Planning the inquiry

1. What is our purpose?

Class/grade:

Age group: 89 years

To inquire into the following:

transdisciplinary theme

School:

School code:

Sharing the planet

Title:

An inquiry into rights and responsibilities in the struggle to share finite resources with other people and
with other living things; communities and the relationships within and between them; access to equal
opportunities; peace and conflict resolution.

Teacher(s):

central idea

Date:

Over time, living things need to adapt in order to survive.

Proposed duration: 90 hours over 6 weeks

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?
Students will share their knowledge on a plant/animal/person and

its adaptations (structural and/or behavioural)

the challenges facing it (now and/or near future)

how it may need to adapt in future because of environmental changes brought about by humans

the likelihood that this adaptation could happen in time.

Communicator
Communication
Skills

Knowledgeable
Thinking Skills

Knowledgeable,
Inquirer
Thinking Skills

Communicator
Thinking Skills

Highly Proficient

Proficient

Developing

Emerging

You effectively
communicate your
understanding using
supporting facts and
details and sophisticated
subject-specific
vocabulary.
You demonstrate clear,
accurate and thorough
understanding of your
animal and its
adaptations to its
environment.

You communicate your

understanding using
supporting facts and
details and subjectspecific vocabulary.

You communicate your

understanding using
limited supporting facts,
details and subjectspecific vocabulary.

You need lots of support

to communicate your
understanding using
supporting facts and
details and subjectspecific vocabulary.

You demonstrate a clear

and accurate
understanding of your
animal and its
adaptations to its
environment.

You share facts about

your animal without
connecting it to its
environment.

You give knowledgeable

and varied information
about the challenges
facing your animal and
its environment now or in
the near future.

You give knowledgeable

information about the
challenges facing your
animal and its
environment now or in
the near future.

You demonstrate some

understanding of your
animal and its
adaptations, but you
have missed some
important information or
made some mistakes.
You give information
about the challenges
facing your animal and
its environment now or
in the near future.

You clearly describe in

detail the adaptations
your animal may need to
make because of
environmental changes
brought about by
humans.

You describe in detail

the adaptations your
animal may need to
make because of
environmental changes
brought about by
humans.

You partly describe the

adaptations your animal
may need to make
because of
environmental changes
brought about by
humans.

You need support to

describe the adaptations
your animal may need to
make because of
environmental changes
brought about by
humans.

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You need lots of support

to give information about
the challenges facing
your animal and its
environment now or in
the near future.

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?
Key concepts: Change, connection
Related concepts: Adaptation, evolution
What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the
central idea?

Concept of adaptation

Circumstances that lead to adaptation

How plants and animals adapt or respond to environmental conditions

What teacher questions/provocations will drive these inquiries?

What changes have caused living things to become extinct?

What adaptation helps this living thing survive in this environment?

In what ways have living things adapted?

What environmental conditions will require living things to adapt in

order to survive?
Provocations:

Change the norms of communication (teacher uses a different

language).

Tape forefingers to thumbs to remove the opposable thumb.

What if questions associated with transplanting an animal into a

different habitat.

Sample 10.1

Planning the inquiry

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 questions?

What are the possible ways of assessing students prior knowledge and
skills? What evidence will we look for?
To support students in making connections to prior learning and to support teachers in
planning for differentiation, we will look for evidence of students prior understanding of
the concept of adaptation in the introductory explorations.
Students will use a graphic organizer to show their understanding of the different parts of
the central idea. (Over time/living things/need to adapt/in order to survive)

Students choose 5 of 9 introductory explorations with the purpose of helping them connect with the concepts of
adaptation and environment.
(Create a designer animal to suit a novel habitat; Listen to reading samples and fill in a table with the headings
living thing, adaptation and how the adaptation helps the living thing survive; Create a labelled diagram of the
adaptations of successful students; Document a time the student needed to adapt to a new environment;
Camouflage simulation with students hunting different coloured toothpicks in the grass; Watch the Plant
Adaptations video,define the term adaptations and give some examples; Complete a concept definition map for
adaptation; Respond to a comic with a sweating mammoth saying he cant wait until the next ice age; Read about
the how only 2 of every 100 froglets survive and hypothesize about the characteristics that enable the survivors to
survive.)

In the reading experiences, we will look for evidence that students can use inference to
identify adaptations of living things.

Trip to the local natural history museum. Students write and draw about the following halls: Ancient Mammals,
Ancient Reptiles, Mystery of Animals, Function of Plants and Evolution of Plants.

In the expert group research, we will look for evidence of students transdisciplinary skills
development that is used to support students in developing an understanding of the
central idea, including: using time wisely; asking open-ended questions; ability to read
and understand different texts for information; note-taking information and gathering data
that answers research questions; communicating research findings.

Visiting experts from nearby geology park. One expert focused on how fossil records inform our understanding of
evolution. This expert brought along models and fossils for students to see and handle. The second expert
focused on the process of creating models of fossils and the importance of this, along with helping students
create their own model using the casts from the geology park.

What are the possible ways of assessing student learning in the context
of the lines of inquiry? What evidence will we look for?

Read fictional books (i.e. books where characters move to a new culture) or view fictional movies and discuss
how characters adapt to their environments.

In the expert group research, students will need to identify adaptations and connect them
to the environments of living things. We will look for evidence that they have explicitly
made this connection and that they have an accurate understanding of the concept of
adaptation.
In the summative assessment task, students will need to do this as well as look at how
living things are adapting or responding to current environmental conditions. We will look
for evidence that they are knowledgeable about current environmental conditions and
possible/realistic and impossible/unrealistic adaptations within the given time frame.

5. What resources need to be gathered?

What people, places, audio-visual materials, related literature, music, art,
computer software, etc, will be available? Habitat poster sets, websites about
adaptations and endangered animals, BBC wildlife videos (Life on Earth, Life of Plants),
The Story of Everything, by Neal Layton, team-created videos with animals and their
adaptations, www.pbs.org/kqed/oceanadventures, fictional books with characters
placed in new contexts requiring adaptation (i.e. Angel Child, Dragon Child by Michele
Maria Surat , From Far Away by Robert Munsch and Saoussan Aksar.

How will the classroom environment, local environment, and/or the

community be used to facilitate the inquiry? Local geology park will be
contacted so that we can make the link to evolution and palaeontology in China. We will
look into visiting the Peking Man site or see if there is anyone who can come and talk to
us. Well visit the local museum of natural history. Parents will be contacted to see if
they have expertise in the area of study.
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Students discuss and document in their journal their personal adaptations to a new culture and environment.

Bird beaks simulation to see how the beaks connect to the environment.
Expert group research: Students rotate through different centers with information on different types of adaptations
(e.g. adaptations for changing seasons, movement, protection, hiding, getting food) and ballot for the ones that
they wanted to focus on. They then carry out more in-depth research with strategy/research skills lessons along
the way, as needed.
Research a particular animal, focusing on their own questions that go back to the concepts, lines of inquiry and
teacher questions. Create a descriptive writing piece so their classmates can guess which animal they chose.
Read about and create a corridor-sized timeline of evolution with important dates and events (concurrent with
lessons on visualizing large numbers).
What opportunities will occur for transdisciplinary skills development and for the development of the
attributes of the learner profile?
Research, communication and self-management skills: The research projects lead students to ask questions that
are open and link to the central idea, analyze information (infer) in their reading, find appropriate resources from
the library and on the Internet, make notes using keywords, use time appropriately and synthesize information in
order to share research findings. They will also have to accept responsibility for their own thinking and decisions
in order to become more independent. Organizing their belongings will also be a great area of development.
Learner profile: Students will develop or extended their curiosity in becoming stronger inquirers, discovering
questions for research and finding answers. They will explore the concepts and ideas of this unit and become
very knowledgeable about how animals adapted over time and current challenges. They will become stronger
thinkers, making connections between disciplines. They will become better communicators, reading or viewing
a variety of texts and writing or speaking about their understandings. Students will become more caring as they
will have to share limited resources. Additionally, they will become more caring about living things and the
environment.

Sample 10.1

Reflecting on the inquiry

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

understanding of the central idea. The reflections of all teachers involved in
the planning and teaching of the inquiry should be included.

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?

As a result of the museum trip and visit from people from the geology museum,
students initiated an impromptu discussion about how dinosaurs were not able to
adapt due to changes to their environment and what the changes were. From
watching various film clips about the Arctic, students talked about how the polar
bear adapted to its winter and summer conditions and possibilities of what might
happen if the polar region continued to warm up. Students became more able to
recognize examples of adaptation in different media, even when the reference to
"adapt" or "adaptation" was not explicit. Students began to make much stronger
connections between different classrooms and teachers. Students were able to
make connections between their independent learning and whole-class
discussions and activities, as well as across disciplines. They used the vocabulary
correctly in context on a regular basis. In the summative assessment task,
students were easily able to discuss how their animals would not likely be able to
adapt to current conditions. The questions students asked in their research
showed that they understood that there was no quick change related to survival.
The in-depth discussions between students were perhaps the most striking
examples that they understood the central idea.
Changing the third line of inquiry from plants and animals to living things would
clarify that there is a possibility of a focus on human adaptations.
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.
We need to ensure that we allow adequate time for the summative assessment
task. We need to ensure that the likelihood of adaptation is included in students'
work on that task. Setting the pre-assessment task again would be a good
indication of growth over the unit.
The expert group research required students to work at quite a high cognitive level.
Next year, instead of "adaptations for hiding", etc., we would focus students more
on concrete terms like camouflage, mimicry, hibernation, migration, protection,
etc., and look for a unifying concept of connection with the environment.
What was the evidence that connections were made between the central idea
and the transdisciplinary theme?
Students talked about the effect human actions have on the planet and recognized
that what we do impacts on every living thing. They graphed information from the
home survey on climate change and found information from the graphs about what
our community thinks about climate change.

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In each case, explain your selection.

Concept development Visit to the natural history museum helped them understand change and
evolution.
The timeline and reading The Story of Everything helped develop an understanding of evolution.
Visit from staff of the geology park, handling fossils and making fossil models helped with an
understanding of evolution and change.
Reading books that implied adaptations ensured that students had a deep understanding of this
concept.
Both research projects enabled students to learn about the connections between environment and
adaptations.
Bird beaks group investigation helped with an understanding of adaptation.
Researching plants and animals within a habitat contributed to students understanding of connection.
Seabird adaptation game and video clip helped them understand adaptation.
Reading/viewing fictional texts and discussing how characters adapted to their environments and
linking this to their own lives helped them understand adaptation.
The degree to which students were able to/should be able to understand adaptation as part of the
evolutionary process is a question to be addressed in planning for this unit next year.
Transdisciplinary skills development
Research projects enabled students to develop and demonstrate a number of research skills. A teaching
focus on reading texts for information, using time well, asking good questions, taking/making notes and
communicating learning were useful in helping us to meet students' needs.
In addition, transdisciplinary skills were also developed in the following learning experiences.
Thinking skills: Analyzing reading about living things to discover adaptations that were listed implicitly.
In the summative assessment, synthesizing information to come up with ways in which their animal
could adapt.
Social skills: Discussing climate change and recording on climate change graphic organizer, working in
the expert groups.
Communication skills: Being an audience for different presenters/presentations; presenting/sharing
research in groups; presenting graphed climate change information; reading/viewing a variety of
information texts.
Learner profile and PYP attitude development
Students have developed or extended their curiosity and become stronger inquirers, discovering questions
for research and finding answers. They became very knowledgeable about how animals adapted over time
and the challenges they currently face. They became very knowledgeable and better communicators as
they learned and used subject-specific vocabulary. They have become much stronger thinkers, making
connections between disciplines and analyzing texts to find examples of adaptations. They have become
better communicators, reading or viewing a variety of texts and writing or speaking about their
understandings. Students have become more caring as they have had to share limited resources.
Additionally, they have become more caring about living things and the environment.

Sample 10.1

Reflecting on the inquiry

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.

This unit provided the opportunity for the development of subject-specific knowledge, skills and
understanding from the schools science scope and sequence documents:

What are the different ways that animals hide from predators?
Which part of an animal's body is most likely to be adapted to protect itself from
predators?
Why do leaves change colour and does this help the trees?
Why are we studying the past? Why not study the present because we still have time
to make it fair for everyone now?
How do animals adapt to deliver venom?
How do paleontologists know the colour of dinosaur skin?
How did the first people come to Earth?
If bird bones are hollow, when fossil people make copies, are the copies hollow too?
Why do lions climb trees?
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 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.
A student brought in a book about evolution to share with the other students.
A student is reading about as many animals as he can and tallying which ways
different animals have adapted.
A student interviewed a variety of adults to find out why it is important to find out
about the past.
A student talked to their parents about how their chosen animal had adapted to its
habitat.
A student created a home project presentation about sharks, their adaptations, their
habitat and threats to their survival from environmental changes.
A student created a home project presentation about spiders and their adaptations.
Students brought in books from home about animals, adaptations and climate
change.
A student emailed photos of koalas adapting to a change in their environment.
A student asked his father to present his expert knowledge on climate change,
global warming and China to the class.
A student wanted to share with the class something that he viewed in a video about
global warming being the world's greatest challenge.

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Knowledge

Recognize and use the following terms accurately: Behavioural and structural adaptations,
predator, prey, herbivore, omnivore, carnivore, endangered, extinct, feature.

Identify the adaptations of a variety of animals.

Awareness of different habitats; knowledge of changing environmental conditions that

could impact the survival of living things.

Skills

Observe carefully in order to gather data; identify or generate a question or problem to be

explored; interpret and evaluate data gathered in order to draw conclusions.

Understandings

Recognize the ways in which plants and animals have adapted over time.

Make links between different features of the environment and the specific needs of living
things.

Assess the impact that changes in environmental conditions can have on living things.

Recognize the importance of the fossil record to inform the concept of evolution.

Recognize that people adapt to their environments in various ways.

Recognize that we can use inference to understand information that isnt explicit.
Notes for next year:
The conversations that students had at home in relation to this unit had an impact on their
engagement and understanding in the classroom. This is a central idea that everyone can
engage with and of which everyone has some prior knowledge. We need to ensure that we
promote this connection with parents next year as well.
The teaching of research skills is really important in this unit and we may need to look at our
long-range plan to ensure that this teaching is a focus.
The vocabulary list will need to be revisited and updated at the beginning of the year.
Although ample opportunities were available for students to extend themselves to higher levels
of thinking and deeper levels of understanding using more complex resources, we need to
ensure that we continue to plan for differentiation for the students with more limited literacy
skills or students who are still working with lower-order thinking skills. Increasing the levels of
support and providing more simplified resources, especially on research projects, will be
helpful.
Consider the possibility of groupings across different classes in order to share expert research
or to inform summative assessments.

Sample 10.1