Year 5/6 Bulletin
Term 4 Week 6
What is ERP
ERPs play a crucial role in continually exploring the Big Idea.
Instruction in this area focuses on enhancing students' skills and fostering a mindset of learning how to learn, rather than being solely concerned with content and knowledge.
Structure of an ERP
- ERPs are introduced with a 15-20-minute whole-class session, which serves as a focused, teaching session to prepare students for their independent work on the ERPs.
- Once research begins, students work on the ERPs and conduct their research in an effective manner to achieve the lesson’s learning intention.
- The teacher scaffolds information, skills or requirements for the session and works/guides clinic groups.
Our current Big Idea- Curriculum link to Science and Economics.
Our economy is influenced by environmental, scientific and technological needs and wants.
Driving Questions:
- What is the difference between a need and a want?
- Why do our needs and wants influence our economy?
- How can I influence consumer choices based on a need or a want?
Overview:
We are focusing on the central idea that our economy is influenced by environmental, scientific, and technological needs and wants. Through engaging activities and discussions, students will explore the driving questions above as we navigate through various intriguing and interesting inventions and innovations.
So far, the students have:
- Explored what the difference is between a need and a want.
- Identified what is considered an environmental, scientific, and technological need and want is.
- Determined how an innovation and invention are different and how they affect consumer decisions.
Moving forward, the expectation is that students create/develop an original Shark Tank project, and present a product or service that addresses a specific need or want in today’s society. Each student will identify a problem or gap in the market that their idea aims to solve, ensuring it is relevant and appealing to potential consumers.
We are exploring types of inventions and innovations, and whether they were created to be a need or a want for the consumer.
Learning intention: To identify the difference between an innovation and an invention.
Whole :
- The words "innovation" and "invention” were placed on the whiteboard for discussion.
- Definitions were given and students wrote them down in their book
Innovation - Invention refers to the occurrence of a completely new idea for a product or process that has never been created before.
Innovation - involves the implementation of an idea for a product or process that is being introduced for the first time.
- In their ERP books students place innovations on one page and inventions on the other.
- We then watched a video on a young man that created an invention (sock) to help people that suffer from Alzheimer's and spoke about it in a TED talk.
- A short questionnaire booklet about the video was then given out to answer and reflect on relevant questions that the students had just observed. Answers were discussed as a whole cohort, to endeavour to provide a holistic understanding for all.
PROMPTS:
- Was the creation an invention or innovation? Explain your reasoning
- Was it a need or want and why?
Small:
Students log into classrooms and research provided links and discover innovations and inventions.
- Students worked in pairs to determine whether the product/service from one of the attached links in their Google Classroom account was an invention or innovation and why.
- They were instructed to be researchful and go through all the provided links and try to find both inventions and innovations, not just one of them.
Whole:
Students shared their findings about a product/service:
- Various students had the opportunity to share their findings to the class and discuss why they thought something was an invention or innovation and why.
- Each student had the opportunity to question the other's findings and offer suggestions.
- We highlighted the importance of understanding consumer needs and wants in the development of successful products and services.
PROMPTS:
- What did we find?
- Clarifications or obstacles?
- Anywhere else we found helpful information?
- As you recorded your information, did you consider what it tells us? For example, need or want? Who it was designed for and how do we know? Do you see it being a successful product/service for consumers?
How you can support the learning at home:
Have ongoing and everyday conversations with your child about innovations and inventions that could be created to make our lives easier. When making purchases or having conversations, discuss whether these items are needs vs wants and why this might be the case.
Year 5/6 Team
Jenny and Brad