The school’s Italian teacher, Linda Marani, said the program requires six transdisciplinary themes of global significance to be selected each year, which guide students to broaden their learning by developing their conceptual understandings and strengthening their knowledge and skills across, between and beyond subject areas.

“The themes can be addressed from different perspectives and the approach is student-centred, rather than a traditional approach in which the teacher stands in front of the class and delivers content,” Marani explained.

“Students take ownership of their learning, collaborating with teachers to deepen understanding.”

For example, last year’s Grade 5 students investigated the theme of immigration during their Italian lessons.

“We began by inviting students to ask questions, and gaining an understanding of what knowledge they already had on the unit of enquiry in question,” Marani said.

“Students then researched the different aspects of the theme, such as the causes, consequences and historical sequence of immigration.”

Students attempted to address the unit of enquiry from as many perspectives as possible, engaging with videos and meeting with people who have experienced immigration during different chapters of history, to help them understand the differences over time.

They were then invited to fill in a Plus, Minus, Interesting (PMI) table to analyse the information collected and investigate the aspects they found most interesting through research.

“Using this approach, students investigated why people migrate, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of immigration,” Marani said.

Students then became migrants themselves, changing their names to the corresponding Italian names and preparing their own identity cards.

They were then interviewed by their teachers, who acted as immigration agents for the occasion; if they answered the questions correctly in Italian, their request was approved and the document was stamped.

To conclude the project, Marani and her students did what Italian migrants typically did when they arrived in a new country: made pasta.