Students in JK-Grade 7 participated in their second Integrate Day on February 10. Integrate Days are designed to support project-based and interdisciplinary learning, as students have the opportunity to investigate problems by asking driving questions.
This term’s driving questions included:
- Grade 1: How do fairytales promote equality and shape identity?
- Grade 2: How can we use creativity and critical thinking to solve problems?
- Grade 3: How can we learn from organisms adapting in extreme environments?
- Grade 4: How does human migration affect natural resources and indigenous cultures?
- Grade 5: How can I successfully tackle challenging but achievable goals and maintain progress over time?
- Grade 6: How can art help individuals understand historical events and their impact?
- Grade 7: How do we decide who’s story gets told?
As you can see, these open-ended questions were broad and designed to encourage deep reflection and engagement.
As it was our second of three Integrate Days, we are starting to see the benefits for our students of working in an integrated way. These include:
- Improved understanding: By connecting different subjects and knowledge domains, integrated learning helps students see the connections between different concepts and ideas. This can lead to a deeper understanding of the world.
- Enhanced problem-solving skills: Integrated learning encourages students to think critically and creatively to solve problems that require knowledge from different domains.
- Increased engagement: Integrated learning can make learning more engaging and relevant to students because it allows them to see how different subjects and knowledge domains are connected to their lives and interests.
- Improved retention: Integrated learning can help students retain information better because it allows them to see how different pieces of information are connected to each other. This can make it easier for students to remember and apply what they have learned.
- Real-world application: Integrated learning can help students see how the knowledge they are gaining can be applied in the real world. This can help them understand the practical implications of what they are learning and how it can be used to solve real-world problems.
Some highlights of the day included collaborating in groups to design and create fairytale-inspired murals, learning about young inventors and creating prototypes, and participating in a soapstone carving workshop before exploring different Arctic experiences. Students visited Fort Langley to explore the history of the fur trade in BC. Others explored how to develop grit and resilience, some explored their family stories, whilst some went on a visit to Mount Pleasant to explore the wealth of murals in and around the area.
Overall, Integrate Day provided our students with a rich and meaningful experience that they will remember for a long time. Great work, Yorkies!
Tom Collins
Junior School STEAM Coordinator