G5 Documentary Film: Character Analysis

We are currently working through our Who we are unit of inquiry (UOI) in fifth grade. The central idea for this UOI is Beliefs, values, culture, health, and the environment have an impact on who we are as individuals.

With regards to this writing assignment, we are focusing on the second line of inquiry, which concerns the nature vs. nurture debate about the development of personality. More specifically, this writing assignment focuses on the Next Generation Science Standard 3-LS3-2: Show that traits can be influenced by the environment.

In preparation for this specific writing assignment, we watched the 2020 documentary The Speed Cubers. The Speed Cubers focuses on two young men, Feliks Zemdegs and Max Park, who are the top two competitive "speed cubers" in the world - they each can solve a 3 x 3 Rubik's Cube in around 6 seconds!

After watching the documentary, students completed a Bus Stop activity where they had to write responses to seven different questions related to The Speed Cubers. Next, we took those responses and completed a Shared Writing as an entire class that answered the question, "How has speed cubing made Max into a better person?" Finally, each student was tasked with writing his or her own response to this essay question. I was pleased to notice that many students focused on the values espoused by the documentary, particularly the deep friendship between Feliks and Max as seen through Feliks’ mentorship and encouragement of the slightly younger Max.

Finally, many students also noted the development of Max's personality - Max has autism - as he was put into new environments through traveling to speed cubing competitions around the world.

G5學生目前正在進行“我們是誰”的探究單元。此單元的中心思想是信念、價值觀、文化、健康、以及環境對個人的影響。

這次的寫作任務，我們將重點放在第二條探究上，該探究涉及關於人格發展的先天與後天影響。更具體地說，本次寫作任務重點關注於〈美國新世代科學標準〉3-LS3-2：人格特質是會受到環境影響。

為準備這項寫作任務，學生觀看了2020年的紀錄片《魔術方塊神級玩家》。 紀錄片的情節聚焦於兩名青年，Feliks Zemdegs和Max Park，他們是世界排名第一與第二的魔術方塊好手。兩人都可以在6秒鐘內破解3 x 3層魔術方塊的所有組合謎題！

觀看了紀錄片後，學生們完成了一個『公車站活動』，活動中，他們必須回答有關《魔術方塊神級玩家》的七個問題。接著，我以『速解魔術方塊是如何使Max成為一個更好的人？』為題，請全班同學各自寫出自己的小論文。我也很開心地發現：有許多學生都留意到紀錄片所倡導的價值觀，尤其是Feliks對Max的指導和鼓勵，進而建立兩人深厚的友誼。

另外，許多學生也注意到了Max個性的發展。Max雖患有自閉症，但他透過參加世界各地的魔術方塊比賽來讓自己進入一個個全新的環境。