Planning the inquiry
s 1. What is our purpose?
To inquire into the following:
transdisciplinary theme
Where We Are in place and time.
An inquiry into orientation into place and time.
central idea:
Ancient civilizations are unique and have paved the way
for the present societies
.
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?
With the acquired set of knowledge and understanding, the students will
make a journal on any one civilizations of their choice.
Students will be able to express their understanding through oral
presentations to their peers and the whole school.
The students have to include the website they have inquired and also
the book in which they have referred.
They need to include the drawings, artifacts and models belonging to
that particular civilizations.
They were assessed with a checklist on the above Criteria.
International Baccalaureate Organization 2007
Class/grade: V Age group: 9 to 10 years
School: Hillside Academy School code:300536
Teacher(s): Meena Desai, Sarita mathur, Mr .Robin,
PYP planner
Mr.Sangeev, Mr. Ram mohan, Koteswara Rao.
Date: August 4 th to September 16th 2010
Proposed duration: number of hours 44 over number of weeks 6
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,
Related Key Concepts(Impact, transformation)
What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea? .
Civilizations around the world.
Major contributions by these civilizations
Aspect of civilizations reflected in todays society
What teacher questions/provocations will drive these inquiries?
1. What is civilization?
2. Why do people move from one place to another?
3. 3.What are the things of the past being followed or used even in these days?
4. How can we predict through artifacts the life style of people in the olden days ?
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
What are the possible ways of assessing students prior knowledge and skills? questions? Inquiry 1-: Students will inquire on the ruling systems of different civilization
What evidence will we look for? and show on a mind map. (inquirer, thinker; Thinking Skills: acquisition of knowledge,
comprehension)
Students brain storm on the central idea about the artifact which was brought to
the class.( an old doll , or object ) Students will read and discuss about civilizations and use it as a reference text for the
unit (inquirer, thinker, knowledgeable; Thinking Skills: acquisition of knowledge,
Preassessment
comprehension, analysis, synthesis, evaluation)
They reflect their understanding by drawing the different pictures on civilization Students will read the book on Children encyclopedia on civilization and ( (knowledgeable;
and also explain by writing about them. Thinking Skills: acquisition of knowledge, comprehension, analysis, synthesis, evaluation)
Students will participate in a field trip to the local museum and then reflect on this activitys
What are the possible ways of assessing student learning in the context of the importance to the UOI.
lines of inquiry? What evidence will we look for?
Q1, 2, 3, 4 The students will watch and reflect different civilizations.(knowledgeable,
Formative assessment reflective; Social and communicative skills; ) Students will chart their understandings
Students make the models of different civilizations. .What opportunities will occur for transdisciplinary skills development and for the
development of the attributes of the learner profile?
Students try to find the different types of trade, food, farming, jewellery and the
ruling systems of different civilizations. LP: INQUIRERS; Students will be encouraged to inquire about the UOI and express their
findings. Thinker Students will be encouraged to think critically and creatively when expressing
Students try to find out the importance of the contributions like planning of cities their opinions about the civilizations. Students will interview each other about their understanding
trading and writing systems made by the different civilizations. of their inquiry on dailylife,trade,food,farming,jewellery and ruling systems of different civilizations
and they will compare the biomes and present their findings to the other members of the class.
Written reflections on the different civilizations Research skills: Students formulated questions used for their survey. Students gathered
information from books and ICT. Sorted information gathered on the Venn diagram.
Students draw and explain the important events in each civilization and how it
Communicative skills by reflecting their understanding on civilizations with their peers using the
has an impact on todays society.
projects.

5. What resources need to be gathered?

What people, places, audio-visual materials, related literature, music, art, computer software, etc, will be available?

People - Books, Real models of different civilizations done by the students.

Books on childrens encyclopedia and world history References, Then and Now, World Civilizations Reference Material. Artifacts like old mortals and pestle, an old bell, a toy etc.

How will the classroom environment, local environment, and/or the community be used to facilitate the inquiry?

The classroom environment will facilitate by providing the books and the artifacts related to civilizations.. Parents and friends gave the information required for the unit.I.T. lab for research and
PowerPoint work. A visit to the local museum gave a good understanding about the artifacts and the other civilizations.

Web sites www.archeolinks.com, cybersleuth-kids.com, school.discoveryeducation.com, www.bbc.org and the power point presentation on civilizations, mr.donn have given a deep understanding on
civilizations.

The class room reflected a set up related to Indus and Egyptian civilizations (models and info gathered was well displayed reflecting the complete life style of people living during those civilizations
valley.
International Baccalaureate Organization 2007
Reflecting on the inquiry
6. To what extent did we achieve our purpose?
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.
Hindi Vocabulary related to the unit.
Math Integration of math was done by making the 3-D shapes like pyramids,
cylinders and cuboids.
What was the evidence that connections were made between the central idea
and the transdisciplinary theme?
The students demonstrated enthusiasm and enjoyed learning new things about
making different projects on civilizations. The inquiry on different civilizations and
their contributions have a good understanding for the students which tied in perfectly
with the theme of where we are in place and time. They did and assessed each
time a variety of activities: the digging activity in www.bbc schools.org gave an idea
on different artifacts in different civilizations and how the archeologists do the survey.
International Baccalaureate Organization 2007
7. To what extent did we include the elements of the PYP?
What were the learning experiences that enabled students to:
develop an understanding of the concepts identified in What do we want to
learn?
Change: how the civilizations changed.
CAUSATION: how the civilizations have started developing.
demonstrate the learning and application of particular transdisciplinary skills?
Research Skills :Students have inquired a lot of information by referring to
encyclopedias and bbc web site.
develop particular attributes of the learner profile and/or attitudes?
Students became good inquirers during this unit and found many new findings
about civilizations like heliography in Egyptian civilization and many more things.
KNOWLEDGEABLE: Students become more knowledgeable by understanding
about the way of life in different civilizations..
REFLECTIVE: much change was observed during the development of different
civilizations and their impact on the present day life..
Appreciation: Students started appreciating the artifacts and planning of the cities
during the olden days.
Cooperation: group work for summative assessment like making projects on
different civilizations.
Curiosity : To know more about the different civilizations and making a journal.
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.
MATHS:
1. Who is an early man and how is he different from us?
The students were able to gain knowledge and understanding of this question, by Making 3 D models by using the given nets.( cylinder, pyramid, cube etc ).
comparing the way of life lead by an early man and a modern man.
2. Why do we need to learn about civilization?
The students were able to compare the different civilizations and discuss why did LANGUAGE:
that happen and realized that people started developing the writing system ,farming Reading the books related to civilizations and a wide variety of non-fiction
and even the ruling system.
books on the topic.
3. Students started inquiring about Romans on their own and were able to know
about the Roman kings and their ruling system. They appreciated the Roman They students wrote their name using the hieroglyphics
numerals.
Summarizing the results of the data handling

Survey and interviewing techniques and summarizing.

Creative writing on mummification and drawing pictures.

SOCIAL STUDIES:
Students questions.
: The students were able to know the importance of artifacts and their value.
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
1. What is civilization?
2. Why do people move from one place to another?
3.What are the things that were are still using even now from the civilization days?

4. How can we know through artifacts the life style of the olden days people?

What student-initiated actions arose from the learning?

Students after analyzing the contributions given by the civilizations for the
present world they started inquiring more.

International Baccalaureate Organization 2007