New Inventors
All of our projects begin with a driving question.
This question is rooted in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 9 - Build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization and foster innovation. This inspires a week of immersion and inquiry.
We started to think about inventions we use and rely on and it provoked some serious conversations among us. Inventions around us are making us think about what, how and why we use different kinds of inventions. We are starting to wonder:
Why do inventions exist? What drives the need for change?
Are all inventions good?
What is the responsibility of the inventor?
Who knows, it might as well be one of our learners to take on that responsibility one day!
Building on their newfound understanding, learners started making and creating, coupled with feedback to improve the products.
Foundations periods are weaved into context and served a real purpose - to support children in their explorations of the topic matters.
E.g. Why the population is growing and how inventions like medicine played a huge role in that?
In Literacy, we
chose an invention that we use daily to practice steps of the writing process
wrote interview questions to prepare for meeting Tilly Lockey - the first teen in the UK to have bionic arms and is now an ambassador for Open Bionics
looked into biographies of famous inventors then wrote our own biographies about Paralympians
In Maths, we
investigated our classroom through the lense of data collection
delved deep into statistics - interpreting and presenting data on graphs
Throughout these phases, the children have the opportunity to meet with real-world experts, go on purposeful excursions, and do independent or guided research to deepen their understanding and test their prototypes.
We started thinking about inventions through the sustainability compass. We noticed that while some inventions help society and our well-being, others might be beneficial for nature or the economy.
As Christmas approaches, our learners switched from singing to signing holiday songs this season!
How might it feel to create your own board game then receive heartwarming feedback from the people who you intended to care for?
Giving students opportunities to make connections to someone that faces different challenges in life inspires how we can support and uplift these communities with our inventions.
We had the privilege to meet:
visually-impaired people and their guide dogs
first teen in the UK to have bionic arms, and
a robot dog from Boston Dynamics!
Through the workshop organised by Egy Sima Egy Fordított, the children got a felt experience of the daily challenges and the colourful world of people who live with disabilities through play, connection, and most of all, honesty.
During the visit from Baráthegyi Vakvezető és Segítő Kutya Iskola Alapítvány, our learners not only got to interview visually impaired people and meet their guide dogs but also had the chance to pilot the special memory game.
Dogs (and animals in general) are always a big hit at REAL School, but this time was an eye-opener. Our learners welcomed a robot dog as part of the inventions project! Much gratitude goes to our parent community for bringing Boston Dynamics to the children. They had a blast learning, interacting and debating about AI and robots.
Learning happens anywhere, so why limit our children to four walls?
The trip to CSOPA Science Centre was a truly hands-on experience. We got to see first-hand how experimentation happens in a science lab. Planning, failing, taking risks and trying again are all part of the process!
The trip even inspired our Genius Hour activities as we conducted experiments ourselves in class.
It's time to...
re-invented games to be more socially inclusive
trash-cleaning robots
first-aid care options for isolated mountain communities
fruit ripening trackers
wildlife protection devices
Our students showcased their own learnings and beautiful products to the whole school community - learners from different learning groups, their parents, and all educators and staff at school.
Stepping into a world without sight to feel and play, the exhibition also facilitated a great deal of learning for the whole school community.
Finally, our learners reviewed and assessed what they have learnt and where they need to do better or challenge themselves further.
Because learning is never-ending.
