a lesson plan, can offer innovative ways of discussing a topic. The process becomes creative research, a finding out, an exploration. This can build confidence and support empowerment. This found confidence then feeds back into traditional classroom settings, supporting our young people in having confidence to creatively voice their opinions.
Innovation can often come in very subtle forms. Sharing cake and drinking tea is not ground breaking, but within the secondary school context, which is exam driven and target based, sharing ideas over tea and cake can challenge what is the assumed the educational norm for where learning takes place.
By shifting the traditional structure of the debate from a classroom to a café style space, opens-up new possibilities, it alters the expectation and makes engagement less intimidating. The very act of sitting down to share drinks and cake creates different opportunities to interact with fellow students/teachers/lecturers and artists. Entwining this with non-verbal and creative forms of communication, further supports conversations around what can often be difficult or uncomfortable conversations.
Removing the ridged structures of the curriculum to support an organic narrative, one that is not pre-formed in a lesson plan, can offer innovative ways of discussing a topic. The process becomes creative research, a finding out, an exploration. This can build confidence and support empowerment. This found confidence then feeds back into traditional classroom settings, supporting our young people in having confidence to creatively voice their opinions.
