For the last few weeks we've been exploring a new central idea under the transdisciplinary theme "Where we are in place and time":
Places in communities help people connect and change over time.
Our lines of inquiry are:
As a "Tuning In" or "Invitation" activity we thought about the places we know from our own neighbourhoods in Singapore and our home countries. We made made big lists of as many places as we could think of. We then explored maps, as well as map books and atlases to see if we could gather any other ideas about the different places in communities.
- Different public areas and their functions
- Comparing private and public places
- Our choice of places we use changes over time
As a "Tuning In" or "Invitation" activity we thought about the places we know from our own neighbourhoods in Singapore and our home countries. We made made big lists of as many places as we could think of. We then explored maps, as well as map books and atlases to see if we could gather any other ideas about the different places in communities.
Once we were finished, we each had our own individual list of places in communities. But how did our own lists compare to the lists of our friends? Had we listed the same places? Were there some things we had not thought of? Were all of the things we listed actually places in communities?
To answer these questions, we made a HUGE list of all the different things from our own lists. We cut out the different ideas and decided to sort them into categories: public place, private place, a bit of both, or neither. This was a variation on the "Trash or Treasure" thinking routine that we had done before. We used the FORM concept key to unlock our thinking about what private and public places in communities are like. We quickly started to see some patterns. For example, we discovered that public spaces are shared spaces. Everyone can go to them, but sometimes you need to buy a ticket, make a booking, or pay a little bit of money. Sometimes these place are open and sometimes they're closed. As we progressed through the activity, we also started to realize that some of the places we wrote down on our original lists were not actually places at all! Instead, they were ways we get around communities, including taxis, buses, and trains, so we created another sorting category.
We all demonstrated very strong thinking skills during our sorting work, as well as an ability to revise our previous thinking. We learned a lot from sharing our ideas and reflecting as a group! The theories and information that developed out of this activity have been very useful to our investigations and inquiries as we continue with the unit.
To answer these questions, we made a HUGE list of all the different things from our own lists. We cut out the different ideas and decided to sort them into categories: public place, private place, a bit of both, or neither. This was a variation on the "Trash or Treasure" thinking routine that we had done before. We used the FORM concept key to unlock our thinking about what private and public places in communities are like. We quickly started to see some patterns. For example, we discovered that public spaces are shared spaces. Everyone can go to them, but sometimes you need to buy a ticket, make a booking, or pay a little bit of money. Sometimes these place are open and sometimes they're closed. As we progressed through the activity, we also started to realize that some of the places we wrote down on our original lists were not actually places at all! Instead, they were ways we get around communities, including taxis, buses, and trains, so we created another sorting category.
We all demonstrated very strong thinking skills during our sorting work, as well as an ability to revise our previous thinking. We learned a lot from sharing our ideas and reflecting as a group! The theories and information that developed out of this activity have been very useful to our investigations and inquiries as we continue with the unit.