A ground-breaking initiative led by our Social Science Department that reemphasises the importance of Geography as a key course of study within the College, has the power to strengthen International relationships between our students and those of The Mercy School in Honiara, Solomon Islands.
Year 7 Students have been challenged in-class to critically analyse a range of water issues in Honiara and Canberra, developing essential skills such as creating graphs from data that they collect and using Google Earth to access up-to-date live maps. Additional features of our students investigation include creating consequence charts, enabling students to identify an issue, then map and calculate how the consequences would vary if they changed just one aspect e.g. Pollution. Students are then challenged to develop their use of Infographics, which provide instant visual representations of the data they collate.
The inspiration for this international class project came from a visit by Mr Simon Rilaua, Principal of Mercy School, as part of the BRIDGE project – a program aimed at establishing international school partnerships between students, teachers and school communities.
A very special thank you to Ms Leigh Pirie and Ms Donella Walker who have worked tirelessly to establish a framework for both schools to participate and empowering our Year 7 Geography students to learn so much about the water challenges that face the Burns Creek community in Honiara. For example, our students were astounded to learn through their study that the Mercy School only had one pit toilet for around 1200 students! This has challenged our students to contemplate the advantages of our continuous water supply that we all at times, have taken for granted.
When our students have completed their conclusions in Week 12, they will send their findings to students at the Mercy School, who will then undertake the same investigation. Students from both schools will then correspond (in writing due to inadequate internet access in Honiara), to compare the similarities and differences in their findings and make recommendations based on their results.
The aim of this College initiative is to create an ongoing relationship between students from both schools, where they can continue to collaborate on projects, practice language skills and develop lifelong friendships.
Matt Calder (Head of Social Science & Humanities – Acting)