Inventions and Inventors - Tremendous Tahi

Creativity was key for this unit. Rather than focussing on inventors as such we looked at the qualities of inventors and linked these to the virtues and key competencies. This allowed the children to think on a broader scale. Yes they had the chance to focus on a specifc inventor but we didn't use inquiry time to do this. Children gained a better understanding of the processes involved when inventing, the process of modification, or trial and error, no longer are the children satisfied with the final product, they needed to look deeper into the idea. Children were not distracted by the 'bells and whistles' of inventions, rather, they focussed on the competencies and processes that inventors showed/took.
This gave the children a wider angle to look at the topic, I think this is why the unit was so successful, the children really took charge of their learning and the pathway of that learning. I do think that if we had of focussed on specific inventors or inventions then the unit may have just been a research project. This way the children felt more confident to experiment, to take risks and make mistakes because they realised that nothing ever works first time (only if you are truly lucky)hehehe - I guess the next step is to encourage them to transfer this thinking into their everyday learning.