Working on the basis that you shouldn't ask students to do things that you are not willing to have a go at yourself, Mr Hawes had a go at his own idea generator challenge.

The wheels spun and he was given the challenge of creating an "eco-friendly collapsible exhibit". In his preparations for the Dragons' Den presentation, Mr. Hawes decided to experiment with:

• Garage band
• Xtranormal
• iMovie and Vimeo
• Keynote and Slideshare
• Glogster
• Flickr
• Weebly
  

Click on the image to the left to see the Weebly website

Before you begin the challenge your teacher will give you six cards with different personal, learning and thinking skills. Working with a partner you need to discuss the skills that you are most confident with and the skills that you think you need to improve. Try and be honest with yourself and each other and try and discuss the things that you do inside and outside the school that could be examples of these skills. Once you have finished your discussions you need to add a post to your class blog introducing your partner to the rest of the class and explaining what you have discovered about their strengths and areas for development. For more information on skills go here

Idea generator is an iphone app that creates unlikely or unexpected combinations of words.  The three dials spin a bit like a fruit machine to create a magical product that does not yet exist. Your job will be to create that strange new object or experience. Before you go too far you need to think what the three words mean and what those words make you think of. You could start by putting the keywords into the spotlight on the Mac (the magnifying glass in the top right hand corner) and read through the full definitions of your words. You can also find what words mean by doing a Google search - type "definition", leave a space, and then type the word you are looking for. You can also have a look at a great website called Visual Thesaurus which will read your word out loud, explain what it means and give you other words that are linked to it. Finally, you can take a look at two online dictionaries - Wordsmyth and Lexipedia. You may want to start an online midmap using Mindmeister.

The next stage is to try and represent your idea with pictures. It doesn't matter if your drawings are not masterpieces, the main thing is to start trying to visualise your new creation. Rather than one large drawing you might want to do several smaller sketches. It would really help if you included labels, instructions and notes to your drawings. Once you are happy with your visualisation you need to post your ideas on the class blog. You can either use the webcam on your laptop or borrow a camera from your teacher. When you post pictures of your design sketches try to include a few sentences explaining your ideas.

Every new product or concept will need a brand or identity. To do this you will need to:

• Come up with a name for your product or organisation. if you get stuck you could try the Band Name Maker website that comes up with great ideas.
• Create a logo for you product or organisation. You could draw it or use an online tool like logomaker
• Create a slogan. You need a short phrase that sums up the most exciting and positive thing about your product.
  

You have probably all seen Dragon's Den where people try and pitch their idea to a set of investors.  Your job is to convince the rest of the class that your new product deserves the investment of the Tallis Dragons (the rest of your class!). To do this you are going to make a keynote presentation explaining your product and all its special features. You need to think why your product would be successful. Who would it appeal to? Why would people be excited by it?  How will it change the future and respond to peoples' needs? There will be a prize for the best pitch in each class.

After your presentation you need to reflect on your learning. Sometimes we just think about the end product, but it is important to think about the skills that you did, or maybe didn't, use along the way. We need you to think about what went well and what would have been "even better if". Go back and look at the skills cards that you used before the activity to help you. You can find lots of information on the different personal learning and thinking skills by clicking here. Once you have worked with your partner you will need to add a post onto the class blog evaluating how well you have responded to the challenge.