Lesson 7 is a synchronous lesson, which means the children from one class discuss the lesson’s topics among themselves, then share their comments and cultural artefacts (this is the artwork the children create each lesson, based on the cultural theme of that lesson) with their peers via the DIALLS online platform.
First these 4th grade children watched a short wordless film called Hedgehogs and the City which led to discussions on today’s themes – social responsibility and community. The children were asked to imagine they are part of a town community with money to spend on that community; they have to decide how to spend the money.
The children wrote to their peers in another school through the DIALLS platform:
“Good morning to the children of B class from EP school
Our suggestions to use the money are:
- We would donate the money to needy NGOs such as Peula.
- We would give the money to poor people who don’t have money to buy medicines
- We would give the money to sick people in hospitals for medicines.
- We would give it to people who need it more than we do, such as NGOs.
- We would donate to hospitals
- I would open a restaurant for people with no money
- We would donate to animals and have more open spaces for wild animals
- We would donate food for animals.”
The children were asked to compare their thoughts to those of their peers, and note what they found similar, and what they found different. These are their replies:
- The common ideas of both our classes: thinking about building an animal park
- The difference between the two classes is that in my class we suggested what to do with the money for the community not only by building a park but also by giving to the poor and to NGOs.
Below is a cultural artefact created by one of the groups in the class:
The Hebrew text reads:
We chose this drawing because it is a place both for animals and for playing and also a place with nature. We feel attached to this drawing because it is good for animals because they have a natural place to live in and it is good for people because it has a playground for the children.
We asked the teacher to tell us about this lesson and the DIALLS programme:
“The lesson was very successful and we enjoyed it very much. The principal watched the lesson and enjoyed the wonderful ethical values of the content and the active participation of the pupils.
At the end of the lesson the children decided to collect money for different causes, not only to build a park.
The beauty of the programme is that it allows intellectual flexibility and the group discourse is the focus”.
