Skip to main content

Sharing the Planet with Pathogens





...and we all fall down.

Some say that the nursery rhyme arose from the great plague of London in 1665, though many folklorists disagree. I rather like the sinister connotations attached to such a seemingly innocuous rhyme.

Whatever the source of the rhyme, there is no doubt that a viral attack snuffed out over a 100, 000 lives.

It is interesting to note how our students reacted to this.

Some of these microorganisms are so beautiful while others are downright creepy! The students couldn't help but be fascinated by this unseen world and how much it affected their daily lives.

In order to understand the basic difference between a bacteria and a virus, we chose the venn diagram to fish out the details.




A fishbone graphic organizer helped the students to see how a disease spreads and how we can tackle it, once aware of its characteristics.



This sorting out phase is crucial in making thinking visible, almost tangible.


The map helped the students track a disease as they played the game Plague Inc. on their phones.

They chose to assess their understanding by creating board games. This provided the perfect opportunity to deal with the duality of life and death, good choices versus bad, etc.
As you played the games, the disease unfolds and the players becomes aware of how it starts, spreads and can be controlled.

This game on ZIKA  was quite different. As you moved towards hundred, you moved towards Death!
Peer Assessment

 As they worked in groups, they had the opportunity to assess one another and give honest opinions about their peers.

 Here are some examples of their comments/ reflections.  I love the way my students are so frank with one another!




 They had to ensure their research guided their creation. The time finally came when they had to test the game and fine-tune it.

Mers Madness

Testing the game out...



Watch the thrill factor as they play their games.



Students create a video instruction which will be converted into a QR code so that others can scan it and play the game with ease.












Reflection time.




Interesting fact:

As we were learning about diseases, an influenza epidemic kept many students at home. 

They learnt the difference between an A and B strain . Strange coincidence, isn't it?




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Unravelling the inquiry cycle in a PYP class room

“ People can make choices to support the sustainability of the Earth’s energy resources .” Me to students : Does that make sense? Students to me : (after a while)...not really...  Their understanding of "energy" during the pre-assessment task also reflected a superficial knowledge of the term. And thus our unit of inquiry started. As I was browsing the net, I came across this picture prompt- a map, which I thought would serve as a great provocation. The annual energy consumption per person . Kids love guessing where countries are, so it was a great way to address some geography at this point.  I had also been reading Craig Dwyer's  post  which inspired me to change my inquiry cycle and use a simpler one. Wonder (while exploring)- Explore (while wondering)- Create (while reflecting)- Reflect (with subsequent wonderings). I was feeling more at ease now. The map allowed the students to make a lot of inferences based on patterns which slowly

Summative assessment- simple machines

The student task : to design a machine that would : a) pop a balloon b) lift a bucket of water c) ring a bell d) push a ball into a hole Criteria: They must must design a machine using atleast 2 simple machines. They have to use IT skills and upload their video on Youtube, generate the embed code and transfer same to blog. Their video must be clear and creative. Though some of these students may be struggling with the language, using correct scientific vocabulary ensures that their presentations are clearly understood.

Student Agency in a PYP classroom

http://www.teacherstakecharge.com/ We have just started our unit on Ancient Civilisations. My students had been complaining about their summative task for the last unit. They were experts on the human body systems and we had a "Hot Seat" session where they were asked a few questions. They found it boring after a while. Frankly, so did I. And so I decided to relinquish control of the IB planner to them...at least stages 3 and 4. I have never tried this before. I will be working on the " reflection stage" with them later on. What can I say! The past two days have been exciting, eventful, noisy and very, very fruitful. As they looked at the central idea and the lines of inquiry, the whole class brainstormed tuning-in activities in groups. As they spoke, I updated my planner (stage 4 - learning engagements) This is what they came up with: Play "Chinese Whispers" to see how messages from the past can change as they filter down to us. Watch”