Students are presented with the opportunity to identify the major concepts of the MYP relevant to the story presented in this culminating chapter.
Storyline:
MYP students are selected from around the word to participate in a 7 day intercultural experience including a 4 day hike at the southern rim of the Grand Canyon. The group include the main characters presented through the previous chapters. When rain creates a landslide which divides the hiking group in two, the students need to decide on how they will communicate with each other over distance and make a decision on how to finish the hike.
Finally, this wonderful adventure comes to an end and students need to say good bye. They have lived together unforgettable moments and solved some problems that endangered the whole group. While making new friends their friendship bonded and the time to go home was full of mixed feelings. At the end of the chapter, students may be asked to role play this situation and explain how they feel.
Introductory page:
Unlike previous chapters, where students have been provided with key information, the students are asked to predict which subject areas, areas of interaction and learner profile qualities may relate to the learning within this chapter based on a short introductory paragraph. Emphasise to students that predictions can be made based on limited information and then modified as further learning takes place.
Approach: Discuss the introductory paragraph recording the ideas students have regarding where the story may lead and their justification on which subject areas, areas of interaction and learner profile qualities may be relevant.
Activity One: Selecting an ambassador:
Aim: to give students experience at designing and completing a rubric. The activity assists students in understanding why descriptors are given to different levels of achievement.
Approach: In small groups and based on the understanding shown, it may be necessary for students to engage in further activities to build on their knowledge of assessment. Such activities include:
- Organising parts of a cut up rubric
- Creating their own assessment descriptors for a piece of work
- Participating in self evaluation activities
- Attaching samples of work to a particular achievement grade and explaining why it matches
Activity Two: Distance communication:
Aim: To Investigate older ways of distance communication.
Approach: Students need to match dates to significant people and inventions within the field of communication
Preparation: (optional)
- Identifying resources in the library that may benefit their understanding
- Considering key words that would define their search for relevant information
- Identifying words within the activity that need to be defined for better comprehension
- Sharing of prior knowledge regarding forms of communication
- Discussing significant events that occurred around the same time as the dates of invention, thus giving clues to what match would be accurate.
This activity could be completed after some prior reading, without the use of resources and then discussed and researched, OR with the use of resources or clues.
Activity Three: Semaphore signals:
Aim: To stimulate students’ creativity and make them aware of different signalling systems that can be created with basic materials
Approach: Students use a chart of semaphore alphabet signals to send a message to a partner. The instructions are self-explanatory and students need time to experiment, practice and perfect their semaphore techniques, challenging themselves to signal a letter, word and then a sentence.
Equipment:
- A4 paper
- Straws
- Coloured markers
- Space
Answers:
Reflection:
Students are presented with the opportunity to consider the predictions they made at the beginning of this chapter and modify or confirm which subject areas, areas of interaction and learner profile qualities related to this chapter. Through students sharing verbally their personal answers to this reflection section they can support each others understanding of these concepts. Ask students to explain their answers and locate parts of the chapter that they can directly link to these major concepts within the MYP.
Bibliography – Chapter 7
American Sign Language. (Image) 13 August, 2007. http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/01046/pages/asl.htm
BNet Business Network, Perkins, S. Straight flush: researchers’ latest effort to shape the Grand Canyon. Science News, March 5, 2005. 10 December 2007.
Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the United States of America. 25 November, 2007. http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/gyzg/t268615.htm
Grand Canyon National Park. 10 December, 2007. http://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/index.htm
J. David Rogers’ Grand Canyon Research Surprise Valley Landslides. 10 December 2007. http://web.mst.edu/~rogersda/grand_canyon_research/surprise_valley_landslides.htm
Natureandco.com discover nature in New Zealand. 10 November 2007.
http://www.natureandco.co.nz/land_and_wildlife/national_parks/arthpass/idx- arthpass.php3
Nobelprize.org. Guglielmo Marconi,The Nobel Prize in Physics 1909. From Nobel Lectures, Physics 1901-1921, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1967. 12 August, 2007.
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1909/marconi-bio.html
R.Victor Jones. Optical Telegraphy. 12 August, 2007
http://people.seas.harvard.edu/~jones/cscie129/images/history/chappe.html Samuel Morse. 25 November, 2007.
Semaphore Flag Signalling System. Prepared by Jim Croft . 14 August, 2007. http://www.anbg.gov.au/flags/semaphore.html
Shopping Le Blog Shopping. 25 (Image) November, 2007.
http://www.italiq-expos.com/blog-shopping/2006/12/27/589-la-radio-a-100-ans
Sign Language History. 25 November, 2007. http://www.computing.dcu.ie/~smorri/SLhistory.html
The Franklin Institute Resources for Science Learning. Bell’s Telephone. 25 November, 2007. http://fi.edu/franklin/inventor/bell.html
The Southgate Amateur Radio Club. BBC World Service Discovery Fessenden: King of the Radio Waves 12 August, 2007. http://www.southgatearc.org/news/december2006/king_of_the_radio_waves.htm
