Grade 4s Inquire into Canadian Heritage

January 22, 2021

Academics

GNS

The Grade 4s have kicked off their Heritage Inquiry with the help of Teacher Librarian Mrs. Sarah McLeod. Students work through the research process by learning about primary and secondary sources, as they pick an inquiry topic dealing with Canada’s exploration and the history of Canada.

“It’s a real love of mine to make the students aware of where to find resources in their community when they are researching a topic,” explained Mrs. McLeod. “That’s an awareness of our libraries, archives and our museums.”

Students were introduced to Mr. Stuart Brambley, the school Archivist, and had a virtual visit with Oak Bay Archivist Anna Sanders. In previous years, the students would go to the Royal BC Museum, talk to their curators, and pick a primary source for their projects., However, this year, they chose a photo or an image online as their primary source.

Students have just chosen their primary source of information, including photographs of building the railway, First Nations development in the area, early explorers, and shipwrecks. Students looked at the photos as a primary source of information, but also solicited questions about their topic.

“They could choose anything as long as it was Canadian and dealt with the history of Canada, and preferably exploration and discovery,” said Mrs. McLeod. “We have a wonderful array of topics that the students have chosen this year including topics of local interest with the beach outside of Rattenbury House, shipwrecks off the West coast trail, and they are very keen to learn more about the gold rush and what miners eat and wear.”

After choosing their topic from the primary information they have, students had to look into secondary sources for their topic, and that’s where Mrs. McLeod helps show them historical novels on their topics and other non-fiction resources.

“Just making them aware of the Candian Encyclopedia and other resources of information online that will be easily accessible to them,” she adds.

The result will be students making a poster that includes their primary source and five interesting facts they learned about their topic. In previous years, the project has been taken further and students participated in the local Heritage Fair. There’s an ongoing discussion whether it’s going to be virtual or not this year.

Learning research skills in Grade is a way to help set them up for future endeavours including the Grade 5 PYP Exhibition.

“To have these tools in their inquiry and research toolkit is key to their development as a user of information, and as we know that importance of finding information that is correct and written well by experts is so key to the research process,” said Ms. McLeod.

Good luck to the Grade 4s and we can’t wait to see your research!