B Block: Socials 8-2

Today we started our study of history.  To introduce the idea of authentic inquiry and not fill-in-the-blank content-driven study, we watched the first part of the documentary on Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs and Steel."  His research was spurred by an excellent open-ended inquiry question: "Why to white people have more cargo than New Guineans?" or, "why did some civilizations advance further in therms of modern technology than others did?"  I explained the difference between an open-ended "non-Googleable" question and a more traditional school-type question.  I also tried to relate what I think is the importance of promoting high-order student thinking that incorporates things like communication, collaboration, curation and creativity.  Here is a link to the 110-minute documentary on Youtube: Guns, Germs and Steel

Here are the notes I took while watching:

- hunter-gatherers 13 000 years ago
- cultivation of crops led to domestication
- the type of farming is key to its value in human development
- rather than people, luck in geographic location seems key - i.e.. what crops grow where (some more valuable in nutrients/yield)

There is no homework.

THIS THURSDAY AND FRIDAY, THERE WILL BE MANDATORY LUNCHTIME TUTORIALS FOR ANY GRADE 8 STUDENT WISHING TO RE-WRITE THE GEOGRAPHY UNIT TEST.