Early Childhood and Lower School Principal, Cindy Blanes, reflects on a fantastic exhibition for our Primary Years Programme (PYP) students.
The exhibition
At this time of year, as we gradually approach the end of February, Grade Five teachers and the PYP Coordinator start to plan for the roll-out of the culminating event in the PYP journey – the Grade Five exhibition. It’s an amazing opportunity to hand over complete control of an entire Unit of Inquiry to the Grade Five children to run for themselves.
The children work in collaborative groups to select an area of focus, design their Central Ideas and their Lines of Inquiry. They work together to research, review their findings and plan for a presentation.
The journey
This whole event comes as part of a journey that builds across Lower School, we carefully build on the children’s IT skills, their ability to create powerful questions, analyse data and work collaboratively gradually and year-by-year. It is our hope that by the time the children get to Grade Five, they have at their disposal a whole array of IT options, a real ability to think and plan together in a team, the confidence to test and challenge their thinking and work effectively to a deadline and with a plan of how to share their journey.
The children must and do have a heightened sense of honesty in all their work too. They know and understand how we acknowledge and recognise the work of others that we might use. At all times the children know that the journey itself is as much a part of their celebration as the end result.
Sharing the journey
Sharing the journey with the children are a whole array of people. Parents, administrative staff, outside experts and teachers from across all three divisions offer their time and expertise to support the children in all manner of ways. We have, in the past, had parents assist in discussing the art of public speaking, how to create an eye-catching display or been great support in driving exhibition groups to places that help their inquiry. Experts have given their time to be interviewed, answering the children’s questions, and challenging their thinking in return.
Harnessing skills
The children’s journey throughout the PYP allows them to explore different genres of writing, empowering them to think not just about what they write but how they can make it accessible to their reader. Their previous experiences in collating and analysing data, gives them a platform to then think about the data they might need to generate to support their own exhibition questions.
Research skills are developed to build year by year too – I have had some amazing discussions with exhibition groups about the validity of the information they are reading. They want to know how we know it is reliable? How can we check? How do we manage conflicting opinions on any particular discussion point? All of these wonderful discussions emerge very naturally in the exhibition process and the children manage them beautifully.
Making a difference
The children’s Central Ideas can range from local interest topics to those with a more global impact, but always challenge the children to think about how they can make a difference. The Central Ideas are their own, they mean something to them, and they share that passion with those they work with. Groups are often put together solely by shared interest, challenging the children to work with someone new. Last year our exhibition teams worked on such amazing themes as: nutrition, diversity, over-consumption, autism, sustainable farming and animal welfare to name a few! They are extraordinarily driven by their findings and the opportunity to share and motivate others. They have something to say by the end of the process and they want to say it loudly.
The exhibition is the children’s time to shine and they really do, standing tall to present their work and their thinking, their journey not just at that moment and in the exhibition but throughout the PYP. It’s amazing to see and year after year I never cease to be moved by their heartfelt engagements with the world around them and their drive to be an informed part of it.
