Curriculum
My ILA did not fit into the Australian Curriculum as it stands now, but relates to outcomes 3.3 and 4.3 from the Health and Physical Education Learning Area in the South Australian Curriculum (SACSA, 2007) that is still being used until the Australian Curriculum is fully implemented.
In terms of the Australian Curriculum however, there are some key aspects that my ILA has seized upon in the Australian Curriuclum. Those two things are these.
“Activities that foster critical and creative thinking should include both independent and collaborative tasks, and entail some sort of transition or tension between ways of thinking. They should be challenging and engaging, and contain approaches that are within the ability range of the learners, but also challenge them to think logically, reason, be open-minded, seek alternatives, tolerate ambiguity, inquire into possibilities, be innovative risk-takers and use their imagination.” (ACARA 1, 2011)
“Students develop knowledge, skills and dispositions around ICT and its use, and the ability to transfer these across environments and applications. They learn to use ICT with confidence, care and consideration, understanding its possibilities, limitations and impact on individuals, groups and communities.” (ACARA 2, 2011)
The first quote deals with the way in which my students have been asked to think critically, not only about the information they have found, but also about the way in which they wish to present that information. The overriding question of my ILA means that there is no right or wrong answer, the students have struggled with this concept but have over the course of the unit really come to understand that they have been challenged to make up their mind and form an opinion. By giving them the chance to become risk takers and creative with their presentation I have hopefully given them the confidence to justify their thinking and reasoning behind their answer to the question of “Are great leaders made or born?”
The second quote deals with the heavy influence of ICT in my unit. Nearly everything we in this unit, outside of discussion is based entirely on computers. Students are creating digital pieces of artwork, using in depth research strategies and constantly communicating their ideas and beliefs through the use of a personal blog. Not only am I giving them a chance to work in the digital field and with multiple types of ICT, but I am also teaching them how to be respectful towards other on the internet while giving them the tools to be future online collaborators in blogs and wikis of their own.
Kath Murdoch’s Inquiry Method
In my inquiry based approach to teaching the students have been given a chance to go through different stages of learning. Kath Murdoch (1998) has labelled these sections as Tuning in, finding out, sorting out and going further. Each of these stages, except for going further, will have assessment tasks mixed in with class and homework. Each stage involves a different kind of thinking and engagement.
Tuning In: In this stage the students are introduced to the subject but not given any new information about it. Instead this is the time where questions are instead asked of the students. What do they know about the subject? What do they want to know about the subject? In this section of our ILA the students were given the alphabet key task where they were asked to name a leader for each letter of the alphabet. This allowed them to see how many leaders they did, or did not know while also getting g them excitied or engaged by teasing them with the knowledge they already know. This section of our ILA was also when we started our class blogs and started to really get some essential questions for the entire unit mapped out together as a class.
Finding Out: This section of the model requires the students to start researching by themselves. In this stage they are given multiple tasks that allow them to research as many different subjects as possible so that when the time comes to choose their final research topic, they can select from anything they have spent the time “finding out” about. The ILA my class has been working on has involved a lot of small research questions and tasks that are mostly open ended so that there is minor limitations on the research they can do.
Sorting Out: In this section of Murdochs Model, the students are asked to sort out all the information they found in the last section and start to focus their attention on one topic. This is the final stage that is assessed and culminates in an assessment piece of the students choice.
Overall by using Kath Murdoch’s inquiry model I feel that this unit of work is both informative and important for the students. Not only that but it is tailored to them as digital natives (O’Connell et al. 2010) and is hopefully creating a “learning space where students can enjoy democratic social interaction with mediators and mentors, allowing the conversation to flow between formal and informal zones” (O’Connell et al. 2010) By choosing an inquiry based pedagogy the teacher can also act as that mediator between students as they question and investigate the aspects of leadership that interest them the most. Importantly “the emphasis in the inquiry approach moves from the view that knowledge is something that is taught to knowledge as learned” (Murdoch, 1998, p.5).
Blooms Revised Taxonomy
My students, through their work in this unit have up to this date shown a real mix of higher order and lower order thinking skills when it comes to blooms taxonomy. Some of my students (The “keys to leadership” example from another blog post) clearly is already in the Evaluating and Creating. She has not only found information, filtered it for what she needs but has managed to create an individual and highly creative way to show her findings.
Other students are still further down the order in the understanding and applying stages as they are still sorting out their information and struggling to find ways in which to express their own thinking without simply retelling facts they have found. This is still acceptable however because those students do not want to simply restate facts but are actively exploring ways in which to better analyse their information.
Perhaps the most encouraging part of the ILA so far is that there is very few students still in the remembering stage. Most of the students are looking to find out their own answers and with the exception of one or two students most want to think deeper about this topic and are not happy to simply follow the crowd. As a teacher I have been very pleased with the way in which my students have participated in this unit of work.
References
- ACARA 1. (2011). Critical and Creative Thinking. Retrieved November 1, 2012, from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/GeneralCapabilities/Critical-and-creative-thinking/Introduction/Background
- ACARA 2. (2011). Scope of ICT Capability. Retrieved November 1, 2012, from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/GeneralCapabilities/Information-and-Communication-Technology-capability/Introduction/Scope-of-ICT-capability
- Murdoch K. (1998), Classroom Connections: Strategies for Integrated Learning, Eleanor Curtain Publishing, Praharn
- O’Connell, Judy and Groom, Dean. (2010). Connect, communicate, collaborate : learning in a changing world, Camberwell: ACER
- SACSA (2007). Health and Physical Education Learning Area. Retrieved November 1, 2012 from http://www.sacsa.sa.edu.au/ATT/%7BF51C47E3-B6F3-4765-83C3-0E27FF5DD952%7D/R-10_H&PE.pdf
Are Great Leaders Born or Made? 