Thirty Year 5 pupils had the opportunity to learn about criminal behaviour at elearning@luton last week when they attended a day of activities focusing on Victorian child criminals. At the start of the day the pupils took part in a live videoconference with the National Archive where they learnt about thirteen year old William Mundy who was sentenced to three months hard labour for stealing a bag of sugar. They also had the opportunity to view Guy Fawkes signed confession, the love letter from Catherine Howard that sentenced her to death by beheading and the last message from the Titanic sent before the ship sank.

The pupils were then set the task of writing a poem from the perspective of a Victorian child criminal, articulating their thoughts and feelings. Once the text had been written, the poems were recorded using Garageband, with the pupils paying particular attention to their presentation and performance skills.

Finally, the students were shown how to use the programme "Crazy Talk". This allowed them to select an appropriate image from the internet of a Victorian child and then animate the face. The poems were added to the animations and the software lipsynched automatically.

The day was a big success, with the pupils commenting that they really enjoyed the chance to experience technology that was new to them. The videoconference also proved to be a hit, and allowed the pupils to engage with learning in a way that they had not experienced before.