Week 5 - Blog Post Three

Education for Sustainability and HASS Education – Grade 5

Over the last week the students watched the ABC documentary ‘War on Waste.’ The students were shocked by the amount of waste that Australia is producing and I posed a question to them. “How can we decrease our waste at home, at school and within the community?” This set the stage for an inquiry-based project for students. The students were motivated to be active citizens and make a difference. Using inquiry-based learning, students are active participants and are learning skills which are transferable throughout life and centres their learning in an authentic context (Murdoch, 2015).

Cool Australia (n.d.) has a fact sheet about waste which many students have been using as a guide to begin their project. It comprises suggestions for producing less waste and what is the right thing to do with your waste.

(Cool Australia, n.d.)

The challenge for the students, is to use their critical and creative thinking skills to work out how to get their message across the school to the different grades and within the community. The students researched communication methods, devised plans and redrafted and adapted ideas. For students, having the ability to be critical and creative thinkers is a 21^st century skill that will help them succeed beyond their schooling (Marin, & Halpern, 2011). It develops the skills in students “to be creative, innovative, enterprising and adaptable, with the motivation, confidence and skills to use critical and creative thinking purposefully” (ACARA, n.d. para 3). Such strategies are teaching students ‘how to think’ and not ‘what to think’ (Thomas, 2009; Leicester, 2009).

These are some example of the projects the students are doing:

(Maple Shade Schools go green with new food composting program, 2015)

·      Working with the groundskeeper to put up compost and recycling bins around the school.

(Just say no to plastic bags, n.d.)

·      Creating information posters and setting up collection points for old plastic bags. 

(Northern Illawarra schools win grant for sustainability projects, 2016)

·      Bringing the old vegetable garden site back to life and growing healthy food.

It is important that the students are engaged and participating in sustainable living because they are the next generation who are growing up within the world and it will be their responsibility to think about solutions to current environmental problems. By educating students on sustainability, the goal is to promote knowledge, positive attitudes and guide students in knowing that they do have the power and ability to make a positive difference in the world (Littedyke, Taylor, & Eames, 2009).

There are many opportunities for parents to get involved with students’ learning. Some students are working on creating a post for our school’s social media site about ways of living sustainably at home. Embrace some of the suggestions made by students and encourage environmentally friendly living. Another group of students is planning a buy and sell clothes night where you can donate and buy second-hand clothing. 

This week’s learning has links to ACARA’s content descriptors about: 

(ACARA, 2016)

References

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2016, December 16). The Australian Curriculum: F-6/7 HASS (Version 8.3), F-6/7, all curriculum elements, all curriculum dimensions. Retrieved from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/download/f10

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. (n.d.). Critical and creative thinking. Retrieved from https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10curriculum/general-capabilities/critical-and-creative-thinking/

Cool Australia. (n.d.). Waste fact sheet. Retrieved from https://coolaustralia.org/wp content/uploads/2013/10/Wastefactsheet1.pdf

Just say no to plastic bags [online image]. Retrieved from http://www.greenribbonschools.org/activity-detail.php?id=2879&resId=4387

Leicester, M. (2009). Teaching critical thinking skills. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Littledyke, M., Taylor, N., & Eames, C. (2009). Education for sustainability in the primary curriculum: A guide for teachers. South Yarra, VIC: Palgrave Macmillan.

Maple Shade Schools go green with new food composting program [online image]. (2015). Retrieved from http://sustainablemapleshade.com/maple-shade-schools-go-green-with-new-food-composting-program/

Marin, L., & Halpern, D. (2011). Pedagogy for developing critical thinking in adolescents: Explicit instruction produces greatest gains. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 6(1), 1-13.

Murdoch, K. (2015). The Power of Inquiry. Northcote, VIC: Seastar Education.

Northern Illawarra schools win grants for sustainability projects [online image]. (2016). Retrieved from https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/4164436/sustainability-grants-for-northern-schools/

Thomas, I. (2009). Critical thinking, transformative learning, sustainable education and problem-based learning in universities. Journal of Transformative Education, 7(3), 245-264.

Week 4 - Blog Post Two

Citizenship Through Geography – Grade 5

This week’s learning was about bushfires and floods in Tasmania and how the students, as citizens in the community can make a difference through the State Emergency Service (SES).  Unfortunately, while Tasmania does escape many large natural disasters that sadly occur throughout the world, our island does still have its share of floods and bushfires. Within recent years, students can remember the floods that impacted Launceston in 2016 and the most recent bushfires in the summer of the same year.

This week’s learning sequence began with a KWL (what I know – what I want to know – what I learnt), writing down and discussing what the students knew about bushfires and floods in Tasmania.

(E-KWL charts, n.d.)

 From this we had a whole class discussion and the students were very enthusiastic, especially to share what they had seen in the 2016 floods. Students brought in photographs their families had taken of the floods and a couple of parents came in to discuss how the flood impacted their business. Thank you to those parents. 

The KWL was put to good use when Mr Smith, a member of SES Tasmania came to visit the class. Mr Smith was able to answer the student’s questions and listen to their stories and ideas, in-turn providing students with some great information on what the SES does in regard to bushfire and flood prevention, reinforcing the message that education and understanding is key (Peek, 2008). Mr Smith also told the students about WOW Day.

(SES, 2018)

Students are excited to get involved and are planning on using the day as a gold coin donation fundraiser to raise money for victims in the recent natural disaster. With about four weeks to plan, the students are creating posters (including online posters) and donation boxes to put around the school and on the school’s social media/website. Parents, the students are hoping that some of the posters they have created will be able to go up within your workplaces/social media so that their fundraising and awareness can extend beyond the school and into the community.

Through this project the students are engaging in community-based citizenship learning and are gaining respected skills and values (Reynolds, 2014; Gilbert, & Hoepper, 2017). Incorporating the online and social media aspect of the task, the students are provided with a new platform to engage and participate within their community on a much broader scale. This is a new way information is being shared and shows how people are collaborating through citizenship. In the activities, the students are learning an appropriate way to engage with the community on a broader scale and in doing so developing skills and expanding their social and community relations (Loader, Vronmen, & Xenos, 2014; Wilks, 2010).

These lessons link to the following descriptors from the Curriculum:

(ACARA, 2016)

References

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2016, December 16). The Australian Curriculum: F-6/7 HASS (Version 8.3), F-6/7, all curriculum elements, all curriculum dimensions. Retrieved from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/download/f10

E-KWL charts [online image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/site/theamazingworldofteaching/kwl-charts

Gilbert, R., & Hoepper, B. (2017). Teaching humanities & social sciences: History geography, economics and citizenship in the Australian Curriculum (6^th ed.). South Melbourne, VIC: Cengage Learning. 

Loader, B., Vronmen, A., & Xenos, M. (2014). The networked young citizen: Social media, political participation and civic engagement. Information, Communication & Society, 17(2), 143-150.

Peek, L. (2008). Children and disasters: Understanding vulnerability, developing capacities, and promoting resilience – An introduction. Children Youth and Environments, 18(1), 1-29.

Reynolds, R. (2014). Teaching humanities and social science in primary school. Oxford University Press.

SES. (2018). WOW DAY. Retrieved from http://www.wearorangewednesday.com.au/uploads/fact-sheet-school-.pdf

Wilks, J. (2010). Child-friendly cities: A place from active citizenship in geographical and environmental education. International Research in Geographical and Environmental  Education, 19(1), 25-38.

Week 3 - Blog Post One

Citizenship Through History – Grade 5

Over the last couple of weeks in Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS), students have been learning about why people have come to Australia in the past and present and what our country’s democracy has to do with this. Students enjoyed looking at the different crimes convicts were sent to Tasmania for during the excursion last week to the Campbell Town’s Convict Trail. It was wonderful seeing students who had convicts in their family history find their brick and I’d like to thank the parents who have discussed their family heritage with their children. Students collected data on the types of crimes committed and back in class we discussed what the consequence for such crimes would be today (for example a common crime was food theft).   

(Woodford, 2017)

Switching students learning to the current day, I asked students to brainstorm the reasons why people might migrate to Australia now. With the current reasons, students were placed into groups and created a PowerPoint presentation which they presented to their peers. Today the students began brainstorming ideas for how they are going to present a ‘welcoming’ to new migrants. Some students have chosen a letter or information brochure and others are recording a video. Within this the students are encouraged to welcome and provide information about how our democracy works in Australia, covering topics such as elections, the government, freedom of speech, expression and religious beliefs, etc. The students will complete this as a group directed inquiry which allows for students to take control of their own learning (Killen, 2013). Once completed, the ‘welcomes’ will be passed onto a local Politician within the community.

Parents can help extend this activity by discussing any people that you know in the community, such as friends, family or colleagues who are migrants to Australia. Allow them to see and understand that migrants are within our local community. Discuss what it would be like if your family had to move to another country, what would everyone be feeling and what questions would you want to know about the new country. This information, empathy and ability to see different viewpoints will assist the students in their ‘welcomes’.

Through learning history first, students are able to identify how the events of the past have led to the present (Harrison, 2013; Gilbert, 2011). Connecting the lesson to the present and including Civics and Citizenship Education (CCE) through the ‘welcoming’ project, students are able to learn through the promotion of positive attitudes, actions and behaviours by taking action in their local community (Ying Neoh, 2017). By extending the learning beyond the classroom and into the community, the students are able to identify a purpose within their learning and understand what makes them a citizen. It shows them that they do have the ability to go beyond the ‘normal’ duties of a citizen (voting, taxes, etc.) and can create change and participate in ways which can make a difference within their community (Wood, & Black, 2014).

The curriculum links to our learning this week are:

(Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2016)

References

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2016, December 16). The Australian Curriculum: F-6/7 HASS (Version 8.3), F-6/7, all curriculum elements, all curriculum dimensions. Retrieved from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/download/f10

Gilbert, R. (2011). Can history succeed at school? Problems of knowledge in the Australian history curriculum. Australian Journal of Education, 55(3), 245-258.

Killen, R. (2013). Effective teaching strategies: Lessons from research and practice. South Melbourne, VIC: Cengage Learning Australia.

Harrison, N. (2013). Country teaches: The significance of the local in the Australian history curriculum. Australian Journal of Education, 57(3), 214-224.

Wood, B., & Black, R. (2014). Performing citizenship down under: Educating the active citizen. Journal of Social Science Education, 13(4), 56-65.