Subject Teacher: Brent Jane
Contact: brent@askeris.no
Unit 5 - Book trailers
Key concept: Development
Related concepts: Innovation, Resources
Statement of Inquiry: Innovative use of evolving products and tools can solve old challenges in new ways.
Inquiry questions:
Factual - What is Scratch?
Conceptual - Why is it important to learn coding?
Debatable - Is programming an essential skill for the future?
Assessment Overview:
Wednesday 31st May
Grade 6 students are at the end of the first two stages of Design and will be busy creating their Book trailers over the remaining lessons. I look forward to seeing them tackling new challenges with coding.
Unit 4 - 3D Printing
Key concept: Creativity
Related concepts: Invention
Statement of Inquiry: Passion inspires creative invention.
Inquiry questions:
Factual - What is tinkercad?
Conceptual - Who am I? What represents me?
Debatable - Are simple designs the best?
Assessment Overview:
Thursday 9th March, 2017
Today, Grade 6 commenced a new unit related to 3D printing. As always, they begun completing requirements at the first stage of the Design Cycle, Inquiring & Analyzing.
Details of their requirements below:
Unit 3 - Poverty
Note: Interdisciplinary unit with Individuals & Societies
Key concept: Communities, Perspective
Related concepts: Responsibility
Statement of Inquiry: We are all responsible for fighting poverty
Inquiry questions:
Factual - What is poverty?
Conceptual - Why is poverty a responsibility for all?
Debatable - How can we fight poverty?
Please go to the Individuals & Societies page for all updates on this unit of work
10th November 2016
Lego Robotics
We have been working with Lego Mindstorm in Mr. Brents absence. Lego Mindstorm is a lego robotics kit that is used around the world and used in an international competition known as the First Lego League.
We are running the same session with Grades 6,7 and 8 in Mr. Brents absence, to give them a basic understanding of lego robotics in all grades.
Although we will not be competing this year, we wanted to introduce FLL and Mindstorms to the students as we hope to introduce teams as early as next school year. FLL is a great experience for a student and incorporates many transferable skills necessary in and out of school.
We have largely focussed on the concept of teamwork in the beginning. We moved onto a basic understanding of gear chains and have just started to look at the EV3, the robot 'brain' itself and the simple programing that goes with it.
The students seem engaged in this activity so far. The focus has not been on assessment or some manner of summative outcome, it has been on time-management, collaboration, respect and the idea of how to fail well and learn from it.
Unit 1 - Ancient Egypt Sarcophagus design
Statement of Inquiry: Elaborate designs from the past reflect what life was like at the time.
Key Concept: Communication
Related Concepts: Function, Resources, Culture
Inquiry questions:
Factual - Why was mummification important to the Egyptians?
Conceptual - How is ancient art important for communicating history?
Debatable - If religion was not a significant part in ancient Egypt would the artwork still look the same?
Assessment Overview:
Thursday 29th September
Today, Grade 6 students officially completed their first unit of Design, by submitting their finished sarcophagi and evaluating their successes. They should be proud of what they achieved. If you want to check out their finished work, you can see them all displayed in the school library.
Friday 9th September
Students are continuing to work hard on the creation of their sarcophagi.
Thursday 1st September
Today, Grade 6 students put their plans into action and begun creating their sarcophagus.
Friday 26th August, 2016
Grade 6 moved into the second stage of Design, developing ideas. They commenced making drawings of what they think their sarcophagus would like, whilst considering the materials they will use, the steps they will take to complete it and any key features. Below is the task descriptor with the section of the rubric related to this stage, as well as the presentation used to introduce the new stage requirements.
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| Students drawing what they hope their sarcophagus will look like |
Today, Grade 6 were introduced to their new design task. The first stage of design is 'inquiring & analyzing'. As students are preparing to design an ancient egyptian sarcophagus, they first must complete appropriate research. Students need to research about the everyday life of a chosen figure, the process of mummification and the journey to the afterlife. Below is the document the students received in class to support/guide them in meeting their requirements. I have also shared a presentation regarding the mummification process.
