Dr Yvonne Skipper was part of a team of psychologists analysing ProjectTooManyCooks \u2013 a writing workshop that challenges a group of students to write a full-length novel in just five days.<\/p>\n The project, devised by Computer Science research assistant Dr Joe Reddington in partnership with the English Department, saw a group of nine sixth-formers from Strode\u2019s College work collaboratively on the novel, which was set in real time and drew on the events of the previous week. They had just one day to plan their story and establish a plot, two days to collectively write the novel and a day and a half to proofread and make any last minute alterations before it is sent to the printers to be published.<\/p>\n Dr Skipper said: \u201cWe were looking at a number of outcomes such as self-esteem,\u00a0initiative, conceptions of success and interpersonal skills including team work<\/strong>. We ask young people questions about their skills and feelings\u00a0at the beginning of the week and again at the end to allow us to examine how participating in the project may influence them.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr Skipper explains: \u201cOne of our key measures is locus of control \u2013 whether\u00a0students believe they are in control of their life or if things just happen to them<\/strong>.\u00a0 We are\u00a0examining whether working on a project like this leads students to feel more\u00a0in control over what happens to them and that they can succeed\u00a0if they are willing to put in the effort to do so.\u00a0 If this is the case then\u00a0we would expect that in the future they would be more likely to take the\u00a0initiative to make things they want happen for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr Reddington explains that ProjectTooManyCooks is about artefact-based learning and that on the Friday evening, after five days working on the novel, the students can download their book on Amazon and just a few days after the project they receive a published version of their work.<\/p>\n He says: “This is learning by co-operating and creating as a group and then being able to hold in your hands something that is special, that is yours, and that you are proud of making – and we hope that this workshop has put a structure into place that allows the students to do this.”<\/p>\n Dr Skipper adds: \u201cWe are still in the process of analysing the results, but our initial findings suggest that this sort of project can help to raise aspirations, initiative,\u00a0and social skills<\/strong>.\u00a0 It has been\u00a0brilliant to watch the students\u00a0working\u00a0together, developing their ideas and skills through the course of the week.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From the Royal Holloway, University of London press release via Physorg: Psychologists from Royal Holloway, University of London believe a collaborative writing project can help boost self-esteem and improve core… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,9],"tags":[70,256,161,12,167,139,214],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4410"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4410"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4417,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4410\/revisions\/4417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/images\/blogpics\/ComputerUser.jpg\" "\\"writing\\"")
Psychologists from Royal Holloway, University of London believe a collaborative writing project can help boost self-esteem and improve core skills such as team work among young people.<\/strong><\/p>\n