In our previous posts
we talked about transdisciplinarity, the importance of transdisciplinary themes and how they are
conceived within the PYP programme. For this reason today I’d like to show an extract of a real UOI (aka
Unit of Inquiry) I had to design for one of my master’s degree’s subject:
Methodology of International Education.
Once I had chosen my Transdisciplinary theme, How we organize ourselves -an inquire into the interconnectedness of human-made systems and their impact on the environment-, and the age group, Grade 6, I had to come out with a Central idea.
Such thing is pivotal to developing the planning of the whole unit because it offers a framework to both teachers, for introducing concepts that cross national, cultural and subject borders, and students, by giving them the opportunity to participate to the inquiry bringing in their prior knowledge, practical experiences and diverse personal and cultural prospectives (the so called Agency).
From there, teachers must come out with a summative assessment and 2 or 3 lines of inquiry:
1) How we live. Human habitats around the world.(FORM)
2) How the environment
influences human choices on living solutions.(CAUSATION)
3) The impact of these
living solutions over the environment. (RESPONSIBILITY)
Now, I decided to focus on human beings, but as you might have understood, since the central idea embraces quite a broad perspective on anything, depending on your needs, I would have the possibility to focus the unit on different topics such as habitats and ecosystems, evolution, or even technology. In accordance with the focus, then the 3 lines of inquiry must change in order to adapt contents, learning objectives and assessment criteria to the prescribed curriculum your school has to teach, while the UOI will evolve taking into account the ongoing process of monitoring and documenting students’ participation and inputs.
