Central Idea: Changes/advances in creativity and culture impact history. Learner Profile: risk taker, inquirer, open minded Key Concepts: Change, Connection, Reflection What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea? • Global events that sparked the Age of Enlightenment. • The innovations in math, science, art that changed world culture. • Investigate and analyze the European explorer’s motives: economic, political, and social. • Modern society and the influence of Renaissance innovations & inventions
What teacher questions/provocations will drive these inquiries? • What changes occurred that contributed to the beginning of the Renaissance? • What ideas formed the foundation for the Italian Renaissance? • What contributions did writers & philosophers make to the Renaissance? • How did the Greek and Romans influence the architecture and art of the Renaissance? • Who were the Europeans that explored the Americas? What economic, political, and social factors influenced their exploration? • Why is the legacy of Columbus so controversial?
Prior Transdisiplinary Themes YR19
Central Idea: Experience and beliefs shape a person’s actions. Learner Profile: Knowledgeable: Explore concepts, ideas and issues that have local and global significance. Understanding the social and environmental influences play a part of our humanity. These factors shape our beliefs, values, self-worth. Open-minded: Understand and appreciate their own cultures and personal histories, other perspectives, values and traditions of other individuals and communities. Caring: Show empathy, compassion and respect towards the needs and feelings of others Key Concepts: Connection ,Perspective, Responsibility
What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea?
Social and environmental influences play a part of our humanity. These factors shape our beliefs, values, self-worth
Outcomes to scientific advances and our responsibility
How we define humanity
What teacher questions/provocations will drive these inquiries? Unit Provocation: Is the study of science & the need to discover the unknown always good? Can it go too far?
What do you think makes people explore the unknown?
How do you define personal responsibility?
What are reasons why a person may be rejected by society?
What is the importance to love & be loved?
How can you interpret – Sometimes the key to living a responsible & happy life is to balance intellectual & emotional pursuits?
Central Idea: We use processes to investigate questions and solve problems. Learner Profile: Inquirer: They develop their natural curiosity. They acquire the skills necessary to conduct inquiry and research and show independence in learning. Thinker: They exercise initiative in applying thinking skills critically and creatively to recognize and approach complex problems, and make reasoned, ethical decisions. Key Concepts: Form, Function, Causation What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea?
Scientists need a set of skills in order to answer questions about the natural world.
Skills, tools, and questions we need before we become student scientists.
How scientific advances impact society and the environment
What teacher questions/provocations will drive these inquiries?
What does it mean to be a scientist?
How do scientists learn about the natural world?
How can we compare different types of investigations?
What is a testable question?
How do we perform a controlled experiment? What scientific tools are needed?
What are our responsibilities to society and our environment?
What is The PYP Program? IB Primary Years Program at Franklin Academy Boynton Beach: The Primary Years Program (PYP) focuses on the development of the whole child as an inquirer, both in the classroom and in the world outside. It is a curriculum framework defined by six transdisciplinary themes of global significance, explored using knowledge and skills from the subject areas, with a powerful emphasis on inquiry-based learning.
The PYP:
fosters international-mindedness through the IB learner profile
prepares students to become life-long learners
reflects real life through meaningful, in-depth inquiries into local and global issues
emphasizes the development of the whole student - physically, intellectually, emotionally, socially and ethically
The PYP Curriculum Model When most people think of the meaning for the word “curriculum” the first thing that comes to mind is a written body of knowledge that students will be exposed to in school. In addition to this, many would include a set of academic skills students should acquire and maybe even a set of positive character traits that students will be encouraged to model as parts of a school’s curriculum. There are endless debates about the merits of the endless variety of written curriculums that exist for elementary students – which is the most rigorous, most developmentally appropriate, most culturally appropriate and so on. Students (and schools) are assessed on students’ ability to master curriculum standards attached to national and state tests. Parents often choose schools for their children based primarily on their preference for one type of written curriculum over another. The IB Primary Years Program takes a different and much broader view of curriculum than the one expressed above. According to the PYP, “curriculum” revolves around the concept of learners constructing meaning, and everyone at a PYP school, including the teachers, is a learner. The PYP model of curriculum is student-centered. It is founded on the belief that learning occurs when students (and teachers) build on their prior knowledge and engage in activities that help them construct new understandings. This process involves continuous self-reflection, the freedom to ask questions, the motivation to take risks and the desire to take action based on what one has learned. So what does the PYP curriculum model look like? It is composed of three interrelated and equally important components. Each component is expressed as a question, in keeping with the spirit of inquiry found throughout the Primary Years Program. The first question, “What do we want to learn?” represents the written curriculum. A PYP school’s written curriculum utilizes existing district/state/national learning standards, or as in the case of many private international schools, on a set of learning benchmarks provided by the PYP for each subject area. Teachers at a PYP school work collaboratively to develop a transdisciplinary Program of Inquiry (PoI) that is unique to their school. The PoI contains six units per grade level. These units engage learners in exploring universal concepts that transcend the boundaries of traditional subject areas. Students contribute to the content of these learning units by posing and pursuing their own inquiries related to the unit concepts. The second question, “How best will we learn?” represents the taught curriculum in a PYP school. The taught curriculum involves the methods teachers use to engage students with the written curriculum. It is not only “what” students will learn but also “how” they will learn it that matters in a PYP school. PYP teachers are expected to constantly examine and improve the practices they use to actively involve students in learning. Inquiry-based learning and differentiation of instruction to meet individual student needs are featured within the wide array of best practices employed by teachers at PYP schools. The third question, “How will we know what we have learned?” represents the learned curriculum. PYP teachers employ a variety of authentic assessmentstrategies (examples include student presentations, portfolios, projects, written tests, student self-reflections, peer reflections, student-led conferences, interviews, demonstrations and many others) to find out not only if students learned what they were expected to learn from the written curriculum but also what actual learning took place instead of or in addition to what was expected. Teachers and students use the results of assessments to set goals for further learning and to think about ways to improve their teaching and learning strategies. Assessment in a PYP school has a positive connotation since it focuses on what a learner can do at the current moment instead of on what they can’t do. All three components of the curriculum of a Primary Years Program school - Written, Taught and Learned – function together to help produce life-long learners who can be successful in tomorrow’s world.