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Passport To The World

Year 2 Form Masters Mr Sam Beck and Mr Tom Keeble unpack the elements of the inquiry teaching model, which is employed to stimulate boys to develop their independent learning skills.

 

In Term II, our Year 2 cohort undertook a fascinating inquiry study into different countries and cultures, around the guiding questions of ‘How are people connected to their place and other places?’ and ‘What factors affect peoples’ connections to places?’.

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South Africa’s “Year 2 Ambassadors” Benjamin Yeo and Freddie Finn

The unit is structured around the Kath Murdoch Inquiry Model which is utilised throughout the School to enable inquiry skills and support the questioning, research and application of knowledge processes.

The model begins with a ‘Tuning In’ experience to pique the boys’ interest and garner engagement. In this case, the boys were asked what their Travel Bucket List was. There was much talk of exciting countries, cities and destinations that were full of wonderful sights, fabulous things to do and amazing experiences.

The boys were asked to bring in small objects that they had at home from around the world. These were then used to spark conversations about culture, origin, map placement and concepts like memento, memory, icons and preciousness. With these concrete realisations of culture, the boys were explicitly taught map skills, content on continents, oceans, the equator and hemispheres, and how these impact upon the country in question. Throughout the unit we weave growth in content knowledge with the ability to ask questions about the world. We actively teach the boys how to question, how to frame their study ideas, how to find the data they need and how to interpret that data.

Pictured: Toby Watters (2D) and Henry Wu (2K) at the Egypt kiosk

In the ‘Sorting Out Learning Experiences’ section of the cycle, the cohort looked at each continent in turn, using past knowledge, literature, multi-media resources and scaffolded research tasks to build their understandings. With each new continent, the boys grew in confidence in their process and with each passing week we saw more elaboration, justification and connection- making as boys used the data to make statements and give opinions on the continent and its countries.

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Pictured: Flynn Bulger (2D) and Magnus O’Connell (2K) at the Chile kiosk

The unit culminated in the ‘Going Further Learning Experiences’ when partnered boys chose a country to research, with an eye to convincing tourists and travellers to visit. What a wonderfully authentic writing purpose and audience! This task gave the boys a purposeful lens through which to focus their knowledge. At the end of Term II, the school hall became a tourist bureau with wonderfully designed kiosks for each of the studied countries, with all the boys vying for potential travellers to their part of the world. We were so proud of all the groups, and the persuasive language and phrasing used to entice tourists.

The in-depth knowledge of the culture, landmasses, climate, money and sites was extensive and each and every boy rose to the challenge to share his learning and insights.

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Sydney Grammar School

College Street, Darlinghurst
NSW 2010 Australia

Phone: (02) 9332 5800

Edgecliff Preparatory School

Alma Street, Paddington
NSW 2021 Australia

Phone: (02) 9366 0100

St Ives Preparatory School

Ayres Rd, St Ives
NSW 2075 Australia

Phone: (02) 8302 5200

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