Planning the inquiry
1. What is our purpose?
To inquire into the following:
transdisciplinary theme
Who we are:
Central idea
Beliefs and values can shape peoples identity.
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 develop a personal profile with beliefs, values and attributes they think
are important and shape their identity. This is to be presented as a personal
mission statement and can include what they wish to achieve in life, also
representing their identity.
Develop personal mission/vision statement;
Potential requirement present in graphic/visual form.
Students create a personal Identity Box, using understandings of their own
beliefs and values and how to visually represent them. When possible,
transferring ideas formulated in the classroom to provide stimulus. Collaborative
rubric will be formulated to focus students attention on the essential elements.
Overall key understandings:
What we believe about ourselves can influence our choices and shape our
identity.
The need to respect and be open-minded about others believes and values,
and view these in an informed manner.
Values can influence our actions and behaviors.
3D art can convey identity.
International Baccalaureate Organization 2007
Class/grade: Age group:
School: VIS School code: 7571
Title: Who we are
PYP planner
Teacher(s) Katherine Williams, Jan Burgess, Amelia OBrien, Linda Kent, Joel.S
Date: August / September
Proposed duration: number of hours 6 weeks (12 weeks)
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?
Key concepts: perspective, reflection, connection
Related concepts: social values, religion, diversity, identity
What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea?
The ways people identify themselves
How values and beliefs influence the way people behave
How we know our beliefs and values influence each other
What teacher questions/provocations will drive these inquiries?
1. What is identity? (form)
2. How do we know what our identity is? (reflection)
3. How does a persons identity change over time? (change)
4. How does the identity of others influence our behavior towards them?
(causation)
5. How are beliefs and values connected? (connection)
6. Do all people with the same beliefs have the same values? (perspective)
7. What kinds of beliefs and values encourage connections with other people?
(connection)
8. How do people in our environment display their beliefs? (perspective)
9. How can we convey our identity through found objects? (function / connection)
10. Why do people choose different objects to convey the same message?
(perspective)
Planning the inquiry
3. How might we know what we have learned?
This column should be used in conjunction with How best might we learn?
What are the possible ways of assessing students prior knowledge and skills?
What evidence will we look for?
Independent thought, then writing about the central idea, key words of beliefs,
values and identity. Whole group discussion and sharing.
What are the possible ways of assessing student learning in the context of the
lines of inquiry? What evidence will we look for?
Line of Inquiry 1: Students create a graphic organizer based on Who they
are. Do they know all the different parts their identity is made up from? Graphic
organiser will be made up of their own silhouette, with aspects that contribute to
their identity, including beliefs and values that are tangible/visible to be
represented outside the silhouette, while aspects that are not tangible/visible, to
be represented inside the silhouette.
Line of Inquiry 2: Students complete a T-chart with on one side values/beliefs
they had and on the other side actions and behaviors that spring from/are a
consequence of those values/beliefs.
Line of Inquiry 3: Students recall and discuss Beliefs from homework and
where their beliefs now lie. Deeper discussion on where the beliefs may have
originated and why they have changed or might/not change. Students were
encouraged to consider how attitudes open-mindedness, appreciation and
empathy affect the individual. They completed a mind-map demonstrating their
key values and beliefs.
5. What resources need to be gathered?
What people, places, audio-visual materials, related literature, music, art,
computer software, etc, will be available?
The Really Big Beliefs Project, Emma Barnard & Thomas Cho (religion, diversity, perspective,
reflection, respect, open-minded);
Netvibes website http://www.netvibes.com/visgradefour#Who_we_are for examples of mission
statements from VIS, other international schools, local NGOs and businesses
How will the classroom environment, local environment, and/or the community be
used to facilitate the inquiry?
Guest speaker: Mr.Jon, parent survey participation
Ramadan short film http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/religion/islam/ramadan.shtml
International Baccalaureate Organization 2007
4. 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?
Tuning in: Broad inquiry into the definition of key words (identity, belief, value) within the CI
and LoI, small and large group brainstorms (RS, SS), making connections and identifying
categories (SS); development of group definition of belief (SS); unpacking of Learner Profile
(sorting and responding), exploring beliefs and values in reference to forming essential
agreements e.g What kinds of classrooms help us learn? (SS) Making connections with
Essential Agreement and the concepts of beliefs and values (SS); Graphic organizer what I
believe, what I think I believe, what I dont believe.
Finding out: Unpack the concept of mission statement, use of dictionary and thesaurus (RS);
development of questions re VIS Mission Statement for Mr Jon guest speaker (RS); making
conclusions from Mr Jons presentation and sorting answered and unanswered questions (RS);
Use Cornell template to take notes and summarise main points (RS); Beliefs homework
students interview parents about beliefs (4 key questions) and share responses with class;
using results of interviews (RS, SS), students categorise, survey and create bar graphs using
this qualitative data; students describe graphs then identify the scale, mean, median and mode;
beliefs, values (RS, SS), identity line-up game making connections in relation to perceptions
of each others beliefs (SS); My Identity silhouette;
Sorting out: Beliefs homework students make connections between beliefs and
actions/behavior (table and summary); sort beliefs on a continuum of agree-disagree and
justify their stance (SS); My Code for Living (RS), My Point of View template for developing own
mission statements (RS); Recount writing process series of recounts over the course of the
unit (related to tuning in, finding out, sorting out and going further. Read-aloud The Really Big
Beliefs Project making connections between various religions and identifying similarities and
differences, plus making conclusions (RS).
Going further: homework mind map of unit as a whole; summative assessment procedural
steps, creation of graphic orgsanizer/display, description of graphic organizer (RS, SS),
identification of key words, development of personal mission statement.
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 What were the learning experiences that enabled students to:
central idea. The reflections of all teachers involved in the planning and teaching of the inquiry
should be included. develop an understanding of the concepts identified in What do we want to
The homework for this unit (see resources folder on server) was excellent and provided a
learn?
springboard for much discussion and interaction about beliefs and values. Information gathered Key concepts: perspective, reflection, connection (refer to Box 4 colour coding)
by students provided a real-life context and rich opportunities for authentic inquiry which carried
Related concepts: social values, religion, diversity, identity
over into the classroom. It was also a very effective way to involve parents and communicate
with them about what students were learning at school. demonstrate the learning and application of particular transdisciplinary skills?
An effective way to look at beliefs and values was through mission statements. Inquiring into Research skills (RS refer to Box 4)
the VIS mission statement was also a good way to start the year and led into natural
discussions about essential agreements. Most students could identitfy a mission statement from Formulating questions
their parents workplace a real-life connection, relevant to them. Also prior knowledge to build Planning
upon for some students.
Collecting data
Process for Summative Assessment was effective, particularly the requirement of the graphic Recording data
display, description and identification of key words. Effective for differentiation. Organizing data
The majority of the key learning engagements were multi-layered and facilitated higher order Interpreting data
thinking. To this end, many of them were visited and re-visited, reflected upon and further
connections were made by students. Social skills (SS refer to Box4)
How you could improve on the assessment task(s) so that you would have a more accurate Respecting others
picture of each students understanding of the central idea. Group decision-making
What was the evidence that connections were made between the central idea and the Cooperating
transdisciplinary theme?
Particular focus on TD skills and how they look in the context of their learning; unpack key
Unit components:
Central Idea was derived directly from the transdisciplinary theme. components and vocabulary.
Not clear about what students really learned. We were not clear ourselves at the end of the unit.
Belief easy to articulate develop particular attributes of the learner profile and/or attitudes?
Values much more difficult to identify and connected to their lives and behavior.
Line of Inquiry 3 - How we know our beliefs and values influence each other. This LoI could be Particular focus on the LP and attitudes and what they look like in various learning
reconsidered/reworded into a more accessible form; very difficult. could make this connection environment.
more visible.
Mai observed this made students think very deeply in a way they make not have before In each case, explain your selection.
challenging.
EAL help with vocab was very beneficial; concepts were difficult to grasp for beginner EAL P.E Students will experience a range of physical engagements which have connections to
students. beliefs of people/groups in our society. Each week will see a different focus and are categorized
as follows: 1) Unpacking the central idea/uoi 2) Western society & general fitness. 3) Tai Chi. 4)
Parent involvement was lovely, very practical, rich.Great unit to start with. Qigong. 5) Pilates. 6) Yoga. Students will be asked to reflect on each session both personally
The introduction of using found objects in art enabled students to express themselves in a and with regards to the belief system connected to the physical engagement.
different way. Students soon learned the value of their choices in terms of aesthetics and
enjoyed playing around with composition and mixing materials. Provision of specific criteria for
students resulted in a more meaningful outcome.
100s chart activities , maths journal reflections(maths)
Final PE session combined Grade 4 classes: calm and generally successful however became
slightly unmanageable. Suggestions for next year possibly undertake with smaller groups.
Students were great risk-takers in trying new moves.

International Baccalaureate Organization 2007

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 made links with learning engagements in PE which inspired some students
to want to know more about Daoism.
With the exception of the above, student initiated inquiries were not clearly evident in
this Unit of Inquiry. Upon reflection for the next unit, development of questioning
skills could be provoked/encouraged to enable richer learning by questioning.
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.
Boss borrowed a dictionary from the library and looked up key words related to the
unit and maths. (median, beliefs, values)
Morgan did some writing at home and brought it in to share with the class.
Emelia did some data handling and made a graph at home.
Sakarako brought in a book about beliefs from home (Japanese language)
International Baccalaureate Organization 2007
9. Teacher notes
Social Studies: Social Organisation and Culture
Recognize their family, social and individual beliefs and values
Identify the source of beliefs and values
Discuss how beliefs and values can change over time
Reflect upon how beliefs and values affect the individual
Maths:Number
use whole numbers up to thousands or beyond in real-life situations
describe mental and written strategies for multiplication and division
use mental and written strategies for multiplication and division in real-life
situations
use fast recall of multiplication and division number facts in real-life situations
Inquiry into Number in the context of place value; 100s chart; Maths Journal reflections. The
first point was addressed thoroughly; the second point was introduced while the remaining two
points will continue on into subsequent units (these are included in the outcomes for stand-
alone Maths throughout the rest of the year).
Maths: Data Handling
collect, display and interpret data using simple graphs, for example, bar graphs, line
graphs
design a survey and systematically collect, organize and display data in pictographs
and bar graphs
select appropriate graph form(s) to display data
interpret range and scale on graphs
Data handling was addressed within the context of the Unit of Inquiry. Refer to Box 4.