This year our students have been thinking about ways that we, as first grade students at PKS, can help to make positive changes in this world, even in small ways. In our Life Cycles unit, we first took on the role of being scientists to learn about the phenomena of life cycles and how they unfold for different plants and animals.
Within the Project-Based Learning model, the challenge for us as teachers is to frame a driving question that sets the direction for not only content learning but also student-driven inquiry and engagement. For this unit, our driving question was: How can we, as scientists, help others understand how living things change and grow, and inspire others to protect plants and animals? Students embraced their role as experts and teachers, and that became the context in which they set out to learn about an animal of their choice and the actions we can all take to protect them.
Our final projects depict one animal’s life cycle and two simple actions that everyone in the community can take to protect that animal throughout its life. These actions are as simple as turning off or dimming lights, using small whiteboards instead of paper, or turning off water while scrubbing our hands. Through this unit, we saw how our first grade students are inquisitive scientists and at the same time, advocates for changing the way we think and act. Having a real-world context and challenge to teach others deepened our students’ own learning and sense of agency.
During remote learning earlier this year, we also saw our students’ passion for learning about and protecting animals. Our incredible room parents organized a Move-A-Thon to encourage first graders to encourage all first graders to keep their bodies moving even while doing school at home. They invited the students to determine what cause or organization would receive the pledges, and our first graders chose the San Francisco Zoo! We were delighted to have raised $2,263 for the SF Zoo, and grateful to continue our partnership by sharing our students’ learning and advocacy with SF Zoo members through the Animail newsletter. Below is a sample of how our first graders embraced learning and advocacy through their projects, and a link where you can find the full collection.