integrated+curriculum+rethink

Hi girls I've just relooked at our task and reread the presentation notes and some of our readings, this lead me to a 'light bulb' moment. I'll share my ideas and ask you to see if it makes sense to you. Firstly our task was to plan an integrated lesson sequence of four lessons using an inquiry approach. I re looked at the 'Classroom Connections' reading which shows one way to address this type of task. Looks great will add it to the formatted copy on MyLO


 * __Title:__ Space __Focus:__ What do we find in our solar system?

Yera Level: 1&2

Duration: 4 x 50 minute lssons

Host content area: Science

Strands: Earth and Space - Naming, Identifying and Investigating Space in particular the Planets, Space Travel and Safety requirements

__What skills do we want our students to learn and use for this unit?__** Chosen from the list in Classroom Connections (Murdoch, 1998) Here are my thoughts - Analysing, Co-operating, Elaborating, Explaining, Interpreting, Locating information, Note-taking, Organising, Planning, Presenting in a variety of ways, Reading, Reporting, Selecting information, Summarising, Viewing and Visually representing.

The 'vehicle' we are going to use to achieve these learning objectives is an inquiry question about Space, for example 'What do know about our solar system or What do we know about space?

**Astronomy has always been of fascination throughout history. When we look up into the sky there is always something new and exciting to see. An eclipse, a comet, a shooting star. As we live on a planet called earth and it is one of the planets in the universe including the sun (and its planets that make up the solar system) it is important for students to know, understand and discover how our galaxy first came into existence and to explore the planets of the universe**. **Because the class consists mainly of boys the focus is on space and space travel where students are able to view the universe through the lens of the Hubble telescope, travel into space on a rocket and measure how long it took to get there (in light years). Students will develop a basic understanding of space both its history, present and delve into the future.**
 * __What are the understandings we want the students to develop?__**

'The task is to broaden student knowledge, skills and experiences as well as engaging students in their learning. The integrated curriculum will develop students co-operative and social learning skills. Students will work as a whole class (for example watching the video of The Magic School Bus) and in small groups as well as in pairs, however sometimes the students will work on the inquiry based project individually (so as to build upon their knowledge and understanding). According to Murdoch and Hornsby (2007) working together in small groups enable learners to access a larger pool of experience, skills and knowledge. At times co-operative learning calls for students to chose who to work with and at other times it is important for the teacher to structure the learning process............ our integrated program enables students in the 1/2 class to make sense of their world and universe and allows students to make connections between the earth, the solar system and the planets. Therefore students should be able to piece together their prior knowledge with new knowledge to develop a deeper understanding; making meaning more purposeful whilst enhancing student learning.' We would like the students to begin to develop their understandings of Space, Space travel and our solar system. The idea is for students to understand Earth is not the only planet and conventional transport like planes are not the only way to get around. We also want to engage the students thinking about the possibilities of going into Space in the future. It may become as easy as flying to another continent.

During this unit of work we will be focussing on the extension of the students' knowledge of inquiring, investigating, exploring, demonstrating and sharing of new information and their own learning. We will be emphasisng appropriate behaviours and how to work collaboratively within small groups. What it means to participate in group learning and how to resolve conflict in a positive way. Group work also promotes students' resilience. The students will be reporting back on their learning throughout the unit and every one is expected to share their learning.
 * __Related values/attitudes/issues__**

solar system, space shuttle, space suit, planet differences etc
 * __Key concepts/big ideas__**

Copied from our resource list
 * __Resources__**

__**Assessments**__ The power points, skill checklist, photos of students particpating in learning etc

Whole class activity - Viewing [|The Magic School Bus- Blast Off!] After viewing this video, the class will brainstorm ideas of what they want to learn more about, i.e. planets, space shuttle, astronauts, spacesuits etc Group work (4 students of mixed abilities) Group 1 - assigned Planets etc focussing on Art Introduce websites Group 2 - assigned Space Shuttle introduce by viewing [|Discovery Blasting Off!] After viewing this clip the group will brainstorm about questions for them to investigate relating to the Space Shuttle. Lesson 2 - Group 2 will use the [|What is a Space Shuttle?] site from Nasa to answer their posed questions. This will involve reading the information, analysing it for usefulness and selecting parts of it to use for their notes.
 * __Tuning in -__** (Lesson 1) introduction using movies, film clips etc.
 * __Finding out -__** (Lessons 2 & 3) include in here the web sites, movies etc and why we chose them, using our criteria and how the enhance learning

Lesson 3 - Group 2 - continuing on with finding solutions to their questions, taking notes from the NASA web site, and planning how they as a group will present their findings on a powerpoint slide.

__**Making** **Conclusions**__ ( Lesson 4) Here we include the idea about whole class powerpoint etc

Lesson 4 - Group 2 - Working collaboratively to finish their powerpoint slide, putting the final touches to their report, i.e. formatting, visual images, colours, fonts etc.

Literacy - reading, viewing, writing, speaking collaborative learning Maths - distance, size, ratios etc Art - visual art, design, creating of computer generated pictures Science - analysing info, investigation, exploration, experimentation
 * __Subject Areas used__**

Well here is my 'light bulb' moment explained in the best way I could think of What do you think? We can use elements from our specific lesson plans but instead of the whole class focussing on Science/Art etc we could assign small groups of four to each inquiry. For example Lesson 1 - Lesson 2 - continue to focus on previous lessons work Lesson 3 - preparing slides for powerpoint etc Lesson 4 - preparing whole class presentation watching final powerpoint of the students' learning experiences.
 * Group 1 - would be exploring art focus inquiry
 * Group 2 - would be exploring science focus inquiry
 * Group 3 - would be exploring maths focus inquiry
 * Group 4 - Literacy focus inquiry