Essay on the movie “GATTACA”
The student watched and then critiqued the movie GATTACA, applying what he knew about genetics from Biology class.
Osmosis Experiment with Gummy Bears
The student worked within a small group to design her own experiment on the effects of different salt solutions on gummy bears.
Mousetrap Car
Students built cars powered by mousetraps and made out of household materials for a class mousetrap car competition.
“Just” Jeans
Students explored issues related to the manufacturing of jeans in sweatshops, then developed increasingly sophisticated questions.
The Lost Thing
A student created a one-page representation of the story The Lost Thing, including a synopsis and personal meaning, and explained the process and decisions.
Earth Science Mind Map
Students created a mind map to show their learning in earth science; then they reflected on the question: “How does studying changes on the earth reveal secrets from the past and impact our future?”
Sharing Cookies
Students worked together to solve an open-ended problem about sharing cookies.
In this French Immersion class, students were asked to solve a problem in groups of three:
“There are six cookies for the three of you. Saha’s mom said he can only have one cookie. How will you share all the cookies so it’s fair?”
Students were asked to represent their thinking in any way they chose.
The video shows how students used a variety of ways to solve an open-ended problem about sharing cookies.
Dinosaur Battle
A student shared his reasoning about which group of dinosaurs would win the battle.
During Free Centre Time, this child chose the basket of dinosaurs off the shelves. Children are encouraged to decide for themselves, what and where they want to explore.
Exploring Objects
A student used her senses to explore a toy bear and some rocks.
The child had been exploring at the playdough table for 10 minutes, and then she noticed the bear. Her Grandma just pushed the playdough away and placed the rocks and bear in front of her.
The child banged the rocks together and seemed interested in the sounds it made. After Grandma and others repeated, “It’s a bear”, the child confirmed her understanding and said, “A bear”. At one point, she put the bear in her mouth.
Magnetic Wand
During free centre time, a student tried using a magnetic wand to move materials to the top of a plastic bottle.
During Free Centre time, this boy was at the light table with the plastic bottles filled with pipe cleaners and pompoms and a magnetic wand. He concentrated on his task, using the magnetic wand to bring the pipe cleaners up the bottle. He said, “It’s going up!” -- he was able to bring 3 pipe cleaners up the walls of the bottle. He was also trying to get the pompoms to go up the wall.
When asked, “What about the pompoms?”, he replied that because they were balls, they run away.