By this stage of home learning as parents you may be more immersed in what your son is learning than ever before during his secondary schooling, or certainly witness him experience learning differently. Our teachers have adapted learning to fit into the context of the home environment in a multitude of ways. We hope you are having some interesting discussions with your sons about what they are learning and we are certainly very thankful for the huge amount of agility and creativity shown by our teachers. This article in Edutopia Simple Ways to bring Learning Outside  is aimed at teachers, but you may well see evidence of it in what you son is doing at home.  

We asked our Learning Leaders to share some of the innovative learning that teachers are facilitating across years 7 -12:

“Technology classes have been learning to use Fusion 360 CAD program and are 3D printing their files through our teacher aides. Our teacher aides have also put together kits that students can pick up from school and work from home. Parents have expressed how this has helped students get away from screen time and do something practical. Student’s work is really developing well, as the photo of Lachlan Schey’s coke bottle drawing from Richard Baird’s Open RC Project Depth class reveals.”

- Annie McNamara, Technology Learning Leader

“Our Depth Applied Sports Nutrition Class went on a cooking ‘excursion’ with Rocky Gentile to their own kitchen last week and you can see some of the outcomes in the photos attached.

The Depth Fitness Challenge and Conditioning circuit class were asked on Wednesday to create some inventive stations that are safe and use household or outdoor items from home. It was interesting to see what they came up with – see the photos. Also click here to see a clip of a certain teacher losing to his dog Ace in the stair competition.”

-   Justin Abbott, Health and Physical Education Learning Leader

"I set up a Tom Cruise Aviation task focused on making different levels of planes with different functions for Depth students in Learn, Make, Evaluate, the Depth Learning Diversity extension course. Students, discussed, designed, made and then tested their planes. Through measuring their flight distance or ability to do as designed, we evaluated the success of the designs. My son and I made all the prototypes prior to class so I could show the boys outcomes that could be achieved. Congratulation to Cooper Chandler winning the award, Learn, Make Evaluate Aviator 2020 for the most effective plane constructions. Student engagement was also increased with reference questions to popular culture such as: “Who was Tom Cruise’s wing man and opponent?” Presently the students are participating in ‘The Great Dome Exploration’ which involves understanding triangles, measurements and structure. The students explored plans & designs, Kevin McCloud’s Grand Designs, classic cathedral domes from the UK and Europe, and discussed their structures and complexities Finally they researched igloo constructions. The students set up their home work stations last week, many going to school to collect foam board. Learning different construction methods, measuring skills and angles the students are all creating their own great domes!"

-   Fran Davey, teacher of Learn Make Evaluate and Applied Learning Leader & VET Coordinator

"In Year 7 Science, as part of their study of Earth in Space, students are designing, creating and testing a spacecraft heat shield. They are using household materials and learning about heat insulators and conductors. To test their shield, students will use a hair dryer (the sun) to project heat onto 2 bars of chocolate (the spacecraft). One bar will be protected by the heat shield, the other unprotected. They’ll take photos to show their results. Students are very excited about it!

Some of our Depth students studying Crash Bang Science are also using household materials to conduct physics experiments. The Crash Bang Science practical required students to set up a ramp so that they could investigate the gravitational potential energy in balls at different points along a ramp. The photos show the variety of ramps students created at home and the ways students are engaged and being resourceful.”

-    Sandra Mancini, Science Learning Leader

“Some really great things happening in Maths classes with teachers flipping classrooms, preparing videos to pre-load content to their students so that their class time is spent answering any questions. Creativity in junior classes is evident, such as Brigitte Kelleher creating some competitive activities with her Year 7's, while teachers Adrian Tomada created a maths treasure hunt, and John Diano had himself and students removing shoelaces to investigate the circumference of a circle.”

-     Laura Fordham, Maths Learning Leader

“The Year 12 English team have been collaborating furiously with teachers drawing heavily on flipped learning – where by students preview videos before class time then discuss and apply when online. Each Year 12 English teacher has made a video on a theme, provided examples and spoken to these. Themes include:

How to use an image effectively, How to analyse an article, Tackling two articles and The process of writing”

-     Jeremy Doolan, English Learning Leader