The Island: Year 9 Immersion Project
Last Term, all the Year 9 students were lucky enough to take part in an exciting interdisciplinary project called ‘The Island’. Students were given a prompt: After a period of intense civil dispute, the Australian Government had disbanded. Now, only the Year 9 students of Mac.Rob can save the day, and create twelve nation-states to restore balance to the country. All Form classes had to work cooperatively to create a new country, writing up a constitution, creating an effective judiciary system, developing a state name, designing a national symbol, flag, and greeting, and even brainstorming a new tax system!
This project was a great experience and an opportunity for students to work alongside their classmates, and you can read several of their reflections below.
Ms. Stephanie Rowlston, Year 9 Immersion Coordinator
“When I first found out that we were going to do this project, my first reaction was shock and excitement. I was shocked that we were going to make a country of our own, something governments and people with high status would do, definitely not Year 9 students! I was obviously excited because I was going to come up with my own country! But also because I knew this project would require a lot of thinking outside of the box and creative thinking, which is something I love.” - Sahana, 9I
“When I heard about this project for the first time, I must say I didn't expect much. However it turned out to be an incredibly amazing and fun journey that I was so glad to be a part of. Block 1 of the Island project required us to think creatively and outside of the box while working collaboratively together as a group, both of which are things I immensely enjoy doing! We had a chance to make our own constitution and create our own national story among other things such as making a healthcare system, tax system and much more. It gave us an opportunity to imagine an ideal country and bring our visions to life. Creating a new country was definitely a new experience for me, and it was one I will never forget.” - Preet, 9D
“Despite many bouts of confusion along the way, as a form we learned to collaboratively work together in order to complete tasks. Through this activity, a greater sense of teamwork was achieved, as well as further development on our problem solving skills. A wide variety of skills were needed across all areas to complete tasks, such as writing to draft our constitution, and math work to calculate population etc. We have all put in much effort to create a country we’re proud to call ours, and look forward to what the next block will bring about!” - Grace, 9C