U learn Presentation_2008_Discovering Our Backyard

Click here to get your free novaPDF Lite registration key

NZCD - elearning
• Schools should explore not
only how ICT can supplement
traditional ways of teaching
but also how it can open up
new and different ways of
learning.

Ministry of Education,.(2007) The New Zealand Curriculum. Learning Media Ltd,. (p. 36)


Discoveries – School-wide
theme


inquiry ap proach to
An
ring our b ackyard
Discove


Inquiry Learning
Inquiry learning involves students forming their own
questions about a topic and having time to explore the
answers.

There are 6 stages:
• Tuning In
• Finding Out
• Sorting Out
• Going Further
• Reflection
• Action

Wilson, J., & Wing Jan, L. (2003).' Focus on Inquiry'. Curriculum Corporation. (p. 12)


Graphical Representation
Tuning In Finding Out

Action Sorting Out

Reflection Going Further


Tuning In
• To engage students in the topic.
• To gauge student interest and attitudes.
• To find out what students believe.
• To provide opportunities for students to share
what they already know and believe.
• To introduce/clarify language.
• To identify gaps in their knowledge and
misconceptions.
• To assist with teacher planning of the unit.


We thought of some of the things
we might find in our backyard.

centipede ladybugs

snails wasp ants
flies
grasshoppers

Here is the way we sorted our list.

We wondered what makes an
insect an insect?

We weren’t too
sure whether a
dragonfly was an
insect or not so we
checked the garden
detective learning
object.


We came up with some other
questions we wanted to answer.

How many spots does a ladybug
have ? (Josie)

What do ladybugs eat ? (Tony)

Why do butterflies not live very
long? (Charlotte)


Finding Out
Finding Out
• To take students beyond what they already
know.
• To challenge students’ ideas, beliefs and values.
• To enable students to use skills (eg thinking,
communication, cooperation, research) and
knowledge to collect information.

Wilson, J., & Wing Jan, L. (2003).' Foucs on Inquiry'. Curriculum Corporation. (p. 12)


We looked at this fabulous website to
explore what makes an insect an insect.


missgambyswiki


Music by: Starfish Music Company

We used kidpix to create pictorial images
of insects to show their understanding.


With the Kowhai team we headed out to
Butterfly creek. It was a great day – we
saw a lot of animals and butterflies.


We wrote about our trip and displayed our
work in the classroom.


Having read ‘bubbles’ we got interested in
‘hedgehogs’. We read a lot of books and
made a class y chart.

We wrote information reports about
hedgehogs.

We made potato hedgehogs.

We were reporters and recorded a fact
about a hedgehog.

As a class we read ‘My worm house’. Keen to
make our own work house we looked at the
website which told us what worms like.

We had a great deal of fun
making our own worm house.

We made a class e book using the pictures
we had taken. We put the e book on our
class blog to share with our families.


We used our new found knowledge about
worms to show Room 2 how to make a worm
house.


We wriggled into our classroom pretending
to be worms moving through the soil making
a tunnel.


Sorting Out
Sorting Out
• To sort out, organise, represent and present
information from the Finding Out stage of the
unit.
• To provide opportunities for students to use their
preferred ways of learning to demonstrate their
learning (knowledge, skills values).



We used this experience to write
statements about worms.


One day after
play Jordan
noticed a
ladybug on her
hand. We looked
at it and the
questions flowed.
How many spots
goes a ladybug
have ?

What do ladybugs
How long do
eat ?
ladybugs live for ?


More Questions
Inquiry learning allows
you to take advantage of
those teachable
moments by its non-liner
nature.


We made ladybug paper
weights.

We found books about
ladybugs and made a class Y
chart to organise the
information we collected and
used this to write an
information report.

We made a ‘web’
sharing all the
facts we knew
about ladybugs.
We then had a
ladybug huddle.

We enjoyed playing
this game where we
had to feed the
ladybugs aphids.


Grace brought in ladybugs
she had found in the
weekend. We thought
they were looking a little
hungry so we put them on
our plant covered in
aphids. We watched the
ladybugs eat the aphids!

A ladybug can eat up
to 100 aphids in a day


We used kidpix to draw a ladybug.


Faith found this
dead ‘butterfly’
in our classroom.
Tara informed
her it was a
moth – Faith was
adamant it was a
butterfly.


Going Further
• To extend/broaden the unit if appropriate.
• To allow students to investigate areas of
personal interest.
• To use their preferred learning style.
• To present another perspective on, or
dimension to, the topic.



The moth – butterfly debate had begun.
We collected facts and presented our
information on a Venn diagram

We wrote down the facts we knew about
moths and butterflies.

We decided that
Faith had found a
moth. It had a
feathery antennae
and a fat body.


We used kidpix to demonstrate our new
understanding of the difference between a
moth and a butterfly.


We explored the life
cycle of the
butterfly.

We looked at the
monarch butterfly
site where we
watched a caterpillar
emerge from its egg.


We received an email from the ‘butterfly
lady’ who had seen our blog. We sent her an
Email along with some of kidpix drawings.

She sent us
another email
explaining how to
tag butterflies,
suggesting we join
the tagging
programme next
year.


We discovered that butterflies liked to
get nectar from Bottlebrush, Poinsettia, Hibiscus

The next day
Josie brought us
in a hibiscus.

It was great to
see first hand a
flower a
butterfly likes
to get nectar
from.

Each stage of the cycle was videoed.

We also used kidpix to show the lifecycle.


Reflection
• To provide opportunities for students to
think about their learning – how they learnt
what they learnt and why.
• To identify changes in skills, knowledge
and values.
• To draw conclusions and make
connections between ideas.

Wilson, J., & Wing Jan, L. (2003).' Foucs on Inquiry'. Curriculum Corporation. (p. 12)


We wandered
around our
school grounds.
We discovered
we had a lot of
beautiful trees
but very few
flowers that
would attract
butterflies and
insects into our
school grounds.


We thought about what we could do
about it -

Plant some
flowers in a
pot
Grow some
seeds and plant
them

Plants need soil
too.
Plant some
more hibiscus
Plants need sun
and rain


Action
• To identify what students have learnt and
the implications for personal actions.
• To enable students to make choices and
apply their ideas.
• To relate their learning to real-life
situations.



We talked about the price of planter boxes
and plants


We sent an email to our principal Mrs Heasman to
seek permission to plant some flowers in our
school grounds.


We sent Kaiyu our classroom
representative to the garden centre to
help select plants and a planter box.


It was with great excitement that we
planted our planter box and hibiscus plants.


On the last day of the
term – we watched our
video and every one went
home with their own
copy.


Assessment


Inspiration Planning Document


U learn Presentation_2008_Discovering Our Backyard

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (7)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

U learn Presentation_2008_Discovering Our Backyard