1a) To inquire into the following: transdisciplinary theme An inquiry into the natural world and its laws; the interaction between the natural world (physical and biological) and human societies; how humans use their understanding of scientific principles; the impact of scientific and technological advances on society and on the environment. central idea Changes in the Earth and its atmosphere have impacts on the way people live their lives.
Class/grade: 4 Age group: 8-10 School: School code: Title: Changes of the Earth Teacher(s): Alfonso Date: Proposed duration: number of hours over number of weeks
1b) 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?
GOAL: to present understanding on how changes in the Earth impact peoples lives through explanations during the fair to come up with innovations as a response to the changes happening in the Earth. ROLE: Scientist AUDIENCE: School community SITUATION: PRODUCT: PPt and display boards containing thorough explanations on the impacts of changing Earth Kits containing innovations for survival during calamities or disasters. 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, connection What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea? How the different components of the Earth are interrelated Why the Earth has changed and is continuing to change Human response to the Earths changes
What teacher questions/provocations will drive these inquiries? What are the causes (natural and manmade) why Earth is changing? How is Earth changing in relation to time? How has mankind responded to the changes of the Earth?
International Baccalaureate Organization 2011 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? Students show their understanding of the central idea by citing or illustrating a change in the environment that they had observed and discussing how it impacted on the lives of people.
Students will be grouped according to expert groups based on the different components of the earth. These groups will then inquire on their expert topics using the questions that they had formed and the lines of inquiry.
What are the possible ways of assessing student learning in the context of the lines of inquiry? What evidence will we look for?
See Attachment B for Assessment Opportunities How the different components of the earth are interrelated Why the earth has changed and is continuing to change Human responses to the Earths changes 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?
See attachment
What opportunities will occur for transdisciplinary skills development and for the development of the attributes of the learner profile? Thinking skills - students will analyze information, come up with hypotheses and make inferences about natural and man-made phenomena Social skills - students will interview experts, collaborate with members of their group. Communication skills - students will present their findings through a science fair. Self-management skills - students will learn how to maximize their time in gathering data and information. Research skills - students will learn how to synthesize and come up with generalizations.
5. What resources need to be gathered? What people, places, audio-visual materials, related literature, music, art, computer software, etc, will be available? Field trips to PHIVOLCS and PAGASA Videos and pictures of different natural and man-made phenomena Models of the different changes done in the earth How will the classroom environment, local environment, and/or the community be used to facilitate the inquiry? Artifacts that show how the earth has changed certain natural materials International Baccalaureate Organization 2011 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.
Students understand that the earth continues to change through different natural phenomena. However due to the advancements made in human society, man has accelerated the changes in the earth and as a result, the earth is rapidly changing. How you could improve on the assessment task(s) so that you would have a more accurate picture of each students understanding of the central idea.
Assessments were planned ahead of time but the process of polishing was time consuming. Using publisher also was a challenge, probably next time the class will just use familiar programs. What was the evidence that connections were made between the central idea and the transdisciplinary theme?
Students concluded that through our intervention and unlimited wants, the earth is rapidly changing and this therefore affects the way people live. As a result of these changes, weather patterns and other natural phenomena are increasingly becoming prominent and therefore, as a response, humanity must control its use of resources. 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? Causation Students will be able to understand how different natural phenomena happens and what are its effects on living and non-living things. Change Students will be able to understand that different natural and man-made phenomena are contributory factors in the changes happening in the earth. Connection Students will be able to understand that because of these contributory factors, each aspect of the earth is directly and indirectly affected. These effects may also have short and long-term effects on living and non-living things. demonstrate the learning and application of particular transdisciplinary skills? Thinking - students were able to infer and come up with generalizations of why the earth changes. Social - students were able to interview experts about how the earth changes. They were able to collaborate as a group to come up with products and innovations for the science fair. Communication - students were able to present their knowledge, skills and understanding of the topic during their science fair. Research - students were able to gather and organize data, sort out, infer, generalize and hypothesize about how the earth changes. Self-management - students were able to learn how to prioritize their work. develop particular attributes of the learner profile and/or attitudes? In each case, explain your selection. Inquirer - students were able to inquire on how the earth changes and what are the factors that contribute to these changes. Reflective - students were able to be reflective by providing examples of how people respond to the changes done to earth and how it affects us. Cooperation - students were able to work in groups, collaborate and plan together in order to come up with information and innovations for their science fair. International Baccalaureate Organization 2011 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.
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. How does natural phenomena occur? What are the primary causes of pollution? How does pollution change the environment? What is the impact of these changes in our society? How do we respond to these changes?
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. Students were able to make innovations as a response to the changes they were able to learn and understand about. Students were able to create panel information boards that they will present during the Science Fair. Students were able to come up with an action: planting trees. The project will be done with the support of the Student Council.
9. Teacher notes This unit should be moved to the fourth unit instead of being the fifth so as not to overlap with the fifth and sixth unit in the school year. Sources gathered for this unit were plenty, however most resources had to be simplified for the students to grasp. Not a lot of field trip areas regarding this unit. International Baccalaureate Organization 2011 Attachment...
A. Key Learning Outcomes Key Understanding What do we want students to understand by the end of the unit? Earth has different components that are interrelated and are continually evolving or changing. Humans respond to the changes of the Earth by understanding the changes in order to adapt and survive.
Knowledge outcomes and Skills outcomes What do we want students to be able to know by the end of the unit? What do we want students to be able to do by the end of the unit? Know: Different components of the Earth and how they are interrelated Changes happening in the planet, man-made and natural Ways humans respond to the changes of the Earth Skills Identify and describe changes in the Earths landscape. Explain how the components of the Earth are connected and interrelated Design and perform investigations related to the different changes in Earth Explain the causes of the changes in Earth Explain how humans responds to the changes of the Earth
B. Assessment Opportunities Line of Inquiry What will be assessed? How will evidence be collected? What type of assessment will be used? How the different components of the Earth are interrelated
The different components of the earth, though physically or geologically separated all play an important role in providing balance in the earth. Knowledge Product Observations Rubric Anecdotes Why the Earth has changed and is continuing to change
The earth is not just a simple object, but rather, it is a complex mechanism that continues to change in order to adapt to the environment in order to sustain itself. Knowledge Product Observations Rubric Anecdotes Human response to the Earths changes
Changes done to the earth play a key role in the development of society, hence any adverse effects caused by man must be rectified through actions and responses that would help sustain the earths resources. Knowledge Product Observations Rubric Anecdotes
C. Learning Engagements Tuning in and preparation to find out: What variety of activities will be used to: engage all students in the topic? hook? assess prior knowledge? refine further planning? lead into the finding out experiences? Engagement and gathering prior knowledge, pre-assessment, questions for inquiry, goal setting. Sometimes students will require some immersion in the topic if little is known/ experienced. Photo Analysis: Photos of earth before and now will be presented to the class. Students will analyze the photos presented to them by describing the difference between the two pictures. They also give their opinion on the reasons why those happened.
Time Travel: Students go out of their classroom and imagine how the PSC looked like 200- 500 years ago. They draw what they imagined and try to identify the factors that had caused the change.
Object Hunt Students go out and visit the amphitheater. They observe the things around them and collect something from nature. They predict how will it look like in the future and identify the factors that would cause the change. They also identify how it looked like before by means of drawing. They identify the factors that made it the way it is today.
Finding Out Data collection Experiences to assist students to gather new information about the topic Experiences and texts that add to the knowledge base. Emphasis on gathering first-hand data in a range of ways (usually shared experiences) Teachers & Students Questions Teacher and student questions that help drive the inquiry Focus questions to for inquiry Sorting Out Gauging, organizing or representing new information Activities to assist students to process and work with the information and ideas they have gathered about the topic (including exploring values) Organizing, analyzing and communicating the
information gathered using a range of vehicles (e.g through Maths, Arts, English, Drama, Music or IT) Components of the Earth Class focus on the four components of Earth. They watch videos, read articles about each of the components. They will choose a natural process and explain how the components work together or interrelated like the human body systems.
Field trip to PAGASA and PHIVOLCS Students interview resource speakers about the changes in the Earth brought by man and nature. They find out its causes, impact to man and nature and the responses of man to the changes.
What are the causes (natural and manmade) why Earth is changing?
How is Earth changing in relation to time?
How has mankind responded to the changes of the Earth?
Students come up with poem or song that encourage people to change their ways to restore Mother Earth.
Going Further Activities to challenge and extend Raising new questions, extending experiences, challenging assumptions. May be individually negotiated. Students chose a topic or issue to research on. They chose their topic from the changes that has been happening in the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and biosphere. Drawing conclusions Raising new questions, extending experiences, challenging assumptions. May be individually negotiated. Students draw conclusions of what they have learnt. This is an important time to evaluate the success of the unit and the needs and achievements of individuals. This is where students put it all together.
Reflecting and Taking Action To reflect on what has been learnt and process of learning. It is important that students be given opportunities to act upon what they have learnt. Actions are things that students can themselves and from which they can see results. The students realized that they can do something when they did the sorting out engagement. They asked the school to support them in putting their plans of planting trees around the school to at least restore nature. They will solicit money to buy seedlings to be planted in the new school.