Planning the inquiry
1. What is our purpose?
To inquire into the following:
Transdisciplinary theme: How We Express Ourselves
An inquiry into the ways in which we discover and
express ideas, feelings, nature, culture, beliefs and
values; the ways in which we reflect on, extend and
enjoy our creativity; our appreciation of the aesthetic
Central idea : A variety of signs and symbols facilitates local
and global communication.
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: Your goal is to create a family crest that communicates something
about yourself using local and global symbols.
Role: You are the head of your family and you need to represent who you
are to the class/school in a crest.
Audience: The target audience is their classmates and other RIS students.
We will display our family crests outside our classroom.
Situation: The context you find yourself in is having to design and create a
crest that represents who you are using local and global symbols. Your
responsibility includes presenting your crest to the class and then
creating a display for the RIS community.
Product: You will create a crest or flag that communicates something
about yourself.
Class/grade: 4 Age group: 9-12
School: School code:
Title: Signs & Symbols
Teacher(s): Lindsay Lee
Date:
Proposed duration: ____ hrs/week for 6 Weeks
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?
Form
Connection
What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea?
1. Signs and symbols (form)
2. Reasons for the development of communication systems
(connection)
3. Specialized systems of communication. (form)
What teacher questions/provocations will drive these inquiries?
Line 1
- What categories of symbols are there?
- What is the difference between a sign and a symbol?
Line 2
- Why do we use symbols to communicate?
- What can we communicate with signs and symbols?
- What types of communication systems exist?
- How did communication systems develop?
Line 3
- How do we communicate with others?
- What specialized systems of communication exist?
- How have new systems of communication developed?
- How does technology affect how we communicate?

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?
Pre Assessments of Lines of Inquiry go here
1.) Students will brainstorm What is a symbol on a piece of paper in
their groups. (given summative task)
2.) HMWK: Students will make a list of 5 points about: How/what
can we communicate with signs and symbols?
What are the possible ways of assessing student learning in the context of the lines of inquiry? What
evidence will we look for?
1.) Students will draw 3 signs or symbols and explain, in writing,
what they communicate.
2.) Students will create a sign to solve a problem at RIS (ie: choosing
one of each of the food groups at lunch, walking on the right side
of the stairs, etc.)
3.) Students will create an emoticon that they think should exist.
Students will tell the story of what they did that day using only
emoticons.
4.) Students will create their own system of communication (body
language, gestures, colours, symbols, characters, etc.) and teach
it to the class.
5.) Students will present their family crest to the class and explain
why they chose to include different elements and what the
symbols they used in their crest mean. (summative)
Provocation: A student will be asked to go the supply closet and get a box
covered in warning/danger symbols on it. If they bring it back to the
classroom, we will talk about it and how it makes us feel when we see it. If
they don't bring it back, we will go to the closet and talk about why he/she
didn't bring it back.
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?
Weeks 1-6: Inquiry Cycle by the week
Week 1:
- Provocation: A student will be asked to go the supply closet and get a box
covered in warning/danger symbols on it. If they bring it back to the
classroom, we will talk about it and how it makes us feel when we see it. If
they don't bring it back, we will go to the closet and talk about why he/she
didn't bring it back. OR, with Art, go on a walk around the neighbourhood
to look for local and global symbols and take pictures of them.
- Class Discussion about the provocation
-Preassessment: What is a symbol brainstorm activity in groups.
- HMWK: Students will make a collage of symbols that they find at home.
- Students will share their symbol collages/ information that they found
and questions that they have in small & large group settings.
- Students will do a picture sort of random pictures, signs, symbols,
colours, hand gestures, languages, etc.
- Students will discuss why they sorted their pictures like that in small &
large group settings.
- Formative Assessment: Students will draw 3 signs or symbols and
explain, in writing, what they communicate. (form)
Week 2:
- Mini-Provocation: Symbols around the world (stop signs around the world)
-Global Symbol Sort: Students sort and discuss what symbols are local and
global.
- Students will work in groups to make a collage of the global symbols that
they find.
-Research: Where do we have symbols in the school? (Bathroom, Exit, School
Logo, Classroom signs) Where do we not have symbols in the school and why?
Should we have symbols or signs where we dont have them already?
- Scavenger Hunt: What do I have to choose at lunch? Where is my
 classroom? Where can I go to the bathroom? What floor is the
Library on? What school is this?
Where are the gaps? Students reflect on their scavenger hunt, Should
we have signs and symbols where we dont already have them and
why? Whole or small group discussion followed by individual reflection
Ask students: What signs/symbols can we add to the school? Make a
class list. Complete a class model of a sign from the list together.
- Formative: In groups, Students will create a sign to solve a problem at
RIS (ie: choosing one of each of the food groups at lunch, walking on
the right side of the stairs, etc.) (Line 2 connection)
- Assign a specific problem to solve to each pair/group of students so
that they have a clear understanding in which direction they need to
go.
Week 3
- Mini-provocation ideas: have stations around the room with various
communication systems and have students try to figure them out.
- Station 1: Write a joke on the board that is written in Binary
code. Station 2: Provide students with the binary decoder
- Pictograms
- Math to picture symbol equations
Reflection: How are these activities communicating differently than a
sign? (leading into a system of communication)

- What types of communication systems exist?

- How did communication systems develop?
- Research systems of communication that we used in the past.
Week 4:
- Field Trip: Hangeul Museum and Samsung DLight
- How has technology developed over time?
- How has technology changed how we communicate?
- Students will try reading a story with emoticons replacing some of the
words.
- Whole group/small group discussion about how we can communicate
using different emoticons.
- Reflection: How have new systems of communication developed?
How does technology affect how we communicate?
- HMWK: Students will create an emoticon that they think should exist.
- Students will take the lyrics from a (school-appropriate) song and
swap out words for emoticons that express the same word/idea.
(Formative)
- Students will present their emoticon song and we will listen to the song
 together while viewed the lyrics with emoticons replacing some of the
words.
Week 5:
- Students will brainstorm systems of communication that they know
about on JOT notes. (4-5 small squares of paper given to each student,
students write down an idea and then students go around the group
and each student shares one.)
- Students will be challenging with creating a new system of
communication. Students can work in pairs or groups to create a
means to communicate effectively to others. Students will be
responsible for teaching the communication system to the rest of the
class.
- Students will present their communication system.
- Formative: Students will create their own system of communication
(body language, gestures, colours, symbols, characters, etc.) and
teach it to the class.
Week 6:
- Students will be introduced to family crests and explore the history of
how families have used crests to represent their family heritage down
through generations.
- Summative: Students will design and create a crest that represents
their family using local and global symbols.

What opportunities will occur for transdisciplinary skills development and for the
development of the attributes of the learner profile?
5. What resources need to be gathered?
What people, places, audio-visual materials, related literature, music, art, computer software, etc, will be available?

How will the classroom environment, local environment, and/or the community to used to facilitate 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.
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?
demonstrate the learning and application of particular transdisciplinary skills?
develop particular attributes of the learner profile and/or attitudes?
In each case, explain your selection.

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.

What was the evidence that connections were made between the central idea and the
transdisciplinary theme?
 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.
http://www.aisyear3nst.weebly.com/uoi-2---how-we-organise-ourselves.ht
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Incorporate Unit 4 Waves and Information from Teach TCI
Stop Signs around the world
Video
At this point teachers should go back to box 2 What do we want to learn and highlight Family Crest Templates
the teacher questions/provocations that were most effective in driving the inquiries.

Field Trips:
National Hangeul Museum
What student-initiated actions arose from the learning?
Science & Technology Hall
Record student-initiated actions taken by individuals or groups showing their ability to
Samsung DLight
reflect, to choose and to act.

Emoticons:
Emoticon Story Prompts
Emoticon Lesson Plan Idea
Standards:
PYP Social Studies Standards:
SO 4.4 Demonstrate how non-verbal communication allows people to
transcend language barriers
SO 4.5 Explore a variety of signs and symbols and interpret their messages
SO 4.6 Identify the cultural and historical context in which signs and symbols
develop

NGSS Standards:
4-PS4-3. Generate and compare multiple solutions that use patterns to
transfer information.

International Baccalaureate Organization 2011