As autumn departs and winter arrives， it was finally time for the long-awaited inquiry field trips. Taking the students’ learning out
of the classrooms, and applying their knowledge in a practical way is one of the most essential learning strategies of the inquiry
course. Each grade embarked on a road of exploration based on their chosen themes of inquiry.
Students in grade one are learning about “Nature, Life and Growth”, they started their journey by learning about themselves and e
xpanded their knowledge to care about others around them. In order to help the students explore “life and growth” in action and to
broaden their horizons, our school organized a visit to the Shanghai Zoo. In this field trip, children performed research tasks,
observed closely the growth patterns of various small animals, learned interesting facts about many animals and habits, and truly
experienced the nature of life.
In grade two, students have been studying the “Healthy Living” unit, children explored healthy lifestyles from aspects of diet, exercise,
and lifestyle habits in class. While exploring Oriental Land, the children embarked on a “light exercise” tour. They experience obstacle
courses and physical games in the park and recorded their physical state such as how they feel and their heart rate after exercise.
The students experienced a reasonable exercise and a healthy lifestyle.
Grade three students have been studying how to share the planet. Following this theme, they decided to take a special farm trip.
On the farm, they had not only visited the greenhouses, learned knowledge of vegetables, but also experienced being “little farmers”.
They enjoyed the process of loosening the soil and preparing the ground to plant seeds, and finally, they had a close contact with the
farm animals. This farm allowed students to learn about how people interact with plants and animals. Students engaged in taking care
of animals and tending to plants. They understood how humans, animals, and plants interact with one another and how we all need to
share resources.
You must be very interested in grade four’s inquiry unit, that is ‘chocolate’. In the classroom, the children learned about the production
line of chocolate and how chocolate is produced from the “cocoa bean”. After learning about the unit, the students went to Zander
Chocolate Factory and started a “chocolate tour”. Through watching movies and other activities, children not only learned about
the production chain of chocolate, the survival of cocoa farmers, but also understood the importance of fair trade.
Grade 5 students went to Shanghai Automobile Museum in Jiading to bring their learning of the “relationship between robots and
various industries” to reality. They had a close understanding of the application of robots and artificial intelligence in the daily travel
of humans, which drew a perfect ending to this unit of inquiry.
With these field trips, the students had not only increased their knowledge, expanded their horizons, and enlightened their wisdom,
but also truly enjoy themselves, cultivated their interest in learning as their classroom knowledge was brought to real life application.