PROGRESS...continued

 More topics investigated this term looking at the concept of progress...

TOILETS - how have they changed over the years and what difference has it made to people's lives. We also looked at problem solving designs such as toilets on the International Space Station. We thought about what possibilities there might be for toilet design in the future - how could we improve the design and function?

BIOMIMICRY - copying ideas from nature. We looked closely at biddy-bids and found out how the idea for velcro came from a scientist studying the burrs that stuck to his dog's fur. We looked at other interesting ideas from nature that have been used to design useful items for people. 









LEARNING FROM MISTAKES - we looked at things that have been invented by mistake such as post-it notes. We also thought about how some mistakes can help us learn and progress. "If you're making mistakes it means you are trying."

Guest speakers

 This term we have been lucky to have some parents and community members generously give their time to come and speak to interested students about their work / interests.

So far we have heard from Christian Stimson - Stimson Marine Design - about how he helps design boats and the problems that had to be solved to design a big, fast, electric passenger ferry 'Ika rere' in Wellington. 

Next we heard from Pete Flann about his work in the NZ defence force. Children were excited to be able to ask him questions and to hear about the range of opportunities for jobs in the defence force.

 Gareth from Cutting Edge Fossils brought in his collection and talked to interested students about the various prehistoric creatures that they are from. It's mindblowing to think of how old they all are. 

We were also lucky to have a visit from NZ Customs officer Chrissy Thomas, along with Luke and customs detector dog Yetta. It was interesting hearing about the work they do to protect NZ and stop the import or export of prohibited goods. We got to see some examples of things that had been confiscated, and also got to see Yetta in action - what a clever dog! 

Thanks to all of our visitors for sharing your knowledge and allowing children to ask questions and find out more from experts.

Term 1 concept - PROGRESS

 This term we are looking at the concept of progress through various topics. 

We are looking at what makes progress possible - advances in ideas, technology, materials, and sometimes even by mistake (such as the discovery of penicillin)! 

We are thinking about whether all progress is good, and whether all people view progress the same way.

So far this term we have looked at these topics:

TRANSPORT - learning from mistakes

We looked at the sad story of the Titanic and how this tragedy meant progress was made in safety on boats in the future. 

MEDICINE - we looked at the discovery of penicillin and how medicines have been developed to help people. We also looked at how understanding of what keeps us healthy has made a difference over the years - the simple understanding of handwashing to kill germs, and of supporting good bacteria with eating healthy food etc. 

BUILDINGS - we looked at the leaning tower of Pisa and why it leaned. We looked at more modern buildings and thought about how ideas and technology have advanced to allow taller and more complex buildings now. 

Looking to the future - and best wishes to those leaving us!

 For our final Quest session of the year we thought about the future. We looked at futuristic ideas and how they come about, and we thought about who can influence our future (mostly ourselves!). We looked at having a goal / plan and what it involves to get to that goal. The 'success iceberg' is good for us all to remember - success is a bit like an iceberg - you only ever see the top part of it, there is a lot more underneath it all. We may see people being successful, but behind success is a lot of hard work, perseverance, time, failure, good habits etc. 

We had fun imagining and creating ideas for the future and thinking about the future we would like for ourselves and for the planet. We talked about the space race and how it only happened because people had a plan and worked hard to make that plan happen - designing ways to overcome problems along the way. 

We debated whether it would be good in the future to have schools all online and looked at the advantages and disadvantages of that. 

My year 5&6 groups were so lovely. As the year 6's are leaving I always give them a little something to think about and to remember Quest. They in turn secretly organised a card and got everyone in class to sign it - I didn't even notice! Actually at one stage I called some of them out for chatting and passing a note around - only to find that it was for me - oops! 

I really love that I get to work with many of these children over several years, and I really love their feedback, enthusiasm, great ideas and questions. They really make Quest what it is, and I love that they get to bounce ideas off each other and learn so much from each other. 

Here is my letter for the year 6's this year. 

Enjoy Summer everyone - year 6's and anyone who is moving to another school - I wish you well on your next learning journey, and I'll see the rest of you next year. 

Debbie

CHALLENGE TOPICS

 This term we have continued looking at the concept of challenge.

We have focused on how different people deal with challenges and the feelings that we experience when something is a challenge. We also looked at the benefits of challenge and how it can make us come up with new and novel ideas when we are trying to solve a problem.

WORLD RECORDS

We tried our own class records - who can make a lolly last the longest in their mouth, and who can carefully tear the lolly paper into the longest strand of paper.

We looked at world records set by others and thought about WHY people try to set world records and HOW they get there. 

COMPETITION

We looked at the rugby world cup  and how people deal with the challenge of competition. We looked at skills needed to excel in anything (perseverance, time, effort, self-drive, support, coaching / teaching, equipment etc). 

CHANGE

We looked at the changes that happen through our lives - changing classes, schools, houses, interests etc. We also looked at some child development and how many changes occur in the first 5 years of our lives. We thought about which changes are more difficult and why. We then had fun imagining if we could press pause on our life at any stage which age we thought we'd like to be forever. There were lots of great ideas here - 'Be a kid forever so I don't have to work' , '18 because then I could drive and vote, and it's not too old and not too young', 'A baby in my Mum's tummy so I would be all cosy and warm' (not sure if Mums would like that forever - ha ha!!). And then we had some great thoughtful ideas - 'I wouldn't stop anywhere because every stage in your life is important and every mistake or tough time is important as it makes us who we are' -WOW! 

THE OCEAN

We looked at challenges in the ocean and differing opinions. The older groups had a simulated diplomacy
task - each group was given a different stakeholder group to represent in an imaginary location - commercial fisheries, Island residents who fish for their food and sell fish to others for money, a large neighbouring country with not much coastline (or Exclusive Economic Zone) and a big population to feed who value fish in their diet, Conservationists who are concerned about the ocean ecosystem etc. They had to discuss their position with government representatives and what they wanted, plus come up with ideas for how they could work with other groups to ensure everyone was happy. Lots of great debate and a realisation that it's not easy to negotiate with so many different needs and opinions. 

It's important for our highly able children to realise that challenge is part of life and actually can help us learn and grow. It's equally important that they understand that it's ok to ask for help if we need it, and to know that different people have different experiences and opinions so we need to be mindful of that and not expect everyone to be the same as them. Lots of great learning this term. 

Making choices / Elections

While looking at the concept of challenge we thought about the challenge of making choices.

How do we make choices? 

Do we ever have to consider others when making choices?

Do some choices only affect us or do all choices affect others too?

How do we feel when others don't agree with us? What can we do about it? 

If we need to make a choice as a group what is the best way to make it fair? 

Children were outraged when we had a class vote and I only allowed a small group to vote on it. This led to discussions on feelings and fairness. 

We then looked at the history of NZ voting. 

• Did you know that in 1853 NZ held it's first election. To be eligible to vote you had to be male, over 21, and a British subject who either owned or rented property worth a moderate amount of money. 
• In 1860 men who had miners' rights became eligible to vote. 
• In 1867 all Māori men over 21 became eligible to vote.

The girls in the class were up in arms that females were not allowed to vote, but very proud when we looked at Kate Sheppard and the suffragette movement. 

• Finally on 19 Sept 1893 the law was changed so that women were allowed to vote. NZ was the first country in the world to allow this.  Kate Sheppard graces our $10 note for her part in NZ history. 

 The following week the year 5&6's took part in a mock election. We talked about qualities we think are important in people, and what we think the world needs more of. We then looked at candidate statements from the leader and deputy of the 5 current sitting parties - Labour, National, Greens, ACT, te Pāti Māori. The candidates were not identified as being from any particular party, but some children knew some of them. Candidates had also been asked, by the Save the Children organisation, to respond to questions about the most important qualities in people and what they think the world needs more of. They were also asked what they thought political leaders should do to support children. 

Children were asked to vote for who they thought should be the next Prime Minister of NZ. We had a voting booth and ballot box set up for their votes. They were also given the opportunity to write what they would like the next Prime Minister of NZ to do to make Aotearoa a better place for children. 

Here are some of their ideas to make Aotearoa a better place for children:

• Drop food prices
• Help kids with learning difficulties
• Give children optional jobs so they get more money
• Listen to children to get ideas
• Pay us to go to school
• Lower prices for video games and toys
• They should listen to us more as our imagination can be very creative so adults should use more of our ideas
• Better tech
• Pay teachers more
• More freedom
• No school
• Enforce laws
• More football teams and cards
• Lower prices for houses and better education
• Care about the environment more
• More food and more nature
• Better homes and food. 
• Make sure that all children and adults have a home, food and water
• Cut down the use of fossil fuels and polluting the world
• Stop bullies because it can make kids shy and stop kids from socialising

And here are the results of their vote.

If you are interested, here are the candidate statements from Save the Children. 

TERM 3 - CHALLENGE

 This term we are looking at topics through the concept lens of 'Challenge'. The aim is to explore challenges that people face and how they deal with them, and for children to see that everyone faces challenges. Some of our children can have perfectionist tendencies, so it is good for them to understand that it is normal to find things challenging at times and have strategies for dealing with that when they experience challenge. It is also good for them to have some empathy for times when others may not find things as easy as they might. 

DIFFERENTLY ABLED

We started by looking at challenges of  being differently abled. We tried doing some things without using our hands, and then looked at this inspirational girl who was born with no hands. 

We discussed how we felt when things were difficult and what we could do about it. 

We also thought of other ways people could have different abilities  - both visible and invisible differences. This brought up some good discussions about ADHD, dyslexia, ASD, tourettes etc -  some children have some of these and were happy to share their experiences.

Children chose a variety of activities to extend their learning - some learned how to sign their name, some experimented with drawing using their foot, some read more about learning differences.

FLIGHT

We looked at the challenges of designing and making something that can fly. What helps something to fly? We explored the Bernoulli principle and air pressure,  and looked at thrust, lift and angle of attack. Then children made a paper plane and experimented with improving it. Some looked at flying creatures and explored how they fly. Some designed flying machines of the future. Some looked up information about the Wright brothers and Richard Pearse. Some explored how to make the world record breaking paper plane. Some taught others how to make different paper planes.