I teach to make school a “Disneyland” for my students. I have always believed in playful learning as a great way to engage students.
I love that exclamation of “Awww!” when I tell them that the lesson is over.
See how Linda Bradfield at St Mary’s School, Waverley, Johannesburg engages her Grade 8 students in their self-eSTEAM programme (entrepreneurial mindset, Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) underpinned by PBL and IBL.
With this project-based unit, I wanted every student to be able to identify with the topic regardless of race, religion, or gender and to be inspired by their own work. My priority was to help my students be inspired by women past and present, be motivated to become better and stronger, develop sound research skills, and be able to write their own biography.
At St Mary’s, we have designed our own curriculum statement for our Self-eSTEAM programme to prepare our students for their contribution to the broader global society and towards their own self-fulfillment - with the discovery of self: including each girl’s mission and vision, at the heart of the programme.
Duration: 2 weeks
This project was designed to be completed during lockdown. Each student worked independently. All stages of the project were shared with the students on Google Classroom. Each morning the students attended a Google Meet to discuss the outline for the day. They were able to communicate with the facilitators via Google Classroom or Whatsapp. Some students requested individual Google Meets to discuss aspects of the project with their facilitators. Some of our students were in different parts of the world due to lockdown.
We shared the following videos with our students to inspire them to find out more about women past and present.
We also invited them to explore the Goodall, Goombe and Google journey on Google Earth https://earth.app.goo.gl/ULmU8N
Following the exploration in the launch, the girls were introduced to the essential question for the unit:
The students were then given numerous resources to assist them in discovering a woman that they could emulate.
Students developed their own driving question stemming from the essential question of the unit
The students then worked through the Research quest (which I created in Google Sites) to guide them through the various phases of the research task.
To view the research quest site, click HERE
After completing the Define and Locate stages of the research process, students used the Slides presentation below to organise their research.
The students then produced and shared their Biographies according to these instructions.
Here is some of the feedback given on the students’ creations:
I so enjoyed reading your book. The use of language was natural and clearly your own voice came through. I felt how much you respect Emma Watson but I would have liked to see that being more clearly mentioned in each paragraph. You received good reviews for this book. Well done!
Venus you have written this book with passion and love for IU. It made me want to find one of her videos and there they all were for me. Thank you! You wrapped the story up so well in the conclusion but I think you were so engrossed in telling the story you omitted in each paragraph to link your aspirations to her amazing characteristics. A job very well done.
A lovely title and presentation of your work. Your book was a pleasure to read and you were consistent in highlighting her strength of character throughout but you did not refer to how would emulate her characteristics. Otherwise an excellent piece of work and congratulations on the lovely book reviews.
Your title page is so professional looking - excellent! You have written in a wonderfully easy to read manner and it makes your book so authentic. Well done on an excellent conclusion, however I would have liked to see you identify her characteristics at the end of each paragraph and explain how you plan to emulate her. Your artwork is super duper and congratulations on your incredible book reviews.
Lovely driving question and your book is well organised and well presented. I love your link back to the driving question at the end of chapter 1, I only wish you had done that with each chapter. An excellent conclusion and congratulations on the lovely book reviews.
Your book is beautifully presented and written with passion. Well done on ending each paragraph with Emma's strengths and your conclusion, although quite long wraps it all up so well. Huge congratulations on the excellent reviews from your family.
Google Sites
Google Classroom
Google Slides
Google Earth
Google Meet
Book Creator
This same group of students did their next project on “Dancing with adversity” in which they created a multimedia performance to inspire South Africans to see adversity as an opportunity for growth.
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