ILLUMINATE: 

Year 9

Inquiry in Action

From Parliament House to Mars

This term, our Year 9 Inquiry class, Illuminate, has been learning and exploring ethical concepts, frameworks, law, and politics. Students are grappling with real questions: Whose values get to become Australia's laws? What makes a policy fair? How do we build a society that works for everyone? They're engaged and asking the kinds of questions that matter. 

Our Year 9s went on an excursion to the Science Centre of Excellence (SCOE) for a day of collaborative problem-solving. Here's a quick breakdown:

Mission Control: Building a Colony on Mars

Working in teams, students took on the challenge of establishing a functioning settlement on Mars replicating the Victorian parliamentary process, debated what laws their colony would need, and experienced what it takes to pass legislation in real life and experienced firsthand what it takes to pass legislation in real life.

The students formed political parties, pitched their visions to the crew, and worked through meaningful discussions about what really matters in a society. By the end of the day, they'd designed their own colony model, complete with policies and structure. Watching the year 9 engage so purposefully and respectfully outside the classroom, asking hard questions, listening to different perspectives, and building solutions together, is exactly the kind of education Illuminate aims to provide them with. They're not just learning about democracy; they're practicing it. A special thank you to all the school staff and parent support that made this day possible!

What's Next?

By the end of this term, Year 9s will have created their own political party and developed policies they genuinely believe in. The big finale? Pitching these policies directly to the school community.

We can't wait to see what they come up with!

Thasnim Saldhan

Leader in Inquiry Learning 

Maths Domain Leader