Challenge Thinking

Year 5 spent time ‘Connecting and Wondering’ about space travel. As a class we created a list of all the facts we knew about the Apollo 11 mission. The students were then given time with their tablet device and a stack of Information Books, to explore the topic – time to just read, watch, listen and imagine. They were then asked to nominate one question that was bubbling away in their mind as a result of their reading. The students were encouraged to write an open ended question that would require research and thought construction. Many, but not all achieved this.

One student wondered what astronauts did when they were no longer astronauts. Using a whiteboard and marker he identified and listed all the skills an astronaut has. He photographed his mindmap and used the image as inspiration to think of careers that Neil Armstrong could have had. The student then completed the ‘Discover and Learn’ phase of his task – researching what Neil Armstrong actually did do following his career as an astronaut.

Students were not expected to create a product to share – I was happy to hear both their question and answer verbally. This student did however wanted to record his ideas and used PowerPoint in its simplest form. It was really all about the thinking.

Space by Will

KLA Outcomes (NSW):

English:
EN3-7C: think critically about aspects of texts such as ideas and events

Technology

21st CLD: Knowledge Construction

Technology: PowerPoint, Digital Photography