University of Northampton’s Digital Leaders welcome pupils from Standens Barn Primary School for an interactive afternoon of film making

Digital Leaders working together to create a film using technology and art

The University of Northampton welcomed 12 children from Standens Barn Primary School on Friday, for a fun packed afternoon working with our University students to explore creative technology and media.

The visit was organised by the STEM Champions Programme and the School of Education’s STEM to STEAM project team, and involved student volunteers from across disciplines. The volunteers form a team of Digital Leaders, and their work combines combine Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Maths through technology. This group aims to work with local schools to offer interactive workshops helping children to explore a cross-curricular approach to the new primary computing curriculum.

The pupils from Standens Barn Primary – who are all Digital Leaders within their school – worked alongside University students to make short films. They used iPads, cameras and smartphones to capture their work, and explored a variety of media techniques including green screen technology, screencasting and stop-frame animation to create short narrative films inspired by their images.

While at the University of Northampton, the Standens Barn pupils had the chance to explore the campus during a QR coded treasure trail, and were able to ask questions about what it is like to study at University.

Linda Davis-Sinclair, STEM Champions Programme Lead commented “ This was a really great way of extending the skills and experience of our STEM Champions so that when they go out to local schools to deliver Digital Leaders activities they feel confident and prepared. What was really exciting was to see our students and Standens Barn students learning together”

Helen Caldwell, Senior Lecturer in Teacher Education added: “We were delighted to see pupils and students creating digital stories together inspired by their exploration of our campus environment, and we look forward to our volunteers undertaking mobile technology projects across schools and settings, so enhancing partnerships, aspirations and employability.”

To view the children’s work, visit YouTube. A gallery from the day is available here.