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PYPX 2022: Projects Of Passion
We know we do our best work when we’re driven by passion. For the Year 6 cohort at Glen Waverley campus, that’s been the guiding principle behind this year’s Primary Years Program Exhibition, otherwise known as PYPX. Paul Munn reports.
Keila proudly shows off the 2022 PYPX launch poster
Aria with the book she wrote and illustrated about racism
Spreading awareness about racism. Aria's picture book: 'Somewhere to belong'
Joseph in front of his ‘Climate Change’ groups workstation
Jono, James and Veer prepare for their presentation on 'Racism in Sport'
Lionel introduces his groups presentation on ‘Mental Health’
Aria's Illustration
PYPX is the culmination of the Primary Years Program (PYP) education journey. It’s essentially a passion project for the Year Sixes, with collaboration at its heart, and much of Term 3 dedicated to it. Students work in groups on their area of passion, researching and ultimately coming up with a new way to take action. 'They focus on self-management skills, independence, organisation, social skills, and many more along the way,' says Year 6 teacher, Clare Kelly. ‘These skills are scaffolded throughout their PYP journey, enabling students to "learn how to learn" and flourish as life-long learners.’
‘We framed this year’s PYPX by asking students, “What do you think are key issues impacting humanity in 2022?” and we connected their responses to the United Nations Sustainability Goals,’ says Clare’s colleague, Haydn Thompson. ‘Students chose to work in diverse fields, exploring issues such as racism, climate change, gender equality, poverty, viruses and mental health.’
Students in the research phase are asked to learn from experts in the field. They generated their own questions to gain information and interacted with experts to provide real-world context.
‘Our Glen Waverley community, comprising staff and families, were our main experts this year. The wealth of knowledge, experience and passion they shared with our Year 6 students is invaluable,’ says Head of Years 5 and 6, Daniel Mackay. ‘Making the research phrase more interactive through conversation and a casual exchange of questions allows our students to connect to the real world, bringing understanding and truth to their investigations.’
This year’s exhibition also had a special twist — our alumni community coming on board to support the students in their research.
Current St Kilda player Tom Campbell (OW2009), who created the not-for-profit AFL Players for Climate Action, was very impressed with the Climate Change group he worked with, comprising Karissa Zhan, Nina Zhou, Kanav Sethi, Leon Tanuatmadja and Finn Hoskins. ‘Their questions were thoughtful and touched on some really important issues within the broader climate change issue,’ he said. ‘I was inspired by their passion, and it gives me hope that a group of young students are working to be a part of the solutions to address climate change.’
The interview process was clearly a rich learning experience for the children. The 'Racism in Sport' group conducted interviews with ex-AFL footballer Michael O’Loughlin and Ken Jacobs, former CEO of Cricket Victoria. ‘We didn’t think we’d be able to interview someone, as none of us had ever done it before,’ they said. ‘Our first ever Teams interview was with Michael O’Loughlin, so we were pretty nervous, but he was really nice and spoke to us for half an hour.’
The eight-week process culminated in the Exhibition itself, staged in the Charlaftis Learning Hub in the last week of term.
Aria Ta and her group presented on racism, examining the inequalities that exist for Indigenous people, the way race is represented in the media, and the effects of racism on individuals. She wrote, illustrated and printed a picture book about racism called ‘Somewhere to belong.' The group intend to visit Year 3 and 4 students at school to share what they have learned about racism and give them a copy of Aria’s book. ‘I want to keep spreading awareness, particularly about ‘casual racism’ as it’s a huge problem and it’s so wrong,’ said Aria.
Lionel Chan and his two partners chose to investigate mental health. ‘I learnt how important it was to have a trusted adult or friend I could talk to, and that if I was really struggling, organisations like Kids Helpline and Beyond Blue are here to help,’ he said. ‘We also came up with actions we could each take to look after our own mental health. I might draw or read to quieten my mind and try to stay off screens.’
With their obvious concern for taking action on what they’ve learnt, the children showed a healthy understanding that real change requires going beyond awareness and discussion.
‘While our students gained a great deal of knowledge about the issue they were investigating, we challenged them to consider “So what? What action are you going to take as a result of this learning?”’ said Year 6 teacher, Carrie Wilton. ‘We want to equip our students with the skills and attitudes to navigate this ever-evolving world successfully.’