The Magic In Allowing Learners To Take Control Of Their Own Learning

In Year 3 this term we have been exploring the concepts of natural disasters, the water cycle and global warming. The students had the opportunity to discover these topics through their own research, whilst using the Ipads. They have slowly built upon their prior knowledge, lesson by lesson. With Geography as the subject, global warming as the topic and Google at their fingertips, the students decided to take the lesson in a different direction.

Once the students had begun their search and discovered what both causes and alleviates global warming, they discovered some images that they wanted to recreate.

The students had found an interest and wanted to pursue an activity that they had come up with themselves. Each one of them chose to represent the information they had learnt with something that summed it all up into one image. Pictures were produced, that represented our earth in two states and they were drawn and coloured in by the very hands that may one day construct the solutions to the problems we face.

Autonomy is developed through our students having some choice and control in their lessons, and if the knowledge and learning objectives stay the same, then does it matter how they discover it?

Kirsten Stoffberg

Year 3 Teacher