15.04.2021

Y3 students study people who changed the world

Students from Y3 concluded the Research Unit “We Can Change the World,” in which the central idea was to research about the people who changed the world and how each student identifies and are inspired by them. 

As a trigger for the first discussions, teachers presented the world map, which provided the use of the “dazzle” routine. After everyone had the chance to propose hypotheses and discoveries about the personalities distributed, some questions were raised so that students could go further in the reflection: Why were these people important? What other people do you know who also did something important for the world? What did they do? How do they continue to influence or impact other people to make a difference? And what did you do that you consider important? 

Based on these questions, students made a list of the personalities they wanted to research: Frida Kahlo, Nelson Mandela, Malala, Albert Einstein, among others. 

In History, they were invited to identify, through research, the historical landmarks of the place where they live and to understand their meanings. In the process, they investigated how different groups elect heroes and forget others, observing the struggles fought over the recognition and the forgetting of figures that appeared throughout history.

The shared reading book chosen was “Madiba, the African Boy”, by Rogério Andrade Barbosa, which tells the story of Nelson Mandela. The reading revealed to many children themes that are still unknown to them: the African continent, its location on the globe, South Africa and its culture, languages, stories, all from the perspective of the life of an African boy: the Rolihlahla. 

The literature in Y3 thus emerges as strangeness and de-automatization of reality. In the company of the characters, the students immersed in the South African universe reflected on how people can and should be surprised by prejudice cultures and experienced conflicts and choices on transforming society through the path of peace.

Along the way, they had the opportunity to meet Nadia Ayres, a South African and Beacon employee, to share her experience with Apartheid. 

To conclude and celebrate the discoveries, Y3 classes were invited to a cinema session with the presentation of the film “Invictus,” at which time they were able to follow Nelson Mandela’s attitudes and choices after leaving prison as President of South Africa. 

As can be seen, in all stages of the “We Can Change the World” Research Unit, students could know, think, reflect, go through transdisciplinary themes, and make choices within the lines of investigation. In this way, they were able to apply key concepts to research, relate them to works and assessments, whether they were developed in large or small groups or individually, observing and putting into practice the attributes of the Learner Profiles.