Planning the inquiry

1. What is our purpose? Class/grade: 5 Age group:

To inquire into the following:
School: Sekolah Ciputra School code: 7179
Transdisciplinary theme: Where We Are In Place And Time
An inquiry into orientation in place and time; personal histories; homes and journey; the Title: Where We are in Place and Time
discoveries; explorations and migrations of humankind; the relationships between and the PYP planner
interconnectedness of individuals and civilizations, from local and global perspective. Teacher(s): Ary, Palupi, Yosef, Agustina, Diana, Primma, Hestya
and Helen Hutton
Central idea:
Human exploration has an impact on society. Date: July 19th - August 27th 2010

Summative assessment task(s): Proposed duration: 6 weeks

What are the possible ways of assessing students’ understanding of the central
idea? What evidence, including student-initiated actions, will we look for?
2. What do we want to learn?
Each student will choose one explorer and explain about their exploration,
What are the key concepts (form, function, causation, change,
journey, discovery and reasons of the exploration. Students will explain based on
connection, perspective, responsibility, reflection) to be emphasized
the timeline for each destination (America, Africa, Asia, Australia, Others (outer
within this inquiry?
space, jungle, pole, ocean, cave, mountain, etc).
Then, they will see their group of destination to identify the world in the past Concepts: Change, Reflection, Causation
and changes happened after the exploration. In the museum, they will also Related Concepts:
make a conclusion of how the exploration has led to the changes in a society/ Social Organization and culture (artifacts, religion, diversity)
they brought to the native land (contribution) and help us understand the world Continuity and change through time (discovery, exploration, history, progress)
better.
What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the
Summative Criteria: central idea?
 Identifies the significant events throughout the journey  Reasons people explore
 Explains possible reasons of the exploration  The role of exploration in shaping the society
 Mention the changes in a society as the impact of the explorations  The importance of exploration towards our lives
 Make comparison between before and after the exploration
 Concludes the importance from explorations in our lives What teacher questions/provocations will drive these inquiries?
 Exhibits natural curiosity toward the topic learned 1. What is an exploration?
 Is independent during the project-working 2. What similarities and differences can we see between explorations
 Displays confidence during the presentation overtime?
 Uses the sequence of research skills to organize the information 3. How has the exploration led to the changes in a society?
 Demonstrates speaking skills by giving oral explanation clearly to the 4. How does exploration help us understand the world better?
audience
Provocation :
 Uses visual presentation to communicate the information effectively
 Explore certain areas in the school with the goal of examining the area
which they could benefit/interest their country.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
 Watching compilation of short movies telling several explorations.
 Explains the reasons of explorations
 Make mindmaps to brainstorm what they’ve known or thought about
 Investigates the changes happened as result of explorations
explorations (human exploration, impact and society).
 Analyzes the impact of explorations
Planning the inquiry
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 learning experiences suggested by the teacher and/or students to encourage the
What are the possible ways of assessing students’ prior knowledge and skills? students to engage with the inquiries and address the driving questions?
What evidence will we look for? FINDING INFO
To assess their prior knowledge about exploration, the students made double entry journal  Watching video (exploration by National Geographic): students watch the video about exploration in modern era. They
identify kinds explorations, tools, strategies, purposes, impacts, problems and solutions.
about their prior knowledge about exploration, held class discussions based on the mind maps’
 After exploring school area and watching movie, students use their own experiences and knowledge to define what
result, reported back the result of exploring school area which explains about goals of journey, exploration is.
persons to come with, things to prepare, risk analysis and plan to survive.  The characteristic of explorer and exploration: students use their experiences to identify the most important
characteristic/qualities of explorers and exploration.
What are the possible ways of assessing student learning in the context of the lines  Research skills: students practice research skill by using different kinds of resources, such Marco Polo video, books, and
of inquiry? What evidence will we look for? Internet. They follow research skills guidance.
Assessme Assessm SORTING OUT
Assessment
WALT WILF nt ent  Explorer card: students choose an explorer and apply research skill. They identify the important facts about early life,
Task
Strategy Tools reason, voyages, routes, and impact of exploration.
Identify the purposes for explorations  Use Encarta mapping: students learn how to read Encarta map, copy paste, and trace the route of explorer journey. They
Create an
To know the Tell the voyages/route of explorations also give explanation each voyage.
exploration Process-
significant Identify the tools used for the explorations  Discussion how to categorize the explorer cards.
biography focused Checklist
roles of an Identify the findings/accomplishments of Assessment  Class time line : all students categorize the explorer cards into the correct order based on destination continent and time of
about an
explorer the explorations explorations.
explorer
Describe the impacts of explorations  Venn diagram : students choose one other explorer to compare and contrast based on their own categories (reasons, findings,
From two biographies of explorers in Create a Venn tools, strategies, crew, technology, nationality, impacts, etc . ).
To
different era… Diagram of  Analyze the overall purposes and impacts of explorations throughout time and around the world based on the class timeline.
understand
Differentiate the two factual information two explorers  Using powerpoint slides to support them in making conclusion of explorations.
the change of Performance
(reasons, purposes, tools used, strategies, in different era Assessment
Checklist GOING FURTHER
exploration
routes, crews, findings, etc) (so as to show  Students choose one other explorer that they’re interested in and produce the biography of the explorer in Bahasa Indonesia
throughout
Identify the important similarities between the obvious (explorer’s data, reason of exploration, voyages, accomplishment, end of life and exploration, contributions and impacts and
time
the two facts change) bibliography)
Explain the reasons of exploration  Student work in a group based on the destination of exploration (Asia, Africa, South America, North America, Vikings,
Analyze the (positive and negative) impacts Polar Regions, Australia and Space)
To
of past explorations to ‘the’ era of  Students mention the contributions of their exploration and analyze the description of before and after exploration.
understand Create a
exploration Process-  Finally, students make the conclusion of exploration (the impact of exploration to modern world and the importance of
the overall student-choice
(to him/herself , to the indigenous people, to focused Checklist learning the past explorations).
importance presentation Assessment
the place discovered, to the explorer’s origin ACTION
of format
country)  Students shared their understanding to other PYP level.
exploration
Connect the impact of past explorations to REFLECTION
the today’s society  Students produce the reflection writing ‘If I were an explorer…’
State the choice of the topic
To be able to
Create questions related to the chosen topic Applying the What opportunities will occur for transdisciplinary skills development and for the development of the attributes
use research
List down important keywords for skills in their of the learner profile?
skills Process-
researching formative and Concepts:
appropriately focused Continuum
Sort out information from many resources summative Assessment  Change : Students learn about changes/development of explorations throughout time. Furthermore, they will analyze the
to cover the
Produce a comprehensive composition project changes have happened toward the society as the impacts of exploration.
required
writing using the information garnered working  Causation: Students will find out reasons people explored and their contribution to the world.
knowledge
with their own words  Reflection: Students were able to make conclusions regarding the importance of exploration for their lives.
5. What resources need to be gathered? Skills
What people, places, audio-visual materials, related literature, music, art, computer software,  Research skills: students will be involved in lots of research especially regarding with secondary resources to find. They will
etc, will be available? (find these in Multimedia folders) learn how to formulate research questions, collect accurate data independently, analyze the data and use it to answer their
Video : Marcopolo, National Geographic inquiry.
Powerpoint Slides : impacts and reasons of explorations  Communication skills: students will present their knowledge in an attractive way during sharing day. There will be two
communication skills that are covered; speaking and visual presentation (IT, map) skills.
Books: Articles about explorers. Internet websites: museum explorers etc. There are lots of
Attitudes:
resources about explorers however students and teachers must sort the most appropriate
 Confidence : Students will display their confidence during sharing day
ones. Indonesian comic books about explorers.
 Curiosity : Students will show curiosity when they form questions and then answer them through research study.
 Independence : Students can manage their own time to complete tasks.
How will the classroom environment, local environment, and/or the community be
Profiles:
used to facilitate the inquiry?  Knowledgeable : knowledge will be gained through accessing and reading many secondary resources
School area is used to provide an exploration experience where they will identify reasons  Inquirer : students will follow the proper research stages for finishing their formative and summative tasks
they explore, how to achieve the goals (strategies), the achievement (results), feeling, the  Communicator: During sharing day, students will communicate their understanding as a presenter.
impact on them and society (within class/school).
Reflecting on the inquiry

6. To what extent did we achieve our purpose? 7. To what extent did we include the elements of the PYP?
Assess the outcome of the inquiry by providing evidence of students’ What were the learning experiences that enabled students to:
understanding of the central idea. The reflections of all teachers Develop an understanding of the concepts identified in “What do we want to
involved in the planning and teaching of the inquiry should be learn?”
included.  Change : students mentioned the changes of exploration throughout time, and
made timeline based on area of exploration.
From the summative task, students were able to explain in details, the short  Causation : students analyzed the causes and various reasons of people explore
personal history of their chosen explorer, as well as the impacts of the particular and the positive/negative effects of each exploration from different perspectives
exploration, for the exploration personally, for the society at that time, for the (explorer, explorer’s country, native land, native people and modern people).
society nowadays, and for the student him/herself. Students also drew  Reflection : students interpreted the overall purposes and impacts of exploration
conclusions from several explorers of a certain era and area to see general throughout time, stated the importance of learning past explorations, and made
patterns of the impacts of the explorations. reflection writing ‘If I were an explorer..’. Students used various resources (at
least from three different resources) to ensure the validity of the information.
How you could improve on the assessment task(s) so that you would
Demonstrate the learning and application of particular transdisciplinary
have a more accurate picture of each student’s understanding of the
skills?
central idea.
 Research skills : students were exposed with collecting, recording and organizing
 Strengthen students’ reading skills. important information when working the projects of making the explorer’s
 Better management of students’ grouping information card, the Venn diagram and the description of before and after of
 Share the WALT and WILF to the students from the beginning of the unit. explorer’s contribution.
 Display the assessment criteria.  Communication skills : there were several formative and summative tasks
which required students to read and view information, write, orally present and
display their final understanding.
What was the evidence that connections were made between the  Thinking skills : students were challenged to comprehend, analyze and evaluate
central idea and the transdisciplinary theme? data on making the overall purposes and impacts of exploration and when
comparing two information on the Venn diagram.
An inquiry into orientation in place and time; personal histories; homes and journey; the
 Social skills : students discussed ideas and worked together for the class display.
discoveries; explorations and migrations of humankind; the relationships between and
the interconnectedness of individuals and civilizations, from local and global perspective.
Develop particular attributes of the learner profile and/or attitudes?
Attitudes:
Human Exploration has an impact on society.  Confidence : presenting their project and the unit understanding during the
sharing day to PYP 4 students and classmates.
Human exploration deals with the know-how of the area and the particular  Curiosity : making personal questions and answered to fulfill their own inquiry.
time in an era, as it relates to the methods of transportations and the chosen  Independence : students remembered their username and password, log in into
routes; it relates with the personal history of the explorers, the discoveries and their personal drivers when researching and storing their projects. Students
explorations made; it relates with the impacts on the society, either individually prepared the equipment and materials for their learning.
or in a civilization; the impacts on the society are explored from different point
of views (the indigenous, the explorers, the explorer’s society and the society Profiles:
nowadays).  Knowledgeable : knowledge was gained through accessing and reading many
secondary resources.
 Inquirer : students created personal questions and searched the answer to
accomplish the project working of ‘the overall purposes and impacts of
exploration’.
 Communicator : students communicated their understanding through their in
and orally explain it during sharing day.
Reflecting on the inquiry

8. What student-initiated inquiries arose from the learning? 9. Teacher notes

Record a range of student-initiated inquiries and student questions Strengths Area of Needing Improvement
and highlight any that were incorporated into the teaching and  The Transdisciplinary Theme, the  The management of Summative
learning. Central Idea and the Lines of task based on students’ interest
Student-Initiated Inquiry Inquiry are linked and carefully resulted on the inequality number of
scaffolded to guide students’ students.
 None and we plan to have a better strategy for the next UOI. inquiry.  Division based on area of exploration
Students’ Questions  Teachers are ready with sufficient could be tricky as one explorer could
teaching resources (non-fiction explore on more than one area. We
 What are the things to be / might be explored in the future? books from library, maps, internet need to consider the management of
 How can I be a successful explorer? resources) and guidelines to assist timetabling and number of teachers.
 How to make the explorations better? students to work on their formative  Students also need to decide in
 What if there was no exploration? and summative projects. which area of destination of
 The management of Summative exploration that they want to focus.
task provided opportunity for  Students’ limited thinking skills
At this point teachers should go back to box 2 “What do we want to students to explore their inquiry (comprehension, application,
learn?” and highlight the teacher questions/provocations that were (which is based on the explorer’s analysis, synthesis and evaluation)
most effective in driving the inquiries. area). and more advanced concepts that
1. What is an exploration?  The management of simple yet were focused in the UOI (causation
2. What similarities and differences can we see between explorations effective sharing day is flawless. and reflection) became their barrier
overtime?  The assessment criteria, strategies to produce final result which suit to
3. How has the exploration led to the changes in a society? and tools the level of teachers’ expectation.
 Not every explorer has ample
information and student-friendly
What student-initiated actions arose from the learning?
language.
Record student-initiated actions taken by individuals or groups  We need to do some vocabularies
showing their ability to reflect, to choose and to act. scaffolding in English by the
Student-Initiated Actions beginning of the unit.
 Encourage the students to print the
 Few students brought and used artifacts to support their presentation
resources instead of using
(stuffed animals, spices, maps, fabric).
 Few students used their own time to prepare the display for the sharing
day.