by Debbie Southern - Sunshine Coast daily 21/5/03

The sound of smashing tiles will soon resonate from the grounds of Mapleton State School.

With the help of Mosaic artist Brett Campbell, a merry band of mosaic making year 3 students are embarking on a craft project to create a mosaic artefact.

The project is part of the New Basics trial being undertaken in 12 Nambour District Schools forming part of the Cyberschools network. New Basics requires children to complete 5 "rich tasks" - one of those involving arts & craft.

The new basics trial, which involves 60 schools state-wide, is designed to equip students more for the world in which they live. It helps them forge links with the community and draw on this expertise.

The major curriculum challenge is to ensure that schools keep up with the world as it changes and don't have to constantly play catch-up.

The "old basics". including literacy & numeracy, remain at the heart of new basics - but new skills such as using information technology effectively and functioning as an active citizen, have been added to these old basics. The year 3 students - aged just seven or eight - are already working on designing their own interactive web page, another of the Rich Tasks. They might use digital scanners & cameras on the project.

Another project is to develop a multimedia presentation on an endangered plant or animal. This is aimed at fostering an understanding of the world, and to help them learn how to protect the environment.

The students have visited Brett's Forest Dawn mosaic in Montville. Brett visited the children at school to talk about making mosaics, and the children travelled to his home to watch him work.

Teacher Anne Ellrott said using expertise within the community allowed the children to have "many teachers". "New Basics are preparing children to confidently know they will play an active part in a rapidly changing world, no matter what it may hold for them."

Mosaic Mural by Mapleton State School year 3 (2003)

From the editor.....

It was hard to get a question in edgeways.

My son's year 3 class was visiting mosaic artist Brett Campbell at his Flaxton home, learning how to make mosaics for a school project.

"How long have you been doing this?", "Why did you give up banking?", "What do you like best about making mosaics?".

And that was just the kids - I hardly got a word in.

The children were so questioning of Brett, so interested in his work and how they would follow his example, and so accepting of the challenge to create their own mosaics.

It's a far cry from the papier-mâché masks, pottery chimes and tie-dying I did as a primary school child.

Education has come a long way in 25 years.

Now our kids are designing their own web pages, they're writing their own scripts, tackling ambitious arts and crafts projects, and planning multi media presentations - and they're only a few years out of pre-school.

As the children's teacher, Anne Ellrott told me, one of the best features of new basics is how connected the kids are to the real world.

"The children can see why they are doing what they're doing and they feel their work and opinions are a valued part of this real world."