Big Ideas - Year One ask "What's Your Car of the Future?"

The Year One Big Ideas unit asks the students to design a car of the future. They will design and construct a model of their car. The only requirement is that the car needs to be able to 'roll’. 

The unit incorporates the General Capabilities of Critical and Creative Thinking and the Science strand of Chemical Science as the students explore how certain materials are effective and ineffective to use during their design. They will present their findings as an iBook. 

Big Ideas - Year 9 Teacher Talk

2015 marks the centenary of the Anzac landing at Gallipoli. The Year 9 Big Ideas project has been designed against the backdrop of remembering this important historical turning point in Australia’s history. Over 15 weeks, students will be engaged in exploring the big question: What is the ‘Great War’ of the 21st century?

In order to establish a strong connection between our project and the Anzac centenary, we launched the task with an excursion to the Western Australian Army Museum where students were able to tour the extensive displays depicting the Australian involvement in war, including a tour of the replica trench gallery. This gave the students a broad introduction to the nature of the warfare in World War I and the realities of life in the trenches. The students then visited Monument Hill Memorial, Fremantle, one of the oldest World War I memorials in Western Australia. Here the students created their own tribute to the Anzacs by forming a human ‘1915’ for an aerial photograph.

The following week saw the students move their attention to the present day and they were provided with the opportunity to explore the ‘great wars’ facing humanity now, in the 21st century. The students explored a range of interactive displays dedicated to a range of social justice issues and they were challenged to ‘race to 100’, collecting 100 interesting facts, quotes and statistics about the various ‘great wars’ they encountered.

With an overall sense of the ‘great wars’ of the twenty-first century, the students were then introduced to their project. They have been encouraged to make the connection between the courage, resilience, mateship and determination of the Anzacs with the values they will need to uphold in order to do something about one of the great wars of the 21st century and make a difference.

The students have been divided into ‘Army Corps’ within which they have formed ‘platoons’, with a like-minded group of approximately 3-4 students who collectively wish to focus their project on a particular ‘great war’. The platoons are set to go into battle against wars such as ‘the war on climate change’, ‘the war on obesity’ and ‘the war on poverty’. Upon selecting the ‘great war’ they wish to battle, each platoon has been presented with a certificate representing an historical Anzac in whose honour they will undertake their project.

Pedagogically, the project takes the shape of Challenge Based Learning. We have utilised ICT to support the delivery and student-centered approach to the project through the use of iTunes U. Our iTunes U course outlines the steps in the process of undertaking authentic inquiry about their chosen great war to the platoons identifying, proposing and implementing a real-world solution to make a difference to the ‘great war’ they are focusing on.

In order to undertake their challenge in respect to their chosen great war, the platoons have first generated their own big question on which to focus their challenge. They will be challenged to undertake meaningful research to establish the nature and severity of the issue and help them to generate possible solutions to the extent that they, as young Australians, can make a difference in this ‘great war’. The students are asked to take the research and data analysis skills they have learnt in Geography and Science beyond the classroom and undertake research through such methods as telephone interviews with experts and surveys of students and people in the local community.

Upon collecting and analysing their research data, the students will utilise the skills learnt in English with making info-graphics to formulate their own info-graphic to illustrate the magnitude of their great war and why potential solutions are viable. They will use their info-graphic to support a proposal for a solution that they will present at a “Solution Summit”. Upon their solution being approved, students will once again be provided with opportunities to take their learning outside the classroom as they endeavour to implement their solution at a school, local or global level. Solutions could take the form of initiating a fund-raising activity at school, developing a campaign to raise awareness about the issue in the local community or developing global awareness through utilising social media such as through maintaining a Twitter feed.

Challenge based learning is about taking action as well as reflecting on action. Students will have the opportunity to reflect on their learning as they move through the challenge by maintaining and contributing to a collaborative blog shared by the members of their platoon. The blogging exercise will provide students with a forum for reflecting on and engaging with their learning as well as sharing their experiences and successes with teachers and their peers. The project will provide students with a real-world platform through which to connect with the spirit of Anzac and employ the values of the Anzac legend, as young Australians of the 21st century, to stand up for what is right and make a difference in the “Great Wars” of today.

Miss Karen Taylor
Year 9 Innovator