What Is Our Purpose?: Planning The Inquiry
What Is Our Purpose?: Planning The Inquiry
What Is Our Purpose?: Planning The Inquiry
What are the possible ways of assessing students’ understanding of the central
idea? What evidence, including student-initiated actions, will we look for? 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
Students demonstrate that they understand how and why their bodies
inquiry?
change during puberty, and the effects of these changes
Causation
Connection
The students will demonstrate their understanding of the central
Perspective
idea by independently producing a brochure for 12-13yr olds with
information related to physical, emotional, and social changes
during puberty. There must be evidence of ICT skills in the What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central
production of the brochure, and it must meet set standards idea?
measured by a rubric.
Physical changes that affect the development of self esteem and a
Students will demonstrate an appreciation and respect of their culture and those of
sense of identity
others.
Changes that occur in the human reproductive system during puberty
Students will re-enact their or others’ rites of passage rituals Rituals/celebrations performed by various cultures to mark the onset of
through role- play puberty
What teacher questions/provocations will drive these inquiries?
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?
What evidence will we look for?
Students will design interview questions about adolescence between male and
Pre- Assessment - KWL chart and analysis of the central idea female for adults in their families
Read introduction on “what is puberty?”. Students then complete a diamond Students will examine human body diagrams, explore and locate hormonal
ranking. glands as they relate to the reproductive system.
Students will research various cultural rites on initiation into puberty and role
play/enact them.
What are the possible ways of assessing student learning in the context of the
lines of inquiry? What evidence will we look for? What opportunities will occur for transdisciplinary skills development and for the
. development of the attributes of the learner profile?
Formative Assessment - Secret box, analysis and report of interview questions, Social: respecting others, cooperating, adopting a variety of group roles,
Communication: Listening, speaking, non verbal, Self-management: codes of
Quizzes, shared self assessment behavior, informed choices. Thinking skills: Acquisition of knowledge,
Students will have the privacy and opportunity to ask questions anonymously by application, synthesis.
using the secret box. Learner Profile/Attitudes: Open minded (appreciation, respect, curiosity and
Students will report their interview findings to the group as well as on a graph. tolerance). Principled: Integrity and respect
How will the classroom environment, local environment, and/or the community be used to facilitate the inquiry?
Classroom will be used for various discussions and activities, research work in IT lab as well as classroom
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’ What were the learning experiences that enabled students to:
understanding of the central idea. The reflections of all teachers involved
Develop an understanding of the concepts identified in “What do we
in the planning and teaching of the inquiry should be included.
want to learn?”
Significant: The unit was significant because the students are at a stage where
Causation: Books, guest speakers, discussions on how the onset of puberty
they could directly relate to the issues as they are undergoing these changes.
is primarily the human body preparing itself for reproduction
Engaging: The students enjoyed the role playing and developing brochures
Challenging: The unit was challenging as it deals with issues that may be Connection: Books, guest speakers’ discussions on the role of the
sensitive to peoples of various backgrounds. Also using their ICT skills to hormones in the human body
develop the brochures.
Perspective: Discussions and comparisons of various rites passages in
Resources: The resources were adequate especially since we received a few communities and their place in society today
videos from the parents. We also got some very good resources from the school
counselor. Demonstrate the learning and application of particular transdisciplinary
skills?
Thinking Skills: Analysis, synthesis: comparing and considering similarities and
How you could improve on the assessment task(s) so that you would have differences of various cultures, deeper understanding of how the human body
a more accurate picture of each student’s understanding of the central works and the need for reproduction.
idea. Communication: Listening, speaking, non-verbal: Class and group discussions,
presentations of role play to an audience, dropping of personal questions into
After looking at the final products of the brochures, it was clear that all the
the secret box for the medical guest speaker to respond to.
students understood what the central idea and the inquiries into. However, it
Social: Group decision making, adopting a variety of group roles: Students
would have been beneficial if the students were given the rubric for the brochure
worked in groups to develop their role play for presentation.
before so that they clearly understand what they were expected to include in the
Self-Management: Codes of behavior, informed choices; Students were
brochures.
expected to avoid asking irrelevant and/or embarrassing questions regarding the
*We however recommend that this unit be moved down to Yr 6 as some of topic. The boys were also cautioned to desist from making deragotory
the students in Yr 7 will already have gone through the onset of puberty comments about the female body. The students were guided to put only relevant
without having had the basic knowledge to prepare them for these questions in the secret box for the guest speaker
changes.
Why do we get mood swings? Reading: Conducting research for the brochures through texts and the internet,
and summarizing information
How does one know when they are going to start their period or have a wet
dream? Math: Presenting interview questions in a graph format in groups of five.
Does anorexia have anything to do with puberty? Humanities: Locating countries on the map as they learn about various rites of
passage from different cultures, analyze rites of passage that are gender biased,
Why do women go through menopause? analyze reasons behind the decline of many cultures, and class members
Why do some girls get body shape and others don’t? practicing their culture’s rites of passage
How do different cultures mark the onset of puberty? Science: Study of the human body’s reproductive system and the role of
hormones in the changes that occur.
Why does the onset of puberty have to be celebrated?
ICT: Emphasis will be on formatting, layout of brochures, use of fonts for
How come most European cultures don’t celebrate the onset of puberty? subheadings, graphs.
Why are you treated differently after these celebrations?
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 are the sources and effects of the hormones the human body releases during
puberty? This question was most effective as it gave the answeres to most of the
questions the students asked.