MAIN CURRICULUM FOCUS
HASS Geography
The Earth’s environment sustains us all.
The main characteristics (e.g. climate, natural vegetation, landforms, native animals) of the continents of Africa and Europe, and the location of their major countries in relation to Australia.
The importance of environments to animals and people, and different views on how they can be protected.
The natural resources (e.g. water, timber, minerals) provided by the environment and different views on how they can be used sustainably
General Capabilities and Cross curriculum capabilities
Critical and creative thinking
Ethical understanding
Personal and social capabilities
Intercultural understanding
CROSS-CURRICULAR LINKS
English
Language and Interaction
Interacting with Others
Literature and Context
Visual Arts
Making, Ideas, Skills, Performance/Production, Responding
Technology
Technology, Processes and Production Skills
Digital Technologies – Knowledge and Understanding
CONTEXT
The 'Role of the Learner' is a really important area for development in Year 4, I believe. There are a few students in the class who can self-manage consistently across all learning areas, without much instruction. I also have students who require directed learning and teaching, even after explicit
instruction. I would say that the class is between halfway and towards the low-functioning level of the scale. Students already had an interest in sport and art but how could we enliven their curiosity of geography and encourage them to explore and share opinions? Our goal was to build the effective use of Creative Habits with students whose abilities range from louder voices to those who struggle with self-regulation. Activities were designed to explore habitats and the relationship between animals and humans. Reflecting on endangered and threatened animal species in Africa and Europe, group discussions considered how environmentalism, ethical choices and the best interests of animals can be achieved while encouraging students to use the creative habits of mind to share opinions and seek answers.
“It is hard to relinquish control. I’d like to encourage the kids to gain independence and get better at problem solving, developing higher order thinking and getting them engaged.” (Teacher)
WHAT WE DID
A zoo sleepover at the end of the school term was the starting point for an exploration of the dwindling numbers of native animals throughout Africa and Europe. The recent passing of Tricia the Elephant at Perth Zoo and the development of a French retirement centre for elephants invited discussions and sharing of opinions considering the concepts of place, space, environment, interconnection and sustainability. Through differing views and continuous questioning, students were challenged to improve their critical thinking skills through an inquisitive program of researching opinions, facts and statistics.
In an online introductory session students shared their interests and put forward ideas on what they would like to learn more about. This formed the basis for how the content could be delivered. Sport, art, games and mathematics featured strongly so using these in warm ups along with the exploration of animals in the wild and those kept in captivity, students began to form alliances, sometimes with peers who they may not usually choose to work alongside.
To stretch knowledge of the African and European continents, animals from various countries were used as groups. Students were persuaded to change opinions and writing was encouraged in the use of games and tasks. Warm ups and main activities focussed on continuous random grouping of students, setting up challenges and inviting curiosity. Students working in different groups were able to determine their strengths and weaknesses and recognize the groups where these were best suited.
“They are working better in teams and not arguing as much. They don’t mind too much who is in their team. It’s helped us get to know each other better and work well together.” (Student)
Incorporating their chosen areas of sport, art and maths, the class was challenged with developing a game that incorporated these elements as a way of sharing their geography and animal discoveries with other classes. This has resulted in international sporting teams and playing fields being designed, identified by animals and country flags, to play reimagined games similar to soccer, hockey and netball. Students created a rule book, uniforms, a scoring system and a mock up field in which to demonstrate the operation of their games as well as a video advertisement persuading an audience to choose to play their game.
WHAT WAS THE IMPACT?
Not knowing the plan and working in constantly changing groups gained positive responses from students, particularly to the challenges set each week. They became better at working with each other rather than sticking with friends and began making positive choices about where and who they worked best with. Confidence grew as they presented their points of view, even if sometimes the facts weren’t correct. Students learnt more through presenting and sharing research with other groups, particularly through warm up games and the development of their sports.
Using a timer as a tool to increase student focus between tasks became a successful method for developing self-regulation. It enabled groups to visually determine when they were improving their use of creative habits effectively within shorter time frames. Over a succession of weeks, they began to make better use of their use of time and match this to their strengths.
Higher order thinking is developing even though a few students continue to struggle with thinking for themselves rather than being given the answer. When they pose the question ‘but what does it mean?’ They are being answered by other students with ‘you have to think’.
“The students are becoming increasingly inquisitive and wanting to learn more, as they become more engaged… We began to cover several areas of the curriculum intentionally, such as Geography and technology but unintentionally, the project developed to include advertisements and persuasive writing.” (Teacher)
“Class behaviour improved as they are learning new things, particularly the animal component and working in groups. Students are now choosing to work outside, more able to ignore the allure of the playground equipment. Groups extend themselves using mind maps, researching and planning, rather than writing basic answers. There was an increased upward trend of sharing roles and taking on other people's ideas and opinions has resulted in improved collaboration even when some people play bigger parts than others. They are demonstrating discipline and persistence, developing independent work habits and checking in with each other for help.” (Teacher)
“I’ve been more imaginative and collaborative. I had to imagine about elephants because I haven’t seen a real one. I didn’t know much about them before. My group was ‘Similarity’. I was imagining the similarities between different elephants. I’ve been working hard in teams. Before I was very shy. I’ve had more courage to be collaborating in teams and give more of my ideas.” (Student)
“You create more than you usually do. Normally at school we create two stories but in Creative Schools we would create ten stories. We learn more than we would usually learn at school. Creativity is about being expressive. In Creative Schools we get to be a team player and help other people. You write down good and bad ideas. Sometimes the bad ideas work sometimes the good ideas help.” (Student)
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