Breakout EDU

Thanks to Mrs. Kosakowski and Mrs. Klipfel, our digital literacy specialists, students were able to participate in the ultimate Breakout EDU experience, using teamwork and critical thinking to solve a series of challenging puzzles related to map skills in order to open a locked box of treasure. It's similar to an "escape room" strategy. 

Breakout EDU games can be used to introduce a new lesson or concept, or to reinforce and strengthen learning. The games provide a student-centered learning experience where students use critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and communication to problem-solve and own their learning, apply their understanding of new content or even discover it.  One of the best aspects of these games is that they provide students with many opportunities to fail forward.  Every unsuccessful attempt to solve a puzzle and open a lock forces the player to try again. These geography-savvy sixth graders were determined to solve all of the puzzles within the allotted 45-minute timeframe. The first team broke the codes within 41 minutes and the second team broke them within 44 minutes - just under the wire!  It was just as thrilling for me to observe as it was for students to participate - it was wonderful to see them supporting one another as learners and persevering through the more difficult aspects of the challenge. Student feedback:  "Please, can we do another one soon?"  You can bet we will and next time, we'll level up!

Gender Roles in the Middle East: A Balanced Understanding and Perspective

Imagining what the U.S. looked like before the Women’s Rights Movement might seem to many, a lot like what some parts of the middle east look like today.  Many people, including some of our global-minded sixth graders, hold narrow judgments and stereotypes about certain social practices in the middle east, particularly with respect to gender practices.  

As we began our study of geography and culture in the middle east region, we took the opportunity to investigate and discuss the diverse roles and aspirations of middle eastern women and the influence of various interpretations of Sharia Law, social customs, geographical location, and family traditions. Students first compared and contrasted gender practices in the U.S. with those in the middle east region.  Analyzing popular misconceptions was helpful in being able to gain a more balanced understanding of gender roles.  But, what next?  Perspective. An important part of our inquiry would be about the formations of cultural traditions and how and why they change, specifically in the middle east region. The question guiding our research and investigation was:

How does the progression of rights over time, the value of the family network, the variation in family or personal status laws across states, or the role of Sharia Law shape cultural values and behaviors?

Specific, inquiry-based questions included:

1. How do Muslim girls and women feel about covering their hair?
2. What are the priorities of Muslim women?
3. How long did it take to achieve women's suffrage after independence in Oman compared to that of the United States?
4. How do the various interpretations of Sharia Law in different Muslim communities influence gender roles for Muslim women around the world?

Students used visible thinking walls to post research results and related ideas, affording students the ability to become engaged thinkers and learners; even thought leaders! They learned that there is a difference between religion and culture and that not all middle eastern Muslim women are oppressed by their religion. From previous discussions about gender equality in other parts of the world, we know that women all over the world, regardless of religion, have struggled against inequalities and restrictive practices in education, the workforce and family roles. While many of these same limitations apply to some middle eastern women, many of these influences stem from local cultural traditions as well as various interpretations of Sharia Law or Islamic traditions.  One student reported that "this seems like a pretty complicated issue and that we would need a whole lot more time to find all the answers". Another reported that "it didn't seem fair to judge middle eastern traditions and assume that everyone wants to become more "western-oriented" because traditions can be very important to some people and there are a lot of people who don't like change - maybe some of these women are proud of their traditions". One of the last comments I overheard: "What if a woman wants to pursue her own passions, but she is afraid that she will be shunned by society if she does?  That doesn't seem like equality to me". 

“Women and Gender Roles in the Middle East.” TeachMideast, teachmideast.org/articles/introduction-women-gender-roles-middle-east/.

Connecting Africa

If you've been following our classroom blog, you know that students have been hard at work these last couple of months learning about the political, cultural, physical and economic characteristics of Africa.   

As a culmination of their learning, they have been working on a project-based learning (PBL) module where they were challenged to put their knowledge and understanding about the physical and human geography of Africa into action. The guiding question throughout their research and investigation was:  

• How do human and physical characteristics of Africa influence its economic interdependence?

The PBL module was based on the following scenario:  

A conference of African leaders has adopted as its top priority the building of a highway across the continent from Tunis, Tunisia to Cape Town, South Africa. The purpose of the highway is to foster political cooperation among the African nations and to promote economic development, trade, and tourism.

The highway will be financed by the World Bank, which, together with the African leaders, has recently rejected an initial proposal for the highway put forward by a competitor of your company.  The World Bank is now seeking alternate proposals.

You have been asked to submit to the World Bank a proposal for an alternative route for the highway. You will analyze a series of maps, data, atlases and other references to explain why the first route was rejected and create a more suitable route with reasoned support for it.

Students were assigned to work in small groups and were handed RFP's (Request for Proposals) in order to begin their investigative process.  Over the last couple of weeks, students have been researching, analyzing and evaluating data in an effort to put together proposals that support the highway objectives, which essentially support economic development throughout Africa. 

Students are quite proud of their proposals and are excited to share their work with you.  As such, I will be posting their proposals on the bulletin board outside of our classroom (Room 33) and will leave them up through the duration of parent-teacher conferences next month.  Please stop by before or during conference week and check out their amazing work.  It is a true testament to their learning and evidence of their ability to interpret and apply the geographic concepts and skills they have learned. I think you will be most impressed with the results.

PBL designed by MensaforKids.org

The Water Project UPDATE

Our sixth grade Global Goals champions support Global Goal #6, raising $1,329 to help fund reliable water projects in sub-Saharan Africa. WE ARE THE CHANGE.

The Water Project organization has already notified us that they plan to use our donations to fund a protected spring project in western Kenya. We'll be posting updates on the progress of this project throughout the school year, so be sure to stay connected. Here is the initial plan:

Water Week

This week was filled with student-centered learning activities related to Africa's water crisis - from scarcity and safety to service learning.

Students are certainly developing a much deeper understanding of the importance of clean water and sanitation and how making it accessible to all can help break the cycle of poverty.  For many families, it means an education for their children, sustainable farming and the opportunity to seek meaningful work for adult men and women.  Sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation is an important component of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (aka Global Goals) - a goal that has been a primary focus for us during our study of sub-Saharan Africa.

We kicked off the week with a cross-curricular, inquiry-based science experiment, which required students to investigate possible solutions to cleaning up contaminated water.  Students were assigned to work in small groups and were offered a variety of materials to use to clean up their water supply. Each material was marked with a specific cost and they were to determine the most cost effective solution for cleaning their water supply.  Students quickly realized that this was not going to be an easy task.  Though they tried desperately to filter their water supply to a specified standard of clarity, no single group was able to achieve it.  The takeaway?  Cleaning contaminated water can be challenging and costly.  It was easy to see how the cycle of poverty continues from generation to generation. Without access to clean water, adults and children continually suffer water-borne illnesses, children lose the opportunity for an education, crops cannot be harvested and adults cannot pursue employment. Yes, it was clear just how much water scarcity and safety can significantly limit one's potential. So, we had students imagine what a well or a rain catchment system could do for a small community in sub-Saharan Africa.  This is when students truly realized the importance of the service learning project they'd be participating in this week and the impact it would have, even if only for a small village. Through a week-long fundraising campaign titled "Be The Change, Bring the Change", sixth grade students collected quite a bit of change (an abundance of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters and even some bills) to help support the efforts of The Water Project - a non-profit organization that provides reliable water projects (wells, sand dams, rainwater catchments, sanitation systems, filtration systems and spring protection) to communities in sub-Saharan Africa. Our biggest challenge yet might be in figuring out how we're going to get the large bin of change to the bank so that it can be counted - a problem we're thrilled to have, of course.  Stay tuned next week for an announcement on the results of our fundraising campaign.

Another important component of our "Water Week" involved building background knowledge of the Sudanese Civil Wars, the history of the contentious Dinka and Nuer tribes and the effects of water scarcity in that particular region - all of this leading up to introducing the story A Long Walk To Water by Linda Sue Park.  This coming-of-age story (partially based on a true story) provides a dual narrative of two Sudanese youths during different time periods. The two characters' lives intertwine to demonstrate the importance of family and water and most importantly, hope. Students participated in gallery walks (a gallery of images relating to South Sudan's culture), learned about the traditions of the dominant tribes in the southern region, their success at establishing independence from the north, war over oil resources and the current state of affairs in the world's newest nation and one of the least developed and conflicted regions in the world. The goal of having students engage in these activities was to help contextualize this story.  We've only reached the end of chapter three, but the students' depth of understanding of the experiences of the main characters is evident.  Their questions are most relevant, their ideas are deeply insightful and meaningful and they have already established emotional connections with the main characters. It was tough putting the book down on Friday.  Monday will arrive with great anticipation, for sure.

Students investigating possible solutions to cleaning up a contaminated water source.