Planning the inquiry

1. What is our purpose? Class/grade: 4 Age group:9-10

To inquire into the following:
School: GMA School code: 061077
- Transdisciplinary theme:
Title: Inside our body.
Who we are
An inquiry into the nature of the self; beliefs and values; personal, physical, mental, social Teacher(s): Ms. Aghila, Ms. Sunu. Ms. Rashmi, Ms. Rekha, Mr. Harish,
and spiritual health; human relationships including families, friends, communities, and Ms.Ananthalekshmi, Ms. Karuna, Ms. Likisha, Ms. Siba, Ms.Remi, Ms.
cultures; rights and responsibilities; what it means to be human Nijitha, Ms Anshu, ,Ms. Sumitha, Ms. Hillary, Ms.Ashwini, Ms.Donna, Ms. Rintu, Mr.
Mayank, Ms. Reby, Ms. Soumya

- Central idea: Date: Sept 7th - October 23rd

The human body has many systems that work together to sustain life. Proposed duration: 24 hours and 30 minutes in 6 weeks

summative assessment task(s): 2. What do we want to learn?

What are the possible ways of assessing students’ understanding of the central idea? What are the key concepts (form, function, causation, change, connection, perspective,
What evidence, including student-initiated actions, will we look for? responsibility, reflection) to be emphasized within this inquiry?

Create a 2 Dimensional, 3 Dimensional or Working Model on any of the body systems or function, connection, responsibility
organs you have explored in this unit.
What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea?
Assessment – Rubric
· Systems of the human body (form)

· The interconnectedness of body system (connection)

· Choices that impact body systems (responsibility)

What teacher questions/provocations will drive these inquiries?

Conceptual Factual Debatable

Key Concept Developing Proficient Advanced What is an organ? (Form) What happens inside our What would happen if the
body? (function) brain doesn’t work?
Form  The model clearly  The model clearly showcases What is an organ system? (Connection)
What is like?  The parts in showcases the organs the organs in the system (form) What happens to the food that
the model is in the system  All the parts in the model is
goes inside our body? What kinds of food is known as
not labeled.  Not all the parts in labeled and perfectly
 The organs in the model is labeled. organized to exhibit the How does our body work? (Connection) healthy and non-healthy?
the model are  The sequencing of connection of organs in the (connection) (connection)
not organized the organs in the body system. What would happen if the
and hence model lacks How do we fall sick? kidney doesn’t function Do we eat only what’s
lacks clarity to clarity ,however (connection) properly? (Connection) healthy? (responsibility)
exhibit the manages to exhibit
connection of the connection of
What is the meaning of a What are the different ways to Is immunization important?
organs in the organs in the body
body system. system. disease? (form) stay healthy? (connection) (connection)

Perspective  Lacks accuracy in  Manages to add some  Used relevant and accurate What is a balanced diet? What is a virus? (form) What is vaccination?
What are the adding relevant information/details to make (Connection) (connection)
viewpoints? information/details in information/details in the model convincing to the
the model, to make it the model, to make it audience Is health related to climate and
convincing to the convincing to the  Use persuasive techniques to weather? (connection)
audience audience justify the chosen
 No Persuasive  Persuasive importance body system .
techniques used. techniques are hardly
used in order to
justify importance of
chosen body system .

During the presentation

Function  Explains the functions
How does it and features of the
work? chosen body system
with limited clarity.
 No uses Science
vocabulary
 Explains the functions  Immaculately explains the
and features of the functions and features of the
chosen body system chosen body system.
with limited clarity.  Consistently uses
 Hardly uses Science appropriate Science
vocabulary vocabulary

Connection  Does not describes  Fairly describes the  Brilliantly describes the
How it is the interconnectedness interconnectedness of the
connected to interconnectedness of the body system body system with other
other things? of the body system with other systems, systems, with example.
with other systems without examples

Responsibility  Hardly mentions the  Fairly express ideas of  Ingeniously express ideas of
What is our ideas of balanced balanced choices and balanced choices and healthy
responsibility? choices and healthy healthy lifestyle for lifestyle for the well-being of
lifestyle. the well-being of body systems with examples.
body systems without
examples.

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 possible ways of assessing students’ prior knowledge and skills? What evidence will we
look for?
Prior knowledge –
External parts of the body and the 5 sense organs – Assessing through a math activity
in measuring lengths of various external body parts.
Play a game wherein children perform various activities and elicit responses to
questions like – which parts of the body are active during the activities.
Provide an outline of human body and encourage children to draw what they think
would be inside the human body.
KWL Chart: Students will write on pieces of paper what they know and want to know
about human body systems, lifestyle and health
What are the possible ways of assessing student learning in the context of the lines of inquiry? What
evidence will we look for?
FA - Compare the organ systems using Venn Diagram/T chart
FA - A template of a human body was given and students to drew each organ where
they think it is within our body.
FA – Creating a ppt presentation to check the understanding of the organ systems
FA – create story to show how organ systems are interconnected.
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?
Discuss the daily routine followed in the student’s life. Students to made a flow chart of
their routine. (connecting to the concept of time line taught in math previously
Discuss what would happen if one of the steps is missed or delayed
Students are to enact their routine to find out what would happen if a step is missed.
They then reflected to know the importance of each step.
How would it effect the routine?
Students to look at the different routines they follow at school. They are to reflect on
how they are affected if they miss out one day at school.
Discuss what are the five sense organs present in a human body.
Discuss if there would be any body part inside our body that we cannot see when we
stand in front of the mirror.
Encourage children to list out which parts of the body they think would be present inside
the body.
Discuss what is the meaning of an organ and organ system. Encourage children to use
the dictionary or the internet to find the meaning of the same.
List out some internal body parts shared by the students and group them together as
per the organ systems.
Introduce the major organ systems in the body to the children.
Show a video where in the students understand the meaning of cell (at their level)
organs and organ system.
Through the video recap the various organs system (at least 5-6) present in the human
body.
Split the children in groups of four and encourage them to find out how each organ
system works through child friendly videos.
The students are to prepare ppt presentations of the various organ systems using clay
and present their understanding to the class.
Reflect back on the actions performed in the beginning of the unit and discuss the
various organ systems in action while performing the act.

Encourage the children to think if more than one organ systems are functioning at the
same time.

Invite a nutritionist to speak about the importance of diet to have a healthy life.

Invite the sports teacher to speak about the importance of exercise and staying fit.

Invite doctors to find out about some diseases and disorders pertaining to the human
body.

Invite a member from National Institute of Virology to speak about the current Pandemic
situation and how they are helping to create a vaccine.

Encourage students of higher grades to visit Grade 4 to explain the various organ
systems.

Discuss how organs systems in the human body are interconnected.

Discuss the meaning of a disease or disorder.

Visit grade 9 to understand some of the disorders prevailing in countries and how the
countries are working to eradicate the same.

Provide reading materials based on various illnesses and diseases related to the
human body in separate breakout rooms.

Encourage students were to read and reflect on their understanding at each breakout
room.

Cover the topics on gastroenteritis, myopia, hypoxia, antibiotics, immunization, asthma

and cold and flu – causes, effects and how to take care of ourselves/the need.

Through art integration, students are to learn how colour is perceived by human eye.

Integrating ICT, students are to prepare games or quiz based on human body.

Integrating music through a standalone unit based on human body

Integrating dance through speaking about posture, breathing breaks in dance routines
 and use of facial muscles in dance

Integrating math through measurement, shapes, symmetry and data handling

Integrating languages by learning the vocabulary and using the terms to create
sentences for role play

Integrating humanities by learning about human disabilities, Para-Olympics, comparing

situations between covid pandemic and Spanish flu pandemic

Integrating STEM by checking the capacity of lungs!

What opportunities will occur for transdisciplinary skills development and for the
development of the attributes of the learner profile?

TD Skills:

Thinking Skills – to compare the function of each organ system and how to take
care of the body.

Research Skills – use various resources such as reading materials and internet to
understand the various organ systems and its functions.

Communication Skills – Enhance presentation skills, ask questions during the

session with the guest speakers and during field trips.

Profiles:

Communicator – By presenting their understanding both verbally and in writing.

Knowledgeable – becoming more aware of the various organ systems and how
they are interconnected, know about the various diseases and disorders.

Balanced – understand the importance of healthy lifestyle and balance diet

5. What resources need to be gathered?

What people, places, audio-visual materials, related literature, music, art, computer software, etc, will be available?
Videos on organ systems, https://en.e-learningforkids.org/science/lesson/body-parts/ ; https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/activities/teaching-content/human-body-14-studyjams-
interactive-science-activities/ https://www.childrensuniversity.manchester.ac.uk/learning-activities/science/the-body-and-medicines/introduction/

Video on the magic school bus story book.

Books from raz plus and See saw

Reading material on various diseases and disorders for the 6 learning centers https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6lwu01 https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=7MOJmnQH4Q0
How will the classroom environment, local environment, and/or the community to used to facilitate the inquiry?

Guest speaker – 1) Dr. Shajeem Shahudeen – Raadiologist

2) Ms. Minu – School Nurse

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.
 After the provocation, students were very excited to learn about their body organ and
each system.
 By the end of the enquiring cycle, students could easily relate the
interconnectedness of human body which made our unit go with flow.
 Children researched and presented on organ systems in group also, came up with
some important points to keep each organ healthy.
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.
 I think we did something new this time – STEAM which all children and parents enjoy
doing it.
What was the evidence that connections were made between the central idea and the
transdisciplinary theme?
Art – Creating self-portrait, and human figures.
Dance – Dancing with body parts – belly dance, Bharatanatyam etc.
Music – Body Percussion.
PE – Importance of exercises and keeping our body healthy.
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?”
Form – students learnt and understood about the organs and organ systems.
Function – students recognized that each organ system has a role in our body.
Connection – Interconnectedness of Human Body.
● demonstrate the learning and application of particular transdisciplinary skills?
Research – Students found out various organ system inside our body and its functions.
They used different websites to make ppts and charts before presenting in front of the
class.
Thinking – students compared the function of each organ system and also prepared a
chart on how to take care of our body.
Communication – Each student presenting and asked questions throughout the unit.
● develop particular attributes of the learner profile and/or attitudes?
In each case, explain your selection.
Communicator – By presenting their understanding by both verbally and reflections in
writing.
Knowledgeable – becoming more aware of the various organ systems and how they are
interconnected, know about the various diseases and disorders.
Balanced – understand the importance of healthy lifestyle and balance diet and
 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.
1.Which is more important heart or brain?
2.Why do we have two lungs?
3.Why do we have two kidneys?
4.Will internal organs grow as the body grows?
5.How is immune system and digestive connected,
why does the food we eat affects our immunity?
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.
9. Teacher notes
This unit was a truly amazing. Students were engaged in the learning and found it a
great unit where they learned a lot about the human body and its important
systems. This was of great benefits to the students in learning persuasive technique
where they were able to provide different arguments to favoring different systems
of the body as they used their knowledge gained from researching the initial
questions. This was a highlight for the students as they made marvelous STEAM
project on the occasion of world STEAM day. The math integration of data handling
and word problems on human body excited the kids to explore more on body
systems. This unit flowed well and gave the students plenty of information about
human body however it would great if we can include more guest talk by doctors
specialized in each body system.

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.
1) Abhinav prepared an excellent working model on Urinary System.
2) Arz and Hanfa made an awesome clear model on heart.
3) Ayati made wonderful model with clay on Digestive System and to take care of
our digestive organs.

© International Baccalaureate Organization 2011