Hi P6b readers, I wanted to update you on what we have been doing in our Learning Journeys since my last entry.

The pupils have been fascinated with learning about AI and they have effectively used the Meta-Skills of critical thinking and curiosity to investigate the impact of this technological development in our lives. P6B displayed excellent collaboration, leadership, communication, initiative and adapting skills when working in groups for the Sky Up Academy Studios project. This challenged each group to research and summarise facts about an aspect of AI and use their extensive notes to create a script for their team’s news reporters. They then selected media clips, music and green screen backgrounds before recording their news reel. The class has also been discovering how the internet works and have learned about the different hardware pieces in computer that make it function. In addition, we discussed the limitations of AI and then the class attempted to create their own AI programmes to solve maths questions by giving it accurate and clear prompts. P6B also participated in an online workshop as part of Maths Week Scotland called “Defend the Rhino with Maths and AI” which taught the pupils how AI is being used to help assist organisations with protecting endangered species. This involved pupils applying their knowledge of maths, numeracy, and data science skills to analyse CCTV data from across a South African national park. Then they used a machine learning model to recognise images of poachers. The pupils also spent some time investigating how AI is used by companies and created mind maps recording notes of how AI is impacting the planet. To finish the Learning Journey, P6B took part in an art contest using Adobe Express to test who was more creative, humans or the  AI programme. The pupils also were challenged to see if they could identify AI generated music or music produced by real life artists.

Our new Learning Journey, Roads of the Future, has encouraged the pupils to explore the Sustainable Development Goals. They have been investigating how the SDGs could be incorporated into designing a new road which has challenged the class to use their critical-thinking, initiative and adapting Meta Skills. They have also been learning about the properties of a variety of materials and used atlases to locate different roads in Scotland. They then worked in teams to research and record the history of some of roads that they had sketched onto their roadmaps of Scotland. P6B have also been comparing different types of road crossings and we discussed some examples that exist in the local area. The final experience of this Learning Journey is working in teams to successfully construct a sustainably designed road for the Transport Scotland – Academy9 Sustainable Solutions Challenge which is linked to the A9 road project. The groups are in the middle of their planning process having just finished their Tinkercad prototypes which they will refer to next week when they start building them. Thank you for the donation of materials and resources, it is very much appreciated!

Hello to all the P6B blog readers, it’s Mr Atkinson here! As you will know this year I am doing NCCT for P6B with a focus on developing Crookfurs Enquiry Based Learning approach so I wanted to give you an update of what we have been doing.

Building on our knowledge from the P5 Learning Journeys, the class have explored  what can be constructed on land and investigated the pros and cons. They also applied their curiosity by finding out the impact the different land uses have on the environment. Equipped with this information, the pupils utilised their Meta-Skills of collaborating and communicating to prepare for their debates on this issue. I was highly impressed with their thorough research and well-structured arguments resulting in some compelling points being made. In pairs the pupils have also written fact files about how specific flowers have benefited modern society, such as how they are used for medicine and textile, which they presented and shared to their peers.

The class has recently been learning about two new Meta-Skills, leading and feeling. We first discussed how there are many ways to display leadership qualities and that they can be used differently depending on the situation. Then the pupils were challenged to visualise and think of everyday examples of leaders. We also reflected on why it is important to listen to our feelings but also be considerate of others. Following this, everyone drew a picture of their ‘happy place’ which can be used as a strategy to help self-regulate our emotions.