Planning an Inquiry- Level 5 (Term 11), Asima Raffad 2018-2019

Term II
Week 1-5
Plan: PYP exhibition
Planning an inquiry
1. What is our purpose? Class/grade: Year 4-5 Age group: 9-12 yrs
1a) To inquire into the following: School: Kingston College School code:
● transdisciplinary theme - Sharing the planet Title: Sharing the planet
An inquiry into the nature of
Teacher(s): Asima,
Inquiry into rights and responsibilities in the struggle to share finite resources
with other people and other living things; communities and the relationship
within and between them; access to equal opportunities; peace and conflict
Date: 8th April-10th May
resolution.
Central idea: Ecological balance can be affected Proposed duration: 1-6 weeks
in a variety of ways
1b) Summative assessment task(s): 2. What do we want to learn?

What are the possible ways of assessing students’ understanding of the central
What are the key concepts (form, function, causation, change, connection, perspective,
idea? What evidence, including student initiated actions, will we look for?
responsibility, reflection) to be emphasized within this inquiry?
You are scientists giving a talk to explain what biodiversity means and the
interdependence between ecosystems and ecological networks. Mention Key concepts: Causation, connection, responsibility
a problem caused by these interactions. Propose a solution.
Related concepts: Balance, biodiversity, interdependence
 A visit from a local IB School getting ready for their exhibition or are
done with their exhibition
What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea?

 A class song 1.An inquiry into…..Ecosystems need each other to thrive and survive.

2. An inquiry into…..Ways in which organisms are connected to each other

 A poem presented as a group

3. An inquiry into…..How human interaction with the environment can affect

 Poster/ Power Point Presentations  Group Displays  Proposed and the balance of systems
initiated action

What teacher questions/provocations will drive these inquiries?

 A Final Celebration
What is a PYP exhibition like?
 We assess the process more than the product. 1. What is your issue?
 The students will keep a journal throughout the exhibition unit that shows 2. Why is your issue important?
their thinking and how their goals have developed. 3. How will you take action to try to make a difference?
 This journal may include pictures, diagrams, poems, timelines, and writing. 4. How will you share what you have learnt with your peers, families and school?
 The mentors will help fill in the Mentor Meeting forms that monitor student
progress over time and evaluate students’ success with goal completion.
 Issues/problems to be solved • Intended learning outcomes • Activities
which will take place • Assessment criteria

Planning the inquiry

3. How might we know what we have learned? 4. How best might we learn?

This column should be used in conjunction with “How best might we learn?” What are the learning experiences suggested by the teacher and/or students to encourage
the students to engage with the inquiries and address the driving questions?
What are the possible ways of assessing students’ prior knowledge and skills? What evidence
will we look for? Web of life activities: Show how all parts of an ecosystem are interconnected

1. Student will celebrate their learning through a final presentation including the using a ball of wool. / Animals of the Antarctic – sorting, classifying, diagram /
following elements: music, art, ICT components, completed essays and informative group task. • Read narrative texts set in different ecosystems/ explore the
display boards. 2. Students will take appropriate action closely connected to their features of these ecosystems • Create bulletin board of ecosystem and label •
issues. 3. Students will self-assess their learning process. 4. Parents, teachers,
Draw a food web for ecosystem/group activity/research connections •
mentors and PYP students will assess the exhibition presentations and final essays.
Complete web - quests/Lorax and Endangered Animals • / Individual activity/
KEY FOR TD SKILLS, LP ATTRIBUTES AND ATTItude:
ICT and class time - sustainability • BBC science bites/ food webs Learning
Reflective, Open- Federation object – Bernie’s Pond./Man’s impact • Read Lester and Clyde /
Minded and Thinker
Discuss man’s impact • Research in books and Internet on natural features of
Cooperation
Commitment and these environments. • Participation in community programs to care for the
Respect
environment. Conduct a rubbish audit of the school. • Discussion and
Social Skills
Thinking Skills reflection on environmental messages in picture storybooks. • Viewing and
written analysis of the movie “Fern Gully” and /or “Happy Feet”- cause and
effect of man’s impact. • Designing of a poster communicating our
responsibility to the environment. • Exploration of various environmental
websites (see resources section) Big Books and information texts /
endangered animals • Internet web-quest – Endangered Animals • Design t-
shirt promoting need for saving animals • Investigate organisations –
conservation

What opportunities will occur for transdisciplinary skills development and

for the development of the attributes of the learner profile?

Students will continuously reflect over attitudes and profiles required and
displayed during different exhibition related activities e.g. during group work,
individual essay writing, conducting interviews, planning actions, mentor
meeting etc. • Students will also write individual journal reflections weekly
where they will state how and when these profiles and attitudes were used.

Acquisition of knowledge: Students learn specific facts and ideas. Thinking skills
• Comprehension: Students will be able to show they understood concepts
learned. • Analysis: Looking at the interrelationship of content. • Dialectical
thought: Students will show different points of view, realizing the difficulties of
conciliation and the complexities of contradictions. • Metacognition: they will
have opportunity to analyze how they will learn.
Social Skills • Accepting responsibility: Willing to assume a share of the
responsibility, and doing something about it. Raising awareness. • Acquisition
of knowledge: Specific facts and ideas. • Comprehension: Prove they
understand ideas and concepts. • Analysis: Looking at the interrelationship of
content. • Dialectical thought: Able to understand different points of view,
realizing the difficulties of conciliation and the complexities of contradictions.
Communication skills • Listening: Listening to information, listening to others. •
Speaking: Students will give oral presentations expressing ideas and stating
opinions. • Reading: Students will read a wide variety of sources and
understand what they read. • Writing: The children will write down ideas and
information, take notes, practiced paraphrases, write summaries, and kept a
journal. • Viewing: looking at several documentaries. • Presenting: multimedia
presentations for different audiences in an effective manner.
Research Skills • Formulating questions: Constantly identifying what they think
they wanted or needed to know asking relevant questions. • Observing: Using
the senses to notice relevant details. • Planning: Teams develop a course of
action; write down an outline for their presentations; and in general they will
design everything they are going to show. • Collecting data: Students gather
information from a variety of sources. • Interpreting data: They will be able to
draw conclusions from relationships and patterns that emerge from their data.
• Presenting research finding: they will effectively communicate what they
learned.
ACTIONS students will take or we hope they will take in the future • Children
carry out a campaign and will continue helping endangered species. They will
also know the importance of teamwork and positive attitudes have outstanding
results. • children will take care of others, of animals and the planet in a much
more conscious and clear way. they will become more conscious of the impact
of what they buy and will make more conscious choices. they will act with
fairness and equity towards all others caring specially for anyone who is in a
 disadvantaged position. they will stop polluting as much as they can and that
they will actively engage in learning more about all of these pressing issues.
Provocation in classrooms ­ explore items and do ‘I see, I think, I wonder’ and lead into
follow-up questions
• Students’ inquiries lead them to topics around a concept and to make
connections that allow them to move freely tracing their personal route
through a network of infinite content. • Drawing from previous knowledge, the
teacher makes provocations so they can start off anywhere. They can judge
knowledge themselves as they recognize what is useful or important to them. •
Each member has the power to create knowledge and leave it as a new node
connected to the rest of the network.

5. What resources need to be gathered? What people, places, audio-visual materials, related literature, music, art, computer software, etc, will be available?
School library & laptops: The library resources will be used frequently and the ICT labs will be available to the students. Music: The class teacher will facilitate the
composition of the groups’ music components.
Mentors: Ms Ummara, Ms Asima, Ms Carmela, Mr Omer
How will the classroom environment, local environment, and/or the community be used to facilitate the inquiry?
Websites:
https://sciencing.com/10-examples-natural-ecosystem-7836.html
https://www.toppr.com/guides/biology/our-environment/ecosystem/
http://ashex1/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.engineeringinteract.org/resources/alienattack.htm
http://ashex1/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/sysm/eco/flash/flash.shtml

https://socratic.org › Biology › The Elements of an Ecosystem › Ecosystems Overview

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecosystem_diversity

Magazine pictures, community help campaign

1.