By Jennifer Cain
Many school libraries in Australia celebrate Children’s Book Week in August with author visits, dress-up parades for younger students and activities that focus on the annual Australian Children’s Book Council awards. However, four years ago, at Mater Christi College, it was decided, through the Learning Commons, to diverge from this path, and create a week-long program that would provide a rich participatory learning experience that could build and strengthen the International Baccalaureate (IB) Learner Profile attributes of students. After all, books and reading are continually celebrated with vibrant displays, Book and Write Clubs for students, as well as reading programs that are delivered as an integral part of the English curriculum at the college. And, under the direction of the teacher-librarian and other involved educators, there is a responsibility to have the Learning Commons provide challenging learning opportunities, accessible to all students, which create and share knowledge, and build skills in a participatory learning environment.
Improvement in student learning is the basis upon which every decision at the college is made, whether it be at curriculum planning meetings, in Professional Learning Communities, or in the deliberate design of learning experiences in the Learning Commons. While the core business has always been about information, research and literacy, the team was eager to provide opportunities for students to create and share their knowledge in creative ways using their inquiry and experimentation skills and to lead learning experiences within the school. For this reason, Knowledge Week was designated as the alternative best suited to support student learning during the country-wide celebration.
What is Knowledge Week?
This special annual week-long event was timed to coincide with two other major events in Australia: The City of Melbourne Knowledge Week (May 7-13) and Australia Library and Information Association ‘Library and Information Week’ (May 21-27).
The aim was to provide opportunities for students across all year levels from seven to twelve, to collaborate, share their knowledge, participate and experiment, and to promote the benefits and possibilities of the Learning Commons. Activities were student-centred, hands-on, STEM related, engaging and involved the whole college community. They were held in the Learning Commons during lunchtime ensuring access for all and without disruption to scheduled class time.
How to Get Started
Fact or Fiction quiz
With the attributes of the International Baccalaureate Learner Profile (IBO 2013) as an anchor and the goals of the Learning Commons to consider, the team met to brainstorm events and activities that would engage and challenge students. (See IB Learner Profile Attributes.) Student STEM leaders were invited to participate in planning, organising and implementation, while specialist subject teachers were approached to find curriculum areas that could be explored to promote meaningful links to activities.
IB Learner Profile Attributes
- Caring
- Risk-taking
- Principled
- Open-minded
- Knowledgeable
- Balanced
- Thinkers
- Inquirers
- Communicators
- Reflective
Catchy three-word alliterations were sometimes created as a theme for the week that would drive the nature of the activities and events. It would also appear on all marketing collateral, such as book marks, advertising posters, social media posts and show bag give-aways. They were,
- Connect Collaborate Create
- Imagine Innovate Invent
- Dream Design Deliver
- Think Integrity Knowledge (TIK) (Australia Library and Information Association theme)
The daily business of the Learning Commons was considered when designing events and challenges, to ensure the workload of team members was not compromised and minimal disruption to the space occurred.
Events and Challenges
Connect Collaborate Create, was the theme for the inaugural Knowledge Week in 2016, with the very first event being Speakers’ Corner. Students were invited to participate in an impromptu three-minute talk on a topic of choice. Speakers were encouraged to take a risk and communicate while the audience were encouraged to be open-minded and caring. This was a most successful opening event with many girls sharing their personal and moving stories inspiring others to come forward and connect.
Entrepreneur’s Day
Originally branded as the ‘Pop-Up Bazaar’, now known as ‘Entrepreneur’s Day’, this has grown to become the most popular and well-attended event of Knowledge Week. Students from across all year levels created and marketed their own products, set up stalls and sold their artisan goods for profit. The entire process, including pricing their goods, has taught them skills associated with being principled and reflective learners.
Visual Communication and Design students who were studying visual merchandising and marketing techniques prepared signage and marketing material while students from the Business Management class developed products and surveyed potential buyers to gauge strategic price points.
There was a strong sense of collaboration amongst the stall holders as they organised their ‘space’ and displayed their products in the most creative ways. The variety of products students created ranged from doggy bandanas to bath bombs, from potted succulents in antique teacups to tie-dyed tee shirts, bees-wax food wraps and jewellery.
Maker Faire
A strong feature of the Learning Commons is knowledge sharing and creation, and a prime example of this was the Maker Faire Day. Sign-up sheets were displayed for those who were brave enough to take a risk and volunteer to share their skills and teach others. Tables were arranged to accommodate six participants who were guaranteed a take-home product at the end of the session. Students were extremely generous with their time and supplied their own materials, while the staff of the Learning Commons offered to assist in this area. New skills were taught in jewellery making, paper craft, origami, dream catchers, and many more. This sharing of knowledge and skills between students truly encapsulated the meaning and purpose of the Learning Commons.
Concurrent Activities
Underpinning the Universal Design for Learning Principles (Morin, 2019) that help give all students an equal opportunity to succeed, individual and small group activities ran concurrently throughout Knowledge Week. These provided opportunities for experimentation, inquiry and even failure without judgement. All activities were designed or chosen to build upon the attributes of the IB Learner Profile. Tangram puzzles, Sudoku, brainteasers and building bridges out of straws developed thinking skills. A table of 3D plywood dinosaur skeleton pieces, without instructions, required communication, reflective and thinking skills of students working together to complete the puzzle.
Year 7 students were invited to blog about an idea that ‘rocked their world’ in the ‘Cub Reporter Competition’ which supported the English curriculum with a strong emphasis on building communication skills for a specific audience.
Guest Speakers
student Rochelle Kirkham
Over the past four years during Knowledge Week a guest speaker has been engaged to provide an opportunity for students to listen to another voice and hear perspectives from those in industry and from outside the education environment. The aim has always been to seek out young women who are role models in non-traditional careers such as STEM, tech start-ups, and who can generally give students a direct insight into the future of work. It is a chance for students to be open-minded and reflective while gaining new knowledge. In 2019, a journalist and past student reminded students to exercise their critical thinking skills before sharing information via social media platforms. A most timely and necessary message for all.
Student versus Teacher Challenge
It was important to have a ‘buy-in’ from the whole college community for the Knowledge Week concept and while collaborating with teachers is one way, nothing captures student excitement more than including a student versus teacher challenge. The first year of Knowledge Week saw a debate that ‘Grades are more important than intelligence’, followed by a twist on the British game show ‘Would I Lie To You?’, linked to Fake News. Both of these debates tested the abilities of students to question, think critically and communicate effectively, all while entertaining the lunch-time crowd and providing enjoyment for the participating students and teachers.
STEM House Cup Challenge
The inaugural STEM House Cup Challenge was incorporated into Knowledge Week 2018, with the driving force being the newly appointed STEM leader (teacher-librarian) of the school.
This event was monumental in its organisation and involved every student in the school over the course of a common pastoral/house session of seventy-five-minutes. Students collected points for their house by participating in various STEM-based activities and challenges located around the school. These included straw bridge building, Sphero robot maze races, electric circuit construction, drone obstacle races, building playing-card towers, Makey-Makey carrot keyboard, slime stretch challenge, and many more. Halfway through the session, all students and teachers met in the hall for the final House Challenge where the four houses nominated teams to compete in three activities: transporting a bucket with ‘radio-active waste’ across the hall using only string, a Sphero chariot race and building the tallest plastic cup tower. The excitement and competitive nature of this event ensured its success and ensured the involvement of every student in STEM-based activities.
promotion material
Promotion
It is fortunate that the Learning Commons has two very large floor-to-ceiling windows that look out onto an internal corridor, which carries a large amount of foot traffic. Activities were positioned alongside these windows enticing passers-by to enter and take part. It was also an excellent place to hang brightly colourful bunting with the Knowledge Week theme. Posters, social media posts, presentations at assemblies by student leaders were effective as well as ‘shout-outs’ at staff meetings. All students who hosted a Maker Faire session, an Entrepreneur’s Day stall, competition winners and helpers were treated to a branded show bag full of treats, stationery items and vouchers.
Positive Outcomes
The deliberate design of engaging and rich learning opportunities, which allow access for all students is at the heart of Knowledge Week. Each activity or challenge has contributed to the further development of the IB Learner Profile attributes as well as creating knowledge and building skills. In our experience, further collaboration between teacher-librarians and teachers has led to improvement in student learning and initiatives such as these demonstrate the vital role of the Learning Commons and the teacher-librarian. Four years on, and Knowledge Week has cemented itself in the college calendar as a successful week of challenges, engagement, learning, and fun for the whole school.
References
IBO (2013). IB Learner Profile. Retrieved September 27, 2019, from International Baccalaureate Organisation website: https://www.ibo.org/contentassets/fd82f70643ef4086b7d3f292cc214962/learner-profile-en.pdf
Morin, A. (2019, August 5). Universal Design for Learning (UDL): What You Need to Know. Retrieved September 27, 2019, from Understood website: https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/treatments-approaches/educational-strategies/universal-design-for-learning-what-it-is-and-how-it-works
Jennifer Cain has over 20 years’ experience working in school libraries and is the Head of Learning Commons and the MYP Personal Project Coordinator at Mater Christi College, in Belgrave, Victoria, Australia. Mater Christi College is a Year 7-12 Catholic Girls’ College.
Follow her on twitter @JenniferCain26 and @MaterLC. Follow the Instagram hashtag #morethanalibrary