PYP 5 – Learning outside the classroom

PYP 5 Learning outside of the classroom –  ‘Pimpri Chinchwad Science Park’

As a part of their Unit of Inquiry on ‘How the World Works’, PYP 5  visited the ‘Pimpri Chinchwad Science Park’ on 28th November 2017. The purpose of this visit was to make connections with the central idea ‘Energy and its conversion through machines and forces, shape the environment’ and answer the students  key concept questions of: ‘What is energy like?’ (Form) and ‘How are different kinds of energies connected or converted?’.

The learners were extremely enamoured with the interactive exhibits and enthusiastically took notes about the different examples of machines. This helped them make enduring connections to their chosen line of inquiry (picked by them in class, the previous day). Students used this knowledge to break down their topic into content, process and product which helped them understand concepts in greater  depth.

They were inspired by this trip to set up ‘Energy Booths’ for their ‘Celebration of Learning’. It was great to see students display evidence of their planning (a research sub skill) which supported them in choosing energy topics based on interests.

In this unit, learners are giving special emphasis on the ‘process’ rather than the final ‘product’. The pace of this was set by analysing the inspiring examples of ‘Kid innovators around the world’. What came out of this was learners honing a Growth Mindset with the key idea and thought being, ‘How can we be problem solvers’ by ‘finding solutions’.

A few student reflections –

Joshua – ‘I thought that it was great fun but it also taught me lots about different things like energy, action and reaction’.
Vrinda – ‘I liked the field trip and the part which I thought was best was when we went to the energy room. There was lots of information about different sources of energy like hydro powered, solar, wind, chemical, OTEC (Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion) and much more. We could also easily connect with it through the central idea’.

Uma – ‘I enjoyed going to the science park because it was very unique and most museums are usually stuff put behind glass or stuff that can only be looked at but in the science park we saw so many cool inventions and you could even do some mini activities to understand’.