1. What Is Our Purpose?
Class/grade: 5 Age group: 11-12
To inquire into the following:
• Trans disciplinary Theme: 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
Natural material can undergo changes that may provide challenges and benefits for
society and the environment.
Summative Assessment Task(S)
What are the possible ways of assessing students’ understanding of the central idea?
What evidence, including student-initiated actions, will we look for?
Task: Students will choose a material in group and discuss how the material undergoes
changes that may provide challenges and benefits for society and the environment. They will
discuss about the type of material they chose and properties of that material. They will
mention the situation that may cause the material to have any reversible and irreversible
changes. They will talk about how the society uses those changed version of the material.
The discussion will have the information about the extraction and production process of the
material. They will mention the impacts on environment due to the process and suggest
ways to save our environment from those impacts.
Ways to fulfill: PowerPoint presentation, poster presentation, booklet or role plays.
Evidence: Their activity should:
 Mention the conditions that cause the material to change.
 Whether the change is reversible or irreversible.
 Properties of that material
 How societies take advantage of the properties
 How the material is retrieved and produced
 Impact of the processes on the environment
 Possible ways to save the environment.
Strategy : Process focused 
Tool : Rubric
School: CMIS School Code: 060195
Title: Natural materials
Teacher(s): Pushpita Nandy, Sumita Barua, Mandira Sen (Drama) and Jalal Uddin
(PYPC)
Date: 28th October – 6th December, 2018
Proposed duration: 48 hours over 6 weeks
2. What do we want to learn?
What are the key concepts (form, function, causation, change, connection,
perspective, and responsibility, reflection) to be emphasized within this
inquiry?
Key concepts: Change, Function, Responsibility
Related concepts: Transformation, sustainability, industrialization
What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea?
 Conditions that cause reversible and irreversible changes in materials.
 How societies take advantage of the properties of materials.
 The impact of retrieval, production and the use of materials on the environment
What teacher questions/provocations will drive these inquiries?
Teacher question:
 What are natural materials?
 What are the conditions that cause a material to have a reversible change?
 What are the conditions that cause a material to have an irreversible change?
 How are materials different from each other?
 How the environment is affected for the usage of some materials by the society?
 How we can save our environment from the impact of retrieval, production and use of
materials?
Provocation:
Various objects, made from different materials, will be kept in class for a gallery walk.
 Planning the inquiry
3. How might we know what we have learned?
This column should be used in conjunction with “How best might we learn?”
What are the possible ways of assessing students’ prior knowledge and
skills? What evidence will we look for?
Task: Students will use their thinking skill to evaluate various objects, made from
different materials, in a gallery walk activity. Their answers will be recorded through
‘Material, Where it comes from, How it is used’ chart.
Evidence: They should identify the materials, where they come from, and how they
are used.
What are the possible ways of assessing student learning in the
context of the lines of inquiry? What evidence will we look for?
 Task 1( low achievers):Students look at each of the changes in the pictures
provided, fill in the blanks to say whether the changes are reversible or irreversible
and for the reversible changes, they draw a second arrow below the first and
pointing the opposite direction. Students state the conditions that cause a material
to have reversible and irreversible changes.
Task 2(high achievers): Students look at the materials listed in the table and
decide if each is a reversible or an irreversible change. They state the conditions
that cause a material to have reversible and irreversible changes.
Evidence: They should predict and justify the change of the materials by observing
the experiments. Strategy: Observation Tool: Exemplar
 Students will be given an opportunity to think of themselves as an item. They
name the materials used and let them know the properties of the materials – Why
were those materials used? They may play the role of a particular material or
write a narrative essay with ‘If I were ... .’ .
Evidence: They should identify most of the properties of the particular material
with explanation. Strategy: open ended Tool: Anecdotal
 Students will make posters/booklets regarding the 3R’s and display them around
the school to spread awareness on how to conserve the environment. Students
peer-check their work.
Evidence: The 3R’s should be mentioned in the poster/booklet. Strategy:
process-focused Tool: Checklist.
5. What resources need to be gathered?
What people, places, audio-visual materials, related literature,
music, art, computer software, etc, will be available?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_material (natural material),
https://www.google.com/search?
q=natural+materials&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0
ahUKEwithoi5rIrbAhXXTX0KHReyDR0QsAQIVg&biw=1360&bih=
613 (images of natural material), https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=XRHBrdhd9_U (reversible and irreversible changes),
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvVV-tjnmiU (impact of
extraction of materials on environment),
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjnNOCbuoCA (the 3R’s),
guest speaker (artist)
How will the classroom environment, local environment and/or the
community be used to facilitate the inquiry?
Different materials for gallery walk and to observe reversible and
irreversible changes
4. 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?
Tuning In (4 days):
 Students will use their thinking skill to evaluate various objects, made from different materials, in a gallery walk activity. Their
answers will be recorded through ‘Material, Where it comes from, How it is used’ chart. They will also have Material
Environmental walk activity, outside their classroom and record their answers in ‘I see, I think, I wonder’ chart. Later they will
write reflections for the activities.
 The central idea will be provided to the students and let them find a connection between the 6 themes and the central idea.
They will interpret the themes and identify the correct theme the central idea falls under with a series of interrelated reasons
for the same.
Finding Out (5 days):
 Students will explore the concept of change as they communicate changes within themselves, in the environment and in the
class/school.
 Students will be provided some materials to make and test predictions. They will describe observable changes that will
occur in material when it will be mixed with water or heated. They will also conclude that mixing materials can cause them to
change which can be either reversible or irreversible.
 They will gain knowledge about the properties of materials and connect them with their result of make and test prediction
activity to know the reason of changes.
Sorting out (10 days):
 Investigate the ways materials can be changed (for example, metal, sand).
 Assess the benefits and challenges of changing materials to suit people’s needs and wants (for example, plastic).
 Students will be given an opportunity to think of themselves as a material and let them know the properties of the materials.
They may play the role of a particular material or write a narrative essay with ‘If I were.’
Going further (5 days):
 Recognize the environmental impact of some manufacturing processes.
 A guest speaker (artist) will be invited to talk about how society people use the properties of material to work. They will
write a report over the guest speaker’s interview session.
 Students will research on natural material of their choice and go through the production process of some items made with
them.
 They will have a field trip to a factory where they can experience a production process.
Making conclusion and taking action (4 days):
 Student will conclude on how they can save our environment from wastes of irreversible materials. They will get to know
about the three R’s.
 Students will make small leaflets regarding the 3R’s and distribute them in the whole school.
What opportunities will occur for transdisciplinary skills development and for the development of the attributes of the
learner profile?
Transdisciplinary skills:
Thinking skills: Students will use their thinking skill to evaluate various objects, made from different materials, in a gallery walk
activity.
Research skills: Students will research on how materials undergo changes including the impact on the environment.
Learner Profile:
Inquirers: Students will inquire into the properties of materials in the make and test prediction activity.
Reflective: Students will reflect themselves as a material in the ‘If I were’ activity.
Risk takers: Students will take risk to predict the test result for each materials.
Thinkers: Students will think and predict the results of the experiments.
Attitudes:
Creativity: Students will creatively reflect themselves as a material in the ‘If I were’ activity.
Curiosity: Students will be curious to inquire the whole unit.
Confidence: Students will confidently present their work to the whole class.
 Reflecting on the inquiry
6. To what extent did we achieve our purpose?
Assess the outcome of the inquiry by providing evidence of students’ understanding
of the central idea. The reflections of all teachers involved in the planning and
teaching of the inquiry should be included.
Homeroom teachers – This unit was mainly Science. Students enjoyed experimenting with
different materials to find out if they made reversible or irreversible changes. They showed
their understanding of the central idea; Natural material can undergo changes that may
provide challenges and benefits for society and the environment mainly in the third line of
inquiry and the summative assessment. In third line, The impact of retrieval, production and
the use of materials on the environment, students looked at the production processes of
different natural materials, their benefit and the challenges they pose to the environment and
society. In the case of wood, the natural material is trees. Trees are cut down then undergo a
process before being turned into furniture, books, paper, etc. which are beneficial to the
society. Some of the challenges are deforestation, air pollution, climate change and
desertification. In the third line they spread awareness of the importance of recycling, reusing
and reducing.
Students chose different ways to present their summative assessments. Two students made
posters, one made a booklet and one made a PowerPoint presentation for their summative
assessment. Each student chose a natural material, mentioned whether the changes it goes
through is reversible or irreversible. They looked at how society takes advantage of the
properties of those materials, how those materials are retrieved, produced and the
challenges it poses to the environment and the society.
English – English was incorporated into the unit when students wrote reflections at the end
of the different lines of inquiry and the gallery walks. They used narratives to write their
reflections.
Art – Students learned origami (the art of paper folding). They made things using paper.
They also learnt about molding when a guest artist used Plaster of Paris to mold a student’s
face.
How you could improve on the assessment task(s) so that you would have a more
accurate picture of each student’s understanding of the central idea.
The first formative may be changed into experiments with different materials where they will
test and make predictions.
What was the evidence that connections were made between the central idea and the
Trans disciplinary theme?
The descriptor of the theme-the impact of scientific and technological advances on society
and on the environment – matches with the central idea - Natural material can undergo
changes that may provide challenges and benefits for society and the environment. For
example, students researched on petroleum, which undergo changes to become plastic. The
societies take the advantage of its property and use it in different areas like furniture, colorful
glasses, etc. But society also faces challenge as plastic is non-biogradable and the system of
production also creates harmful wastes. So the environment is affected by this material.
7. To what extent did we include the elements of the PYP?
What were the learning experiences that enabled students to:
 Develop an understanding of the concepts identified in “What do we want to
learn?”
 Change - Students understood the concept of change when they did the experiments
with heat and water to find out which changes were reversible and which changes were
irreversible. A reversible change is a change that can be turned back to the original
material. No new material is formed. For example, water. When frozen, water turns to ice
and when it melts it turns back to water. An irreversible change cannot be turned into the
original material. For example, you cannot change a cake back into its ingredients again.
After the experiments they found out that the conditions for reversible changes were
melting, freezing, boiling, evaporation, condensation and dissolving among others. The
conditions for irreversible changes were heating, mixing, burning, cooking, rusting, etc.
 Function - Students learnt that society take advantage of properties of material when we
had a guest speaker who was an artist. He molded a student’s face using Plaster of
Paris because when mixed with water, Plaster of Paris becomes hard and the change is
irreversible. He also made paper origami. (Origami is the art of paper folding). The artist
used paper because paper is flexible. He also explained that he uses fiber glass
because it is light in weight. The students went further by looking at the different
materials that have been used to make a motor cycle. They found out that the framework
is made from steel because it’s very strong. The body is partly covered by plastic
because plastic is strong, light in weight and colourful.
 Responsibility - Students learnt that people make choices and each choice has a
positive or negative effect on the environment. The students learned the importance of
recycling, reducing and reusing to conserve the environment.
 Demonstrate the learning and application of particular transdisciplinary skills?
 Thinking skills: Students were thinkers during the gallery walk when they had to think
how various objects are made from different materials. They were thinkers when they
stated their predictions before carrying out the experiments.
 Research skills: Students used their research skills when collecting data. They used the
internet to find out how certain materials are made from natural materials e.g. how glass
is made from sand. They used dictionaries to find the meaning of different properties of
materials. The students also used their research skills to formulate questions to ask the
guest speakers and observed changes in materials when heated and when dissolved in
water.
 Reflecting on the inquiry

 Develop particular attributes of the learner profile and/or attitudes? 9. Teacher notes
In each case, explain your selection  The experiments were really fun to do. Students enjoyed them.
Learner Profile
Inquirers: they were inquirer during the environmental walk where they filled up ‘I see, I think, I wonder’ chart.  This time they only presented inside the class. Next time, we will try to do an
Reflective: Student wrote reflections after every lines of inquiry and guest speaker session. awareness program in school about the 3Rs and saving the environment.
Risk-takers: Students took the risk to carry out experiments with fire and heat.
Thinkers: Students analysed and evaluated the information they gathered from experiments and drew  For the field trip, students may visit a recycling factory.
conclusion as to whether the changes were reversible or irreversible changes.
Attitudes  As a suggestion, this theme can be executed before ‘How we organize
Curiosity: They were curious to know how different materials are being used for some items that society ourselves’. Students may create some recycled items in this theme and sell
uses. them in their market day (the summative assessment of ‘how we organize
Creativity: they were creative when they made different posters and displays. ourselves’).
Confidence: They were confident when they were presenting their work.
8. What student-initiated inquiries arose from the learning?
Record a range of student-initiated inquiries and student questions and highlight any that were
incorporated into the teaching and learning.
At this point teachers should go back to box 2 “What do we want to learn?” and highlight the teacher
questions/provocations that were most effective in driving the inquiries.
Student questions
How is glass made?
How is brick made?
How is metal shaped?
How do you get a big block of wood?
How does Plaster of Paris (POP) harden up in five minutes and produce heat?
How are clothes made?
How are cupboards made?

This question was very fruitful as students conducted experiments to answer it in the physics lab.
What student-initiated actions arose from the learning?
Record student-initiated actions taken by individuals or groups showing their ability to reflect, to choose
and to act.
 A student decided to use napkins instead of paper napkins as that is reusable.
 A student decided to utilize a paper by using it as much as possible to reduce the use.
 Another student said that she will save water.
 One of them decided to make his mother keep separate bins and sort out the house wastes.
 One student said she will be switching off lights whenever she will leave a room.