Activity Introduction
In this lesson, students will explore what it means to be a skills ‘Wizard’, and the characteristics it takes to become highly skilled at something unique. They will identify and refine techniques related to a skill they are interested in, or already good at, and develop an engaging three-minute performance piece that demonstrates their skill to a trusted audience. They also have the opportunity to take their performances public and/or create a communication piece that teaches their skill to others.
Find all the IMAGI-NATION{TV} episodes on AIME’s YouTube channel.
This lesson is designed to be completed independently by students.
Time required: 60 minutes plus regular practise and journaling sessions.
Tips for Caregivers & Teachers
This lesson is designed to be flexible for use with various year levels and across the curriculum. It can easily be tailored or expanded to focus more deeply on the skills that students are exploring in their classroom context. For example, a Physical Education teacher might choose to run workshops on gymnastics skills, a drama teacher might teach circus or puppetry skills, a music teacher could help students refine their performance skills and banter, and a science teacher might introduce students to Bill Nye or take them to a museum that delivers live performances or workshops. All teachers can work with students to monitor and assess relevant techniques and understandings. Different age groups should create performance sequences of different lengths and complexity. For example, a Year 3 students might only perform for one minute, whereas a Year 10 student could perform for 10-30 minutes. Performance length will also depend upon the type of task and difficulty level.
Some activities that students could complete as part of the busking activity might include: dancing, playing a musical instrument, juggling, clowning, poi, group routines, martial arts, puppetry, science demonstrations, mime, magic, cooking, building things, creating artworks, impersonations, sand painting, skateboarding, bicycle jumps, on-the-spot poetry, audio-visual installations, interactives, drawing caricatures, or any combination thereof. The only limit is your imagination and what is safe/legal.
Safety advice: It is advisable for minors under 18 (and sometimes above) to have a reliable friend or adult supervising while they practise and perform. Ensure you discuss any potential risks with the young performer and consider whether their choice of skill is suitable to practise and/or perform (considering the context/environment). Where physical or chemical activities are taking place, helmets and safety gear should always be worn. If using fire, ensure a safe zone is marked away from the performer/fire so that the audience knows how far back they need to stand. It is important to consider any risks for the audience, not just the performer. Check any regulations in place by your local council or standards authority.
- Topics: Creative Thinking
- This lesson is part of a wider program: IMAGI-NATION{TV}
- Level of teacher scaffolding: Medium – students can be self-directed but may need observation and support with safety requirements and effective techniques.
- Syllabus outcomes: DRAS2.1, DRAS3.1, EN2-2A, EN2-10C, EN3-7C, EN4-4B, EN5-1A, PHS2.12, PHS3.12, PDHPE4.2, PDHPE4.3, PDHPE4.8, PDHPE4.9, PDHPE4.10, PDHPE4.13, PDHPE4.16, PDHPE5.2, PDHPE5.3, PDHPE5.6, PDHPE5.7, PDHPE5.8, PDHPE5.13, PDHPE5.16
- General capabilities: Literacy, Critical and Creative Thinking, Personal and Social Capability
Australian Curriculum Mapping
Depending on the activities completed, you may meet some of these content descriptions:
Choose by subject for Primary year level mapping:
Health & Physical EducationYears 3 & 4 Health & Physical Education
- Explore how success, challenge and failure strengthen identities (ACPPS033)
- Investigate how emotional responses vary in depth and strength (ACPPS038)
- Practise and apply movement concepts and strategies with and without equipment (ACPMP045)
- Practise and refine fundamental movement skills in a variety of movement sequences and situations (ACPMP043)
- Apply innovative and creative thinking in solving movement challenges (ACPMP049)
Years 5 & 6 Health and Physical Education
- Examine the influence of emotional responses on behaviour and relationships (ACPPS056)
- Practise specialised movement skills and apply them in a variety of movement sequences and situations (ACPMP061)
- Propose and apply movement concepts and strategies with and without equipment (ACPMP063)
- Manipulate and modify elements of effort, space, time, objects and people to perform movement sequences (ACPMP065)
- Apply critical and creative thinking processes in order to generate and assess solutions to movement challenges (ACPMP068)
Years 3 & 4 Drama
- Use voice, body, movement and language to sustain role and relationships and create dramatic action with a sense of time and place (ACADRM032)
Years 5 & 6 Drama
- Develop skills and techniques of voice and movement to create character, mood and atmosphere and focus dramatic action (ACADRM036)
Years 3 & 4 Dance
- Practise technical skills safely in fundamental movements (ACADAM006)
Years 5 & 6 Dance
- Develop technical and expressive skills in fundamental movements including body control, accuracy, alignment, strength, balance and coordination (ACADAM010)
Years 3 & 4 Visual Arts
- Use materials, techniques and processes to explore visual conventions when making artworks (ACAVAM111)
Present artworks and describe how they have used visual conventions to represent their ideas (ACAVAM112)
Years 5 & 6 Visual Arts
Years 3 & 4 Music
- Practise singing, playing instruments and improvising music, using elements of music including rhythm, pitch, dynamics and form in a range of pieces, including in music from the local community (ACAMUM085)
Years 5 & 6 Music
- Develop technical and expressive skills in singing and playing instruments with understanding of rhythm, pitch and form in a range of pieces, including in music from the community (ACAMUM089)
- Rehearse and perform music including music they have composed by improvising, sourcing and arranging ideas and making decisions to engage an audience (ACAMUM090)
Years 3 & 4 Media Arts
- Use media technologies to create time and space through the manipulation of images, sounds and text to tell stories (ACAMAM059)
Years 5 & 6 Media Arts
- Develop skills with media technologies to shape space, time, movement and lighting within images, sounds and text (ACAMAM063)
Years 3 & 4 Design and Technologies
- Generate, develop, and communicate design ideas and decisions using appropriate technical terms and graphical representation techniques (ACTDEP015)
Years 5 & 6 Design and Technologies
- Generate, develop and communicate design ideas and processes for audiences using appropriate technical terms and graphical representation techniques (ACTDEP025)
Years 3 & 4 Science
- With guidance, plan and conduct scientific investigations to find answers to questions, considering the safe use of appropriate materials and equipment (ACSIS054, ACSIS065)
- Represent and communicate observations, ideas and findings using formal and informal representations (ACSIS060, ACSIS071)
Years 5 & 6 Science
- Identify, plan and apply the elements of scientific investigations to answer questions and solve problems using equipment and materials safely and identifying potential risks (ACSIS086, ACSIS103)
- Communicate ideas, explanations and processes using scientific representations in a variety of ways, including multi-modal texts (ACSIS093, ACSIS110)
Year 3 English
- Plan and deliver short presentations, providing some key details in logical sequence (ACELY1677)
Year 4 English
- Plan, rehearse and deliver presentations incorporating learned content and taking into account the particular purposes and audiences (ACELY1689)
Year 5 English
- Plan, rehearse and deliver presentations for defined audiences and purposes incorporating accurate and sequenced content and multimodal elements (ACELY1700)
Year 6 English
- Plan, rehearse and deliver presentations, selecting and sequencing appropriate content and multimodal elements for defined audiences and purposes, making appropriate choices for modality and emphasis (ACELY1710)
Choose by subject for Secondary year level mapping:
Health & Physical EducationYears 7 & 8 Health and Physical Education
- Analyse factors that influence emotions, and develop strategies to demonstrate empathy and sensitivity (ACPPS075)
- Practise, apply and transfer movement concepts and strategies with and without equipment (ACPMP082)
- Use feedback to improve body control and coordination when performing specialised movement skills in a variety of situations (ACPMP080)
- Demonstrate and explain how the elements of effort, space, time, objects and people can enhance movement sequences (ACPMP084)
- Evaluate and justify reasons for decisions and choices of action when solving movement challenges (ACPMP087)
Years 9 & 10 Health and Physical Education
- Evaluate situations and propose appropriate emotional responses and then reflect on possible outcomes of different responses (ACPPS094)
- Provide and apply feedback to develop and refine specialised movement skills in a range of challenging movement situations (ACPMP099)
- Develop, implement and evaluate movement concepts and strategies for successful outcomes with and without equipment (ACPMP101)
- Analyse the impact of effort, space, time, objects and people when composing and performing movement sequences (ACPMP103)
- Transfer understanding from previous movement experiences to create solutions to movement challenges (ACPMP106)
Years 7 & 8 Drama
- Develop and refine expressive skills in voice and movement to communicate ideas and dramatic action in different performance styles and conventions, including contemporary Australian drama styles developed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dramatists (ACADRM043)
Years 9 & 10 Drama
- Practise and refine the expressive capacity of voice and movement to communicate ideas and dramatic action in a range of forms, styles and performance spaces, including exploration of those developed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dramatists (ACADRM049)
Years 7 & 8 Dance
- Practise and refine technical skills in style-specific techniques (ACADAM015)
Years 9 & 10 Dance
- Practise and refine technical skills to develop proficiency in genre- and style-specific techniques (ACADAM022)
Years 7 & 8 Visual Arts
- Practise techniques and processes to enhance representation of ideas in their art-making (ACAVAM121)
- Present artwork demonstrating consideration of how the artwork is displayed to enhance the artist’s intention to an audience (ACAVAM122)
Years 9 & 10 Visual Arts
- Manipulate materials, techniques, technologies and processes to develop and represent their own artistic intentions (ACAVAM126)
- Develop and refine techniques and processes to represent ideas and subject matter (ACAVAM127)
- Present ideas for displaying artworks and evaluate displays of artworks (ACAVAM129)
Years 7 & 8 Music
- Practise and rehearse a variety of music, including Australian music to develop technical and expressive skills (ACAMUM094)
- Perform and present a range of music, using techniques and expression appropriate to style (ACAMUM096)
Years 9 & 10 Music
Years 7 & 8 Media Arts
- Develop and refine media production skills to shape the technical and symbolic elements of images, sounds and text for a specific purpose and meaning (ACAMAM068)
Years 9 & 10 Media Arts
- Develop and refine media production skills to integrate and shape the technical and symbolic elements in images, sounds and text for a specific purpose, meaning and style (ACAMAM075)
Years 7 & 8 Design and Technologies
- Generate, develop, test and communicate design ideas, plans and processes for various audiences using appropriate technical terms and technologies including graphical representation techniques (ACTDEP036)
Years 9 & 10 Design and Technologies
- Develop, modify and communicate design ideas by applying design thinking, creativity, innovation and enterprise skills of increasing sophistication (ACTDEP049)
Years 7 & 8 Science
- Collaboratively and individually plan and conduct a range of investigation types, including fieldwork and experiments, ensuring safety and ethical guidelines are followed (ACSIS125, ACSIS140)
- Communicate ideas, findings and evidence-based solutions to problems using scientific language, and representations, using digital technologies as appropriate (ACSIS133, ACSIS148)
Years 9 & 10 Science
- Plan, select and use appropriate investigation types, including fieldwork and laboratory experimentation, to collect reliable data; assess risk and address ethical issues associated with these methods (ACSIS165, ACSIS199)
- Communicate scientific ideas and information for a particular purpose, including constructing evidence-based arguments and using appropriate scientific language, conventions and representations (ACSIS174, ACSIS208)
Years 7 English
- Plan, rehearse and deliver presentations, selecting and sequencing appropriate content and multimodal elements to promote a point of view or enable a new way of seeing (ACELY1720)
Year 8 English
- Plan, rehearse and deliver presentations, selecting and sequencing appropriate content, including multimodal elements, to reflect a diversity of viewpoints (ACELY1731)
Year 9 English
- Plan, rehearse and deliver presentations, selecting and sequencing appropriate content and multimodal elements for aesthetic and playful purposes (ACELY1741)
Year 10 English
- Plan, rehearse and deliver presentations, selecting and sequencing appropriate content and multimodal elements to influence a course of action (ACELY1751)
- Device with internet connection
- Pen and paper (optional)
- Performance Plan – one copy
- Practise Journal – several copies
- Specialised equipment suitable for the chosen skill.
Background Information
AIME created IMAGI-NATION{TV} & the IMAGI-NATION{CLASSROOM} experience to put a mentor in the home every day during the tough times of COVID-19 and beyond. It’s a daily TV show broadcast live on the internet, and it’s a gift for teachers, parents and kids to help make sense of today and imagine tomorrow.
The pursuit is to elevate knowledge; every guest we bring on knows something and has wisdom to share. This show is not just about entertainment to pass the time. We want to remake the mould for the modern hero – from beauty to brains, from selfies to self-knowledge, from hashtags to hope. IMAGI-NATION{TV} is seeking to unlock the best in every single one of us; to inspire a generation of heroes in the form of mentors who fight for a fairer world.
[email protected] from Cool Australia
[email protected] resources are designed for parents and teachers to use with children in the home environment. They can be used as stand-alone activities or built into existing curriculum-aligned learning programs. Our [email protected] series includes two types of resources. The first are fun and challenging real-world activities for all ages, the second are self-directed lessons for upper primary and secondary students. These lessons support independent learning in remote or school settings.
 This lesson has been developed in partnership with AIME. AIME is an Imagination Factory that since 2005, has been creating pop-up Imagination Factories on university campuses around the world to unlock the internal narrative of marginalised kids, taking them from a world that tells them they can’t to a world that tells them they can. Kids who experience the Imagination Factory have gone on to achieve educational parity, rise up as entrepreneurs, and take on a whole new mindset that prepares them for success. |
Cool Australia’s curriculum team continually reviews and refines our resources to be in line with changes to the Australian Curriculum.
180 Seconds of Wizardry - Activity Instructions