Feeding the Homeless

By Adam Fairall

Being a good teacher encompasses many different skills and talents. I think though, my overwhelming talent is the ability to sell an idea to students, convincing them to step into the unknown and to believe that they can do what they set out to do.

Impact Learning is looking at opportunities in one’s local community, aligning these with the SDG’s and Curriculum (which is way easier than it sounds) and handing it over to your students while you manage the process of discovery and understanding. The students will do the rest.

The vision

With this project, I wanted to make learning a relevant experience. Something that is not only relevant in the classroom, but something that students would walk away from with skills and creative solutions for a world that is desperate for innovation and solution-oriented thinking.

The unstructured question: “Could we feed the homeless people in the Cape Town CBD one meal each?” was born out of the Sustainable Development Goals as outlined by the United Nations, specifically, goal number two: Zero Hunger.

By working through real data collected by the students themselves, could Mathematics be made more relevant? Could English be more impactful? Could networking be something students could learn the value of at an early age?

Curriculum standards

This learning facilitated the development of the following skills identified in CAPS:

Mathematics: Grade 7 Topic 2.1 and 2.2
English: Transactional Writing, report writing, interviewing
Geography: Urban and rural populations
History: Effects of colonisation
IT: Coding/App-creation

Learning journey

*NOTE: There is constant peer feedback and problem discussion and solution testing as the data is processed and as new creative solutions arise.

Teacher Feature

Student activities

GROUP ALLOCATION AND ROLES

There were 6 independent groups made up of 3-4 students in each class.

Group 1: Statisticians (collection and processing of data both from research and practical findings)

Group 2: Communication with NPO organisations

Group 3: Specific research on Homelessness Video/academic writing to be presented.

Group 4: Logistics and Information management and process documentation.

Group 5: Laws around homelessness, research and presentation

Group 6: Interview forms for both Homeless and volunteers that would provide reasonable stats. Practical excursions to Soup Kitchens and Homeless Shelters provided opportunities to gather information.

Each class member assisted Group 6 with questions they might have forgotten to add to their forms.

Interviewing homeless at LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR. Learners then report backed and discussed data results. Questions that worked and didn’t work were also discussed.

Excursion visit to SAFE SPACE interviewing and recording the interview with the homeless there, followed by the practical solution of fundraising to purchase meals from DARE TO SHARE to distribute at SAFE SPACE.

Check out the learning!

“Could we feed all the homeless people in Cape Town’s CBD? The answer was most definitely YES!”

Technology used

Hardware: iPads, Apple Pencils, Apple TV

Software: Google Forms, iMovie, Safari, Google Classroom

What's next?

Grade 7s will look at personal sustainability and consumption and methods that can be put in place to use less natural resources. We will ask the question: Can I use less?
Grade 8s will look at Corporate waste and waste management We will ask the question: Can we create a zero-waste school for a term?

Closing thoughts

"The best education does not happen at a desk, but rather engaged in everyday living - hands-on, exploring, in active relationship with life."

- Vince Gorman

Want to learn more about PBL? Want to learn more about IBL?

Hop over to LaunchPad and complete our SACE-accredited Power of Project-based Learning and Becoming a Learning Architect courses.

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