If you are a parent and you are reading this, you can probably remember your Maths and English Classes from school. You may remember the teacher you had, the ways in which you would learn, and knowledge you obtained. However, when you hear the subject name ‘Topic’, you may draw a blank, and for this, you can be forgiven. Only in the last 20 years has the importance of this area of education really been given the attention it deserves in school curricula around the world.
Topic lessons are often cross-curricular which means that they build on knowledge from other major subjects like English and Maths whilst at the same time integrating activities from the subjects such as Art, Design Technology, Science, Geography, and more. This allows students to strengthen certain skills whilst accumulating others.
A very special feature of Topic lessons is the emphasis on critical thinking. These critical thinking skills come under many different names (21st century skills, HOT Skills, Bloom’s Taxonomy etc), but they serve the same purpose: to give students the opportunity to use these skills in a meaningful way. At BSB, our Be Ambitious ethos integrates these skills at a manageable level for students, and throughout school life, students collect a variety of skills which are valued highly by universities and workplaces around the world. In addition, students who may struggle with general literacy or numeracy are often able to find successes in these lessons due to the variety of topics and skills included.
As an example, over the last two weeks in Year 2 we looked at habitats, micro-habitats, and food chains. Not only were students introduced to scientific method, but they also built on their knowledge of geography and biology, whilst at the same time exercising skills such as inference, investigation, demonstration, contrasting, and justification.
By James Behzadi
Year 2 Giraffes Class Teacher
