Aim: This summary first reports on the pilot work undertaken as ESRC Project Breaking New Ground in the Geography, History and Religious Studies departments at Rivington and Blackrod High Schools with KS4 students. The initial research prepared the way for what has now become a borough-wide student voice movement entitled B.L.A.S.T. (Bolton Listens As Students Talk) under the Networked Learning Community banner. The schools subsequent involvement in this project is also reported.

Aim: Many curricula include information about seeing, hearing and smelling, and an appreciation of these senses is related to an understanding of the behaviour of light, sound and gases. The National Curriculum for England requires sound to be taught in Year 5 and seeing to be taught in Year 6. It states that pupils should be taught that vibrations from sound sources require a medium through which to travel to the ear and that we see things only when light from them enters the eye.

The overall aim of the project was to introduce pupils to self and peer assessment techniques to encourage them to improve the quality of their written work about historical sources.

Aim: The aims of the project were: 1. To establish, from a review of the literature, an MI approach to teaching and learning. 2. To evaluate the effectiveness of using an MI approach in the classroom on pupils learning. 3. To compare the relative impact of three different MI strategies.

Aim: To explore ways in which industrial expertise can be most effectively deployed within the primary school classroom and the effect on teachers and pupils. Attitudes; CPD; Primary; Science

Aim: To investigate the social development of children with severe learning difficulties in special schools as compared with those in mainstream schools.

Aim: The initial aim of the research was to concentrate on childrens creativity outdoors. However, analysis of our original data, as well as our mentors observation that in comparison with other nurseries, we were successful in the way we conducted outdoor activities with children, turned the research on its head. We decided to look at what it was that adults do, that impacts on the quality of childrens learning. Specifically we wanted to explore how adult attitude impacts on childrens creativity and explore our own approach to outdoor education.

Aim: To investigate the impact of hearing high-quality stories on Year 2 childrens writing. In particular to look for literary and other echoes, examine childrens views of story times, compare the impact of stories heard in story times with those studied in Literacy sessions as big books, investigate the presentation and style of different stories to see whether these also had an impact; and examine whether story times helped children develop their vocabulary.

Aim: To investigate the differences in the way writing in a foreign language is taught in the first year of secondary education in France and England to see what could be learned from such a comparison to improve our classroom practice. Challenge; Cultural awareness; Key stage 3; Literacy/English; MFL

Aim: To raise pupils attainment in mental calculations in mathematics through developing their ability to articulate the strategies they use.