Families
New Families
Alumni
As part of their final project for their IB PYP unit of inquiry into “Where we are in place and time,” students chose a Canadian History topic that interested them to research.
Each student set up a display where they answered questions and shared their learning with the Junior School community. In addition, they each spent the previous two weeks working in the Innovation Lab to create an artifact using the Design Cycle (Ask, Imagine, Plan, Create and Improve).
To complete this project students learn about the difference between primary and secondary sources. Students are required to create a ‘The Top Five Facts You Should Know About…’, their topic, while properly citing their sources of information.
Matthew chose to research the Avro Arrow, an aircraft used in the late 1950s.
“I wanted to study the Avro Arrow because I like jets and planes,” he explained. “It’s known to be one of the fastest jets. Its colours were grey, red, blue, white and black. It was meant to fly at 2,104 km/h.”
For his artifact, Matthew created the NORAD symbol. He also displayed a slideshow and built a Minecraft game, which he noted was his favourite part of his project.
Cora decided to research the Mapelea Canadian Girl Dolls, which are essentially the Canadian version of the popular American Girl Dolls. She created a clay model of a Mapelea doll to showcase as her artifact.
“The dolls come from Banff, Salt Spring, Toronto, Manitoba, Nunavut, Quebec and Nova Scotia,” she explained. “I wanted to pick this topic for my heritage inquiry because I wanted to know if the Mapelea dolls were better than the American Girls, and who had more history. I found it fun in the end because we got to choose a topic we were interested in, and it was a lot of fun doing the research and making our artifact.”
After conducting plenty of research through both primary and secondary sources, Cora concluded that the Mapelea dolls were her favourites.
“The Mapelea dolls came with a journal, and only some American Girls did. Mapelea dolls are less expensive than the American ones, and are better quality, especially with their outfits,” she said.
It wasn’t just physical things that the students researched for their history inquiry, as Sebastian chose to do his project on Doug Young, a Canadian hockey player who won multiple Stanley Cups and retired in 1941.
“I picked Doug Young because he’s my dad’s cousin. He loved him and met him, and I thought because I like hockey I’d learn more about him,” said Sebastian, as he showed off the slideshow he created, with a very interesting fact.
Who is Doug Young’s Great-Great nephew? Well, it is Sebastian himself.
“I really enjoyed this project because I got to research and tell others about Doug Young,” he added.
Charlee also chose a notable figure in Canadian history to study, as she selected Geraldine Moodie, who was a pioneer in capturing photos of early Canadian history.
“She was also one of the first female photographers,” said Charlee. “I wanted to research her because I also like photography, and when I searched for Canadian photographers her name came up, so I was really interested.”
For her artifact, Charee created a camera out of cardboard that showed one of Geraldine’s photos through the viewfinder.
“One really interesting fact I learned was that her photos are displayed in many museums in Canada and in England,” she said.
It was a great day with such amazing historical projects on display! Well done, Grade 4s!
Related Posts
Celebrating Gavin Bowers’ 35 Years at GNS
There’s no mistaking the positive impact that Gavin Bowers, Junior School Vice Principal, has had on GNS. His energy...
AI & The Future of Education – with AJ Juliani
As our children navigate a world increasingly shaped by technology, parents need to stay informed about the educational tools...
Reflecting on a Legacy: GNS’ Beloved Jill Graham Retires
As we enter the final term of the school year, the GNS community prepares to bid a heartfelt farewell...