Using Project Based Learning, the phase mostly prevalent in this resource is the Exploration phase. (Lian & Norman, 2017) describe the Exploration phase as, “The purpose of the Exploration phase is to trigger students’ interest in a specific phenomenon or issue through perspectives which make it possible for the students to assess its relevance to their own contexts”.
The experiences in these five lessons promote interest in bees, by almost humanising them in a sense and comparing the bee’s life to their lives. Both the narratives, “Bee and Me” by Alison Jay and “Are you a bee?” by Judy Allen and Tudor Humphries promote bee conservation through the eyes of a child, in a relatable way. “Bee and Me” is a wordless book, and students are introduced to this concept, and are encouraged to make their own meaning from the illustrations. “Bee and Me” is then viewed on YouTube, incorporating ICTs for learning, using sound effects and music to attempt to invoke different emotions in the individual. The students are asked to predict the story and place the relevant picture cards in the correct order and then provide their own text for the illustrations.
“Are you a bee” explores the life of a bee in context to a child’s life, their appearance, their families, their chores, their class, school and community. The project leads to a narrative about everyone, imagining they are themselves a bee and describing their features and everyday lives. This is an individual and group process, the final project being a beehive display in the classroom.
Both these texts and relevant experiences promote Compare-and-contrast activities discovering the why, how, when and who, and viewing and assessing other’s perspectives on bees. The different varied activities enrich students’ learning. (Lian & Norman, 2017)
These activities is a way of recording information about bees and conservation, sustainability of nature and natural resources in a fun, engaging way, making students feel involved in the process. Each student’s perspectives are addressed and presented in a written form on display.
The main Reading Support strategies used (What is Reading Support) are “Playful and exploratory use of speech to text and text to speech, “Reading for Emotion model adjusted for the needs of students from different grades”, “Compare and contrast activities”, “Whole-class reading”, “Copying and writing to support reading”, “Also learning about text structure using the principles of neurological theory of aesthetic experience”.
Students are given the opportunity to create their own texts, using the two different narratives about bees as a reference. The text they create about their own bee profile is a playful version of information about the insect. The Reading for Emotion is used quite prevalently, as the students explores the wordless book and focuses on the picture cues, and then later views the story with music and sound effects to instill more emotive experience. The Prep student is asked to see from a bee’s perspective, and the bee’s emotions as compared to a child’s. The Compare and contrast activities include the group sequencing the picture cards in order of the narrative, and then the submitting their own words for the text. The Group project of the class bee community also encourages this skill of comparing and contrasting other’s perspectives. The whole-class reading is used extensively, as both books are read as a class before children are given their own text to peruse. As a class, students are commenting about the story, especially in the wordless book, offering their own views about the storyline. The copying and writing strategy is used when students write their own narration, and then at the end of the project have written their own bee story, by copying the ideas and interpreting their own.
(Piaget (n.d.) (cited in Module 4: Supporting students in learning to read Early Childhood and Primary) believes, “…that learning is an ongoing process where children engage in re-constructing (re-interpreting) the world around them, and this is how we learn”.
The experiences in the five lessons includes this process of re-constructing and re-interpreting in different ways. For example, the wordless book, “Bee and Me” is a unique concept, having to read a text by picture cues. The students then place picture cards in the correct order to reinvent the story, and then lastly use their own words to create the narrative. The story “Are you a bee?” is a combination of non-fiction and fiction, as it is about a fictional colony of bees yet relays main information about the insects. Students collate this information and then using the text make their own narrative about their own bee character for the group project.
The activities are multi-sensory, as they are having the teacher read to them, viewing a wordless book, using picture cards, writing text, watching a video of a story with sound effects and music. They are rewriting a text, and they are reading and writing themselves. They are carrying out activities individually and in a group. They are exploring their emotions throughout the readings. The goal is to create their own beehive display, so all the prior experiences are leading up to this final project. them, and this is how we learn. This process of re-construction is multisensory, experience and goal-dependent. The students are learning about real-world issues, in this case bee conservation, protecting nature and our natural resources and how we can assist in this matter and make a contribution.
In relation to the Cross-Curriculum Priorities (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander History and Cultures, Asia and Australia's Engagement with Asia, and Sustainability), the bee theme could be extended, delving into Indigenous culture and history of the bee and wild honey, exploring an area that contains bush bees (taking into consideration safety aspects, risk assessments). Research could be done on the types of bees around the world, including Asia and if the same impacts are being made by the bee in danger of extinction. Language about the bee could be taught in different languages, traditional languages or of Asian origin, or learning a song in another language. This could cater for English as a second language students as well. Sustainability is a very relevant aspect in these lessons, as the focus is on bee conservation, learning more about bees to understand them and how we can all help to preserve them. Students are learning that bees are not only a precious part of nature, they also impact on our own natural resources such as honey. This is a community and whole world project, affecting everyone as a whole.
The learning areas, general capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities all assist in diverse learning, reasonable adjustments can be made to the lessons to accommodate for students with special needs, however, the experiences are diverse and incorporates visuals and sound effects, and wordless pictures. This can also aid with English as a second language students. For gifted and talented, there are extra activities provided if work is completed early or there needs to be more challenging tasks, which can be extended on.
References
Allen, J & Humphries, T. (2004). Are you a bee? Australia: Backyard Books.
Australian Curriculum. (n.d.). English: Foundation Year: Understand How English works. Retrieved from https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/english/
Jay, A. (2016). Bee and Me. United Kingdom: Old Barn Books.
Lian, A & Norman, A. (2017). A dialogic, evidence-based framework for integrating technology into school curricula. Retrieved from
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D_CEbsjnZu0dFmCsAn8gemgh3AsR6_yv/view
Module 4: Supporting students in learning to read Early Childhood and Primary: The pedagogy of reading. (n.d.) Retrieved from https://online.cdu.edu.au/ultra/courses/_45809_1/cl/outline
Old Barn Books. (2019, March 4). Bee and Me. . Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v =D0215UAi4i4
Pinterest. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.pinterest.com.au/