New Unit Term 2 December to January: Our Human Creations

Hello Everyone!

Now that we have finished our first unit on SYSTEMS, we are moving on to discussing the concepts of CREATIVITY and CHANGE!

UNIT TITLE:  Our Human Creations, Running Mid-November to Mid-January

CONCEPTS:  Change and Creativity

Unit Focus Statement: We use creativity and knowledge together to make innovations that change our world.

An Inquiry Into:

  • Our learning and use of creative thinking or creativity
  • The design process and being a “maker”
  • The impact of technology on humans over time
  • Scientific forces and mathematical thinking behind our creations
  • How innovations make change
  • Change in our lives, perspectives, thinking, and abilities
  • Indigenous technologies and their connection to us
  • How we can share our creative thinking with one another and the community

Some of the Specific Topics Covered In:

All of this is subject to change or additions as we go, as needed for time and the direction students take it!

Science: Simple machines, Work, Center of Gravity, Technology, Early Indigenous Tools, Deciding which machine has had the greatest benefit/use, making catapults, creating hydraulic devices, Rube Goldberg devices
Socials:  Technology and Society — Positive and Negative Impacts, History of Technology, Timelines, Critical Thinking About Our Technology Use, Creation of a Timeline, Debate on Technology
Math:  Deeper Conversations around multiplication and division, Use of scientific formulas from physics around work and rate/distance/time, Basic Variables/Algebra, Area/Perimeter, Tiny House Creation, Math Used in Creating Buildings/Skyscrapers through the book “You Do the Math: Skyscrapers”
Language Arts: Ted Talks, Creative Writing, Careful editing, use of non-fiction features in books to do research, organizing notes for research, using key words for internet searches
Applied Design: Hour of Code, Design Process steps used in the creation of catapults, Alternative Use Tests of Creativity, “Perfect Square” structures, as well as further discussions around how creative thinking can be observed, learned, or measured.
French: Selection of one French-speaking country other than France and looking at history of how it came to have French-speaking peoples. Use of French Games. net for French Vocabulary on Greetings and Other Basics
Arts:  Maker Projects, Creative-Thinking Challenges, and continued talk about elements and principles of art.
Physical Education and Health: Brainstorming together creative options for cooperative play on the playground. Further Social Thinking discussions. Creating our own games for outside play to share.