Students in C24 have their end of case study assessment on Wednesday 17/04/19 this week. This will be an exam of 1-6 mark questions and a combination of the work we have been doing on:
For revision students will be able to use the Case Study 2 resources on the expedition website and the explore further page on the website also.
Expedition Website High Voltage
This week, 7 Pioneer have started the 3rd and final case study in the stand up expedition. This case study moves us away from the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade and into modern day slavery.
The case study has a geographical focus – we started to explore development in the world and how the world, and many countries, have a development gap. We defined development and how it revolves around making progress in the social, economic, environmental and political factors of a country.
So, how do we know how developed a country is? We introduced the concept of development indicators which are used to measure a country’s development, such as literacy rate, death rate and infant mortality rate.
Students then had to evaluate these to find which measures are more useful than others – hidden around the room were explanations for how useful each measure was and the students had to hunt them down and decide which measure the explanation was for. 
Towards the end of the week, we looked at the Demographic Transition Model. This model is based on the UK’s development and is applied to other countries around the world. It explains how birth rate, death rate and total population changes as a country develops. The students had statements which they had to allocate into the right stage with examples of countries which fit that stage.
I was impressed with how the students grappled with this – it’s challenging but they worked hard and supported each other to identify what was happening on the model and understand reasons for these changes.
I’m so excited to carry on with this case study which will use the Democratic Republic of Congo as an example and focus on its social, economic, environmental and political features, linking these to the expedition.
C24 have linked in the immersion week of capital punishment via electric chair and their knowledge of how electricity works. We investigated how electricity can result in death and how this occurs. We found that water can make the skin 100x less resistant to electrical current, which is why they use a wet sponge when sending people to the electric chair!
The habits of work and learning in C24 Explorer have been outstanding this week and this in an example of the craftsmanship and quality that has been produced from Lewis Dawson.
Well done Explorer!
We are just coming to the end of our immersion activities, which included:
Our first case study, Our Place in the Universe, is just the beginning. Make sure to ask one of our students what they think so far!
Today in HUMAN we were introduced to Case Study 3 as part of our expedition ‘Stand Up!’
First of all, we had to speculate what we thought CS3 might be about, basing our ideas on our guiding question and the key themes of our expedition so far.
Following an insightful discussion, we found out that we would be learning about modern day slavery in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We then had to think of a title for this case study. We chose Harvey’s idea: ‘The Past is the Present!’
Can you work out why we all agreed on this title?
We then set to, taking part in a silent conversation where we made notices, wonders and questions about different images linked to global development.
What notices do you make?
What is making you wonder?
What questions are you thinking of?
So, here we are getting started…
Later on…
We then zoomed in and found out about how development is measured and how useful the different measures can be.
Did you know that the Death Rate is not a very useful measure of development because developed countries tend to have older populations and death rates will be high, whereas, less developed countries may have a lower death rate because there are more young people?
In contrast, the Birth Rate is a more useful measure because, as a country develops, women are likely to become educated and want a career. They marry later and have fewer children.
Super geographical work, Explorer!
Here are the audio soundtracks for each part of each X-block group’s blues song so far. Use this to play along to so that you know you have the right rhythm and speed – make sure you’re listening to the right group!
E1 Blues guitar riff:
E1 Blues piano part:
E2 Blues guitar riff:
E2 Blues piano 12 bar blues:
E2 Blues voice part:
E3 12 bar blues piano:
If your group is playing the ‘coffee’ rhythm, make sure it fits in with the soundtrack. The ‘coff’ part should fall on each beat of the bar (1,2,3,4).
Likewise if you are playing the ‘ten-to-ten-to’ rhythm – however – here the ‘ten’ should fall on each beat of the bar (1,2,3,4).
See below for the 12 bar blues and help with the rhythm.
This term, E25 are learning about nutrition in one of their three X Block sessions each week. We have looked at what constitutes a balanced diet, discussed the components of the Eatwell Guide and the nutrients present in different foods.
This week, students have been working in pairs or groups of three to plan how they will cook a plate of food which meets requirements of their choosing; for example, a vegetarian starter, a healthy dessert or a free-from main course.
Each group have a meal planner document which will be signed off by me on Google Docs before they can cook. These MUST be completed before the session, otherwise they will not be able to cook.
The meals will be cooked in their normal X Block session with me on either Monday or Thursday morning.
Your child will have been allocated responsibility within their group to provide certain ingredients of their choosing. Please could you support them in ensuring that these are purchased in good time so they can bring them into school on either Monday or Thursday for their X Block session (they know which groups they are in and which day they are cooking on).
If you would like to contact me to discuss arrangements for your son or daughter, please contact me at school by phone or by email on [email protected]
Thanks in advance for your support.
I’ve really struggled deciding what makes the cut in terms of our crew blog after a week of highlights during crew and in session. After all the banter between Callum and Torran, I’d be doing them a disservice not to congratulate Torran and his team for winning the league! I was also delighted to hear that Lexi had achieved her goal of performing her back flip during her floor routine! I love starting the week celebrating our crew’s successes, and luckily for me, there have been many causes for celebration this week!
A definite highlight was the wonderful presentation of learning from C25’s STEAM expedition. I was blown away by my crew member’s hard work, and how they articulated their learning to me as I passed through the lab. It is wonderful to see them stepping up to the challenge, answering tricky questions and doing so in a really mature and professional manner.
This week, we have been analyzing the data of our subject grades and HOWLs. I was worried that the last data set for my crew had been so high we would struggle to top it, but it seems that we haven’t lost momentum. We are top of the leaderboard across all year groups for the be kind and work hard HOWLS, which is wonderful news. For get smart however, we’re in 3rd place (bearing in mind that we have had to compare digits in the hundredths in order for us to calculate the year 7 average)! It really got me thinking about how we can support one another in getting smarter.
Those three criteria have been the focus for our learning, and will be until the next data drop. I decided to set a little extra extended study last weekend, to get my crew to go above and beyond, and do some ‘explore further’ work that was related to their expedition but not something they had necessarily learned about in lesson, as a way of my crew taking responsibility for their learning. I encouraged them to use their expedition sites that have been set up by their teachers to support them with this. They were then asked to feedback to us in the form of a mini masterclass. Here’s some of their findings:
Lexi, Charlotte, Abi, Callum and Sami did some research into slavery in America, looking into Harriet Jacob’s account of her experience as a slave in the 1800s and famous slave traders. It was fascinating to hear her account and how she’d escaped the deep south and wrote a book detailing her mistreatment. Alice expanded our spanish vocabulary with some mythical creatures she had been researching that weekend – I am determined to somehow drop ‘unicorn/llama’ into conversation on my next trip to Spain!
Reece took us through the specialised cells in the body, and ran an activity where each pair had to identify and act as those cells in accordance to their roles. Lewis and Dylan had prepared fantastic slides on the anatomy of the digestive system and the role various organs had to play in processing food. Torran did a brilliant interactive maths recap of conversion, which included mini-whiteboard questions, and Dylan even printed a questionnaire for us to complete at the end of his session!
I’m sending my crew home with another small and optional piece of extended learning tonight, to try a little digital detoxing this weekend. I want them to try and spend a little bit of additional time that they may spend on devices doing some reading, some ‘explore further’ work, cooking or getting out now the weather is nicer! We’re going to debrief on Monday to see how it goes, myself included!
The STEAM Human Machine Presentations of Learning last week were a huge success and all students should be congratulated for the part they played, which began right back in January at the beginning of the expedition. We want to take this opportunity to thank Jon Kelly at Sine FM for working with us closely on the Final Product, Emma Parke from Diabetes UK for being an expert in the Final Product process and Mark Green for his microbiology expertise in Case Study 1.
The learning journey our students have been on for the last three months resulted not only in two varied and exciting Presentations of Learning but also in two very polished products. The Final Product brief was to produce an animation aimed at young people recently diagnosed with either diabetes (7 Explorer) or asthma (7 Pioneer). Check them out below:
I am so proud of all that our students have achieved in this expedition and encourage you to ask them more about it; they are a credit to themselves, the school and their families!
A reminder for families that E25 students would like to invite you to join in with a series of activities to present their learning on the following dates:
For a taster of what we have been studying, visit our expedition website.
We look forward to seeing you and thank you for your continued support.
