Research Presentation Tips for teachers

When trying to decide what to put in this blog I thought that the best thing would be some tips for Research Presentations (RPs). I am the Principal examiner for this, so have watched over 100 of these to decide how to best reward the students for the marks and also help examiners understand the assessment criteria.

How well do you know the requirements of the Research Presentation? Look at the questions below and see if you can answer them. The answers will help you with your RPs in the future:

Questions

1. When filming, can I zoom in?
2. Can the students choose to research and present on any theatre tradition they are interested in?
3. Can I use a power point to help explain what I am presenting?
4. Do the students need to source their images in their power point?
5. When presenting, can students read from cue cards?
6. Can other people be in the room when a student is presenting?
7. What is the maximum length the presentation can be?
8. Will the examiner watch the presentation if it is longer than the maximum time (15 mins)?
9. Can a moment of theatre have other actors in it to help the student (Bunraku, for example)?
10. Can the student video their moment of theatre and then show it in the presentation?
11. Can the student play a video showing how they practically and physically explored the convention?
12. Do students need to do the presentation in the order that is listed in the guide?
13. Do students have to use supporting materials in their moment of theatre?
14. If I am filming and the school fire bell goes off, or some accidentally enters the room, can I re-film?
15. What is the difference between describe and explain?

Answers

1. Yes, the examiner needs to see face, feet, body etc. Zoom in on anything that needs to be seen closely.
2. No you need to choose from the list on pages 53 and 54 of the guide
3. Yes, you can, but you need to source all the images and other material
4. Yes, they do. They can either source under the image or list the images in their bibliography – numbered with source
5. Yes.
6. Yes, but they must not enter the frame or make a noise.
7. 15 minutes. See page 58 of the guide
8. No. See page 58 of the guide ‘Where the video recording of the presentation exceeds the prescribed limit, examiners are instructed to base their assessment solely on the first 15 minutes.’
9. No. See page 55 of the guide ‘Other students or peers are not permitted to appear in the presentation.‘
10. No. The moment of theatre must be live, and done during the presentation
11. Yes, as this is work they did before the live presentation and this is a good way to illustrate some practical exploration
12. No, but they do need to make sure they cover all 4 areas.
13. No. They only use what is needed. If they do something for Rakugo that needs a fan then they will need to use a fan (or something similar) in the moment.
14. Yes, these are extreme circumstances, and the student should not be penalised for external factors out of their control.
15. DESCRIBES – the student gives a detailed account with some examples. ‘This practice uses a variety of masks, some have large noses, such as Pantalone, some characters, like the lovers, don’t wear masks.’ EXPLAINS – the student gives a detailed account with reasons why or causes and effects. ‘This practice uses a variety of masks to depict the different stock characters, some have large noses, some characters, like the lovers, don’t wear masks. These masks are used so that the characters are instantly recognisable by the audience.’