Planning the inquiry
1. What is our purpose?
To inquire into the following:
Who We Are: An inquiry into the nature of the self; beliefs and values;
personal, physical, mental, social, and spiritual health; human relationships
including families, friends, communities, and cultures; rights and
responsibilities; what it means to be human.
Class/grade: 2nd Grade
Age group: 7-8
School: Roberts Elementary
School code: 7207
Title: Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds
Teacher(s): 2nd grade
PYP planner
Date: 9-28-2011 revised
Central Idea
The choices we make affect our health and well-being.
Proposed duration: 3 hours a day over 6 weeks
Summative assessment task(s):
2. What do we want to learn?
What are the possible ways of assessing students’ understanding of the central
idea? What evidence, including student-initiated actions, will we look for?
What are the key concepts (form, function, causation, change, connection,
perspective, responsibility, reflection) to be emphasized within this inquiry?
Students will use a graphic organizer to create the healthiest day possible. They
will include information about food (3 meals), physical activities, hygiene, and
rest/relaxation/mental health. In addition they will answer: How does it make
your body healthy?
Function, Causation, Responsibility
What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea?

The structure and function of body systems.

The requirements to maintain a healthy body.

The components of nutrition and how it affects the body.
What teacher questions/provocations will drive these inquiries?
1. How does each system contribute to the body?
2. How does nutrition affect health?
3. How does exercise affect health?
4. What do you do to take care of yourself?
5. How does that make your body healthy?
© 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:
Students will list all of the actions you take to be healthy.
Students will complete an outline of an empty human body filling in all of the body
parts and systems that they know.
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 answer multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions about systems
of the body (body book).
*Students will plan 3 balanced meals with appropriate food choices for the day.
*Students will take notes on the each system during rotations. The must be able to
identify the system’s function, main parts, requirements for the system the function
correctly.
*Students will write and illustrate a 3-square (writing paper) for how they practice
good hygiene, exercise, and rest/relaxation.
*Students will create “I am what I eat” pictures using grocery circulars.
* Post-assessment: List all of the actions you take to be healthy.
* Post-assessment: Students will fill in the outline of an empty human body.
* Frontloading – In science lab, students view models of various body parts and attempt to
identify what they are and what they do.
* Body system rotations: Classes rotate through each teacher’s classroom. Each teacher will
specialize in one body system and directly teach important parts, function, and ways to keep it
healthy.
* The students will work in groups to create food for one part of the balanced plate The students
will then present their food to the class and glue it on the correct part of the balanced plate.
* Nutrition and exercise around the world - Students will discover and then share with class
about food and exercise in different countries (Mediterranean, Asian, Latin).
* Students will read the Pyramid Café Reader’s Theater to learn about the benefits of different
food groups.
* Guest speaker to discuss and show body systems and organs. (parent speakers)
* Students will learn about heart and respiratory systems through reading the textbook
(Chapters 11 & 12).
* Students will take a virtual tour through the human body using the computer. (Renzulli project)
* Science Lab: Germs- sanitizer vs. washing hands – Students will use Petri dishes to see
which was more effective. Identify proper ways of washing hands.
* Nurse will talk to kids about hygiene.
* PE teacher will share information about the heart, muscles, and exercise.
* Social worker (teacher) to talk about “worries” and how to deal with stress in a healthy way.
What opportunities will occur for transdisciplinary skills development and for the
development of the attributes of the learner profile?
Profile – balanced, reflective, knowledgeable
Skills – self-management
5. What resources need to be gathered?
What people, places, audio-visual materials, related literature, music, art, computer software, etc, will be available?
food pyramid from Dairy Council
field experience with the Medical Science Museum (Healthy Choices)
Carson-Dellosa Human Body (grades 2-3)
Viruses, Bacteria and Allergies; Slim Good Bodies; Human body for Students – United Streaming video, Brain Pop videos about systems
Body System levelled readers
Create a day of meals using My Blastoff from www.mypyramid.gov
www.mypyramid.gov ; www.unitedstreaming.com
Senor Bones (skeleton) Magic School Bus video
How will the classroom environment, local environment, and/or the community will be used to facilitate the inquiry
Doctor (parents) – skin, lungs, kidneys
PE teacher – heart and muscles
Organ models in Science lab
Nurse - hygiene
© International Baccalaureate Organization 2007
How will the classroom environment, local environment, and/or the community be used to facilitate the inquiry?
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:
During the summative assessment, the kids really showed us how all aspects of
their lives come together when they make decisions. They were able to tell what
it takes to be healthy and started making those choices in their lives.

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.
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.
Giving clear expectations improved the consistency of the products. The rubric
helped the teachers be more objective and maintain consistency while grading.
Students will list actions they can take to be healthy and answer the question
“How does that make your body healthy?” (no “why?”).
Concepts:
Form: During each classroom rotation, students learned about the parts of each
body system. These were labeled on diagrams in their IB notebook.
Function: During each classroom rotation, students learned about how each
body system works. They documented this in their IB notebook. Students
learned about the functions of different nutrients and how they affect the body.
Responsibility: While creating a healthy day, students recognized their
responsibility to maintain their health by making choices about their diet and
activity.
What was the evidence that connections were made between the central idea
and the transdisciplinary theme?
In the summative, when students create the healthiest day ever, they have to
think about all of the aspects of a healthy lifestyle. They must include nutrition,
exercise, mental health, and hygiene. Students were able to verbalize
knowledge about nutritional components of different types of food and how it
affects their bodies. (“How does that make your body healthy?”) During the postassessment, students were more specific in their knowledge about healthy
eating.
Skills:
Self-Management: During this unit, the kids learned and talked in depth about
how to make healthy choices and taking care of themselves in all areas of their
lives throughout every activity. Students actually began to change their
behaviors and choices around food and activity i.e. choosing healthier snacks,
running more laps around the track.
Learner Profile and Attitudes:
Balanced: When creating the balanced meals for the day, the students must
look at good food choices for a balanced lifestyle. The variety of activities
ranging from nutrition to relaxation focused on the balance required in our lives.
Knowledgeable: Students understand their bodies better and are more aware of
the effects of their choices.
Reflective: When talking about our current habits and the way they are living, the
students spend a lot of time reflecting on ways to improve their health.
© 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.
The models we are using in the science lab seem too abstract for the kids to be able
to ask good questions. We want to look for additional frontloading activities.
1.
What are the tubes in the heart for?
Hygiene detective – looking around school for unhygienic practices.
2.
Why are there 2 intestines?
Body puzzles – putting together pieces as a frontloading tool?
3.
How many times does your heart beat a day?
4.
How do heart attacks happen?
Get a sub for Martha one day. She can travel through classrooms to teach breathing
exercises and yoga poses.
5.
Why is there something between the spinal bones?
6.
What caused Helen Keller to not be able to hear?
7.
How does what we hear get to our brain?
8.
What if one system doesn’t work?
9.
How does milk help you have stronger bones and teeth if it’s a liquid?
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 changed the snacks that they are bringing on a daily basis.
Students have changed the way that they are washing their hands and how and
where they are coughing (into their sleeves).
Students want to run more laps.
Students use deep breathing as a relaxation technique.
© International Baccalaureate Organization 2007