OVERVIEW

Grade/Year level: 4 Collaborative teaching team: Ms. Ritu Saini, Ms. Nantta Grover, Ms. Amanjeet Kaur

Date: 20th September Timeline: (continued investigation, revisiting once, or numerous times, 5 weeks (Continued investigation)
discrete beginning and ending, investigating in parallel with others)
2019

Transdisciplinary theme
(Type Transdisciplinary theme here.)

How the World Works:

An inquiry into the natural world and its laws; the interaction between the natural world (physical and biological) and human societies; how humans use their understanding of scientific principles; the impact of scientific and technological
advances on society and on the environment.

Central idea

Energy may be converted and used to support human progress.

Lines of inquiry

● Different forms of energy sources (renewable and non renewable) (form)

● How energy is used or converted(Transformation) (Causation)
● Sustainable energy practices (responsibility)

Key concepts Related concepts Learner profile attributes

Form, causation, responsibility Transformation, progress, conservation, resources, energy Caring, inquirer

Approaches to learning

Thinking skills- Critical thinking skills (Analysing and evaluating issues and ideas)
Communication skills- ICT skills (Using technology to gather, investigate and communicate information)

Action

Students will analyse and adhere to sustainable development practices in their daily routines.

© International Baccalaureate Organization 2019

International Baccalaureate® | Baccalauréat International® | Bachillerato Internacional®

Transdisciplinary theme
Which parts of the transdisciplinary theme will the unit
of inquiry focus on?
How the World Works:
An inquiry into the natural world and its laws; the interaction
between the natural world (physical and biological) and
human societies; how humans use their understanding of
scientific principles; the impact of scientific and
technological advances on society and on the
environment.
Related concepts
Do the related concepts provide a lens for conceptual
understandings within a specific subject?
Students will explore how the energy gets
converted and transformed after exploring the
various sources of energy available in the world.
During the Inquiry process, students will learn
about the sustainable energy practices where
they will generate novel ideas about human
progress by conserving energy for the future use.
Prompts: Overview
Central idea
Does the central idea invite inquiry and support
students’ conceptual understandings of the
transdisciplinary theme?
Students will explore and understand the impact
of technological advancement and human actions
on the environment.
Learner profile attributes
What opportunities will there be to develop,
demonstrate and reinforce the learner profile?
Inquirer: Students will inquire about the energy
sources and how do they get converted while
exploring the ‘Renewable energy kit’. They will be
inquiring about the sustainable practices during
the field trip to ‘Teri gram’.
Caring: After developing the empathy towards the
environment, students will develop their own plan
for sustaining the energy for the future.
Lines of inquiry
What teacher questions and provocations will inform
the lines of inquiry?
- What is energy?
- How do you get energy? What are the
sources of energy?
- What are the types of energy?
- Do you think energy can be transformed, if
so, how?
- How do you transform the energy from one
form to another?
- How energy is used, transformed and
conserved?
- Why do we need to conserve the energy?
- How can we sustain energy?
- What is our role in promoting sustainable
energy practices?
Approaches to learning
What authentic opportunities are there for students to
develop and demonstrate approaches to learning?
Critical Thinking skills: Students will analyse and
evaluate the issues we face after using non-
renewable systems eg. Pollution. After evaluating
the problem, students will think of a prototype to
their problem and will work on it.
ICT skills: Students will gather data by creating a
survey form (google form). They will present the
data by plotting the graph in the excel sheet.
Students will explore powtoon for spreading
awareness about sustainable energy practices.
Key concepts
Do the key concepts focus the direction of the
inquiry and provide opportunities to make
connections across, between and beyond
subjects?
Form: Students will learn about the sources of
energy which will help them to understand why
do sports people eat high protein diet.
Causation: Students will be able to relate the
function of digestive system after learning about
how energy gets transformed and converted.
Responsibility: Students will conduct a survey
and analyse the primary and secondary
information in their Math class to understand
the need of sustainable development practices
in current world.
Action
What opportunities are there for building
on prior learning to support potential
student-initiated action?
● Students will be provoked about the
air pollution in the city. Later, they
will explore the reason behind this
condition which will help them to
think about the sustainable
development practices.
● Students will analyse and adhere to
sustainable development practices in
their daily routines.
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Prompts: Reflecting and planning

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 Initial reflections
How can our initial reflections inform all learning and teaching in this unit
of inquiry?
Students have a good understanding about the natural resources.
We may use this data to compare the natural resources now and
then. This might help people to understand the environmental
issues.
Prior learning
How are we assessing students’ prior knowledge, conceptual
understandings and skills?
Students will choose one activity from the choice board and will
present it at the end of the session.
How are we using data and evidence of prior learning to inform planning?
The choice board activity will be reviewed and analysed how much
do students know about natural resources and recycling.
How does our planning embrace student language profiles?
Students have developed the learner profile attribute ‘Caring’ in this
unit. This will help us to develop empathy towards the natural
resources.
Connections: Transdisciplinary
and past
Connections to past and future learning, inside and outside the programme
of inquiry
Students have witnessed the air pollution in the city last year which
means they have a fair idea about pollution. This will help us to
take this problem as tuning in.
What connections are there to learning within and outside the unit of
inquiry?
Students will learn about the energy sources which will help them
to identify the food items that gives them energy and help them to
maintain a healthy body.
What opportunities are there for students to develop conceptual
understandings to support the transfer of learning across, between and
beyond subjects?
Students will understand that every cause has some effect. They
will explore that if air pollution is there in the city, it is because of
the growing manufacturing units, global warming, deforestation, etc
How can we ensure that learning is purposeful and connects to local and
global challenges and opportunities?
Students will explore the need of the sustainable practices in the
world. After researching about the pollution, students will connect
this local issues at a global stage as many of the countries are
facing the same issues i.e. deforestation, global warming, rise in
sea level, etc
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 Learning goals and Teacher questions Student questions
success criteria What teacher questions and provocations will inform the lines of inquiry? What student questions, prior knowledge, existing theories, experiences
What is it we want students to know, understand and be able to do? How and interests will inform the lines of inquiry?
are learning goals and success criteria co-constructed between teachers
and students? - Where do you get energy from?
- What are the renewable and non-renewable energy Is sun the main source of energy?
Know sources? How electricity is generated?
- Different types of energy sources (Renewable and Non- - What are the sources of energy? Why do we need to convert energy?
renewable) - What are the types of energy? Do water has energy in it?
- Ways we get energy. - How do you transform the energy from one form to another? How can we save energy?
- Uses of energy. - How energy is used, transformed and conserved? Why do people waste energy?
- Sustainable development practices - Why do we need to conserve the energy? What can we do to save energy?
- Vocabulary related to the unit. - How can we sustain the energy?
- Different forms of energy. - What is our role in promoting sustainable energy practices?

Understand
- Ways the energy is generated and converted.
- Ways in which we can use the renewable source of energy.

Do
- Create an alternative for non renewable energy usage.
- Develop a plan to sustain renewable energy sources.
- Construct a model/diagram to conserve energy.
- Students will ask questions and do the research work by using
ICT skills.

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Designing engaging
learning experiences
What experiences will facilitate learning?
The inquiry process is imbibed with the LAUNCH
cycle:
● L: Students will do the circuit training in their
PE class followed by ‘Explanation game’
(Thinking routine). They will come up with the
concept of ‘energy’ after provocations.
● A: Students will explore the ‘Renewable
energy kit’ where they will use question matrix
strategy. They will reflect by using the visible
thinking skills-’Connect- extend -challenge’.
● U: Students visits the ‘Teri gram’ and will
reflect on the forms of energy they have
observed. They will also witness the
conversion of energy through Solar Panel and
Wind mill.
● N: Students will conduct a survey and identify
the problem in the world. They will brainstorm
about the possible solutions by using the
Thinking routine: ‘Does it fit?’
● C: students will create a prototype of the
problem by using RAFT model.
● H: Students will present their solution ideas to
the school community and will ask for the
feedback.
Prompts: Designing and implementing
Supporting student agency
How do we recognize and support student agency in
learning and teaching?
● Students will analyse and target their
personal issue related to energy
usage/shortage.
● Students will choose their preferred format
to spread awareness about sustainable
practices.
● Students and teachers will mutually create
rubrics for the assessment.
● Students will design their own survey
forms.
Questions
Teacher questions
What additional teacher questions and provocations
are emerging from students’ evolving theories?
● Where can we find energy?
● How do we know that energy exists?
● When do you use energy?
● How do you get energy to work?
● What are the ways we can save energy?
Student questions
What student questions are emerging from students’
evolving theories?
● Why do we need to convert energy?
● Is sun a source of energy?
● How many forms of energy are there?
● What is the law of energy?
Ongoing assessment
What evidence will we gather about students’ emerging
knowledge, conceptual understandings and skills?
Students will be assessed throughout the unit by
using various thinking routines.( connect- extend-
challenge, explanation game, Does it fit?,etc)
How are we monitoring and documenting learning
against learning goals and success criteria?
Students progress will be assessed and
documented in the form of anecdotes.
How are we using ongoing assessment to inform
planning, and the grouping and regrouping of
students?
Students reflection and formative assessment
guides the inquiry process. This helped to plan
the resources and reading materials.
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 Making flexible use Student self-assessment Ongoing reflections Additional subject-specific
of resources and peer feedback reflections
How will resources add value and purpose to learning? What opportunities are there for students to receive ● After visiting the teri gram, students ● Students performed the circuit training
teacher and peer feedback? developed the learner profile attribute where they realized that to be physically fit
● Survey forms ‘caring’ as they were talking about they need to have a high protein diet.
● Reading comprehension: getepic.com Students will self assess their work after creating renewable energy usage throughout the
● They conducted a survey and interpreted
the prototype and present in front of their peers. week.
● FA: the data followed by plotting a graph on
After presenting their ideas peers will give him ● Students wanted to know about the energy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inhYO9 the same. This pictorial presentation gave
constructive feedback to improvise his prototype. waste in the community so they created a
7OU3I them clear idea about the situation.
google form to conduct a survey.
● https://www.tes.com/teaching- ● Students came up with the issue they can ● Students learnt the questioning strategy by
How do students engage with this feedback to self-assess and
resource/energy-booklet-5-7-6066638 analyse in the society after interpreting the using question matrix while they were
self-adjust their learning?
● https://ww2.energy.ca.gov/HERS/booklet.h data they received through google form. performing various experiments.
tml Students will evaluate and modify their prototype
● https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/downl after receiving the modification ideas.
oads/energy-saver-guide
● Google
● Energy savers book

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 Prompts: Reflecting

Teacher reflections Student reflections

How did the strategies we used throughout the unit help to develop and evidence students’ understanding of the What student-initiated inquiries arose and how did they inform the process of inquiry? What adjustments were
central idea? made, and how did this enrich learning?
During the experiments, students understood how the energy gets converted from one form to Students wanted to know how are we wasting energy in our daily life. To inquire about this, they were
another. They also analysed the kinetic and potential energy characteristics in it. encouraged to conduct a survey to know about their questions. This helped them to know the ways
they can save energy at a smaller level.
What learning experiences best supported students’ development and demonstration of the attributes of the
learner profile and approaches to learning? How are students supported in having voice, choice and ownership in the unit of inquiry?
Caring: After visiting the teri gram, students were empathising and developed the ideas on how to Students inquiry was encouraged and supported during the survey. They analysed the situation and
save the environment. They use their critical thinking skills during navigating ideas to create a finalised the issue they want to work on. They created their prototype by using RAFT model.
prototype.
How have these experiences impacted on how students feel about their learning?
Inquirer: Students conducted a survey about the energy usage in the city. They further inquired why is
Students felt surprised when they got to know about the energy they waste unknowingly. They were
non renewable energy so costly. They have developed ICT skills by plotting graph.
empathizing towards the environment when they read about the rise in sea level and its causes.
What evidence do we have that students are developing knowledge, conceptual understandings and skills to
support the transfer of learning across, between and beyond subjects?
Students learned that every cause has some effect during the field trip. They reflected that we create
prototypes when we observe issues around us.

To what extent have we strengthened transdisciplinary connections through collaboration among members of the
teaching team?
Students learned about ‘How does a body work’ during circuit training (PE). They have conducted a
survey where they evaluated how the community is using energy.

What did we discover about the process of learning that will inform future learning and teaching?
Students really enjoyed performing the experiments and coming up with their own hypothesis. We may
include hands on activities in the next learning engagement to give them an authentic experience.

Assessment reflections
How effective was our monitoring, documenting and measuring of learning informing our understanding of student learning?
Students were assessed throughout the unit as it was a process based assessment. Teacher kept on writing their reflection and anecdotes during all the learning engagements.

What evidence did we gather about students’ knowledge, conceptual understandings and skills?
students reflected on the concepts and ATLs they developed by using post its. They have done the self assessment for most of their work.

How will we share this learning with the learning community?

Exhibition: Students will be putting up their stalls where the entire school community is invited.
The digital prototype is published on the internet by using different apps.

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Notes
● The students were engage in the activities during the experiment especially during the group work. Cooperation were obviously shown in conducting their experiment.
● The formative tasks somehow could scaffold their understanding they have to show on the summative
● A book (good resource) to understand the laws of energy and energy transformation – ‘Energy makes Things Happen’
● The students were not challenged to have a detail explanation on the form and source of energy

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