City School

Inquiry learning hits the streets of Melbourne

It was an eventful week for half the cohort of Year 9s in Week 5 as we embarked on three days of school in the city! The students had great fun exploring the city, building up their confidence asking strangers to respond to their surveys and interviews. 

All groups went to The Big Issue where they learnt about how this social enterprise strives to help those marginalised in our community. The consensus among the students was how the personal stories shared with them opened their hearts and eyes to those who live on the borders of our society. The students played a game at the Big Issue where they were divided into groups and had to piece together a puzzle. Every group but one had to grapple with some difficulties, one of the photos below shows one of the difficulties they faced – can you spot the issue?

A few classes managed to go to SYNFM at RMIT University’s Bowen St campus and had the time of their lives, planning and recording themselves at a radio station. The students experienced a slice of life about what being a radio DJ was like and were very excited to hear a recording of themselves when they got back from City School. 

The groups also went to the Metro tunnel and were intrigued by how big the tunnel-boring machines were. As many of them are environmentally-conscious, they asked the staff about what happened to the soil and stone that was dug up and what is the second life of the tunnel-boring machine. They were pleased to learn that the soil dug up in the Parkville area is going to a kiln in the inner north to make bricks whereas the tunnel-boring machine has a second life in regional Victoria to dig more tunnels. We also took a walk to St Paul’s Cathedral where we had to walk past the new Town Hall station and saw the construction crew in action! 

Although the preparation and coordination was hectic, the teachers also had their fun, exploring the nearby cafes for their coffees and were pretty impressed by how communicative and cooperative the students have been throughout the week. All of us are looking forward to the end product in the form of the City School Presentations!

~Ms Lim