Inquiry Units - Semester 2 2023

As per our school’s Curriculum Plan and Policy, the core Curriculum Areas of Religious Education, English and Mathematics are complimented by the delivery of an integrated unit of work using an inquiry approach.

Each year level’s integrated Inquiry Units will encompass the General Capabilities as well as several discipline-based curriculum areas from the Victorian Curriculum.

In Semester 2, these curriculum areas include Science (Chemical and Physical Sciences), Health and Design Technologies.

This semester, our whole school Inquiry concept is: IMPACT

In order to plan engaging learning experiences and meaningful units of work, staff commenced the planning process in last term. The voice of students, parents and staff were considered prior to more in-depth planning of our Inquiry units.

Thank you to the parents who responded to our short survey about IMPACT.

Some parent responses included:

I think IMPACT means…

Information that you would like to share with your audience and the best way to communicate a message across.
Inspiring people to take action.
Something that can affect yourself and others.
Strong effect, influence or collision
The difference you can make
Having a strong effect or influence on something

IMPACT can apply to many things - impact of our words and actions, impact of a force (e.g. pushing a ball - what happens?), the legacy we leave, etc. What aspect/s of IMPACT should our children learn?

The impact of bad behaviour and how the other person might feel. The impact of a good deed and how to spread good in the world
Who are we impacted by and why? What impacts our world today? How do we manage negative impacts? How do we make a positive impact in our homes, with our friends and the world?
The impact that our actions and words can have on others, for better and worse.
The impact we have on the environment.
The impact our words and actions can have on others- physically, emotionally and spiritually. In addition, the impact our thoughts and actions can have on our own overall wellbeing.
The shared meaning of IMPACT across disciplines. As well as students encouraged to identify examples where IMPACT is isolated.

“Student Voice” was collated by classroom teachers, specifically through class discussions about the concept of IMPACT and explicitly planned activities where students shared their prior knowledge of various topics that may be covered in our units.

Here is a snapshot of each level’s Inquiry units for Semester 2 2023:

Prep

Title: My Impact

Compelling Questions:

What impact do I have?

Key Topics & Understandings:

Relationships - Friendships, emotions and feelings, problems and reactions, God’s family, discipleship
Health - Healthy food, actions and people who keep us healthy, choices, growth
Movement - Dance, body parts, forces, cultural dances
Cause and Effect - impact of actions, states of matter (solids, liquids, gases), forces, floating and sinking, materials.

Understandings:

Our feelings, words and actions have an impact on others and things.

Year 1/2

Title: I Have an Impact!

Compelling Questions:

How does my impact make a difference?

Key Topics & Understandings:

Movement - force, push and pull, size and shape, toys, dance, technology
Senses - observations, light and sound, making predictions and recording observations
Materials - combining materials, properties, materials have a purpose, natural and processed materials, recycling, designed solutions
Design - meeting needs, using effective materials, investigating and evaluating solutions, steps
People - belonging, key figures in the church, community, relationships

Understandings:

We can explain how objects move.
We can make predictions and share our observations.
We can explain belonging.

Year 3/4

Title: Our Impact

Compelling Questions:

How are we impacted by our surroundings?
How do I impact the world?
How do I belong to my community?

Key Topics & Understandings:

Cause and effect - forces, action and reaction
Reactions - reversible, irreversible, relationships, friction
Consequences of decisions - health, friendships, environment
Relationships - belonging, discipleship, point of view

Understandings:

We understand how things are connected and how one thing can make another thing happen.
We understand that we are responsible for our decision making and it has an impact.

Year 5/6

Title: Flush it!

Compelling Questions:

What scientific understandings, discoveries and inventions are used to solve problems that directly affect people’s lives?

Key Topics & Understandings:

History- Consider some of the challenges facing Melbourne
Science and Technology - Understand that the use of science and technology to address issues such as water shortages may have social and ethical implications
Problems/Issues - Consolidate and share their understanding of the issue
Connections - Make connections between topics
Consequences of Decisions - Articulate what they have learnt and how their thinking and behavior might have changed

Understandings:

We understand the purpose and importance of wastewater treatment.
We can identify the chemicals and processes involved in wastewater treatment.
We can investigate the impact of chemicals on water quality.
We can apply scientific principles to propose improvements or solutions for water treatment processes.

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