MYP unit planner
Unit title
Unit 2: History of Earth
Teacher(s)
Megan Bonafede and Claudia Murphy (2013-2014)
Subject and grade
level
Science Year 1
Time frame and
duration
November-December – 8 weeks
Learner Profile
Communicators, Principles
Stage 1: Integrate significant concept, area of interaction and unit question
Trans disciplinary Theme/Global
Context
Global contexts provide shared
starting points for inquiry into what
it means to be internationally
minded. Intercultural
understanding and global
engagement through these
contexts build on the powerful
themes of global significance that
structure teaching and learning in
the PYP.
Sharing the planet/fairness and
development
Significant concept(s)
What are the big ideas? What do
we want our students to retain for
years into the future?
Interactions among air, water, and
land, including the formation and
changing of rocks and minerals
MYP unit question
What do you really find when you dig?
Assessment
What task(s) will allow students the opportunity to respond to the unit question?
What will constitute acceptable evidence of understanding? How will students show
what they have understood?
Summative Unit Test
Which specific MYP objectives will be addressed during this unit?
B Communication in Science
-uses scientific language correctly, consistent with the level of complexity of the units
of work covered
C Knowledge and understanding of Science
-with guidance, recall scientific knowledge and use scientific understanding to
construct scientific explanations, consistent with the level of complexity of the units of
work covered
Which MYP assessment criteria will be used?
Criterion B: Communication in Science
Criterion C: Knowledge and understanding of Science
Stage 2: Backward planning: from the assessment to the learning activities through inquiry
Content
What knowledge and/or skills (from the course overview) are going to be used to
enable the student to respond to the unit question?
What (if any) state, provincial, district, or local standards/skills are to be addressed?
How can they be unpacked to develop the significant concept(s) for stage 1?
Enduring Understandings
-fossil formation
- fossils show relative ages
-fossils show major events in Earth’s history such as mass extinctions, earliest
evidence of life, and the last Ice Age
-Earth’s history shows the formation of mountain chains and ocean basins
-the evolution of extinction of living organisms
- significant volcanic eruptions
New York State Standards
2.1f Fossils are usually found in sedimentary rocks. Fossils can be used to study
past climates and environments.
3.2a In all environments, organisms with similar needs may compete with one
another for resources.
3.2b Extinction of a species occurs when the environment changes and the adaptive
characteristics of a species are insufficient to permit its survival. Extinction of species
is common. Fossils are evidence that a great variety of species existed in the past.
3.2c Many thousands of layers of sedimentary rock provide evidence for the long
history of Earth and for the long history of changing lifeforms whose remains are
found in the rocks. Recently deposited rock layers are more likely to contain fossils
resembling existing species.
3.2d Although the time needed for change in a species is usually great, some
species of insects and bacteria have undergone significant change in just a few
years.
Next Generation Science Standards
MS-ESS1-4. Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata
for how the geologic time scale is used to organize Earth’s 4.6-billion-year-old
history.
Next Generation Science Standards Core Ideas
ESS1.C: The History of Planet Earth
The geologic time scale interpreted from rock strata provides a way to organize
Earth’s history. Analyses of rock strata and the fossil record provide only relative
dates, not an absolute scale. (MS-ESS1-4)
Vocabulary
Geological
Time scale
Model
Rock strata
Fossil
Fossil record
Sedimentary rock
Absolute scale
Relative dates
Analysis
Evolution
Extinction
Volcano
Scientific explanation
Evidence
Approaches to learning
How will this unit contribute to the overall development of subject-specific and
general approaches to learning skills?
Information Literacy
-Selecting and organizing information
-making connections between a variety of resources
Thinking
-inquiring and applying knowledge and concepts
Learning experiences
Teaching strategies
How will students know what is
expected of them? Will they see
examples, rubrics, templates?
How will we use formative assessment to
give students feedback during the unit?
How will students acquire the
knowledge and practise the skills
What different teaching methodologies will
we employ?
How are we differentiating teaching and
required? How will they practise
applying these?
Do the students have enough prior
knowledge? How will we know?
General Skills: Students will follow
safety procedures, use appropriate
units for measured or calculated
values, recognize and analyze
patterns/trends, classify objects
according to and established scheme,
develop dichotomous key, sequence
events, identify cause-and-effect
relationships, and interpret results.
learning for all? How have we made
provision for those learning in a language
other than their mother tongue? How have
we considered those with special
educational needs?
Formative Assessments
-Quick writes
-labs
Teaching Methods
-Use of graphic organizers
-Short answer responses
-Cornell Notes
-Philosophical Chairs
-Socratic Seminars
General Skills: Safely and accurately -WICOR Strategies
-Other AVID Science specific strategies
use the following measuring tools:
metric ruler, balance, stopwatch,
Differentiated Teaching
graduated cylinder, thermometer,
-Pre-teaching vocabulary
spring scale, and voltmeter.
-Graphic organizers
-Use of small group read alouds
-Observe past life on earth and the
-Guided notes
evidence-fossils
-Scaffolded questions
-create a geological time scale
- discuss time in millions of years
-examine rock layers to determine
relative ages of fossils
- watch video on fossil formation
Resources
What resources are available to us?
How will our classroom environment, local environment and/or the community be
used to facilitate students’ experiences during the unit?
-newspapers
-maps
-Encarta CD
-AVID Write Path Science Guide
Ongoing reflections and evaluation
In keeping an ongoing record, consider the following questions. There are
further stimulus questions at the end of the “Planning for teaching and
learning” section of MYP: From principles into practice.
Students and teachers
What did we find compelling? Were our disciplinary knowledge/skills challenged in
any way?
What inquiries arose during the learning? What, if any, extension activities arose?
How did we reflect—both on the unit and on our own learning?
Which attributes of the learner profile were encouraged through this unit? What
opportunities were there for student-initiated action?
Possible connections
How successful was the collaboration with other teachers within my subject group
and from other subject groups?
What interdisciplinary understandings were or could be forged through collaboration
with other subjects?
Assessment
Were students able to demonstrate their learning?
How did the assessment tasks allow students to demonstrate the learning objectives
identified for this unit? How did I make sure students were invited to achieve at all
levels of the criteria descriptors?
Are we prepared for the next stage?
Data collection
How did we decide on the data to collect? Was it useful?
Figure 12
MYP unit planner