IPC Brainwave

IPC
This term has introduced our school to a new international curriculum (IPC). We are the only school in New Zealand and we are piloting this new curriculum in NZ.

" The IPC is our International Primary Curriculum for children aged 5 - 11 years old. It is used by over 730 schools in 92 countries worldwide.

It is a comprehensive, thematic, creative curriculum, with a clear process of learning and specific learning goals for every subject. It also develops international mindedness and encourages personal learning."

The first part of the IPC is the brainwave unit. 

These are the Brainwave learning goals

Children will:

3.01 Know about some of the recent evidence and research into the brain and learning

3.02 Know about some of the different areas of the brain and their function

3.03 Understand the different ways that they can learn

3.04 Understand how they can improve their learning and their attitudes to learning

3.05 Understand the importance of cooperation and global awareness in their learning

This was the entry point learning task for the students: Ask the children to think about something they are good at. Let them have as much freedom to choose as possible; don’t restrict them only to school subjects. Once they have thought of a broad area – art, sport, music, computer games, etc. – ask them to be more specific. Make it clear to them that they will be asked to teach their particular knowledge or skill to someone else.Give each child a piece of card and ask them to write their name on it and what it is they can teach to others, for example, ‘To throw a ball forty metres’; ‘To stand on your head’; ‘To juggle four balls at the same time’; ‘To multiply two numbers together very quickly’. The children’s suggestions will probably be more adventurous than any of these, so you might want to remind them of the need for safety. Explain to the children that they are going to teach their particular knowledge or skill to another child. In a way that it is appropriate for your class, pair children off so that everyone is either someone’s ‘teacher’ or a ‘learner’. For example, you could draw cards from a hat, or display them on a wall and invite choice. Provide time for the whole class to share what they already know about effective learning and teaching, and then use their ideas to help plan their own teaching.

We also spent a lot of time learning about the brain -how they learn, and how the different parts of their brain work. The children really enjoyed this unit and got to experience a lot of things including getting to look at a real brain (cows).

The children also spent a lot of time researching and learning about different parts of the brain and sharing their learning with each other. Here is an example of one of the groups work.

The children really enjoyed this part of the IPC curriculum and I enjoyed learning alongside them and facilitating new learning opportunities, it was a great experience for us all.