Discussion Assignment
- Analyze the readings for this unit.
- Determine which type of active-learning, inquiry-based approach (e.g., collaborative work, case studies, think-pair-share) could work well in a classroom and explain why you think so.
- Tell us how you will engage your students by using the inquiry-based approach
- Support your explanation with examples.
I have an experience of working within the IB PYP programme with first, third and fourth years of primary school.
My lessons as an English teacher were supplemented by research lessons, the topics of which were studied then according to a special timetable.
This is how the planner developed by the team of teachers of ISA from Almaty 2017 - 2018 looked like.
Theme: How we organise ourselves
Central idea: There are different ways to organise ourselves in society
Planning the inquiry
1 What is the purpose ?
transdisciplinary theme How we organaze ourselves?
central idea There are different ways to organaze social work.
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?
Understanding: Students need to understand that different ways of working in school help students to be organised.
Why there should be special uniforms during motor activities. Why it is necessary to listen carefully to the teacher and complete a task accurately. What organisational skills help to develop.
Students devise a system for organising a class portfolio.
Children work with evaluation sheets: How many pieces of work should be in the portfolio. Who chooses the works in the portfolio. How often the pieces should be selected. What information should be in the portfolio.
Outcome: They draw up a Portfolio Agreement, which they strictly work on (before drawing up they visit the students of level 4 for more in-depth explanation)
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?
- What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea?
- What teacher’s questions\provocations will drive these inquiries?
1. What does it mean to be organised?
2. What and who helps us remember what we need to do and have in school?
3. What is a system?
4. What systems exist in the school?
5. What systems are in place in our classroom to solve problems?
3 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.
The children have realised that they need to follow certain rules at school, understand the work regime, have started to keep order at their workplaces, are time-oriented and try to do everything quickly so as not to be late for lessons or a walk.
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.
Observing the children's actions gave a clear indication of how the children understood the central idea (HISD DMOL, 2019).
What was the evidence that connectors were made between the central idea and the transdisciplinary theme?
Children understood and demonstrate an understanding that there are systems in place to help organise themselves (routines, responsibilities, following rules)
4. 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.
At this point teachers should go back to point 2 “What do we want to learn?” and highlight the teacher’s questions\provocations that were the most effective in driving the inquiries (SECCEducationalTV, 2014).
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.
5. Teacher’s notes
All methods are suitable for work on this glider: joint work, analyses of specific situations, "think-pair-share" and so on, because the range of tasks is quite broad and requires an integrated approach. As for the results of this work, they were brilliant. It was easy and interesting to work with the children.
References
HISD DMOL. (2019, August 6). Developing higher-order thinking skills (1-4) [Video]. YouTube.
SECCEducationalTV. (2014, July 25). 21st century skills: Higher order thinking – introduction [Video]. YouTube.
