Learning core ideas occurs progressively over time and involves multiple experiences: Biology—an

example Consider, for example, the concepts of natural selection and adaptation as part of students’
understanding of evolution. Understanding natural selection and adaptation involves understanding
how environments influence populations of organisms. When an environment changes, some resource
supplies change, thereby exerting selective pressures for the survival and reproduction of some
organisms over others. Surviving populations are those most fit for the new resource availability and are
seen as adaptive. Complex ideas of natural selection and adaptation are constructed by students over
time with increasing levels of complexity. An appropriate teaching design parallels students’ capacity to
understand this complex idea, providing good foundations early in their education or in a course and
inviting students to add nuance and complexity to their fundamental understanding over time. The goal
is to ensure that students can build a strong and flexible understanding of the idea in developmentally
appropriate ways. Students in grades K–2 may observe natural habitats and learn that living things can
only survive in environments in which their needs are met. These students may also learn that there are
multiple environments on the planet able to support different types of living things. Students in
grades 3–5 may learn about how a change in an organism’s habitat may be beneficial or harmful for its
survival. In years 1–3 of the MYP, a student may revisit this idea, examining the genetic variation that
exists within a given species, how traits may give some organisms advantage over others, and how
individuals who survive to adulthood are more likely to reproduce and have offspring who carry
adaptive traits as well. Finally, in MYP years 4 and 5, and as they move into DP biology, students may
understand that natural selection results in a broad diversity of organisms that are anatomically,
behaviourally and physiologically well suited to survive and reproduce in a specific environment. They
may understand the relationship between rate of survival and reproduction of organisms with a given
trait in a population and the proportion of individuals in future generations holding that trait. They may
explore biotic and abiotic environmental changes, explain causes of extinction and understand the
dramatic role of Darwin’s theory of evolution to make sense of a massive array of observations and facts
(NRC 2000). By designing purposefully spiralled science curriculums in which students revisit core
foundational ideas with increasing levels of complexity and specificity, today’s science educators can
enhance the likelihood 5 A useful reference for this approach can be found in a paper by Cartier and
Pellathy (2009). Teaching the disciplines in the MYP: Nurturing big ideas and deep understanding 61 By
Aaron Rogat with Veronica Boix Mansilla that students will build a deep foundational understanding of
core ideas in science. The IB publication Science across the IB continuum (July 2011) provides guidance
for schools developing tighter articulation between their MYP and DP science curriculums.