Marcus Garvey once quoted, “A person without the knowledge of their history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.” These words distinctly express the importance of correlating where we are at the moment to the time and places from which we have evolved.
The transdisciplinary theme of ‘Where we are in place and time’ gave the scope to our young inquirers to explore the ancient world and the early civilisations. The learning process was engaging and interesting for the learners as they all worked together to build their Civilisation Museum for their Summative assessment.
Let’s have a look at our journey through this unit.
1. Using the Power of Provocation
Provocation is an integral part of the PYP classroom. It invokes the natural curiosity of the learners and triggers a meaningful learning environment for them. To begin with, teachers set civilisation stations outside the classrooms. These stations had books and images of ancient civilisations like the Indus Valley Civilisation, The Egyptian Civilisation etc. Learners were asked to explore each station and write about what fascinates them about that particular civilisation. Students took their own to explore each station and write down about their captivation of that particular civilisation. They were then ready to select any one or more than one civilisation to inquire about in detail.
2. Our inquiry journey
Learning engagements must be planned to involve students in authentic inquiry. There were multiple engagements planned during this unit which helped our learners to attain knowledge and make connections during the unit. A few of them are mentioned below-
● Expert Group Research- To inquire in detail about our first line of inquiry – ‘Characteristics of civilizations’, students were divided into expert groups. They exercised agency to select civilisation and inquire about its characteristics. They gathered knowledge from multiple sources and presented the same in class. While investigating various ancient civilisations students came to an understanding that all civilisations had similar traits as they required similar things to flourish and develop an accomplished civilisation like trade, government, clothing etc.
● Field trip- Going beyond the classroom boundaries, field trips help in extending learning experiences for elementary students. At VKE, we always believe in giving enriching learning experiences to our learners. Our trip to the Deccan College of Archaeology was an example of one such learning taking place beyond the classroom. Students saw models and artefacts from various excavation sites in India. They also learnt about the process of archaeology and the importance of the inventions that took place in the past. Students understood and made immediate connections between past and present lifestyles. Learners could not stop but be amazed by the inventions of the past such as pots, fire, wheels etc which we still use in an advanced manner.
● I am an Archaeologist- Students learn much faster when they are having fun and are engaged in a hands-on activity. This learning engagement was yet another outdoor learning planned during the unit, where learners took up the role of an archaeologist to dig up the selected area and search for artefacts and shreds of evidence of the past. Our learners were enthralled to learn the process of archaeology through this learning engagement.
● Projecting across time- This learning engagement was insightful for the teachers as facilitators because students used this tool to make their learning visible. They wrote down their understanding of the concept of change and connection. They could sum it up by saying that our present-day societies are based on past inventions.
3. Co-constructing the Summative assessment and success criteria- An important aspect of learning is to make it visible to the entire learning community. Students require a free hand to express their thoughts in the best possible ways. Keeping their interests and strengths and weaknesses in mind, learners designed their summative assessment and its success criteria in collaboration with their teachers. As this was designed well in advance, it proved to be like a vision board for our inquirers. Whatever they did, made or planned was keeping summative of the ‘Civilisation Museum’ in mind.
4. Preparing for D-day- With thrill and fun, students headed towards preparing for the final presentation day. Like skilful curators, students curated their ‘Civilisation Museum’ with artefacts, charts, models, illustrations etc. Our parent community was a part of this too as they relived their childhood with our little champions during the ‘Children’s Day’ activity. Parents spent some quality time with the learners to learn and make a few clay artefacts. These artefacts were also a part of this museum.
Reflections- Parents and students were both overwhelmed to see the results. All the hard work paid off when students celebrated their learning from the unit. It was refreshing to see the learners back in action and enthusiastic after the lockdown.
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