Last time you investigated a real-world problem with real Irish data and framed it as something a program or website could help with. Today you pitch that proposal, hear what others notice, and decide what stays and what changes. By the end you will have a clear, saved justification and your one-sentence idea live on the class collection, ready for the website work ahead.
Quick recap only: ask one or two students what problem they investigated and what one number from their data table showed. Do not re-teach the investigation. Signal that this pitch is the bridge into the website work and, later, the CBA: the topic they justify today is the one they may keep building on.
A pitch is short and clear. You have about a minute. Cover four things, in this order:
- The problem: who it affects and where (near you, in Ireland, or both).
- The evidence: one or two facts from the data you recorded last time, not a vague feeling.
- The idea: what a program or website could do to help.
- Why it matters: one sentence on why this is worth building.
Here is a short example of how the four parts sound together:
- The problem: Families planning outdoor sports near Cork need clearer notice when heavy rain is likely on school days.
- The evidence: Rainfall figures we recorded for term time show several wet Fridays in a row, which matches cancelled training nights.
- The idea: A simple website could show the next few days of local rain risk and flag the better day for a fixture.
- Why it matters: Coaches and students could plan around the data instead of finding out too late on the morning.
Lead with the four headings on screen, then model a live 60-second pitch yourself (use the on-screen example or a close variant such as Dublin Bikes availability at peak times). Point at each heading as you speak so students link the oral model to the shape. Only after the live model, leave the written example up for a quick scan. Do not teach the Strength/Question feedback stem here; that sits at the top of the next step so this block stays on pitch shape only. Keep the whole step under seven minutes so the pitch round has room.
If anyone has no proposal from last time, give them two minutes now to pick a problem and one data fact they remember, or pair them with someone whose topic they can help present.
Present your proposal and give feedback on others.
When you listen, your job is to give one strength (something that landed well) and one question (something that still needs to be clearer or more precise). A question is more useful than a vague compliment. Write both on two short lines before you share them out loud:
- Strength: …
- Question: …
- When it is your turn, pitch for up to one minute using the four-part shape: problem, evidence, idea, why it matters.
- When you listen, write one strength and one question for the speaker on the two short lines above.
- After each pitch, share the strength and the question out loud so the speaker can write them down.
- Keep going until everyone in your group has pitched and received feedback.
By the end of the round you should have written down: the strength you were given, the question you were given, and one strength and one question you gave someone else.
Organise in groups of four (not five) so every student pitches within the time. Whole-class pitches will overrun. Put a visible one-minute timer on the board or screen and call rotate when it ends.
Before the first pitch, model weak feedback ("Yeah that was good") against strong feedback ("Your data point about wet Fridays was clear. How would the website decide which day to recommend?") in under a minute, and point at the Strength / Question stem already on screen so listeners start writing straight away.
Suggested timing
- About 2 minutes to form groups, open notes or data from last time, and hear the quick weak-vs-strong feedback contrast
- About 13 minutes of pitch-and-feedback cycles (roughly 3 minutes per person including feedback)
- About 1 minute to settle and check everyone has notes
Look-fors while you circulate
- Pitches that stay in opinion with no data: prompt "Which number from your table supports that?"
- Feedback that is only praise: prompt for a precise question about audience, data, or what the program would actually do
- Students reading a wall of text: remind them the four bullets are enough
If a group finishes early, have them swap one question across groups and answer it.
Use the feedback you received to decide what you are keeping and what you are changing. Write a short justification you can return to later. Include all four of these:
- I am continuing with this topic because… (why it is still worthwhile, with at least one piece of evidence from your data)
- One strength others noticed was…
- One change I will make after feedback is… (or: one thing I will keep the same, and why the question does not require a change)
- What a program or website could do is… (one clear sentence, sharper than before if the feedback pushed you)
Save this justification in your notebook or the shared folder your teacher named on the board.
Then add only your one clear idea sentence (the "what a program or website could do" line) to the shared class pad or slide your teacher named on the board, under your name or initials. Leave it on screen so the class can see the full set of ideas. You will need both the saved justification and this live idea line when you build a small website about this problem and when you choose your CBA approach later.
This is individual writing time, finishing with a tiny make-something beat: each student pastes or types only their one idea sentence into the shared pad or slide. Have that destination open on the board projector so the collection builds in real time. Circulate and push for specificity: a justification that says "because it is important" is not done. Ask "Important to whom, and what does your data show?"
Some students will want to abandon their topic after a hard question. That is allowed only if they can name a replacement with evidence already in hand; otherwise coach them to refine rather than restart. The learning outcome is to justify continuing, including changes made after feedback.
With about two minutes left, remind everyone to save the full justification to the place you named on the board and to get their one idea sentence onto the shared pad or slide before the round ends. If the pad is slow on the network, students can type into a teacher-projected slide instead.
A proposal gets stronger when other people test it. Hold on to three ideas:
- Strength = what already landed in your pitch (the part listeners understood straight away).
- Question = where the plan was still vague: the audience, the data, or what the program would actually do.
- Justify = why it is still worth building, plus what you changed because someone asked something useful.
For example, a strength might be "your wet-Friday data point was clear," and a question might be "how would the site choose which day to recommend?" That question is what pushes the idea sentence in your justification to be sharper than the first draft. Your saved justification and the idea sentence now sitting on the class collection are the bridge into building a website about this problem next.
Take two or three quick examples from the room: one strength that was precise, one question that caused a real change, one justification sentence that uses data. Glance at the shared pad or slide and read one or two idea sentences aloud so students see the class collection as the start of the build. Keep it brisk. Do not reopen full pitches. Bridge orally only: this topic is the one they may build as a website next. No file or HTML work today.
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