Making DOTS ID Cards

All DOTS Agents need an ID Card to prove that they are a member, and these will need to be downloaded and printed in advance using the DOTS ID Cards template. If you have a small budget, then we recommend that you also buy some safety lanyards and ID Card holders for your class to add to the authenticity of the experience. The children should also be given time to decorate and personalise them. You can keep these ID Cards in school and use them any time you choose to run a DOTS project, or send them home with the children as a memento of the experience.

Making a Dream Machine

Within the fictional frame of the DOTS Mission, DOTS agents need to use special devices called ‘Dream Machines’ or ‘Digital Dream Catchers’ to catch dreams. (Think the BFG in the digital age). These strange contraptions, once placed by a window, have the capacity to catch dreams from across time and space. Here is a DOTS film which features the very latest model of ‘Dream Catcher’ from DOTS HQ. It outlines all the key features needed and why they are important.

For a small fee you can have a digital dream machine designed for you by KIT Theatre or hire the ‘SnoozeSnaffler’ which is featured in the film. However, it is also very easy to create your own with the children by following the DOTS Guide to Making a Dream Machine. We have also created official DOTS Dream Machine Planning Sheets so the children can record their ideas. All the children need to do is include six features: light, container, scales, pen, net and funnel (with USB)

Check out these designs which were planned by a group of 9-year-old DOTS Agents:

Next Steps…

See if your local area has a scrap project as this can be a cheap way of gathering unusual materials

Imagine different types of machines. Could the children design a ‘special machine’ that might catch the dreams of mice, or dreams from festivals, or dreams from long ago…?

The Snooze Snaffler

The Light Wonder

The Big Cheese

You might ask groups to focus on different parts or the machine before piecing them together.

Making a Digital Dream

Within the fictional frame of the DOTS Mission, a ‘digital dream’ is a multi-media message. It is often fragmented and needs to be pieced together. It may consist of short film clips, music, books, letters, clothes or indeed any object that is significant to the dreamer. Like most dreams, the meaning is not always clear. The best way of interpreting the dream is often to consider the dream makes the dreamer feel. ‘Heavy dreams’ often have an uneasy or anxious or sad feeling, which might be conveyed through the tone of the music, or words in a letter, or the physical movements of the dreamer in the film footage. If the DOTS agents catch a heavy dream in their dream machine, they study it to work out why the dreamer might be anxious or upset. They then make a ‘light dreams’ which contains a positive message for the dreamer, to make them feel better and help them solve any challenges that may be worrying them.

Interpreting Heavy Dreams

Teachers need to present children with a ‘heavy dream’ to introduce the children to the dreamer and the problem they might be facing. This dream is ‘found’ inside the dream machine during the game. Here are some extracts from Ada Lovelace’s Heavy Dream (The full version is available on request, free of charge).

Film Clip from Ada’s Heavy Dream (Short Version)

Other items found in the dream machine, if you catch Ada’s Heavy Dream, might include the dress she wears in the film footage, broken boats and planes which have gone wrong and letters expressing frustration with the inventions that will not go right.

Artefacts from Ada’s Dream

Fixing Dreams

DOTS Agents must improve and transform heavy dreams by remixing the contents or creating new versions of the dream.

DOTS Guide to Making a Dream

Artefacts

The artefacts that children ‘discover’ in the dream machine will help them discover more about the dreamer but they will also become resources in their own animations, photos or films as they ‘remix the dream. Here are some artefacts which were created by trainee teachers. They relate to Nelly Bly’s dreams of travelling the world as a reporter:

Short films

You can use simple software such as iMovie to create short films which could convey information about the dreamer to children. For example, trainee teachers made a short film of Nelly Bly packing her bag for the journey using an iPad. They used iMovie to add a filter which made it appear like old film footage, crackling in black and white. During the project children added to the film, dressing as Nelly Bly and documented parts of her journey.

Animation

You could also experiment with stop frame animation using free software such as IcanAnimate and our DOTS Guide to Animation (available online at https://www.dots.team). Here are examples of animations created by 5-year-old and 11-year-old children, which were created to inspire the dreamer Ada Lovelace to travel the world.

Stories, Letters, Diaries and News Reports

During the project there are opportunities to draw on a range of genre conventions when creating new ‘digital dreams’. For example, children might choose to create a pop-up book which narrated an adventure and film it in action, or audio record a biography about the dreamers life. Alternatively, children might film a news report about the dreamers’ achievements. Using simple green screen software can help children ‘appear’ in an authentic newsroom as they create their reports. Children could also create film footage of events and record voiceover narration to accompany the images.