The boys were invited to create a logo to celebrate this year's exhibition. They were given some instructions for what had to be included and then were free to let their imaginations run wild. Congratulation the finalists below and to Elliot 5W for winning this year's logo competition.
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GLOBAL GOAL 10 - REDUCED INEQUALITIES
Akram visits Scotch regularly and he is known to some of the boys through his work in philosophy clubs. The boys were delighted to have him visit our class. Akram began our chat with introducing himself and asking the boys to acknowledge the custodians of the land and to enter the conversation with a spirit of respect. He said that giving respect is free and priceless to receive. He spoke about his early life in Afghanistan and how he grew up in a massive house with thick walls and gates, which protected his family from the outside growing violence and unrest of the civil war happening at the time. His dad was an important figure and therefore the family was safe for the first 5 years of his life. Suddenly the family had to flee, taking pictures from the wall, gold and money. They fled to neighbouring Pakistan, destroying all their ID paper on the way. They arrived in a town that was overcrowded with no sanitation or clean water. The large population though made it easy to hide. The water source was infected with the polio virus and the UN tent was set up to vaccinate the children. Akram has a vivid memory of this medication and he is still marvelled today by the low cost of the vaccine (13c), which prevented serious effects like not being able to walk! Akram was soon living in a house and had escaped the worst of the poverty. They had meals of rice and pomegranate. When the meals were finished, the rubbish was put in a bag and tossed over the wall. 8 year old Akram wondered where the rubbish went as each morning the bag had disappeared. One night Akram spied through the gate and saw a boy as old as himself reaching for the rubbish to eat scraps of rice and pomegranate. Akram learnt at a young age that life was unfair – why doesn’t this little boy have what I have? He realized that those starving have no choice! He learnt that there are factors in life that we don’t have a choice over, like where we are born. Instead of feeling guilty about our lives, we can work with what we have. “I can choose what I can do with my life … I can turn my guilt into grateful. Focus on my attributes to make my life better and choose to make choices for the benefit of others." In line with goal 11, reduced inequalities, Akram gave an example of a small action that can make a big difference for others. He wrote to politicians in 2012 about the polio vaccine so it could be provided for those where polio was still a problem. Given the low cost of the vaccine, he wondered why it couldn't be sent to help as many as possible. Ordinary people can have a say! Often organisations disagree on the definition of a problem and then cannot come to an agreement on a solution. People need to work together to agree on a definition and create solutions. Dr Emma Pearson, Lucas’ mum, visited us to speak about all things science. She described her fascination with the field (a self-confessed nerd) and she how she now works at Curtin University, researching and lecturing. She has written and contributed to research papers. Her specific field is organic chemistry. Dr Emma spoke about her career in the lab and how complex it can be. It was an interesting start to the conversation when she asked boys to share of any scientists they knew. This tied in with our prior knowledge as we had previously studied a big unit on science. Again, boys primarily mentioned male scientists, as historically, this was the case, a male dominated industry. Dr Pearson went on to explain that we need to look at science from all different perspectives as historically, we haven't looked at the indigenous perspective/knowledge, ancient Indians, Asian scientists etc. This was worthy part of science to tap into. We further explained to the boys that this was like our NAIDOC week challenge on Minecraft, where we have to learn about the Indigenous techniques for back burning, medicine and fishing techniques and weave them in with our Western perspectives.
GLOBAL GOAL 6 CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION
Richard came in to speak to the boys about water in Perth. First he spoke about his career as a water engineer and his early days with Clean Up Australia and how much he enjoyed those early days on the job. He then spoke to the boys about rain patterns in Australia and how most rainfall in the North of WA is in summer whereas the south it is in winter. He talked to the boys about where water in Perth comes from, dams and ground water. Richard discussed the development of important dams in WA, e.g. Mundaring Weir and Serpentine. The location in the hills was important for the collection of rain water, the surrounding forest preventing drainage and pollution, and, to be away from main populations and developments. By the 1980s the dams contained half as much water and by the 2000s, 25% less water - the change as a result of changing climate. Less rainfall and hotter, drier weather results in droughts. Not only is there less clean water available, there are more people requiring water. He spoke about the impact of sewerage water being treated and being unusable because of chemicals. Ocean water from Matilda Bay to Geraldton has a health warning. The chemicals in the water create algal blooms and weeds in the water. Fishing creates problems in waterways from the nets and also food litter. The future for water in Perth will be a requirement for desalination plants. Joel spoke to the boys about basic economics. He teaches in the Senior School and the boys found it very interesting to share what they already knew about economics. Next was an exciting opportunity for the boys to be immersed in the world of buyers and sellers. The learnt that the market has some basic elements but that it can also be a complicated place. There are fixed prices in some economies, in places like Coles. We are not limited to shop at one store though so can purchase something like chocolate at a cheaper cost from a competitor like Aldi. There are some opportunities for bargaining, like when purchasing a car or buying white goods from the Good Guys. The boys were given necklaces and 'cash' to role play buying and selling and this interaction taught the boys about how the market finds an average price, one that satisfies the buyer and seller.
David Kyle came to talk to the boys about a trip that Scotch College and PLC typically take every two years in the July break. For obvious reason, this is currently postponed. If it were not for the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent travel bans, students and staff members would have travelled to Tanzania over the recent break.
Given the trip has a long history at Scotch and it was worth the boys learning about what a meaningful impact a relationship can have with an overseas community. Students and staff from Scotch and PLC travel to Matipwili, a remote rural village north of Dar es Salaam to complete work aimed at improving educational opportunities. The tour has taken place every two years since the mid-2000s, and the regularity of the visits and the open communication between trips ensure that the project work has a maximum level of success. In addition to the trips made by Scotch College and PLC students and staff members, teachers from Matipwili have also visited Perth. While in Tanzania, the group also experience climbing Mount Meru and visit a number of National Parks. The Tanzania tour offers an incredible opportunity for Scotch College and PLC students to work with local communities, create a better understanding about Matipwili culture, and experience the beauty and majesty of Tanzania. To assist in the initiatives the Colleges have initiated over the years there have always been significant fundraising activities prior to the tours. The Colleges were able to donate funds they had raised to Matipwili and also to the Kisampa Conservation Area which borders the village. Some of the funds are used to provide technology, as special equipment is needed to provide internet so the children at the school can use their devices. The students were full of questions for David about how much impact the school has had for the community and many shared a desire to go on this trip in the future! After the completion of the report writing, the boys consider how they will create a piece of artwork like a sculpture or clay-work to represent their learning. The boys go through a design process where they consider materials and how they will make their statement piece. The aim is for boys to complete their work at school. They can help one another with the building but essentially have a piece of work that is all their own. The statement piece should provoke questions and catch the attention of people at the exhibiton. We are past the halfway point of the PYP Exhibition and are speeding towards the final presentation in Week 4. Throughout this week we will be finalising reports by applying teacher edits, printing reports, editing our journals and writing reflections. We will also focus on action now that we have developed a deep understanding on our own research topics. The boys need to think about what action they will take based on their research. Action should avoid fundraising given our current climate and should focus on things like deepening knowledge, raising awareness, encouraging others, developing contacts in the community, writing letters to MPs and offering to volunteer.
The next stage of the process is the creation of our statement pieces. The purpose of this part of the exhibition is to illustrate a message based on our research. We will have staff on hand to help boys use their resources in order to create a piece of work that is unique and special to the boy. We want all boys to be proud of themselves and their work at the end of this journey. With a busy term ahead, we need to pace ourselves, remain focused and above all, stay positive. We can do this! The boys have been working tirelessly to research and write notes on their chosen question. As the boys head into the final stage of finding out phase, it is important to remind the boys that this is a crucial week as it sets up everything going forward. Without their research and notes, they cannot write a report. Without their research, notes and report, they cannot speak confidently to the guest visitors on the day. Without all of those, they cannot possibly make a statement piece to provoke people's thoughts. The boys have created guiding questions to help them with their research questions. Otherwise, we found that boys just love to find 'FACTS' but not all facts will help them answer their research question. For this, we used the key concepts to help us (see the photos below). So, we have about six periods left in class to finish off our notes before we move on to writing up our draft report. The aim is to have a draft report submitted before the holidays, which will then leave the focus for statement pieces next term along with final edits. |
AuthorsY5 students at Scotch College, Perth Archives
November 2020
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Photo used under Creative Commons from joshtasman