Planning the inquiry
1. What is our purpose?
To inquire into the following:
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Class/grade: 4th grade
Age group: 9-10
School: Roberts Elementary
School code: 02254
transdisciplinary theme
How the world works An inquiry into the natural world and its laws; the
interaction between the natural world (physical and biological) and human
societies; how humans use their understanding of scientific principles;
the impact of scientific and technological advances on society and on the
environment.
Title: Rock, Rattle, and Roll
Teacher(s): 4th grade team
PYP planner
Date: 05-28-13 (revised)
Proposed duration: 10 hours per week over 5 weeks
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central idea
Earth experiences changes caused by geological forces.
2. What do we want to learn?
Summative assessment task(s):
What are the key concepts (form, function, causation, change, connection,
perspective, responsibility, reflection) to be emphasized within this inquiry?
What are the possible ways of assessing students’ understanding of the central
idea? What evidence, including student-initiated actions, will we look for?
form, change, causation
Students will be given a list of geological terms along with a picture including
volcanoes, islands, valleys, deserts, and glaciers/erosion. Students must then
respond in written form to the prompts describing their understanding of how
geological forces affect the Earth. Students will be able to access the information
they have collected during this unit (science journals, internet, books) to be able to
complete their written responses. Students will be awarded points for their answers
on each question.
Related concepts: structure, evidence, transformation
What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea?
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how rocks and minerals are formed
the causes behind Earth’s physical changes
how Earth’s physical events impact humans
What teacher questions/provocations will drive these inquiries?
1.
2.
3.
4.
© International Baccalaureate Organization 2007
What can we learn from the types of rocks and why are they important?
How have landforms been created and changed?
How do geological forces affect human lives?
How do we measure the strength of geological forces?
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
students to engage with the inquiries and address the driving questions? What opportunities will
occur for transdisciplinary skills development and for the development of the attributes of the
learner profile?
What are the possible ways of assessing students’ prior knowledge and skills?
What evidence will we look for?
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How rocks and minerals are formed: Students will write a paragraph/illustration
of how they think rocks are formed.
The causes behind Earth’s physical changes: students will be given the pieces
of a Pangaea puzzle to try and figure out how the continents fit together.
How earth’s physical events impact humans:
http://www.iknowthat.com/mhscience/Earthquakes/Fixed.htm Students will
adjust the Richter Scale on this website to visualize the amount of destruction as
it relates to the scale. Students will also look at pictures from places hit by
earthquakes and form ideas of how people have to adapt to their different
surroundings.
What are the possible ways of assessing student learning in the context of the
lines of inquiry? What evidence will we look for?
*After learning about mountains and how they are formed, students will look at
pictures of mountains and then describe in short answers how they think they were
formed.
*Students will be given a quiz over material discussed and read in class.
* A rubric will be used in Science Lab to assess students’ participation, attention, and
written responses.
* Students will keep an interactive Science Journal for reflections during lab
experiences.
*After reading an article, students will reflect in writing on their thinking about how
Pangaea broke apart versus current scientific theories.
*Frontloading - students make puzzle pieces to recreate Pangaea
*View Ring of Fire (iMax) video. Students will inquire about volcanoes.
*Have students observe different types of rocks and minerals, then discuss similarities and
differences.
*Students compare location of tectonic plates with location of mountain ranges.
Students will use Milky Way bars to visualize the different types of shifting of plate tectonics.
*Science Lab Experiments –
 identifying rocks and minerals (hardness, color)
 rock layers – sedimentary tube ; layering of sediments (rock cycle) – Chocolate Rocks
 weather and erosion – Streams; earthquakes and volcanoes
 glaciers –ice cube model/ marshmallow
*Create an illustration of the rock cycle.
*Technology – use United Streaming and Brain Pop to take students on a virtual fieldtrip with images
and video of landforms, rocks, etc.
*Students will create an E- book or movie maker presentation of 1 geological force of student choice
explaining what the force is, how it was created, and the impact of the force. Students will then
present their project orally to the class.
*After viewing photographs of types of erosion, students will create before/after illustrations of the
impact of erosion on the earth.
* Students will read an article about island formation (Birth of an Island) and the earth’s changes over
time and then create a 4-6 frame cartoon illustrating how an island is formed.
* During a class discussion, fossils will be compared with the layers in a laundry hamper.
What opportunities will occur for transdisciplinary skills development and for the
development of the attributes of the learner profile?
Transdisciplinary Skills: research, thinking, communication
Learner Profile: communicators, reflective, knowledgeable
5. What resources need to be gathered?
What people, places, audio-visual materials, related literature, music, art, computer software, etc, will be available?
McGraw Hill Science text, grade 4, Learning About Earth’s History;
http://www.desertusa.com/
http://teach.fcps.net/trt20/projects/EKU/Default.htm
Earthquake” “Birth of an Island” Ring Of Fire; Alaska (iMax)
www.brainpop.com
www.unitedstreaming.com
How will the classroom environment, local environment, and/or the community be used to facilitate the inquiry?
Guest speakers – Cin-Ty Lee – Rice University Geology Department (rocks, volcanoes)
© International Baccalaureate Organization 2007
“Sumatra’s catastrophic Dec. 26th
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’ understanding
of the central idea. The reflections of all teachers involved in the planning and
teaching of the inquiry should be included.
What were the learning experiences that enabled students to:
On the summative assessment, our students’ work was very impressive. They had to
put their thinking into their own words. They were really able to apply what they have
learned and use the resources available to them to produce reasonable explanations
as to how the landscape has been formed.
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develop an understanding of the concepts identified in “What do we want to
learn?”
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demonstrate the learning and application of particular transdisciplinary skills?
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develop particular attributes of the learner profile and/or attitudes?
In each case, explain your selection.
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.
We like the open ended aspect of the summative assessment, but there were
elements on it that did not get covered during the inquiry and we may need some
changes to the format of the assessment. Working in partners worked better than
individually. We could create an assessment where students describe 3 out of the 5
geological forces and how they affect the Earth. We feel it is essential that they know
that the movement of the plates is what causes many of the geological forces.
What was the evidence that connections were made between the central idea and
the transdisciplinary theme?
During the summative assessment, the students were able to describe their thoughts
on how the earth is continually changing and that this is an on-going process. The
students were able to explain that this is how the world works and that this will
continue to occur.
Concepts:
The concepts of form, causation, change were focused on during this unit.
During this unit, students learned about how the Earth was formed and how it
continues to be changed. They explored the causes for the changes through
science lab experiences, as well as video and reading material.
Transdisciplinary Skills:
The students worked on the following skills: research, thinking and
communication. Throughout the unit they developed their research skills as they
learned about landforms and rock formations. They used the internet, video
footage, and a speaker to gather information. As this was new information to
many of the students, they had to use their critical thinking skills to develop an
understanding of the Earth they take for granted. Communication skills were
necessary developing and presenting their movie/eBook on geological forces.
Learner Profile:
The students focused on the following Learner profile attributes: communicator,
reflective, knowledgeable. Students communicated their learning through oral
and digital presentations. They became more reflective about their explorations
by using their interactive science journal and gained new knowledge throughout
the unit.
© International Baccalaureate Organization 2007
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 and highlight any
that were incorporated into the teaching and learning.
It would be great to add the Yellowstone iMax and the book Through the Volcano.
We would like to be able to show a movie to the fourth grade students once a week.
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If scientists know about Pangaea, how come they don’t know about when
tornados will happen?
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If black sand is made from a volcano, how is the white sand formed?
We would like to include more opportunities for how the geology and geography
affect the lives of humans – examples patterns of settlement, specific lifestyle
changes.
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When does an earthquake end?
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How do seismographs and seismic waves help humans keep safe?
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Why do earthquakes sometimes last longer than others?
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How come some of the most dangerous earthquakes last only a few seconds?
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Why do people invent stories to explain how the world works?
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Why do paleontologists need to know about biology, ecology, geology, and
archeology?
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Why do rock formations have different shapes?
The Rock Cycle:
http://www.learner.org/interactives/rockcycle/
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Why are there earthquakes?
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How do you know how old fossils are?
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How are mountains and landforms formed?
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.
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Students brought in rock collections from home. They also tried to name rocks
they had found in their environment.
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Students brought in newspaper clippings on a regular basis about geological
events in the world.
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Several students shared photographs from family field experiences connected to
the central idea.
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Students initiated research projects.
© International Baccalaureate Organization 2007
Everyday activities that we did this year:
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Teacher Tube “da rock cycle” video (Watchknowlearn.org)
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Neok12: volcano features matching smart
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Volcano demo: baking soda, jello mix, vinegar
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Playdough Mountain (4 forms)
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Milky Way Plate Tectonics
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Rock Cycle song, poster or poem
Soil/Erosion/Deposition:
http://hpms.hpisd.org/Portals/1/Teachers/Yergler/weathering,%20erosion,%20deposi
tion%20notes.ppt (PowerPoint)
Earthquakes/Volcanoes/Tsunamis:
http://www.iknowthat.com/mhscience/Earthquakes/Fixed.htm
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/news/environment-news/japan-tsunami2011-vin/?source=vidcarousel
Earth’s Compositon/Plate Tectonics/Pangaea:
http://www.ducksters.com/science/composition_of_the_earth.php
http://www.kidsgeo.com/geology-for-kids/0020-crust-mantel-core.php
http://www.kidsgeo.com/geology-for-kids/0043-plate-tectonics.php
http://platetectonicsforkids.com/
http://www.kidsgeo.com/geology-for-kids/0042-pangaea.php