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iQuest Title:                         Unleash the Wildlife Warrior from within

 

Authors:                              Celeste Watts, Rob Whitehorn and Kylie Wilkeson

 

Grade Level:                        Year 6 (classroom of mixed abilities/mixed genders)

 

Duration of Unit:                 5 weeks/ 3 lessons per week (see attached document)

 

 

 

 

 

                     

 

Rationale: 

 

This iQuest has been developed with the objective of creating a classroom of "Wildlife Warriors” who are passionate about the protection and conservation of animals, in particular those that are endangered.  It will inform students of the diverse worldwide issues which are contributing to this significant global problem, and expose them to community organisations who are advocates for this cause.

 

Within our iQuest students will engage in a variety of learning experiences which are authentic, meaningful and challenging, and will cater for a variety of learning styles, as championed by Howard Gardiner.

 

Learning aims and desired outcomes:

 

Within our iQuest the key questions and understandings addressed include:

 

• Understanding what an Endangered Animal is, the levels of endangerment, and what impact this has on the world around them

 

• Understanding the many and varied factors which are underpinning this issue, and that these factors are of a global significance

 

• Ignite passion and understanding of the natural world

 

• Recognising that as global citizens it is the responsibility of all governments, communities and individuals to take action

 

• Recognising and development of their social conscience that gives them belief that they can ‘make a positive difference’ and compels them to do so

 

The Inquiry model and key thinking processes developed by this iQuest:

 

This iQuest has been designed within the Murdoch and Hornsby framework for inquiry learning.  This model encourages children to move from exercising lower-order thinking skills to higher-order processes. It is recognised both within Australia, and internationally, as a profoundly practical and flexible inquiry model, which enables students to learn “to think and make sense of the world around them through wondering, planning, analysing, creating and reflecting". (Murdoch, 2005) 

 

Some of the key competencies that this iQuest supports are attached.  Click below to see more.

 

 

 

 

                         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Additional skills also implemented are:

 

• Analytical (ie. students identifying gaps in their knowledge, extracting the relevant information for their rich task);

 

• Critical thinking (ie. reflecting on the question ‘Why is this issue happening?’)

 

• Persuasive (ie.  writing a letter to a celebrity to support their animals cause)

 

• Efficacious  (ie. the belief that individuals are capable of taking action to make a positive difference)

 

Multimodal Approaches:

 

Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences stemmed from the notion that students often exhibited varying levels of achievement across different subjects. This theory argues that these intelligences, or cognitive strengths, are seldom found in isolation. In general students possess a combination, which when joined with the fact that individuals learn in diverse ways, means that modern teachers must be extremely responsive to their students, giving them a learning environment which facilitates for each individual's needs.

 

Within our iQuest we have incorporated multimodal learning approaches.  It is widely acknowledged that learning something in differing ways gives the students the best opportunity to really learn it. Also, by learning in these various ways, the more students remember what they have learned and the more students genuinely understand it!

• Verbal - Linguistic - Students talk about their learning: Think/Pair/Share, Classroom discussion

• Visual - Spatial — Students create visual representations: Mind maps, Info-graphic, Storyboards

• Musical - Rhythmic - Utilise different media: Youtube, Movies

• Interpersonal  - Students participate in discussions:  Whole class and group work.

• Intrapersonal - Students self reflect: Self assessment requirement.

 

 

AIDA Model

 

Based on a model from the advertising industry we have structured the iQuest, to fit into that of Awareness, Interest, Desire,  Action.

 

By initially making students aware of the issues within this sensitive topic we want them to be interested enough to find out more, to do their own research as part of the 5 tasks we have set. Then hopefully, even after the iQuest we would want them to follow on these thoughts and to have the desire enough to want to take action.

 

 

to see more follow this link

 

 

 

 

AUSvels Reference:

 

Click below to see the specific AUSvels links that relate to this iQuest.

 

 

 

 

 

         

 

 

 

Scaffolding Strategies:

 

Our strategy is to provide detailed instructions both verbally through the use of VOKI characters, as well as in a written format in the form of instructions and rubrics.  For each task we have included websites and youtube clips to help children glean the basic information and to start them off on this learning journey.  We have also purposefully placed children into groups so that they have access to each other's resourcefulness and ideas.  We think that these activities will give scaffolding for the children with lower confidence and abilities as well as scope for those more able to take it further. 

 

Group work:

 

Pair/Group Organisation:

Within this iQuest there is a large focus on group work, in addition to working in pairs. The responsibility for group selection rests with the teacher, however we advise that groups are formed with various factors in mind, including social, mixed gender, mixed abilities.  Roles will be determined by the students through collaboration, cooperation and respect of each other.

 

Excursion/Incursion Opportunities:

 

This iQuest presents many and varied opportunities for Incursions/Excursions, examples include:

 

Possible Excursions:

• Melbourne Zoo

• LaTrobe Wildlife Sanctuary

• Warburton Habitat Tree

 

Possible Incursions:

• Wild Action - Educational Incursion

•  Reptile Encounters - Wildlife up close

•  Australian Wildlife Lectures

 

Assessment and Evaluation:

 

Throughout this iQuest various assessment strategies and tasks have been incorporated. This guarantees that a range of assessment purposes are implemented, specifically assessment for, as, and of learning.  This ensures that suitable teaching strategies are executed for individual students learning, and thereby supports each student to achieve their learning potential.

 

    •       Assessment for learning - KWL

 

    •       Assessment as learning - Blog

 

    •       Assessment of learning - Rich Task, TChart, Infographic, Storyboard, Persuasive

            Letter

 

It is also important that the teacher consider the following informal assessment opportunities during the iQuest:

 

Class Discussions - Are all class members contributing, and to what level?

 

Observation of Group Work Time - Are the teams working cohesively together? Are individuals all contributing and working collaboratively? 

 

Reflection

 

Reflection is an integral part of learning.  At the completion of the iQuest, we suggest that the teacher conducts a ‘circle time’ reflection within which students share their personal understandings and thoughts developed via participation in this journey.  An effective means of conducting this activity would be through the use of ‘reflection starters’.  Children randomly select an icy-pole stick which each contain a prompt from which their reflection is instigated.