Unit title
Teacher(s)
Subject and grade level
Time frame and duration
The Only Constant is Change
Amanda Purver, Tracy Czudak, Doug Schneider, Jeff Green, Deb Gerritz,
Erin Chisholm
Level 2, Science
4 weeks
Area of interaction focus
Which area of interaction will be our focus?
Why have we chosen this?
Significant concept(s)
What are the big ideas? What do we want our students to retain for years into the future?
Environments
Awareness and understanding of the effects of our actions, attitudes, and constructs, such as sustainable development and conservation
Dynamic change comes about when we are willing to create and destroy
MYP unit question
Why does everything keep changing?
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?
Students will recreate a diagram of Pangea. They will analyse the evidence, such as fossils of plants and animals, rock layers, shape of continents. They will then write a rational to support their map of Pangea by answering the question, “Where Earth’s continents ever joined together?”
Students will use earthquake and volcano data to determine a safe place to live based on plate tectonics that will be safe for the next 100,000 years using maps from the past, present, and future. The timeline will then be scaled as if the changes happened over 25 years. They will create an infomercial trying to sell property at this location.
Which specific MYP objectives will be addressed during this unit?

B,C,E
Which MYP assessment criteria will be used?
B,C,E
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?
Key Idea 2: Many phenomena that we observe on Earth involve interactions among components of air, water, and land.
Performance Indicator 2.2: Describe volcano and earthquake patterns, the rock cycle, and weather and climate changes.
2.2a
The interior of Earth is hot. Heat flow and movement of material within Earth cause sections of Earth’s crust to move. This may result in earthquakes, volcanic eruption, and the creation of mountains and ocean basins.
2.2b
Analysis of earthquake wave data (vibrational disturbances) leads to the conclusion that there are layers within Earth. These layers—the crust, mantle, outer core, and inner core—have distinct properties.
2.2c
Folded, tilted, faulted, and displaced rock layers suggest past crustal movement.
2.2d
Continents fitting together like puzzle parts and fossil correlations provided initial evidence that continents were once together.
2.2e
The Theory of Plate Tectonics explains how the "solid" lithosphere consists of a series of plates that "float" on the partially molten section of the mantle. Convection cells within the mantle may be the driving force for the movement of the plates.
2.2f
Plates may collide, move apart or slide past one another. Most volcanic activity and mountain building occur at the boundaries of these places, often resulting in earthquakes.
Approaches to learning
How will this unit contribute to the overall development of subject-specific and general approaches to learning skills?
Organization- manage materials and resources, use time effectively
Collaboration- Group work a with developing viewpoints and societal understanding
Information literacy- learn to evaluate sources for earthquake and volcano data
Thinking- Researching and Gathering Evidence

Transfer- Applications to the world and unknown situations
Communication- Presenting projects and podcast
Reflection- to develop conclusions
Learning experiences
How will students know what is expected of them? Will they see examples, rubrics, templates?
How will students acquire the knowledge and practise the skills required? How will they practise applying these?
Do the students have enough prior knowledge? How will we know?
Teaching strategies
How will we use formative assessment to give students feedback during the unit?
What different teaching methodologies will we employ?
How are we differentiating teaching and 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?
SCIENCE
Rubrics will be provided for each summative assessment task. These are the IB units that are specific for each task and based on the objective.
Word Walls
Guided Reading
Cornell Notes
Students will be given the descriptors of the
Criteria to be assessed along with the task. The descriptors will be task specific
Frontloading of Vocabulary
Think-a-louds
The descriptors will be explained to the students and how they are related to the levels achieved
Think-pair-share
Cooperative Groups
Students will acquire knowledge during the classroom interaction with the teacher related to the content of the unit.
Reciprocal Reading
Jigsaw
KWL Charts
Participating in group work will help in developing the stills of organization, thinking, collaboration, communication, and evaluation.
After every activity/ presentations students will be asked to conclude and support the conclusion with scientific reasoning. This will develop their inferring and communication skills.
Concepts Maps
Visual Dictionary
Students will be asked to construct meaning for the movement of earth’s plates, including convection currents. They will be able to describe how the movement of plates contributes to earthquakes and volcanic activity.
They will understand that it is this movement that has caused earth’s surface to change over the past million years and that the location of continents will change in the future.
Research investigation will help to develop organizing skills, conceptual skills, collaborating and deciphering skills. As well as inferring and

evaluating skills.
Formative assessment based on plate tectonics will help to access prior knowledge which will be required for this unit.
TECHNOLOGY
1. Invitation:
Design, Create, Overview
2. Business Card
Publication Design, Templates, Layouts
Provide directions in writing and verbally.
Model the steps to complete task.
Show completed sample.
One-on-one instruction.
Working in pairs, and groups.
Differentiated instruction.
Provide directions in writing and verbally.
Model the steps to complete task.
Show completed sample.
One-on-one instruction.
Working in pairs, and groups.
Differentiated instruction.
3. Birthday Card
Formatting, Backgrounds
4-5. School Brochure
Pictures, Colors
Provide directions in writing and verbally.
Model the steps to complete task.
Show completed sample.
One-on-one instruction.
Working in pairs, and groups.
Differentiated instruction.
Provide directions in writing and verbally.
Model the steps to complete task.
Show completed sample.
One-on-one instruction.
Working in pairs, and groups.
Differentiated instruction.
6. Advertisement
Views, Word Art
Class 7. Complete phase 2 of summative assessment the design in which students design two possible sets of the brochure and then state which they will actually create and why
Provide directions in writing and verbally.
Model the steps to complete task.
Show completed sample.
One-on-one instruction.
Working in pairs, and groups.
Differentiated instruction.
Provide directions in writing and verbally.
Model the steps to complete task.
Show completed sample.
One-on-one instruction.
Working in pairs, and groups.
Differentiated instruction.

Class 8. Ensure phases 1-3 of summative assessment are complete so students can move on to phase 4 the create
Provide directions in writing and verbally.
Model the steps to complete task.
Show completed sample.
One-on-one instruction.
Working in pairs, and groups.
Differentiated instruction.
Classes 9-10. Complete phase 4 of summative in which students create their brochure in
Publisher
Provide directions in writing and verbally.
Model the steps to complete task.
Show completed sample.
One-on-one instruction.
Working in pairs, and groups.
Differentiated instruction.
Class 11. Complete phase 5 of summative assessment in which students evaluate their work in the previous four phases.
Provide directions in writing and verbally.
Model the steps to complete task.
Show completed sample.
One-on-one instruction.
Working in pairs, and groups.
Differentiated instruction.
Class 12. Complete phase six of the summative in which students reflect on their actions through the IB learner profile.
Provide directions in writing and verbally.
Model the steps to complete task.
Show completed sample.
One-on-one instruction.
Working in pairs, and groups.
Differentiated instruction.
Classes 13-14 Last opportunity to finish the summative assessment.
Provide directions in writing and verbally.
Model the steps to complete task.
Show completed sample.
One-on-one instruction.
Working in pairs, and groups.
Differentiated instruction.
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?
Interactive White Board, Laptops, Laboratory Equipment, and Textbook

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