I teach science in an independent day school in Charlotte, NC. We are an authorized International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme school, with our curriculum driver being inquiry. The students study specific units of inquiry under seven guiding themes throughout their Lower School experience, and by 4th grade, they are required to deliver a unit of study that they have crafted themselves that incorporates a global understanding, personal reflection, and an action piece. Living in the southeast, the children have all been very concerned about the current drought conditions. This concern developed into a larger unit of study entitled, “It’s Our Water.” Each of the five 4th grade sections were responsible for different lines of inquiry that related to their central idea. Their action piece was to come together as a grade level and present an Exhibition of their knowledge in hopes to motivate others to conserve water, to do their part in affected areas by cleaning up polluted water sources, raise awareness about types of pollutants, and then encourage their visitors to go out and inspire others to do the same. The pictures attached demonstrate the lengths that the children went to illustrating their knowledge and passion for making a change in the world’s water supply. Some of their projects included testing for water quality, macroinvertebrate sampling, designing a board game with water facts, building dioramas, and identifying the numerous types of pollutants that threaten our water sources. I would like to nominate Charlotte Country Day School’s fourth grade class (and their amazing teachers) for the “Defenders of the Planet” award. I feel that their enthusiasm, hard work, and presentations truly represented a sense of adventure, discovery, fun, and exploration. The magnitude of their presentations demonstrates their passion and commitment to their purpose, and opened the eyes of their visitors to visualizing a more significant role they could share in saving our planet’s water sources.
