PYP

Our Amazing Exhibition

One of the most engaging moments in Year 6 was revealed at the start of Term 4. The Year 6 students had the opportunity to showcase the progression of their learning over their seven years in primary school under the PYP program.

The central idea guiding us was, "Thinking beyond ourselves empowers us to act." This concept inspired us to create a meaningful provocation that could potentially change someone's thoughts, feelings, and actions. Thus, we embarked on an exciting journey that was both provocative and challenging.

We began by learning what a provocation is, and our first provocation was called "The Starfish," which tells the story of a boy throwing starfish back into the sea after they washed ashore. This lesson taught us that even small actions can make a significant difference. After each provocation, we filled out a reflection sheet with questions such as, "What provoked our thinking today?", "Why does this issue matter?" and "How has your thinking changed?" Over a period of three weeks, we completed around thirty provocations, exploring issues like climate change, body shaming, quality education, the pink tax, and many others.

During these provocations, a group of teachers acted as our "mentor group." This group could include any teachers from Prep to Year 6, as well as specialist teachers. They guided us in reflecting on the provocations and encouraged us to be open-minded in choosing the issues we were passionate about. Afterwards, we brainstormed potential topics for our exhibition day and spent the weekend deciding on a matter that was important to us.

At the beginning of the week, the cohort shared our chosen issues, and the teachers reviewed the process once again. The first step was to generate around thirty questions using a tool called the question matrix. This matrix provided prompts for us to develop provocative questions, allowing us to research our issues more deeply and become experts.

Exhibition preparation was flexible; we could work at our own pace. When anyone finished, the teacher would host a conference to discuss the progress in the exhibition process.

During individual conferences, teachers would ask about our "big question" and what our provocation would be. They helped us improve and design our provocations. We then had about two weeks to complete our provocation and add all the finer details, including a writing piece and a math component.

In the final days of preparation, teachers made sure we were ready to present to the entire school. On the last day, we had an hour to prepare our spaces and make final adjustments.

When it was time to present to the school, students initially felt nervous, but as the day progressed, we grew more confident and could effectively answer questions from younger students. When parents visited in the evening, our Year 6 cohort significantly stepped up, ensuring we were knowledgeable about the issue we had chosen. Many parents left with new insights and a heightened awareness of the global problems.

Overall, exhibition was a tremendous success! We achieved our goals and came prepared with facts, demonstrating our hard work. We became experts, just as our teachers had hoped and changed thinking in the community, as evidenced by the pledges visitors made.

Year 6 Students

Joon, Ashley and Laura

Angela Houghton

PYP Coordinator