Planning the inquiry 1. What is our purpose? To inquire into the following: Age group: 10 – 11 years School: School code:00004364 transdisciplinary theme: Sharing the planet An inquiry into rights and responsibilities in the struggle to share finite resources with other people and with other living things; communities and the relationships within and between them; access to equal opportunities; peace and conflict resolution. Class/grade: central idea : Conflict causes people to seek resolution. Title: Conflicts Teacher(s): PYP planner Date: 27 April – 29 May Proposed duration: number of 40 hours over 5 weeks 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 research any person that interests them. He or she had to be involved in a conflict situation. Students will gather factual information as well as opinions, interesting facts, etc. about the person’s life. Students will need to include a technique about conflict resolution. Resources besides the internet should be used. Students will also be required to create a poster as part of their oral presentations. Assessment tools: Rubrics; peer and self assessments. 2. What do we want to learn? What are the 2 key concepts (form, function, causation, change, connection, perspective, responsibility, reflection) to be emphasized within this inquiry? Causation, connection What are the 2 related concepts to be emphasized within this inquiry? Systems, conflict What 3 or 4 lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea? Possible causes and events that lead to conflict Consequences of conflicts Ways/techniques to resolve conflicts What 3 or 4 teacher questions/provocations will drive these inquiries? Role Play a conflict situation Watch animated movies on Brain Pop related to conflicts Reasons why conflicts start. What language, mathematics and specialist learning will be included in this unit? Language: Reading (fiction and non-fiction); narrative writing; oral presentations Social Studies: Living together; changing our earth; How to work in a group – resolving conflicts 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 are the possible ways of assessing students’ prior knowledge and skills? What evidence will we look for? Students watched “Conflicts” on Brain Pop and individually completed a questionnaire about the movie. They then assessed each other’s work. A whole class discussion was held and students raised their thinking about the topic. Students discuss, describe and identify their own rights and responsibilities toward each other at home and at school. Students identify causes of conflict and the impact conflicts have in their daily lives. What are the possible ways of assessing student learning in the context of the lines of inquiry? What evidence will we look for? Students decoded the central idea as well as the lines of inquiry and wrote what they thought it meant as well as what they knew about it. They wrote down their ideas, made notes of what puzzled them and generated what they would like explore. Students’ role played a conflict situation and discussed what possible causes led to it. As a group they came up with different ways to solve the problem. Students wrote a paragraph about a personal conflict. Students selected an article from a newspaper and summarized it in their own words; students shared their articles with the rest of the class; class discussions about the articles were done too. Students had to find a resolution for the article or a possible way they would resolve the issue. Peer evaluations were part of the assessment strategies used. Formative assessment: Oral Presentations, Informal Discussions, Activities, Self and Peer Assessments. English: Students researched and used the information to write narrative essays about their topic; Books (fiction and non-fiction) were read and summarized, discussed, and used with student presentations. Social Studies: The work related to citizens’ rights and responsibilities as well as democracy. Students also inquired how earth relates to conflict situations by looking at the impact pollution has. Students individually watched Brain Pop videos related to a conflict situation which was discussed and shared with the class. What opportunities will occur for AtL skills development and for the development of the attributes of the learner profile? Transfer; Information literacy: students will browse the internet to obtain information to complete their summative assessment; using books and articles to find related information; select and organize information; Communication: sharing ideas, informal discussions; oral presentations; informing others; Thinking: narrative writing essay; Collaboration: Organization: group activities; practical hands-on activities; time management 5. What resources need to be gathered? What people, places, audio-visual materials, related literature, music, art, computer software, etc, will be available? Students will be able to research using the internet; library materials such as reading books related to the topics. Class novels and guided reading material: “I had a dream; The slave dancer; To be a slave; A long walk to freedom; The forgotten heroes; Katrina; Enemies of slavery; Dare to dream” Students watched animated movies from Brain Pop such as: “Conflict, Bullying, Civil War, Civil War Causes, Cyber bullying, Democracy, Slavery, War, World War 1 and 2 etc.) DVDs: Making decisions and being assertive; Decisions and Conflicts; Resolving Conflicts How will the classroom environment, local environment, and/or the community be used to facilitate the inquiry? Classrooms were used to facilitate students’ research; the school library for information and viewing materials related to the unit; IT lab was utilized to help with © International Baccalaureate Organization 2007 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: Students were able to identify the possible causes of conflict which were reflected in their presentations and discussions. They developed resolutions to the various types of conflicts. Students used video clips from You Tube and Brain Pop to share with their peers and to enhance their understanding of the central idea. develop an understanding of the concepts identified in “What do we want to learn?” Students were shown videos and literature pertaining to conflict and its many forms and causes through audio visual and library time. demonstrate the learning and application of particular transdisciplinary skills? 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. Students had difficulty understanding the need to include a technique about conflict resolution. Provide students with more activities relating to conflict resolution will benefit them better during the summative task. What was the evidence that connections were made between the central idea and the transdisciplinary theme? Research Skills: Students were able to demonstrate their understanding of researching in their formative and summative assessment tasks. Some of the information required needed to be from sources external to class materials. Communication: Students were able to share ideas orally and visually in their formal oral component of their presentations and throughout the units’ informal presentations. Communication skills have been developed through their diagrams, or posters. Students also shared information through informal discussions and sharing of information throughout the unit. Students worked out different situations relating to the central idea and came up with different ways and ideas to connect the central ideas with the lines of inquiry. As the unit developed, and students researched their topics, they were able to move away from the idea, that conflict only involved religion and nationality. This resulted in students touching conflict in a global sense as they know now; they live in quite a safe environment. They realized that many children their own age is/was not so lucky. Students were able to choose their own personal peacemaker/activist, etc. Thus, resulting in understanding how and why people behaved the way they did. Students enjoyed the discussions on conflict and investigating conflict using reading materials. A few students were able to relate personal experiences. Students discovered that society and views of others have an impact on human behavior. © International Baccalaureate Organization 2007 Writing: Narrative essay writing; paragraph writing; summarizing information; editing; publishing Cooperation: group activities; listening to each other develop particular attributes of the learner profile and/or attitudes? In each case, explain your selection. Students were able to develop independence through the completion of personal components of the final presentation and throughout the unit. At the same time they were able to develop collaboration skills in their groups. Curiosity was an essential component to the success of the unit and final project. Students also needed to be thinkers to develop a deeper understanding of the unit. Reflecting on the inquiry 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. Students researched extensively on different types of conflict and had different reports related to the inquiry. Some of the inquiry questions related to how children cope with family conflicts; the justice system and their involvement with conflicts especially in Saudi Arabia. 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. Role Play a conflict situation Students enjoyed role playing the various scenarios. It was natural for students to understand the different conflict situations as they could relate it to their own experiences. 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. As a class the girls decided to be more helpful towards each other and share their feelings too. They were open-minded about each others’ circumstances which related to a more caring attitude and atmosphere in class. © © International International Baccalaureate Baccalaureate Organization Organization 2007 2007 9. Teacher notes The unit was cut short through end of year events. This made an impact on some of the students’ summative tasks.
