August 2008

Programme of inquiry

In Grade 4 we will be completing three Units Of Inquiry this semester. Our first Unit of Inquiry is entitled “The Value of Me” and comes under the transdisciplinary theme “Who We Are”. We will be focusing on the concept of responsibility throughout this unit. Students will explore their own values, behaviours and attitudes, and will look at their responsibilities at home and school. They will also be working on a project with an Action Plan to make a difference in the school community.

The Value Of Me -
Central Idea: Our behaviour reflects who we are.
An Inquiry into:
- How shared values and beliefs connect us individually, locally and globally.
- Our rights and responsibilities to ourselves and others.

Our second unit of inquiry is called “Forces and Machines” and comes under the transdisciplinary theme “How the World Works”. During this unit we will be examining the concepts of change and connection. This unit will be introduced with a trip to the Science Center where the students will experience the different forces that affect their lives and identify the simple machines that are part of all complex machines. As part of the culminating activity for this unit, students will solve a difficult, real-life cliff rescue scenario and design a machine to make a task easier.

Forces and Machines
Central idea: We develop machines to make life easier.
An Inquiry into:
- The basic forces and how we use them.
- The simple machines that are used in the design of all machines.
- Machines as effective tools.

Our third unit of inquiry is “Living Long Ago” which comes under the transdisciplinary theme “Where We Are in Time and Place”. This unit will be introduced to the students with them again focusing on the concept of connection and inquiring into the various civilisations that existed in the past, such as Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. They will also look at how these early cilvilisations have contributed to where we are as a society today. The students will be given opportunities to research past civilizations and to explore connections or changes that have occurred between the past and present civilizations.

Living Long Ago
Central idea: Early civilizations have contributed to where we are as a society today.
An Inquiry into:
- The contributions of past civilizations to the present.
- The social structures, arts, technologies or systems of past civilizations.