Place And Time A3 Pyp Planner In Progress

Planning the inquiry

The 1. What is our purpose? To inquire into the following:  transdisciplinary theme

Class/grade: Year 6 Age group: 9-11 School: NIST School code: Teacher(s): Sam, Denise, Angela, Chris, Lex, Dawn, Bill, Siew Date: September, 2009 Proposed duration: number of hours over number of weeks

Where we are in place and time 

central idea

PYP planner

“People’s ideas and actions can cause a shift in thinking and change the course of history.” 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? Students will select an idea, event, individual, movement, action, invention, civilization or era in order to analyze the shifts in thinking or changes in the course of history. They will select from the Blooms/Multiple Intelligences menu in order to decide how they will present their learning. Beginning  I am able to explain about one or two significant changes in history  I am beginning to have some ideas about how the world may change in the future.  I am beginning to be able to give very basic explanations for the causes of change.  I am beginning to be able to identify different perspectives about the reasons for, and effects of, change in one or two situations.

Emerging  I am able to explain about three or four significant changes in history  I have some basic ideas about how the world may change in the future. 

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I am able to give basic explanations for the causes of change. I am able to identify different basic perspectives about the reasons for, and effects of, change in one or two situations.

Developing  I am able to explain about more than four significant changes in history  I am developing some more complex ideas about how the world may change in the future.  I am able to give increasingly detailed explanations for the causes of change.  I am able to identify different increasingly complicated perspectives about the reasons for, and effects of, change in a variety of situations.  I am also starting to make inferences about different perspectives based on information that I have.

Proficient  I am able to explain about a variety of significant changes in history  I have some complex theories about how the world may change in the future that I can justify.  I am able to give very detailed explanations for the causes of change. 

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I am able to identify different perspectives about the reasons for, and effects of, change in a wide variety of situations. I am also able to make inferences about different perspectives based on information that I have.

2. What do we want to learn? What are the key concepts (form, function, causation, change, connection, perspective, responsibility, reflection) to be emphasized within this inquiry?

Change

Causation

Connections

Perspective

We want the students to understand that the world has constantly changed throughout history, and will continue to change.

We want the students to understand that changes are caused by societal needs, ideas, beliefs, desires and innovations.

We want the students to make personal connections with change. We also want them to understand that changes have consequences, even ones that may not be immediately apparent.

We want the students to understand that different groups and individuals have different perspectives about the need for, and effects of, change.

The unit will have a social studies focus under the strand “continuity and change through time”. The relevant related concepts are: chronology, discovery, progress, exploration, innovation and revolution. Social Studies skills to explicitly teach will be:   

Use and analyse evidence from a variety of historical, geographical and societal sources Orientate in relation to place and time Assess the accuracy, validity and possible bias of sources

What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea?     

Significant events and people that have brought about change in history Ways that the world may continue to change in the future Causes and consequences of change Our own personal connections with change Different perspectives about change

Timed Continuums – Students will reflect on these continuums at regular intervals throughout the unit I had no knowledge about changes in history, and I still have no knowledge.

I had a lot of knowledge about changes in history and I have gained a lot more.

I am not curious about the history or the future of the world at all.

I am extremely curious about the history and future of the world.

It is impossible for me to “put myself into someone else’s shoes” and use empathy.

I find it easy and enjoyable to try and “put myself into someone else’s shoes” and use empathy.

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Students Students Students Students

will make connections with changes in their own lives, both in the past and in the future may be empowered to bring about some kind of change through their ideas or actions may change the way they think or behave may evaluate the impact of their peers’ presentations upon them and the way they think and act

© International Baccalaureate Organization 2007

What teacher questions/provocations will drive these inquiries?  What do you already know about “ideas”?  What famous good ideas do you know about?  What do you know about action?  What famous actions do you know about?  What is the difference between ideas and actions?  What good/bad ideas have you had in your life?  Imagine you have a “Good Idea/Bad Idea Filter” inside your head… can you draw it?  Do you remember your good or bad ideas/actions more?  What “shifts in thinking” have you experienced in your lifetime – what did you think before and what do you think now?  What do you know about changes in history?  What changes do you know about?  What change is interesting to you?  Pick a change and write about what you know and what you know you don’t know about it.  What questions can you ask in order to know more?

3. How might we know what we have learned?

This column should be used in conjunction with “How best might we learn?”

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?

Show movie clips such as “Home”, “1940s House” and “Bill and Ted” in order to provoke discussion, debate and conversation about change in history and the future. Take anecdotal notes in order to record the ways the students are thinking.

Timeline showing key events in history. Students could be grouped by class, or across classes, by interest. For example, some students could look at changes in politics, some could look at changes in fashion, changes in music, changes in art, changes in health and medicine etc… etc… (How wide do we keep this? Do we want to narrow it down or not? Do we need to?)

Timeline showing key events in history. Students can plot out the key events that changed the course of history or brought about a shift in thinking. Use tags so that we can walk along the timeline and assess each student’s input into the timeline and get an idea of their current level of knowledge, and also their misconceptions.

Thai studies inquiry into the King’s actions, ideas and innovations. Could they prepare something to share with the rest of Year 6? Could each World Language take a week or two to prepare something about how that country/culture/individuals from that country has contributed to change.

What are the possible ways of assessing students’ prior knowledge and skills? What evidence will we look for?

Students identify key periods in history and begin to identify what their own interests seem to be. Are they leaning towards an interest in politics, the arts, sport, literature, religion, revolution, human rights and so on? These “categories” can be identified by the students and possibly given colour codes so that key elements in history can be coded and patterns could become visible. Students will focus on the areas that they have come to the conclusion they are most interested in . They will form collaborative group by area of interest, but may choose to work alone.

What are the possible ways of assessing student learning in the context of the lines of inquiry? What evidence will we look for? This unit will be primarily research-based. Using principles of constructivism, we will start with the knowledge that the students bring to the unit. They possess significant historical knowledge and also a significant awareness of their own world and the changes that have occurred within it. Using the teacher provocations, we will “tune in” to what the students are already thinking, what factual knowledge they have and what they are interested in. We will then guide them through the research process in order to develop their knowledge and understanding of the events, people, ideas and actions that they choose to inquire into. A number of tags will be used in order to make the students’ thinking visible so they can use it effectively and also so that teachers can assess them. 1. 2. 3. 4.

The Prior Knowledge Tag – This tag gathers students’ knowledge about changes in history. The “Egg Diagram” – This tag asks students to record what they know and also, more importantly, what they know they don’t know. They use the latter section to generate real questions that they can use for research. The Research Skills Checklist is a way to ensure that students follow an effective research process and a way for teachers to monitor what they are doing so that they can guide them through the process. The Knowledge After Research Tag – This tag provides students with a standard form of presentation. This liberates them from having to think about how to present their information, it also places the focus totally on the information and not on poster designs, Powerpoint gimmicks and other factors that often are a barrier to getting “real information” from students.

Towards the end of the unit of inquiry, students will gather the tags they have produced and use them to self-assess against the rubrics and continuums on this planner. Teachers will assist in this process, adding their own perspectives.

Maths: Students will need to develop a strong understanding of how timelines are put together and how to read them. 1. 5 “Elite Mathematicians” create a scaled timeline from the time of Cavemen (30,000BC) to present day. They use string and coloured card. 2. Students conduct an inquiry into their typical day. They use coloured connecting blocks to represent their day, with each block representing a block of time and each colour signifying each “activity” they do. They then represent their timeline on paper. This is repeated with parents for homework. 3. Students create a timeline on paper showing the significant events in their personal life so far, they then transfer that information onto an online timeline using xtimeline.com. Repeat this again with a parent or grandparent for homework. 4.  Students can create timelines to show the significant events in the read-aloud book and in books they are reading. Certain concepts could be given a focus, such as changes that occur in a character’s life, with reasons for the change (causation).  Students can timeline a person’s life by reading their biography or autobiography.  Students can develop timelines of their own lives (history) or can develop timelines to help them become more organized (future)  Students can develop timelines of someone else’s life  Students can conduct fact-finding missions using timelines (xtimeline.com)  Students will use existing historical timelines in order to locate information to feed into the Year 6 Timeline.  Students could develop timelines showing changes in data over a period of time, such as world population. Language Arts: Students will read and write biographies, developing an awareness of the development of time and strategies/vocabulary to apply in their writing to show the sequence. Students will develop and use effective research skills, with a focus on summary-writing in order to feed information on to the timeline.

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What opportunities will occur for transdisciplinary skills development and for the development of the attributes of the learner profile? Knowledgeable We want the students to apply the knowledge they already have and to show a determination to gain and apply more knowledge during the unit.

Principled We want the students to develop an appreciation for prominent people in history who have brought about change through principles. We also want them to consider the effects of their own behavior and how those may bring about positive or negative change.

Empathy We want the students to be able to look at changes in history from a variety of points of view and to consider the effects of change from the point of view of people very different to themselves.

Transdisciplinary Skills

Beginning

Emerging

Developing

Proficient

I am able to do research with guidance from teachers.

I am able to do research independently and still need quite a lot of guidance from teachers.

I am able to do research independently but sometimes need a little bit of guidance from teachers.

I am able to do research independently and I can make my own decisions about how teachers can help me.

5. What resources need to be gathered?

What people, places, audio-visual materials, related literature, music, art, computer software, etc, will be available? http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/onthisday.aspx http://www.reference.com/thisday/ http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/index.html http://www.brainyhistory.com/events.html http://www.scopesys.com/anyday/ http://scrapbookscrapbook.com/ Bill Bryson – “A Short History of Nearly Everything” Maths links: http://www.xtimeline.com/ Language links: http://www.biography.com/bio4kids/index.jsp http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson398/suggestions.pdf http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson398/peer-edit2.pdf How will the classroom environment, local environment, and/or the community be used to facilitate the inquiry? The corridor outside 6LC and 6AR will have additional corkboards put up and will become a huge collaborative timeline.

© International Baccalaureate Organization 2007

Curiosity We want the students to display genuine curiosity about history people and major events.

http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson398/discussion-ques.pdf

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.

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.

What was the evidence that connections were made between the central idea and the transdisciplinary theme?

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?”  demonstrate the learning and application of particular transdisciplinary skills?  develop particular attributes of the learner profile and/or attitudes? In each case, explain your selection.

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. The invasion of Australia by the White Man in 1788 The impact of Vivaldi on Baroque music in Italy Changes in Hawaiian culture after Pearl Harbour The ideas of Galileo The impact of Terry Fox The invention of the television The actions of Ruby Bridges The work of Alexander Fleming The effects of Anne Frank’s diary The impact Dr. Seuss had on literacy Louis Pasteur and pasteurization Coco Chanel’s impact on women’s fashion Karl Marx and the idea of Communism

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.

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.

© International Baccalaureate Organization 2007

9. Teacher notes