Planning the inquiry
1. What is our purpose?
To inquire into the following:
Class/grade: 2nd grade
Age group: 7-8
School: Roberts Elementary
School code: 00254
Transdisciplinary Theme
Where We Are in Place and Time: An inquiry into orientation in place and time;
personal histories; homes and journeys; the discoveries, explorations and
migrations of humankind; the relationships between and the interconnectedness
of individuals and civilizations, from local and global perspectives.
Central Idea:
Title: Where We Are in Place and Time
PYP planner
Teacher(s): 2nd grade team
Date: 5-21-2013 revised
Proposed duration: 3 hours a day over 5-6 weeks
Events in individual’s lives shape their personal histories.
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 choose a person from history, research their life events, explain the
attitudes and profiles that they exhibited, and the impact on their community and/or
the world. Students will write a biography of about a person of their choice from
history. They will research their life events
2. What do we want to learn?
What are the key concepts (form, function, causation, change, connection,
perspective, responsibility, reflection) to be emphasized within this inquiry?
Causation, Change, and Connection
What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea?

histories of individuals

attitudes and learner profile attributes of historical figures

how an individual’s life events affect change in their community and/or world
What teacher questions/provocations will drive these inquiries?
1. Why should we care about the past?
2. Do historical figures have similar characteristics?
3. What are the different ways to record history?
4. What important life events shaped their impact on the community and/or the
world?
© International Baccalaureate Organization 2007
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?
Pre-Assessment:
After being shown pictures of 2-3 historical figures, students will identify their attitudes and
learner profile attributes and explain their contribution to their community or the world.
What are the possible ways of assessing student learning in the context of the lines
of inquiry? What evidence will we look for?
Formative Assessments:
*Students will create a stand-up folded timeline of important events in their life. They will write
sentences using “because” or “so” to demonstrate understanding of cause and effect. (“My little
brother was born, so I became a big sister.”)
*Students will choose one important event in their life to write about. They will include the
significance of the event and the effect it has had on their life.
*Who’s in the Bag – students will explore a bag of artifacts and determine who the person was
and the significance of the artifacts.
*The class will research and take notes from biography videos and texts focusing on important
life events and the IB attitudes and learner profile attributes of one famous person (ex. Harriett
Tubman). After research, the class will create a product detailing important events in the
person’s life, character traits that led them to their accomplishments, and the IB learner profile
attributes and the attitudes that they best exemplify.
*Students will practice oral story telling with partners.
*Students will take personal history questionnaires home and interview their family members.
This will include information about 5 important events in the student’s life.
*Students will interview their parents and record the events that shaped their parent’s lives.
*Through class research, the class will create a chart listing characteristics shared by important
historical figures and identify these figures:
- contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Cesar Chavez
- state & local figures such as Henrietta King & Barbara Jordan
- inventive pioneers such as Amelia Earhart & Robert Fulton
- good citizenship in Florence Nightingale, Paul Revere, & Sojourner Truth
*Students will select a famous person and then create a product comparing the person’s IB
learner profile attributes and attitudes to their own.
*Students will create a timeline of a famous person’s important life events using timeline
technology.
What opportunities will occur for transdisciplinary skills development and for the
development of the attributes of the learner profile?
Transdisciplinary Skills: Research – Students will collect information using a variety of
resources. They will develop questions and record data and present results. Communication –
Students will communicate knowledge and results of research through writing and speaking.
Attitudes: Curiosity – Students will demonstrate curiosity while researching and questioning.
Empathy – Students will empathize with historical figures and the challenges that they faced.
Tolerance – Students will demonstrate tolerance toward people of different place and time.
Learner Profile: Open-Minded – Students will be open-minded while researching a life different
from their own.
Reflective – Students will compare and contrast themselves and other historical figures.
5. What resources need to be gathered?
What people, places, audio-visual materials, related literature, music, art, computer software, etc, will be available?
Literature: Scott Foresman Social Studies textbook, First Start biographies, A Picture Book of…biographies by David Adler, Who Was…? Biographies, Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco and other books
inspired by her life events (My Rotten Red-Headed Brother, Thank You, Mr. Falker, etc)
Websites: www.DiscoveryEducation.com (animated hero videos), www.BrainPopJr.com videos (biographies), www.GardenofPraise.com (biographies for kids), www.Ducksters.com (biographies for kids)
Computer Software: Timeliner
How will the classroom environment, local environment, and/or the community be used to facilitate the inquiry?
The classroom environment will be resource-rich. (books, websites, etc.)
Teachers will look for theater and/or museum opportunities in the community to facilitate inquiry.
© 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:
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 changed the time of year during which we complete this unit of inquiry. It is now
aligned with certain American holidays like Martin Luther King Jr. day, Black History
month, Women’s History month, and President’s Day (Abraham Lincoln’s and
George Washington’s birthdays). This alignment led to deeper understanding of the
purposes of these holidays.
At the beginning of the second semester, students were better equipped to research
about and write more detailed biographies of important historical figures.
We realized that the biography project should be our summative assessment. This
led us to change the lines of inquiry and assessments accordingly.
What was the evidence that connections were made between the central idea
and the transdisciplinary theme?
During researching individuals throughout history, students were really able to focus
on the events which occurred in people’s lives. The students didn’t focus so much on
the facts of the individual’s lives, but more on the event which shaped their lives and
the lives of others.
Students were enthusiastic about composing their own biographies and sharing them
with their peers and parents.

develop an understanding of the concepts identified in “What do we want to
learn?”

demonstrate the learning and application of particular transdisciplinary skills?

develop particular attributes of the learner profile and/or attitudes?
In each case, explain your selection.
Concepts:
Causation: Students researched historical figures and determined how their life events
led to their accomplishments.
Change: Students understood how the community and world changed because of
particular individual’s actions.
Connection: Students made connections to historical figures that they discussed with
their classmates and researched on their own (compare and contrast). They realized that
everyone that inspired positive change demonstrated many of the IB learner profile
attributes and attitudes.
Skills:
Research: Students used a variety of resources to take notes about important
information.
Communication: Students took notes, wrote a report, and then orally presented their
project to the class. Classmates will listen to their classmates and take notes about what
they heard.
Learner Profile and Attitudes:
Open-minded: Students were open-minded while researching a life different from their
own.
Reflective: Students compared and contrasted themselves and other historical figures
Curiosity: Students demonstrated curiosity while researching and questioning
Empathy: Students empathized with historical figures and the challenges that they faced.
Tolerance: Students demonstrated tolerance toward people of different place and time.
© 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.
We also would like to make sure that we get to “Who’s In The Bag?”. We want to
buy more biographies (leveled readers) for this unit. We want to be more
representative of international people.
What happened in my dad’s life which caused him to become a scientist?
What would have happened if Lincoln did not free the slaves?
What would have happened if Martin Luther King Jr. hadn’t lived?
I wonder why George Washington fought in the Revolution.
How do we shape ourselves?
I wonder why my dad is an engineer.
Who was the 1st person on the moon?
Were any of my ancestors slaves?
What were my parents like when they were small?
How do I make the world a better place?
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.
Students became very interested in asking their parents about why certain
things happened in their family. They have also become very interested in
reading biographies on their own. While discussing characters from books,
students are more comfortable using the IB language (attitudes and learner
profile attributes.) Students’ expository writing has a clearer and more defined
purpose (to inform).
© International Baccalaureate Organization 2007
The partnering and group work went much smoother this year. Students had an
easier time making connections. Venn diagrams went well. Bifold booklets
comparing an individual’s life and the life of a historical person and the IB attitudes
and profile attributes each expressed. The revised biography information form
worked better. The rough draft of biography should be written in IB Notebook.
Interview a family member and ask: What events in your life have made you who you
are today?